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MERI Center Blog

June 11, 2020
SMS Meeting Poems

Hope to Sin Only in the Service of Waking Up 

by Alice Walker

Hope never to believe it is your duty or right to harm another simply because you mistakenly believe they are not you.

Hope to understand suffering as the hard assignment even in school you wished to avoid. But could not.

Hope to be imperfect in all the ways that keep you growing.

Hope never to see another not even a blade of grass that is beyond your joy.

Hope not to be a snob the very day Love shows up in love’s work clothes.

Hope to see your own skin in the wood grains of your house.

Hope to talk to trees & at last tell them everything you’ve always thought.

Hope at the end to enter the Unknown knowing yourself. Forgetting yourself also. 

Hope to be consumed to disappear into your own Love.

Hope to know where you are –Paradise–if nobody else does.

Hope that every failure is an arrow pointing toward enlightenment.

Hope to sin only in the service of waking up.

May 6, 2020

This week Judy revisited a grounding exercise for our resilience tip of the week:

 

April 29, 2020
Resilience Tips

April 23, 2020
Resilience Tips

Judy's Resilience Tip fo the week:  The Power of Good Memories

 

April 15, 2020
Resilience Tips

Judy Long's Resilience Tip from April 15, 2020: Metta Phrases


Metta for Caregivers
(from Joan Halifax, Being with Dying teachers’ manual)

The emphasis in these practices is on balance—the balance between opening one’s heart endlessly, and accepting the limits of what one can do. The balance between compassion and equanimity. Compassion is the trembling or the quivering of the heart in response to suffering. Equanimity is a spacious stillness that can accept things as they are. The balance of compassion and equanimity allow us to care, and yet not get overwhelmed and unable to cope because of that caring.

The phrases we use reflect this balance. Choose some phrases that are personally meaningful to you. You can alter them in any way, or use one that you have created out of your unique personal significance.

To begin the practice, take as comfortable a position as possible, sitting or lying down. Take a few deep soft breaths to let your body settle. Bring your attention to your breath, and begin to silently say your chosen phrases in rhythm with the breath…you can also experiment with just having your...

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April 8, 2020
Resilience Tips

Judy Long, Chaplain, Weekly Resilience Tip

April 1, 2020
Resilience Tips

We will strive to bring you video resilience tips from Judy Long, Chaplain, recorded from the weekly UCSF symptom Management interdisciplinary team meetings. Here's this week's tip: Self-Compassion

Thank you Judy for sharing your wisdom with us!

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