Curiously Caring

To take care of yourself

at the end of the day
after taking care of others
frequently gets put away 
 packed away
   ignored.

To be curious about 
how we feel each morning ~
 before nurses care for others 
 ~ curious about our own lives

opens us up to being kind with intention.

“Self-care is never selfish, but it may feel that way 

when you live a frenzied life.”

~ Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, The Stress Solution: 

Using Empathy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

 to Reduce Anxiety and Develop Resilience

Author's note: Edited January 21, 2024

A Hands On Job

Nursing is a hands on job

Many times, many hours

Hands on the computer
Hands on medicine and intravenous
Hands on ….

  each contraption we are given to use where no curiosity exists.

All the in-between times
Hands on brows furrowed with what if’s 
Hands on trembling hands reaching for answers
Hands on shoulders beaten down by life.
Nurses are curious about the most effective ~ 

    a pill, a machine or a hand up.

Nursing needs the gentleness of a healing touch.

“In the end only kindness matters.”

~ Jewel

Timely Curiosity

Victoria is a very beautiful city. I do miss the amazing beauty of the prairies. 

Whether on the Island with all it’s abundant greenery, 
the prairie with it’s wide, blue skies and vast horizons, 
the glittering water of the ocean or mountains carved out of time, outlined in snow ~
      
there is always some flash of beauty that draws my attention
Makes me curious and yet
I hesitate because of it’s seeming insignificance 
in the grand scheme of the natural world
in the fullness of time, my moment is just as insignificant.

“It is the time you have wasted for your rose 

that makes your rose so important.”

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

A Curiosity Satisfied

A Curiosity Satisfied 

The books were stacked haphazardly or put away neatly in bookshelves. They were all full of so much wisdom and experience. It sometimes seemed that the novels, completely fiction, had more depth and wisdom than the books of academia. The stories that authors wove from history or from imaginations were amazing. Cordelia had just finished reading such a novel. She had, for the first time, used the little Post-It notes as she read. It was quite normal for her to use the little sticky notes in her university texts. She had seen members of her book club using them for the novels they brought for discussion. At first she was rather cynical about how analytical it had seemed. After a while she was just curious about how anyone could stop reading long enough to write a little note, or mark the page. But this book, found at a second-hand book store, had intrigued her when she read the first page. Curious, she paid for it and took it home to see how the story had been told. She had had some Post-It’s on the table beside her reading chair. A particular expression caught her attention and, without thinking, she had picked up the bright pink sticky notes, scribbled the couple of words on it and marked her page. Now that the book had come to an end, there were several little pink flags on the pages. Reading had taken on a different hue. She read the words all the same, but understood and appreciated the depth of the story differently. That’s all it had taken for her to change and develop a new practice. The example of her group and her own curiosity about ‘why’.

“The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, 

even but a millimeter the way people look at reality, then you can change it.”

~ James Baldwin

Home Making

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
Crispy, warm and delicious
I don’t have to be curious to 
mix and stir, shape and space carefully on cookie sheets ~ bake and patiently wait.

Memories of homemade cookies
from the past has me paging through cook books, loose recipes and Google
 ~ any sources of made at home deliciousness.

“Today me will live in the moment, unless it is unpleasant, 
in which case me will eat a cookie.”

~ Cookie Monster

Recipe at:  
www.food.com

Donald Trump: My Opinion

I’ve just read a letter from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania regarding their concerns about Donald Trump’s statements throughout this electioneering. Prideful statements about his attendance and intolerant statements toward many marginalized groups.

I have limited my own discussions and tempered my opinions about The Donald because I did not want to give him any more attention. Not that my one small voice, in this corner of another country he may not even be aware of, would make a difference in the grand scheme of things. As I’ve listened to the rhetoric, keeping relatively silent, I have been curious about this stance of mine, not providing any more energy to this individual and his antics.

The letter I read was published in the GOPOCALYPSE, an online ‘newspaper’. “Standing by and not taking him seriously is what gave him the Republican presidential nomination.” 

For the record: This man, Donald Trump, frightens me. His rhetoric, his blustering, and his appearance that he is stupid. I do not think for one minute that he is stupid. I am afraid that his performance is flash that covers his real opinions and intentions. It is so unbelievable that anyone running for the highest office in the United States could be so full of himself in such an arrogant, crass and frightening manner. Being accepted by any political party!

So there is my opinion about Donald Trump. He is a very, frightening man. I am afraid of the powerful relationships that he has formed given he is running for an even more powerful position!

“Don’t judge a man by his opinions, 

but what his opinions have made of him.”

~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Read the full article at: www.gopocalypse.org

A Walk in the Park

I set out this afternoon for a Sunday Drive. Thetis Lake was a possibility, but the vagaries of GPS had me arriving at Goldstream Provincial Park. Though I’ve been on Vancouver Island for over ten years, I only occasionally go on a wander outside of Victoria and still really need to rely on my GPS.

When I saw the turn off to Goldstream Provincial Park, it was a great relief. Once I stepped out in the cool leafy air, it was a great curiosity. I had been driving for quite a while, it was lovely and hot and I had just wanted to find a picnic table, and I found so much more. In clear a river that runs through Goldstream Provincial Park, salmon spawn each year. Most abundant are Chum salmon, but there have also been other varieties of salmon seen. I was not fortunate enough, or maybe patient enough, to see any although at this time of year I think they would be quite tiny. 

My mistaken direction took me to this lovely part of the Island, only 20 minutes from Victoria. Unless you take a very scenic route!

“The poetry of the earth 

is never dead.”

~ John Keats

Author's note: Edited and reformatted January 22, 2024