Teach Only Love by Gerald G. & Jampolsky M.D

Author:Gerald G. & Jampolsky, M.D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

Only the Gift of the Heart Matters

The gift we give to others is held within the quiet content of our mind and not just in our words or deeds. The following account, which Sharon Tennison wrote during a sixteen-hour shift with a patient, illustrates the potential strength and beauty of our silent gifts.

A forty-year-old black male schoolteacher lying quietly in bed . a subarachnoid hemorrhage yesterday . today he is immobilized, waiting out the bleed in his head. It could abate or blow at any time.

The room is quiet . curtains pulled to reduce sensory stimulation . vital signs and neuro checks done hourly to monitor his condition . ready for any eventuality. The environment is a tense peace, if that is possible.

A little Basque priest making his usual rounds comes in. With real concern he inquires quietly about my patient’s condition. I am touched as he walks to the bedrail, holds his hand—palm down—about twelve inches over the man’s head, and begins to pray silently. Minutes later he makes a sweeping slow cross over the top part of my patient and quietly fades out of the room. I am aware of tears in my eyes. Why does this touch the heart and soul within me so? This little priest, looking to be in his sixties, salt-and-pepper hair, no taller than five-foot-three, walks around the hospital comforting the grieving, encouraging the sick, and praying with the dying. And here he is today, praying over and loving a sleeping man who doesn’t even know him—or know that he is there. And this is his work in the world. He does it with great dignity and compassion.

How many times are there those who are silently holding us in loving thought or prayer when it is completely unknown to us? And I wonder if this might contribute significantly to our life energy. If the scientists and visionaries of the new age are correct, we are linked by a common energy or life force, and the thoughts and energy of one person can affect another.

Which brings me to a haunting possibility—that it does make a difference to every person I am around, or even pass in the hall or on the street, what kind of energy I am emitting. Is it a smile carrying a silent message of love, a quiet acknowledgment that says to them, “I must be worthy. That person thought enough of me to speak?” Or am I throwing out preoccupied energy, keeping in my little mental igloo and encouraging others to do the same? How closed off when I choose the latter . how much warmth and understanding when I choose the former.

And my mind slowly comes back from its journey into timeless possibilities, to the bed of this beautiful man, and I take up where the little Basque priest left off and am so touched and humbled by the possibility that we can enter into each other’s lives in this silent way.

Our attempts at giving are dissatisfying if we hold back a part of our love or approval at the time we offer our gift.

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