Nurse Wisdom from the ICU at OHSU (4.15.19)
Rev. Dr. Steven Koski
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“ICU’s may seem like a funny place to practice gratitude but gratitude is medicine here. It’s so tempting to close your heart as a form of self-protection when you’re dealing with so much trauma. It’s silly to be grateful for every circumstance. It’s courageous to be grateful in every circumstance. The bravest thing you can do to keep healing energy flowing is to fight to keep an open, tender and grateful heart. Inhale the gift of every sunrise. Look for the joy hidden under every rock. Notice unexpected kindness. Savor goodness wherever it can be found. Say thank you. Say thank you a lot. Say thank you every opportunity you can. Thank you helps you see and receive the many gifts that come your way. Thank you connects your heart to the heart of your healers. Thank you not only shifts the energy in your heart but shifts the energy in whole room.”
Gratitude is not soft or sentimental. Gratitude is fierce. There’s something magnificently defiant and profoundly hopeful about gratitude, especially in adversity. Fierce gratitude brings us into the gift of the present moment and challenges us to notice what is, right now, not what we wish for or regret. Gratitude changes the way you see everything. Gratitude doesn’t alleviate suffering but puts a light around the darkness. Fierce gratitude is tenacious saying, “The barn burned down last night. Now I can see the moon.”
A grateful heart is a peaceful heart is a loving heart.
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