SEQUENCE — Monday Motivational Meditation #382 — 2018-12-03

The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order and continuous thread of revelation.

Eudora Welty, 1909-2001

American short story writer and novelist who wrote about the American South. Her novel The Optimist’s Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

How I follow those who have had the previous shift tells my patient a lot about me. How I follow the examples of those who have touched my life does the same. Values and approaches to life are learned. In my role as a mentor, I want to remember this. It’s not so much about getting others to follow my every move. It’s more about inspiring a particular way of living in the world. Those who have gone before me made sacrifices so that I might know how to move forward in life with grace.

I follow the rules because it provides order and the confidence of others. Policies are developed as a body, and it’s better if I try to live them out, and that makes them real. Sometimes they may not seem very clear like a pond moving in the wind, and at other times they can be like mirrors. I follow policies and know now and then they may need my help to provide more clarity or a better focus.

Those who lead me can only do so if I follow them. It is something that I choose to do. Following them well also means that at times I will raise issues honestly and respectfully. People are served better and cared for more if I have respect for both leading and following.

Divine Light, give me the wisdom to know when to lead and when to follow. Help me to do whatever it takes to make the world a safer place and bring others together in harmony. Always committed to healing may I judge well what is just and right. AMEN.

ACTION: Consider your attitude towards rules. When are they helpful and when are they not? Who taught you your approach to rules and how do you mentor others about them? Talk to a young person about rules this week.

Kass and Eric Mencher are documentary and fine art photographers currently living in Antigua, Guatemala. Kass worked for two decades for alternative weekly newspapers in the Philadelphia area and Eric was a photojournalist for the The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he covered a wide range of national and international assignments. Both now actively use Instagram to showcase their work and Eric is a member of the Instagram- based collective, Hikari Creative. The Menchers also teach photographic workshops, specializing in iPhone photography. They have both exhibited their work regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Kass and Eric have worked together on numerous projects, including life along the Lincoln Highway (the first cross-country road in the United States), contemporary life in Lake Atitlán and Antigua, and a series titled “Compañeros”, a juxtaposition of their images, usually as diptychs.

They said of their work, “We’re honored to share our diptychs here. To us, when these pictures are paired, they take on a different meaning than if viewed separately. We hope that not only do they share similar content to connect with each other graphically, but that they connect emotionally with the viewer, inspiring a deepened perspective of the world. They start a conversation that you wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Nursing Heart is grateful to Kass and Eric for permitting the use of these diptychs in this series called, “Follow.”

See more of their photography at the Instagram feeds:
@intersections
@kmencher
@emencher

Nursing Heart Friends,

Recently, Sara and César were in San Bernabé, a thriving little community not far from Antigua. We are developing our relationship with the community with hopes that the team from the University of Minnesota can be of assistance in providing a cervical cancer screening clinic and an acute care clinic for them in March. They were eager to learn about the process and possibilities.

All of this started through our visit to the school in San Bernabé a month or so ago. Vince DeGarlais, a longtime resident in Guatemala, got together with the people of this community several years ago and founded a school with them that has achieved amazing results. We visited him and he helped us get the ball rolling to offer our services to the community.

San Bernabé students at all levels have won many prestigious academic competitions with students attending schools generally thought to be Guatemala’s finest. In the last three years, 14 different middle and high school students, of a student body of approximately 100 students, have qualified as one of the top ten students in the nation in their grade level in either math, science or physics in the Science Olympiads, the most prestigious academic competition in the country. (See more from Revue Magazine).

Working side by side with members of the community and generous people like Vince, Nursing Heart will do our part to help the community thrive. When we begin efforts in a community we set foundations that can last a long time. We are starting that process.

Please follow our activities on Facebook and at our website NursingHeart.org.

Peace,

The sequence of doing good begins with
acknowldgement of others and sharing of myself.

Jean F. Suffrin, RN
ARNP Program at FAU
Broward Health Mental Health Nurse
Imperial Point, Florida