All for one and one for all........

I've taken apart my last posting, in hopes pieces of it will be more manageable for those of you with nano seconds to spare!  "Pieces" of it will appear periodically. The whole of course,  will always remain.  Cheers!

Photo by Kelly McCoy Swann

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but ofchoice.  Choose to live a life that matters-- Clarissa Pinkole Estes 


No one can get intravenous access on her and she is terrified of needles.  I decide to do guided imagery with her, as I've seen people's veins relax and plump up when I do this practice and it seems to go much easier for them.  So I explain everything to the patient, what we're going to try and she looks skeptical, but ok she'll give it a go.  I do the scenario I've been using a lot lately with women.  I ask them their favorite flower and color and then we go through opening the five senses to the image of the flower going from a tightly closed bud to it being in its fullest glory.  I'm breathing with the woman and then I notice how distracted from the experience she is; she's not getting into it.  And then I notice, how bored and disengaged I am.  I am so bored with this well practiced scenario! It's not working for her. It's not working for me. Ok, let's get with the program.  I look around the room to get a clue as to who this woman is. She has books stacked everywhere.  I say, “So, you like to read.”  And she brightens up, saying yes and describes her life long affair with the written word.  I ask her if she knows the book The Three Musketeers and she says, of course.  I say, "do you know that familiar phrase from the book, 'one for all and all for one'?" and she smiles.  "Well, that's what we're doing here.  You need an IV to get this really important medicine. So we have to get all of you on board with this-- it's all for one and one for all time."  She totally gets this.  She breathes, thinks of her flower and in goes the needle, giving her access. "Cool," she says.  Cool, indeed.  This  experience reminds me how necessary it is for me to be engaged.  This business isn't automatic. One has to be in the moment. It can't be repeated. Every hard stick is different, because every person is different.  We all have similar equipment, but these subtle differences in one's humanity impact each body's response.