Wood Chips
From the shores of Lake Superior (The Third Coast)
Over recent years, the Cedar Tree Institute facilitated a series of small-group dialogs around creative ways to deal with life-threatening illness. Each participant of this project was dealing with threatening diagnosis regarding their own health. This wasn’t a theoretical exercise for any of us.
These days of the Coronavirus provide opportunities to explore ways of building immunity and resilience. Here’s an on-the-ground practice we ran across that, over time, may do just that for you.
The Secret of the Golden Stitch
Psychiatrist and healer Judith Orluff, member of the medical faculty at UCLA’s School of Medicine, frequently refers to experiences of “The Golden Stitch.” Orluff describes such small, important moments when we experience compassion, courage, and grace. She believes these “stitches in time” literally, not figuratively, hold the universe together.
Such often-overlooked interactions occur in circumstances that can never be acknowledged on a professional resume. Unfortunately, those in roles of political and even ecclesiastical authority frequently dismiss them. At the same time, Orluff suggests these “golden stitches” are windows into what Paul Tillich refers to as “The Eternal Now.” Available to each of us, as we give and receive to one another in the very most mundane ways, they can be recognized until our last breath. These moments need to be affirmed and celebrated, no matter how small or passing. When all is said and done, they may be, actually, the only things that finally endure.
At the closing of one of our group sessions, I recall carrying with me memories of the experiences of the six or seven “golden stitches” that were shared that morning. It felt that as I was leaving our gathering, I was being clothed in a “golden robe.” If you choose to follow such a practice, you may find such a similar comfort is waiting for you as well. Even, ironically, in what are for many of us, and those we love, historically hard and difficult times.
Jon Magnuson
The Cedar Tree Institute
“Wood Chips” is a series of brief reflections written by Jon Magnuson, Director of the Cedar Tree Institute.
