Going the extra mile

 I am at the end of a stressful week. 

Some weeks contain so many stressors at work, at home, and wherever you seem to go. Even the weather provided almost continuous heavy rain. But when reflecting at the end of the week, there are always some small lights, some star-like moments that shine a bit on our soul, to be super grateful for. 

 

I want to highlight here one of these moments that make all the stressors a bit lighter a bit more bearable. 

 

It was at about 9 pm, when I was in the middle of giving some serious advice to my son, that I got a phone call from a father of one my ex-patients. His son has Down syndrome and was immediately after birth, admitted for almost two months in our ward. Now he is four months old and had symptoms of shortness of breath with fever. The father was scared that his son would end up in busy areas where he would have contact with COVID patients when he would bring his son to the hospital. 

 

I made a call to my medical officer on call. At that time he was relatively free and took very generously the extra mile to attend immediately to the patient in the emergency dept and get him quickly to the ward safely. The baby received care in an optimal way while still respecting all precautions necessary for COVID. 

 

 The parents were so happy with the care. If we can help parents in need like this it gives us the peace of mind we need so much, especially during stressful periods. I want to sincerely thank in many ways my medical officers who, many times, are so kind to parents and go the extra mile to ensure the best possible care (not only medically but also in terms of maximal psychological support) for our small patients.

 

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 
😀*no copyright - while sharing, just mention author *😀

 

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

Have you ever imagined how it would be to live in a perfect world.

Some thoughts on that, in the following links:

blog post (to read): perfect world

video (sit back,relax and watch/listen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7u9hTRM1t0&t=35s

Growing

 At the end of this month we have ten brilliant paediatricians graduating from our training program (MMed in Paediatrics, USM). I am perfectly sure they will go into careers that make our department and university proud.

Whenever someone graduates from our program, it is a bit like cutting ties that were there for years. They will be no longer directly connected to our institution, except as alumni. And while reflecting on that, I felt I had to write this piece as a few final words of advice.

 

Everything in the world seems to be subjected to a cycle of creation, maintenance and destruction. (quote inspired by Emily Fletcher). This is so clear from history: It only takes to think about what happened to all big empires (Athens, Rome, Egypt,...) and is now happening to the USA (once they want to go in maintenance mode, -xenophobia, only caring to maintain what is there already, no new immigrants, not caring about climate, aka "trumpism"-, destruction is just around the corner). Similarly companies going in maintenance mode are doomed to go down (simple examples Nokia and Blackberry). This deeper meaning is that when we go into maintenance mode, we are one step closer to the destruction mode. 

At this moment our new grads must be enjoying the feeling of a great achievement. They deserve to enjoy the fact of becoming a paediatrician. My simple advice, I wanted to share here, is: after  celebrating for awhile, go back into creative mode. Choose a sub-specialty, make it happen, and keep working towards making a superb contribution to make the world around us a bit better. Do not go into maintenance mode. Keep creating, keep putting personal growth in a priority spot. Allow yourself to grow, not only in the field of paediatrics, but keep on learning about many other things. Keep a loving open mind and enjoy the next and next and then next journey to newer tops each time. Each new top does not have to be higher, but make it more beautiful, more peaceful. There is superb peace and beauty in rendering selfless service. 

I wish all lots and lots of success. Surely to all new paediatricians, but also to each of you reading this message. Keep on growing (not physically because after a certain age we tend to grow in the wrong direction😂, but in terms of knowledge, character, personality, emotionally, happiness, ....).

Giving it away...

  I was praying for peace

But our universe had provided peace already.

All I had to do is stop my crazy train of thoughts,

listen to the silence of the natural sounds around me

and enjoy the peace I was bathing in.

 

  I was praying for beauty

But our universe had provided beauty already for me.

All I had to do was to look at the sky, the flowers

observe the trees and listen to the birds

and enjoy the beauty I was bathing in.

 

  Then I thought, I can certainly pray for love.

Love is not coming our way easily. 

But that was again not exactly the truth:

the joy of love lies in giving it away,

rather than in simply receiving it.

 

  

  There is so much love sitting in our heart since birth.The great pleasure we find in love is when we manage to give it away.The universe provides free refills and our refills tend to be different:

they tend to be bigger and of higher quality still than the original. Love is abundant in our heart; it is a great pleasure to give it away.

 

  Problems with love arise when we expect love back. Letting the love flow from our heart, without expectations, is a true source of joy and peace of mind. It will flow to anyone we encounter, anyone we meet. Not everyone will love us back, but the love coming our wayif we graciously give it away to anyone we meet, will be abundant.

 

  If we target our love only to the ones whom we expect, will give it back,

we often get disappointed and because our love was targeted,

we may not enjoy the positive responses of so many others. 

 

  This writing is not about romance or erotic love.

It is about the Love with capital letter 'L' 

Give tonnes of it to your closest family

Give tonnes of it to your neighbours

Give tonnes of it to your friends

Give tonnes of it to strangers

Give tonnes of it to anyone we meet.

It sits in our heart. Not everyone will appreciate our love and give it back

but if we give it without expectation, it will be of such a high quality

that the love flowing back from others to us, may never cease :)

 

A bit closer to home

  Yesterday, I walked all the way to Melawi. Melawi is a place about 3 km from my house.It is a wonderful walk along the beach of the South China Sea. Upon reaching Melawi, I took a small rest, enjoyed the beauty of the Melawi river mouth meeting the sea and then i returned.

  When I started the long walk back (at my age, 3 km is a bit of a long walk), I felt a bit tired and a thought arose, with a wish to be home. But then I became aware that every step I made, brought me 1 step closer to home. I decided to fully enjoy the walk. I felt consciously the pleasantly lukewarm sea water on the skin of my feet and my ankles. the waves create a pleasant flow. The wind against the skin of my cheeks and cooling my torso. I could feel the wavy sand under the soles of my feet. I looked and inhaled the colours of the afternoon sea, from brown to azure to turquoise, with a few small clouds creating darker spots on the immense water surface. The colours and iodium in the air were caressing my lungs. 

 

   My legs, my back were still tired, but I did not feel them anymore. Every single step was enjoyed with an intensity of knowing that these steps would not last forever. 

  This morning, while I reflected upon yesterday, the memories of the walk back gave me pleasure. I became grateful to the Creative Intelligence that made all this possible. Then the following thoughts occurred: 

  Is not our life a bit like this as well? Sometimes we get a bit tired of all the challenges, but if we manage to consciously enjoy the beauty and wonders in it, we forget that we were tired. Every second, every minute brings us a bit closer to home, which may be a fantastic place but the journey will be finished. Let us consciously become aware of the blessings of being alive and enjoy our journey of life, step by step, day by day. Challenges will always be there, but with the right thinking, we can find solutions and overcome them in a great way. The big motto of enjoying the journey, so true. Let us enjoy the journey and choose happiness today, while we fully experience all the miracles of being alive.

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Reverence for life

 When we look, 

we see faces, we see eyes, we see smiles

we see beauty, we see deformity

We judge.

 When we think

we see what people did or did not do for us

we reflect on whath other said or did not say to us

We judge

 But when we try to look 

to our fellow human beings as souls

with their own convictions and feelings

their own motivations and sufferings

We tend to judge a lot less. 

Reverence for life, means 

seeing the inherent worthiness 

of every living being. 

Let us be reverent for life ...

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/