I am post-call today. Today I am taking backup call for a friend. I traded.
Yesterday I stumbled across an incredible phenomenon in the workplace. Joy multiplies.
Let me give you an example:
It was five o’clock and I was taking my first meal of the day where I could sit down and be unhurried. I had inhaled a bowl of spicy pho in the Doctor’s Dining Room around eleven. And I had scored a tiny piece of sweet sticky Filipino rice right before my last case to tide me over. I was hungry. I wanted sunshine and fresh air, so I took my tray to the courtyard outside the cafeteria. I had paneer masala, rice, and vegetables.
Across the courtyard sat a nurse I knew from the Recovery Room. I asked her if it was okay for me to sit with her. She kindly smiled and said, ‘of course’.
I discovered she has a horse.
I have a passion for horses. Our family was poor, I couldn’t have my own, but they did drive me to the stables and pay for lessons. I rode English style, and I competed a little. I would brush the horse and care for it before and after the lessons too. Nothing on earth makes me happier than smelling like horse and being around the stables, except perhaps snorkeling and spending time with the fish.
Kerrie told me her story. It is a very good story. I will share it with you.
She had saved up her money, and decided to buy a horse after graduation from nursing school. She had several horses before school she had to sell. They were top quality horses and would not have been happy to sit around a stable and not be ridden. She wanted what was best for the horses and found them good homes while she could study.
A really good horse costs around fifteen thousand dollars. So she wanted to find a more affordable one ‘with potential’ she could finish training herself. One day her father, a contractor, called her to say there was this ‘really cute horse’ that was a the home of a lady near a worksite. So Kerrie went to see it.
He was a beautiful horse—I saw the photo and agreed!—but he was a rescue who had been in the woman’s stable for two years. He had belonged to a woman who had done drugs, and done horrible things to him. He suffered a lot of abuse. The rescuer woman was afraid to ride him, he had too much attitude. As Kerrie said, ‘he was a lot of HORSE!’ Which was just fine with her since she had grown up with them.
The rescuer gave Kerrie the horse for free. His name is Chance.
Two years after graduation, Kerrie ‘had her head explode’—she suffered a bleed or a stroke, something very serious. But in her recovery, she was able to go and visit Chance. She went to the stables every day, her family took her after she got out of the hospital where she had been several months. At first it was for only ten minutes at a time.
Chance understood. He was so gentle with her, and calm.
She told me there are studies that show stroke victims heal faster with horse therapy.
We shared joy, with our meal, Kerrie and I. Absolute, passionate about horses, JOY. We grew closer. And we found ourselves re-energized to go back to work after our meal.
Joy is free.
Joy is also very healing.
Joy is better for you than an energy drink.
And also, it helps you each discovery a side of yourself you didn’t know you had.
I discovered the truth about me last night, in the O.R. After dinner.
I love it.
It is my passion, the O.R.
You see the coolest things when you are on call. It takes a lot out of you, for sure. I have to recover from it. I got to take care of three people in a row with life-threatening conditions. It is such a total gift to be there for people who are at their worst, and to be able to help them.
The surgeon in the middle of the second case wanted a three way stopcock and a special adapter. I had the stopcock in my cart. The nurse went to look for the adapter but she couldn’t find it. I asked her and the surgeon for permission for her to watch the monitor while I looked. I went to the supply room down the hall. Sure enough, I found the tiny male to male connector that wasn’t even one centimeter big he needed for the case to be successful. I brought it back to the room and asked, ‘is this it?’
He was delighted. I explained how ever since residency, I would take time to learn where all of the equipment was. I am the only person at my work who can do the work of an anesthesia technician, I know the equipment and where it is stored so well. And the surgeon was surprised, and commented, ‘well of course, at night and on weekends there is no tech, it is wise for you to know.’
His joy at being helped was palpable. He works very hard to heal the sick. He works himself to exhaustion every single day. It makes a huge difference for someone like him to know I am on his side supporting his work.
Again joy shared makes the work more bearable, and helps everyone.
Sleep helps too! I was able to get a full night of it. No one has called today either, so I will make my way home.
Experience joy.
Find someone near you, and find out with a few sincere questions what excites them. Give them the opportunity to share their joy with you. It doesn’t matter who. Just give their heart a chance to open up to you, and to share its riches.
Look into your own heart, and discover the wealth of Spirit which resides within.
This is your gift from Divine Creator. Enjoy it. And share it with the world. You will make the world a better place because of it.
Ross
Carla is using her iPad. It’s incredibly hard to read as she writes. The screen keeps flashing back and forth with each keystroke. She is closing her eyes as she listens to me.
I love her.
I wrote my article today through John Smallman to help her, and to help you. I write from my heart.
There is a joy that is going to overwhelm you. It isn’t far away. Embrace love. Embrace life! Embrace the awakening process—although I know quiete clearly how long it takes and how everyone complains. It is entirely worth it.
Do your best in the life situations that come your way. Offer a pure heart, and your graciousness. You are needed exactly as you are. You are in the proper place and time for healing, both for yourself, and for others who are around you, and for the world itself. Our souls are built to withstand all of this, and come out much stronger. Pure diamonds do not melt. They survive the fire unscathed.
You are a blessing. Always remember this. You are a blessing to me, to Carla, to us—your entire star family—and to all of Ground Crew.
Never forget this.
Clap! Clap!
Aloha and Mahalos,
Namaste
Peace,
Ross and Carla
The Twins
