When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
\nTime takes on the strain until it breaks;
\nThen all the unattended stress falls in
\nOn the mind like an endless, increasing weight.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The light in the mind becomes dim.
\nThings you could take in your stride before
\nNow become laborsome events of will.<\/p>\n
Weariness invades your spirit.
\nGravity begins falling inside you,
\nDragging down every bone.<\/p>\n
The tide you never valued has gone out.
\nAnd you are marooned on unsure ground.
\nSomething within you has closed down;
\nAnd you cannot push yourself back to life.<\/p>\n
You have been forced to enter empty time.
\nThe desire that drove you has relinquished.
\nThere is nothing else to do now but rest
\nAnd patiently learn to receive the self
\nYou have forsaken\u00a0in the race of days.<\/p>\n
At first your thinking will darken
\nAnd sadness take over like listless weather.
\nThe flow of unwept tears will frighten you.<\/p>\n
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
\nNow your soul has come to take you back.<\/p>\n
Take refuge in your senses, open up
\nTo all the small miracles you rushed through.<\/p>\n
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
\nWhen it falls slow and free.<\/p>\n
Imitate the habit of twilight,
\nTaking time to open the well of color
\nThat fostered the brightness of day.<\/p>\n
Draw alongside the silence of stone
\nUntil its calmness can claim you.
\nBe excessively gentle with yourself.<\/p>\n
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
\nLearn to linger around someone of ease
\nWho feels they have all the time in the world.<\/p>\n
Gradually, you will return to yourself, \n Oh, Covid-19 and all your many strains\u2026you may be small, but your impact is HUGE!\u00a0 In reading Annabel Beerel\u2019s book Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories, <\/em>I found a book that is real and alive in my current context now as a leader in healthcare.\u00a0 I know, as she mentioned, the pandemic affected every person and industry, working in healthcare presented a significant challenge.<\/p>\n \n An Abbreviated story:<\/p>\n In Hospice, we did not lock down, we masked up (double masked with homemade masks as we did not have any to wear) or we kept daily paper bags where we would place our used masks and know that we could wear again in a week, we gowned up, used homemade vodka-based hand sanitizer and we showed up at bedside.\u00a0 As a Chaplain I faced many facilities, who had been decimated like a war zone, refuse my entry because I was \u201cnot essential\u201d until the government clarified that all members of a hospice team were essential.\u00a0 Once allowed in I spent my time yelling at patients through my mask and face shield words of compassion, touching their hands with gloves I sat with facility workers devastated, removed from their homes to keep exposure down.\u00a0 I sat as they cried, expressed fears, and extreme exhaustion.\u00a0 I am very aware that all of us faced very difficult challenges in our contexts so in no way think what I shared was different or more difficult. It was (and is) all difficult, for all of us.\u00a0 The above blessing is called \u201cFor one who is Exhausted\u201d <\/em>by John O\u2019Donohue, and it stays in my blessing rolodex, because I find myself back to this space of exhaustion often, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n A Leaders call:<\/p>\n Rethinking Leadership <\/em>is a book I have already included in my Doctoral Project and will be on the top of my list of books to go back to and read cover to cover.\u00a0 It is timely, relevant and I have already given it as a next book for my boss to read.<\/p>\n I read a few of the chapters, but was most drawn to Chapter 7, Leadership in times of crisis<\/em>. \u201cHandling a crisis well demands being a quick learner, with courage to face reality and to hold people\u2019s feet to the fire to do the same\u201d[2]<\/a>. Yes, our ability to adapt and learn and face reality is a life lesson we all must learn whether it\u2019s a world pandemic or our own very personal crisis.\u00a0 \u201cLeading in a time of crisis requires multiple skills. These include a calm demeanor, the courage to speak to reality, an ability to find clarity amid chaos, a capacity for deep empathy, and sensitivity to timing,\u201d[3]<\/a> as well as when she said, \u201cA most important aspect of leading during times of crises is to help people find meaning and purpose.\u201d[4]<\/a> I could almost use this as a subtitle to my NPO!\u00a0 I am studying and designing a \u201chow to have a goals of care conversation\u201d for healthcare workers.\u00a0 It requires all of the skills above in real time as you meet with individuals facing their own crisis.\u00a0 This book is worth the money I spent on it, for sure.<\/p>\n A Leaders burden:<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important task of leadership is identifying, framing and aligning people to new realities.\u201d[5] \u00a0<\/a>I cannot think of a harder task!\u00a0 It requires a willingness to acknowledge what is happening now, and sometimes even think of worst-case scenarios, and somehow get people to follow, whew.\u00a0 Time to go ready the blessing again. Beerel notes \u201cBecause so many new realities are continuously arriving on so many fronts, it is difficult to notice and apprehend them all.\u00a0 In fact, it is impossible. Leaders therefore need to encourage others to participate in identifying new realities that may potentially influence their systems or their spheres of influence.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 I believe Beerel made note as most of us did, that we spent a good amount of time at the beginning of pandemic in denial.\u00a0 Most of us were in \u201creactive mode\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cwe filter out, edit, rationalize, ignore, defer, and become quite blind to truths we do not want to or cannot bear to hear.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n \n What to do?:<\/p>\n Beerel gave us many theories in this book and in times of crisis she noted that Adaptive leadership and Transpersonal leadership alongside technical and adaptive work is what is most beneficial in times of crisis.\u00a0 I plan to keep this book as I continue to walk through my leadership journey.\u00a0 I am excited to read how you all were impacted or not?<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n [1]<\/a> O\u2019Donohue, John. To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings <\/em>(New York, Double Day,\u00a0 2008) pg 125.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Beerel, Annabel. Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories. <\/em>(England, Routledge, 2021) pg. 164<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Beerel, pg 163.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid, pg.166<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Ibid, pg 166<\/p>\n
\nHaving learned a new respect for your heart
\nAnd the joy that dwells far within slow time.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n