Doing is Being

As I continue to connect the dots in creating and observing the “Big Picture” in my life, one of the connections I’ve been blessed to make is my introduction to The Good Listening Project.

I have found their work extremely insightful personally and professionally as it pertains to care of the dying, and care of myself. I was introduced to them when I volunteered to have a poem written for me as I shared a deeply personal story at the AAHPM Annual Assembly in 2023. That cathartic experience hooked me, and since then, I have gotten to know their leadership and understand their mission. All of it truly speaks to the "ART and science" of being a physician. I invite you to visit their website (The Good Listening Project) to learn about all that they do to foster the collaboration of healthcare and the humanities via poetry.

I recently completed training to be a Certified Listener Poet, and as a result, had the opportunity to be a volunteer poemee (the person who’s story is a source for a poet). The poet who listened to my story was Brook Wyers, one of the amazing folks who is in the current training cohort. Brook is a faculty SLL Writing Specialist at the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). She invited me to talk for 20 minutes about something that was on my heart or in my mind at the time. I talked about being retired.

This poem and origin story perfectly captured what I shared with her, and as poems often do, it serves as a unique and impactful mirror to reflect in a gentle way the jumble of thoughts and feelings that we allow to run loose in our heads and hearts.

There is a teaching in the understanding of spiritual pain that reminds us that in doing deep work, the soul is shy and needs to be approached indirectly, often through the use of a third thing, such as a poem.

Brook’s poem and origin story narrative follow: