Recharge Your Resiliency Batteries

This was a busy weekend.  Saturday, I worked on my upcoming keynote in August for the American Association of Nurse Anesthesia Annual Conference on Resiliency, and on Sunday, I was a speaker at the “Living Well with Advanced Prostate Cancer” town hall meeting held by Patient Empowerment Network at MD Anderson.  Yesterday, as the town hall progressed, and men at various stages of prostate cancer ask questions, shared their stories and fears, the importance of resiliency practices in living high quality lives with cancer, became obvious.  Resilience is not just the ability to bounce back from life challenges, but a state of mind built upon our passions and presence in life.  We recharge our resiliency batteries through daily practices of optimism, positivism, self-belief, and turning our daily tasks into mindful moments, which leads to whole person living.   

*Baun Resiliency Interview

What Would You Give Up?

After my Army basic training at Fort Sill, I came home and helped my dad take care of my mom.  She had asked us to move her into my sister’s bedroom, where she could enjoy the sun, birds and multiple summer colors in her front gardens.  We repainted the room soft yellow and moved her bed so she could see out the front window. It was my first summer home for many years for I had become what priest/poet James Kavanaugh called a searcher or a life wanderer. 

My mother’s looming death brought me closer to the poetry she loved, and I spent hours reading to her, and sharing the poetry I was reading like Kavanaugh’s There Are Men Too Gentle to Live Among the Wolves.  The moments I had with my mom that summer drove the poetry I was writing as a life wanderer and still write today.  “I would gladly give up / A few of the soft tender moments / I have yet to experience // To savor once more / That summer / Wrapped within your soul.”  Thanks mom!

Walking on Thin Ice

Dead man’s pond was one backyard and three houses away, and the University Lakes were only 2.5 miles or a 30-minute bike ride.  Growing up in Baton Rouge, these haunts provided an escape from the dread I experienced around my mom’s cancer and gave my life a sense of adventure.  My neighbor Gordon and I built rafts out of bamboo, old trees, or barrels we would find in the swamp and spent hours being Tom Sawyer or Robinson Crusoe.  A few winters when it was cold long enough our water play yards iced over.  Once I walked across the ice to a cypress tree growing just off the bank of University Lake, before the ice broke and I ended up in several feet of water and mud.  Gordon and I had a good laugh for we were deep into our roles as Lewis and Clark. 

Much of my life I have been willing to walk on thin ice, and now realize taking risk has been a life tenant leading to my life as an entrepreneur.  As I relived memories with Gordon early this morning I realized it’s not just been my willingness to take risks, but my perseverance to positively impact others, guided by my faith that has made my life an awesome adventure.  Are you an ice walker?  Do you have a Gordon in your life to share the adventure?  What are you waiting for?

Life and July 4th

Watching fireworks at our lake house on July 4^th brought several nights of dreams of past July 4ths.  In 1967, I was working at Camp Union in New Hampshire sitting by a campfire in the White Mountains.  The summer of 1968, I drove big trucks for a farmer near Dixie, Washington, and remember driving with my buddy Teddy Bear from New Orleans, to Walla Walla to a hamburger drive-in.  In 1969, I was in Germany working at an orphanage as a lifeguard and we celebrated the 4^th early by stopping the milk cart and drinking our first milk all summer from a bucket.  1970 took me to Fort Sill and my basic Army training.  My tent mates and I spent the 4^th on Lake Elmer Thomas.  We camped next to a returning Vietnam vet and his family who shared their food and his war stories.  After completing my basic training, I went home to be with my mom who was dying.  The summer of 1971, I managed the LSU Summer Dinner Theater; it was my last summer semester in college. 

I’d lost track of 1972, but this morning going through old papers I found my Airborne Course diploma and realized Tuesday, July 4^th 1972 I was heavy into jump school and by July 1973 I had already rode in too many medevac’s.  Three nights of July 4^th dreams, seven years of life experiences that added to who I am today.  Pick a seven-year life stretch and ask yourself, “Where was I July 4^th and what did life teach me.”  You might be surprised at what you learn.  

1970 Airborne Recruitment Ad

July 4th - Cost of Liberty

The Second Continental Congress voted to approve a legal separation from Great Britain on July 2^nd, and then debated and revised the wording of the Declaration for two days, finally approving it on July 4^th.  Of the 56 me that signed the Declaration of Independence, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died.  Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned, two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army and another had two sons captured, and nine died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. 

Fifty-six men of means and education that had security, but valued liberty more and were willing to sacrifice everything for their cause: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”  Did you fly our flag on Saturday?  I’m hoping you also took a moment to read the Declaration of Independence and pledged as President Lincoln did in his Gettysburg address “highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…”  

Passing on Pride

At our last National Wellness Institute (NWI) Board meeting, Aldrenna Williams and I received handmade vases in thanks for our service to the field of wellness and the Institute.  My vase sits in my office on my round table beside the bird tree I bought when my friend Alberto invited me to share my passion in Brazil, and the green button elephant I bought when I spoke in Chile last year.  The past few weeks I’ve been going through business cards I collected at the conference, and answering  request for copies of my presentations (Becoming a Wellness Entrepreneur and Physical Activity – The New Smoking: The Art of Programming), and promised articles.  This brought a wave of thank-you emails, which has been a very humbling experience. 

Tuesday, I realized I am almost out of business cards, so I requested new cards without my NWI Board of Directors affiliation. I woke Tuesday night with the memory of Bill Hettler, co-founder of NWI, and I at his house many years ago, where he gave me a bunch of his NWI Board of Director polo shirts.  Wednesday, I wrote Joel Bennett, a newly appointed NWI board member, and asked him what size shirt he wore for I had some board shirts to pass on.  He called it a “hand off”!   Letting go this piece of my life has not been an easy decision, but after a few short email conversations with Joel yesterday, I realized how good it feels to let go by passing on the pride and traditions someone gave me to me.  Stand tall Joel and Mim for you are in for an awesome journey as new NWI Board members.   

Active Calmness

Night at the lake house is when the forest wakes with amplified sounds of insects, night birds, frogs, and far off dog barks.  An occasional soft splash heard from the lake sitting below the trees almost perfectly reflecting the night sky, brings calmness hard to find in the city.  We all look for this calmness; expect it at night, when worn down from the busyness of daylight hours.  What is your evening practice around calmness?  I have found, even in the city, deep breathing shifts my energy to a place where my healing meditation and prayer practices bring an almost immediate calmness.  The practice of active calmness fully opens our hearts to experience the moments we have been given each day.  Today, practice active calmness.