Daily Pause

Today we reflect with a prophecy made by Hopi Elders in June 2000. Reading this 20 years later, we find ourselves in a time where “the river is flowing very fast and there are those who will be afraid. Know the river has its destination.” The opportunity to change meaningfully is happening all around us. Will we be the ones we are waiting for? This was shared by Wendy Nickerson, Department Administrator for the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Paired with a photograph by Christi Belcourt titled “The Wisdom of the Universe” that was shared as a part of the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s “Hearts of Our People:Native Women Artists”- the first ever museum retrospective of Native American and Canadian female artists.

Today we pause with a beautiful poem by Nikki Giovanni titled “Allowables”. This poem explores the response that fear creates and the overarching theme that fear does not warrant death. This bears a deeper look into the many black lives that have been lost to police violence. Just because something scares you doesn’t mean you have the right to take its life. Paired with a very literal complement--a photograph of a spider.

Today we offer up “Sleeping in the Forest” by Mary Oliver as our daily pause with nature. This piece is almost as soothing as the idea of spending a night on the cool mossy floor of a forest, with the stars serving as your night light. Paired with a picture by Dr. Jon Hallberg.

We're all experiencing a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, so Mary Oliver's poem, "I Worried," seems especially appropriate now.

In honor of Bastille Day, we offer the following song, Ne me quitte pas ("Don't leave me"), written in 1959 by the singer-songwriter Jacques Brel.  This version is sung by the incomparable Nina Simone. (We've included an English translation of the lyrics below.) As healthcare professionals, these lyrics might be interpreted in a second way, different from the love song that the author intended, but as a plea for dying patients, “don’t leave me…”.  In either interpretation, enjoy the dose of culture on this gloomy day.