David Katz, MD, MPH

It was the closing keynote and my first official act as Past President of the NWI, and an honor to introduce Dr. David Katz, Yale Prevention Research Center.  I’d met him once before, but last Thursday we’d walked over from the hotel, ate lunch together, and shared stories about our families, career paths, and passion for wellness.  I’d often wondered why he’d chosen to weave poetry into his keynotes, and had been acclaimed the “poet laureate of health promotion”.  Over lunch he told me his mother had been a poet and taught poetry, and now I understood the almost rhythmic nature of his writing and keynotes that ignite the hope, and imagination of audiences and readers around the world.  His newest book is Disease Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Makes Us Well.     

Americans are Stressed

Americans are stressed out and the healthcare system is a major disconnect.  While Americans think it is important that health care focuses on issues related to stress and living healthier lifestyles, their behaviors do not match up with what they value. Thirty-two percent of Americans say it is extremely important to talk with their health care provider about stress management, but only 17% report these conversations are happening.  Next visit, talk about your “total health” with your health care provider!

Soft Moments

It felt like a shadow or maybe it was the winds slight whisper circling the trees.  Just the briefest disturbance in the air, and then she was there barely moving her wings, flying just above the shore grass, gliding onto our neighbors pier.  After a gentle landing she took a few steps, stopped, and so stood very still.  We all need brief still moments in our day, moments to be caressed by the rainbows that glide in and out of our day.  Soft moments of grace that join us more fully to ourselves and to others.  Moments that brush upon our souls and glow like the memory of a kiss.  Allow your soft moments today to glow like a kiss. 

Sacred Fires of Passion

How do you feed your sacred fires or life passion that fuels your emotions and shapes your life purpose?  Like many, I find my prayer / meditation practices are a daily adventure of just being.  A time I am inside myself, watching the sacred fires in sheer delight.  A sacred fire made of pure joy and whose existence seems to come from nowhere, yet from everywhere.  I paddle deep, increasing the speed of my kayak as I head for shore and home.  Both my parents paddled deep, both tended their sacred fires in different ways, but also maximized the journey of “just being”.  How deep will you paddle today?

Life Moments

2am Saturday, the honey moon slips through our bedroom blinds, and nudges me awake.  Her silent whispers brush against my cheek and I am mesmerized by her pull.  I quietly walk downstairs, out the back door, but only a deep darkness lingers in the pines.  It’s not till I reach our pier that I feel her presence and watch her slow dance with the water grasses.  In my 66 years she’s risen over 800 times and lately I’ve been feeling ripples of images of past moments shared with her, reflections, places, and feelings, hard not to forget.  Life is about moments, not words.  Be mindful of the life moments you live today.         

Cancer Care Day

Somewhere along my cancer journey I started calling visits with my oncologist cancer care days.  Yesterday, we kayaked early, and then headed back to Houston for my blood draws and body scans in preparation for my cancer care day.  A seasoned cancer survivor told me “oncologist visits are like living on a leash”, and for the first few years of my cancer journey, I settled into the wait.  Yesterday, as I watched the sun shimmer on my kayak ripples, I realized I’d stopped waiting years ago, and had chosen a life instead shimmering with ripples of gratitude and joy.  Look for the light today and let your life shimmer. 

Silent Visitor

Did you catch the full moon this morning?  I stopped several times on my way into work to listen to her silence.  She sat low in the western sky and I realized she had been the silent visitor whispering my name that woke me from my deep sleep.  Her amber, almost honey color was soft like a jazz piano player lightly stroking my soul.  It’s the silent visitors I listen to in life, that seem to leave the greatest impressions, and give my life its needed calmness.  Be mindful of your need for silence in your life this weekend.