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Nurse Wisdom from the ICU at OHSU (5.4.19)

Posted: Sat, May 4, 2019
“The ICU is so disorienting. You lose your self. Your job as the care giver is to remind your loved one constantly who she is…where she is…she’s safe…she’s not alone… and she is loved.” Life is so damn disorienting at times. It’s so easy to lose your bearings these days. Who reminds you who you [...]

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski

“The ICU is so disorienting. You lose your self. Your job as the care giver is to remind your loved one constantly who she is…where she is…she’s safe…she’s not alone… and she is loved.”
Life is so damn disorienting at times. It’s so easy to lose your bearings these days.
Who reminds you who you are , where you’re going and that you are loved?
Research in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder has found those who experience trauma lose a sense of self and connection to others. Healing involves inviting story telling that remind you of your roots, that you are loved and not alone.
Every day is a challenge to hold on to hope and not give in to despair. Life is heartbreaking. Life is loss. Life hurts. Most people I know are wrestling with some degree of trauma simply from trying their best to show up authentically in this world.
Growing up in northern Minnesota there would be blizzards so intense you would lose all sense of direction. Farmers would have a rope in their fields attached to the barn. If they were caught in a blizzard they would search for the rope knowing it would always lead them home.
What is your rope? How can we be that rope for one another.
I’m reminded of William Stafford’s poem The Way It Is:
“There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change.
But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you can do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.”
Life is so damn disorienting so let me remind you:
You are a beloved child of God.
You are not alone.
You are loved with a love from which you can never be separated; a love stronger than any challenge you face.
There is a thread you hold that is holding you.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.