I am on call. Being on call on from Friday afternoon till Monday morning in the middle of the season of respiratory illness can be a challenge. It requires heightened patience, kindness, and efficiency. At home, the struggle to juggle parenting and marital harmony in the face of “THE CALL WEEKEND” is real…And by the way it is 10 days before Christmas.
BUT, while driving to the hospital yesterday morning to see a newborn before going into my office to see patients, in between answering patient pages, I was listening to Krista Tippett’s Podcast “ON BEING”. Krista Tippett is a journalist, author, and inspirational leader. Her book, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, was the first book on my path of learning how to BE in the world authentically. In Podcast #789 (I know, that is A LOT of podcasts) she is interviewing David Whyte, a poet, author, speaker and organizational thinker, on the conversational nature of reality. The Podcast in its entirety is very inspiring and I encourage you to listen.
David Whyte’s quote regarding the power of our own poetry in our lives is a message I believe is deeply woven into what I do every day. As a physician, we are charged and given the privilege of communicating with our patients in the most intimate way. We must inform, teach, encourage, empathize, and empower. We must also listen, respect, believe and understand. It is on these weekends where the duty of my job can become overwhelming that reminding myself of the beauty of what I do moves me forward.
“Poetry is that moment in a conversation where you have to have to the other person understand what you are saying…and you have to tell the other person and they have to hear it and you have to say it in such a way that it’s heard fully. But you have to say it also with the intimacy of care. And of understanding.”- David Whyte
