i love electric light

I WAS PUMPING gas early one morning three Februarys ago when he stepped out from under the streetlight. “Hey man,” he said. “Can you help me out with something to eat?” Good sense would have dictated I do the exact opposite of what I did, but it was cold and I felt bad for him, so I pulled out my wallet and opened it.

springwatch

THESE LAST FEW DAYS have tasted like spring. Branches are budding. Birds are busy building nests. Yesterday was baby blue and one thin layer was enough to keep me warm, so I decided to serve an orange blossom green tea to my Peaceful Habits group, to call attention to and amplify that feeling of spring we were all tasting. I served a jasmine green as well. This year I’ve started using two small teapots instead of one large one, a small ceramic one and a small cast iron one. I received the teapots as gifts for Christmas, and I’m glad I did. Now I can serve two teas simultaneously. Now the group is more like a tea tasting.

skull replacement

MR. JONES was the first person to show up for my tea group yesterday. “Good morning,” I said. “Any word yet on when you’re getting your skull put back in?” “Doc,” he said, “I have an appointment tomorrow. I’m hoping he’ll set a date.” And with that brief exchange I could gauge how much progress he’d made since the last time I saw him, the Thursday before Christmas.

pointer finger

YOU HEAR A LOT about mindfulness these days. You hear less about awareness, the sister of mindfulness. They’re two sides of the same coin really. Just as the mind can be sharpened into focus — this is mindfulness — the mind can also be fuzzed out and panoramic — this is awareness. Zoom in to a pinpoint — mindfulness. Zoom out to take in the open space all around you — awareness.

gratitude

THE PATIENTS I TREAT rarely thank me. It’s not that they’re ungrateful. Many can’t speak or don’t know where they are, much less what’s happened to them. And those who can speak and aren’t confused think that nothing is wrong with them and that I’m some kind of jailer. Last week I got punched in the mouth when a life care patient of mine asked me when he would get to go home and didn’t get the answer he wanted to hear. A few weeks ago I got peed on helping a guy having a seizure. Yesterday I got called a f*cker at the end of my first appointment. All in a day’s work.

if you could plant anything

IF YOU COULD PLANT anything, what would you plant? The hypnotist had guided our small group through an enticing gateway, into a sun-lighted corner of an imaginary garden, and was conjuring a fertile patch of freshly tilled earth.

grateful for resentment

A FEW DAYS AGO a friend told me about the gratitude journal he'd started keeping. I told him he should start keeping a resentment journal as well. He thought I was kidding. I wasn’t.