Living to belong!

Anna  and I felt carried to the history of culture, attire, life style and social practices of tribal communities as we witnessed an annual cultural event of an institution. It was an afternoon of recollections, choral singing, dance, drama and narrations of the yester years. 

The distinctiveness of each tribe with its habits and rituals enacted in the stage, created a feeling of diversity existing in an ambience of cohesion and harmony!

Life is in formation. That was evident, in the way the staff and students of the institution from multiple tribal backgrounds, whose tribal heritages carried hostility towards each other for decades, displayed the process of evolving integration and fraternity! The fellowship of partnership and collaboration between tribal groups was well symbolised in the life of the institution which is in its 18th year. 

This voice of this togetherness is a strong counter to the President of the United States of America, the premiers of Russia and Israel and few other countries who bring into democratic politics, issues of ethnicity, nationality, religion and territorial control for domination and authoritarianism. 

What amazed Anna and me was the diverse colours and patterns of the attire they wore! The variety filled the air;  the cordiality and camaraderie brought togetherness and fraternity !

Life in that sense is in transformation. The past is the bedrock of the history of their formative journey and the present is an explicit expression of how their journey as different tribal groups is leading them to embrace each other as fellow travellers for a common destiny of purpose and fulfilment. 

What Anna and I heard, while sitting along with the staff and students of the institution, was the choral singing of graceful invitation to feel loved by God who heals and reconciles all of us to grow in belonging!  

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Inspirational craftsmanship!

The above photos of a handicraft emporium gave Anna and me a glimpse of the creative pursuit of craftsmanship still prevalent in a  tribal community !

They retain and celebrate traditions and heritage!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Seeing the hidden buds!

The rose flower above in the first photo is an unedited version captured with an automatic mode in a Lumux camera with a 400 mm lens at day break in our garden. 

The second and third photos are after altering the exposure and brilliance with the editing software. 

Each photo gives different details. 

I played with the editing software to get different versions of the flower,  each giving a distinct version of the flower!

I listened to a friend yesterday about a stressful situation in an organisation that he has recently been requested to be involved in. I listened to the stressful situation in the organisation from five others in the recent weeks. They were versions of events, hurts, disruptions and disappointments. 

Listening to this friend yesterday brought another perspective as his  narration was all about finding the path ahead with a redeeming, restorative and renewal perspective. He saw an opportunity to find healing by moving forward rather than staying frozen in the details of what happened! 

I remember seeing activities on a rive bank to protect flooding of the land area on one side of river which is a residential area. The geological planning involved gently turning the direction of the river, de-silting the river bed and strengthening the embankment. The river flow is therefore regulated. 

I realised how the friend who shared his concerns about the situation in the organisation was finding a way forward by attending to facilitate the movement process by restoring  communicative, reconciliatory and upbuilding exercise. 

Too often relationships and communications remain disrupted for too long that they lead to dampen trust, cordiality and collaboration. 

The different shades of the same flower represent the perceptive differences which create unnecessary divisions  or polarisation.

The flooding by the river is attended to by restorative process to allow the river to flow normally!

I like the way this friend captured the heart of the restorative process with his eyes focussed on the future by exploring different ways to revive the journey forward by opening doors of possibilities for collaborative planning and action! He saw the narrow door and the corridor ahead while others whom I listened to seemed still submerged in  disappointment.

I realise that the intuitive sense with a prophetic optic is what often leads to revival and renewal in the direction of an organisation or an institution, when waylaid by difficulties and hurdles! 

It is such a voice of hope that most people look forward to, to trust in the future and embrace  the transition!

The flower above is in a bunch of hidden buds waiting to open! 

The visionary thinkers are those who see the hidden buds and not the flower alone!

Yesterday's conversation was such an encounter experience!

I read in Proverbs 11: 6 this text yesterday: ' Sow your seed in the morning, and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed or whether both of them alike will be good"

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

An Exercise park for families!

I noticed a children's play area mostly designed with bamboo constructions, getting transformed into an Exercise park for families in a hospital campus. It therefore has picnic spots, play areas for children and exercise areas for adults. I found this integrated approach interesting for three reasons. 

The hospital is actively prospering the mission of family times of leisure and togetherness. It is a message that there is another world beyond the closed door of a home where leisure times are mostly TV viewing times or indoor play times. 

The call to move and exercise across all ages in a family comes at a time when reduced mobility causes the body to suffer from  overweight, compromised exercise tolerance and activity deprivation.

Having a space created for an exercise park in a public space, which people pass by while going and returning from work is a statement of purpose, calling for interspersing work with a plan for self care. 

The three purposes of family times, call to move and self care are the statements that I picked up while walking around the Exercise park, yesterday morning. I noticed the director of the hospital early in the morning in the park engaging the workers and attending to the creation of the environment. 

I remember while engaged with couple of organisations during my mid life, this theme of wellness of the staff came up for dialogue.   The staff engaging in health care delivery for people coming to the hospital need attention to live in the wellness plane. At that time overweight, or stress affecting the body with an early onset of fatigue or non communicable diseases was not so pronounced as it is today! The Life Style Medicine Unit at Christian Medical College, Vellore is a trend setter to create this awareness even more. It started a regular weekly conversation with staff of the hospital on an on line mode to create a dialogue forum for wellness as a way of life. The post graduate on line diploma programme the unit offers to health care professionals is another direction to incorporate wellness as the ground from which all health care professional can live and function. 

A creche for children, a Gymnasium for adults, courts for games and sports, music room and indoor space for multiple uses are common in a hospital campus. 

The Exercise park for families is a step further in bringing the family unit into the centre of attention to promote wellness and upbuilding!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A formative journey!

 

This pile of stones in a property facing a river fascinated me. The stones appear as if they were polished to look smooth in multiple of shapes. Each stone has its story of origin, movement, duration of having been in the river bed and offering a shelter for life to survive in the water body. Theirs was a life of movements by the current of  water for being shaped. Now they would enter into another role once in the dry land. 

Now the individual stones make a pile, creating an appearance of  a mass of well finished art work. The river and the river bed gave that formative experience to each stone, which started its rolling journey propelled by the running water of the river.  The stones with sharp edges and rough surfaces have become new with different shapes and sizes with a smooth surface!

The sight of this mass of stones created a ripple within me! I too have been moved and formed in life by different situations and events spread over life time. The first cry of an infant at birth is a sign of life ! The first cry is an aspirational announcement that the infant seeks for life to be well lived!

This instinctual first cry is both a physiological event and a life event with a mystical dimension, beyond comprehension!

It is a life event because the first breath creates an integrated respiratory-cardiovascualr- nervous system connection to make life in the body to thrive. 

From this initial life event we move on in life across eight stages of life according to the theory of Eric Erickson, a German-American psychoanalyst, who described the passage into life from infancy to being an elder. Each stage is described with a formative process. 

This schematic presentation of life's maturational and aspirational journey was initiated by the first cry at birth!

The question that surfaced within me as I live in the late seventh decade of my life is, how am I being formed to live generatively to integrate reality and egocentricity of this stage of my life! Knowing that this journey is towards the last breath, there is the gift of opportunity to become rounded and whole ! Some slip into despair and many live vibrantly in the advancing years because they live remembering the first cry which was an aspiration to live life and that too fully and over flowingly. 

The pile of stones represented to me the transformation the stones experienced in allowing to be formed by the environment in the flowing river. 

Every circumstance is therefore formative and not adversorial!

That gives an affirming and refreshing outlook to life, living and learning!

A senior person whom I met recently, whom I knew from my student days, now ahead of me in his age, said, in a joyful way, 'Each day brings an air of blessing to my soul and God is watching over my life'! What a state of contentment and jubilation!

Most of us would have thought that the destruction of human life and property during the second world war was a formative event to influence human conscience to seek for peace and human brotherhood for generations. But eighty five years later,  we see enmity and destruction imposed upon by sound minds upon others in Gaza, Ukraine, and some other places. 

When will human lives be lived on earth formatively and altruistically! 

I wish human beings will embrace God consciousness to feel loved and made ready to 'love our neighbour as ourselves'

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

From being a patient to becoming a person!

During a visit to a hospital, Anna and I had an opportunity to meet with a senior nurse and her team of colleagues, who are involved in a form of 'outreach' to patients. They are involved in helping some patients to discover the resident artistic skills, hitherto unknown to them. 

We saw a display of ideas on paper craft, Chinese painting, cloth painting, and designing articles from waste materials.

When we listened to the story of design and creation of some of the materials on display, we realised how patients on treatment for different clinical conditions during the hospital stay were enabled to express themselves and discover the hidden skills of originality. 

Anna and I  felt inspired by this story. Three cheers to the team of professionals in the hospital who attend to the clinical needs of patients but also see in them resources that remain unknown to them. This effort of the team of the professionals to befriend patients to lead them discover their artistic skills, is a unique function bringing a new culture in patient care. What a fascinating experience it was to discover the scope of 'patient education'  beyond treatment education or health education to 'life skill formative education' !

What touched us was the philosophy behind it. Many patients can find a new experience of inner healing or delightful awareness about themselves towards recapturing their own selfhood! From the body related preoccupation because of illness, patients are led to see the 'abundance' that resides them. The patients become pathfinders for their wellness!

I realised how a hospital becomes a temple of healing through this provision offered  to some patients. In that sense for some patients a visit to this hospital became a pilgrimage in reviving their self knowledge and awakening an aspiration to pursue after!

Listening to the director of the hospital we realised that this department was intentionally created to offer healing, health and wholeness to give people a future beyond just existing or treating an illness! This is the transformational mission of the hospital!

What an enlarged outlook of life well beyond medical care!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The fullness in the weak!

The Pink Powder Puff flowers above on the hedge of a garden caught my attention yesterday because they looked radiant in the morning sun. 

They have a short life and have a colourful presence. Its vibrant presence is its message!

The slender filamentous petals look vulnerable and fragile! But I noticed them just sway in the wind and did not get blown away. It defies heat, humidity, wind and rain! Its strength is a mystery!

Anna and I happened to listen to the biography of person, who left his home to a far away place to get a job to earn enough to continue his study. He moved on to complete his post graduate studies and qualified to  be well employed now. He did not get dragged or subdued by his circumstances. He became an overcomer because he had a vision of being valuable being !

While listening to a family of two doctors, who attend to their son with multiple developmental needs, I noticed a radiance in their disposition and grace in the conversation, while sharing the daily rhythm of experiences. They now have a programme to attend to the needs of a few developmentally challenged children, organised at their home! They moved beyond their constraining circumstances to be resourceful and upbuilding in their mission!

The 'weakness' of  the flower above or the straining circumstances of  are not the picture one gathers as we draw near to the realities they represent. 

The 'weak' among us might have a resilience within them that can transcend to touch other lives to enliven them. 

That is how I felt at the end of the day, while recalling the sight of the flower and conversation with three people. 

The message of those whom we consider as weak, becomes one of inspiration as we allow to revise our first impression!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)