Today marks 1 year since the police chase/car accident that I survived with my friend Nancy -- and I don't use the word survive lightly. It was a moment to believe and disbelieve all at once. And it was the first time in my life that I actually knew I had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So wrong....
So let's right it .... that's the thought I woke up with this morning. I have replayed the events in my mind a million times and when my mind takes a break from it, residual pain in my body sends a reminder. While doctors and friends were concerned that I had broken or torn something, I intuitively knew that the only thing broken was my spirit. But I have healed -- slowly, surely, gratefully and I am here to say that the greatest component in the get well equation was kindness.
Recently, a study was done at Stanford University that reveals a growing body of scientific evidence that kindness holds the power to heal. The study states that kindness should be viewed as an indispensable part of the healing process. After all, it's been in the Hippocratic Oath for over a century: "I will remember that... warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug." Kindness then is something we take and something we give and in the process of it all, it becomes the greatest of healers. Distribute abundantly!
I know that it was not my fault for being down, but I also understand that it was my responsibility to get back up.... "pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again." Today I thank my dear family and my dear friends for the tireless way you listened to my story especially when it was repeated often, for holding me while I cried, and for celebrating me back to life. Thank you for helping me get back up! Especially, I thank Nancy for holding my hand when I asked her to-- in the middle of the darkness and trauma. I can still feel the electricity of her touch in that moment-- it made us safe I think. The simple act of holding hands creates a bond and the strength of a bond with another human can take you to places unimaginable. There is a force in it.
My idea of "righting" the wrong is to continue on the path I've just recently started to reclaim strength in my body. Slow and sure! I want to work harder at being kind to myself so that I can spread greater kindness to all of you in my life who matter. And I want to stop looking over my shoulder. Noone knows what's coming, so look forward, move forward and live passionately.
Today, hold hands, be kind, and celebrate those you love. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson,
"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late."
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