So Long Lansing MI> Hello Detroit Aiport, Boarding For Tampa yesterday

Not perfectly lined up in three shots

BUT

closeups in sections of the clock tower

to the right

of the

9/11 memorial on the right side

corner

in Lansing MICHIGAN!

Another amazing sight to behold while I was there!

And this is inside close up of the bottom third...

Rather stunning isn't it?

I looked on amazed at it's workings!

So now,

it is up to you to line it all up

in a perfect architectural line

of great beauty

cos' it truly was!

Now about three blocks in the other direction of the Radisson

where I stayed...

was a most lovely view of the capital there

And on the little streets

more eateries than one could count

and

the oldest bank in Lansing with lovely

architectural style

and one way streets

and

folks walking here and there

Not very far

from

the

Home of

MICHIGAN STATE

the home of the Spartans

and

a stadium that holds 75,000 people

that is usually field when the folks

follow their team

to successes

on the football and basketball seasons

inside and out.

AND

where Magic Johnson

began a career that

left people glued to the screen

and the auditoriums

as he

amazed and delighted

as a point guard

then moved on to the Lakers!

"Oh how Kamryn will be delighted to receive his Jersey from Michigan State"!

And at the end of a particularly long and draining

seminar with a small group of Professionals

including a physician, a couple of nurse practitioners,

lovely social workers, a physician assistant,

a funeral industry worker who had fabulous self care tools solidly intact and was not sure why she had come to this session, and others who were demonstrating signs and symptoms of Compassion Fatigue

and

more than 3/4's of the room who have trouble sleeping;

and speaking to a few afterwards...

I went for a walk

and looked down to the most remarkable

"dinner plate size hibiscus"

only a few steps later to discover one

in

PURPLE

on my way to see the capital!

What a lovely gift they were to my eyes and senses.

After two most incredible days in Michigan

with health and mental health professionals in

Traverse City and Grand Rapids

I was rather amazed at the small turn out

in Lansing

the home of the capital, the home of the

9/11 Remembrance Memorial.

BUT

there was also a few nurses in the small crowd

including a couple together that were great friends;

both each others best support systems

with one having been a nurse working for 39 years.

She had humor, she had Compassion fatigue

and

luckily they both had each other for support

during the hard work they do.

There were three sitting in the back row

I believe they were social workers;

one in the profession 1 year, one 16 months, and the other a fun young woman with a lot on her plate now

as her dad is dying and in hospice care.

I enjoyed her so, and she purchased a copy

of

Healing Heartaches to give her "MeMae"

as a gift and has been a social worker for only a short time maybe a year or two.

AFter lunch a switch had happened; that was unlike any city or state I had been in. They seemed to have lost their comfort zone as a result of one or two other persons in the room, as a few told me after the seminar.

They could not laugh anymore; they appeared weary

and

I worked hard to restore that for them

but to no avail.

It was rather heart breaking to see

and

I felt badly for them

even the funny slides did not prompt laughter for them

nor re circuit the brain to allow them permission

to laugh or relax.

It was as if they were overloaded

or

exhausted by their own issues or that they were just

done for the day.

As flat as it felt and appeared

I DO BELIEVE THE WORLD IS ROUND.

Having spoken across the globe, I think pehaps their compassion fatigue had perhaps been placed in front of them, and they were now having to feel the impact of it

now that it had been put in the frontal lobes of the brain and a couple had questioned the validity of it.

Sometimes getting real is asking for self honestyand self honesty means self transparency, which requires the the ability to to look inward to cultivate insight and questing ones own self beliefs while stepping out of one's comfort zone.

But essential to that development of self honesty

is the ability and need to suspend judgment

and criticism

and to halt judgment

and the automatic response of immediately categorizing a concept or idea according to an already exist set of ideas of what right might be right, wrong, good or bad, or possible or impossible; what may be well thought o if or not, pronounced to your liking or not, what may be funny or not.

Suspending or putting a stop to your personal/professional judgment is not easy for others; it takes stepping outside of yourself and being open, while temporarily stepping outside of self and into others!

This requires feeling safe in a room of those you do not know and letting go of ego, and accepting that we all are one, guided by the Universal Energy of all.

As I have spoken to thousands across the lands

I have been told that

unquestionable beliefs; those basic ideas we hold feverishly too that often become stagnant or outdated over time can have remarkable powers to shape our perception by creating expectations within us

can often and do often project onto the external world and those living within in it.

That may be some of the problem we have in the world today along with standing shoulder to shoulder with others along with finding new ways to do things

and

to coexist with others and new ideas!

Those things we feel and think are selected and shaped to a great extent by what we unconsciously expect to experience and

ultimately become

"self fulfilling prophecies"

and then

we then give mixed messages to our brains

and continually are amazed when we get mixed results.

People like to be right about things, the need to be right is one of our strongest and most strongly defended intentions it seems. Mostly because is supports and enforces the ego illusion like this:

"I alone am special, different and somehow more entitled than others."

We see this daily in our lives, by those on the HIll up there arguing for what is right for the people,

in the medical communities

when hearing doctors fighting within their fields

and

then feeling superior to nurses or social workers

or chiropractors

or patients

as if their titles make them better or more special.

We see it in families, when one or many stand in judgment of others and think they always know more, a better way of doing things

and

would rather not speak, but harbor ill will

rather than utter that

they are "sorry for words spoken in anger or haste, or ugliness".

The Ego is a mighty thing isn't it?

I often tell thousands I speak with

in

Compassion Fatigue seminars across the lands

that

support is critical; that self-honesty, personal responsibility, and that openness to want to balance body mind and spirit

with self care are essential

to healing self in order to best care for others.

I stress the value of humor

and

that self care and humor are not optional,

and

I have stressed it here

more times than not.

And, when this slide showed on humor near the end of the day and less than 10% of the audience laughed loud... I knew that someone had pulled the plug, the line had gone flat on the engagement, energy, emotion of the day, the safe zone was gone for those there to experience fully...

1. Their brains were on overload

from a day filled with information

2. Their Compassion Fatigue was just too much

3. The mood had shifted as a result of some just not able to now feel comfortable anymore

BUT

it was a first as at that time of the day, with the seminar being powerful, the individual work being done

and

the humor and its importance recognized

and

this slide usually evoking great laughter

and release.

So friends,

as a few dropped by to say so long and thank you, others left quickly and quietly after handing in evaluations and picking up their CEU's

some said it was a good/great evaluation.

One said it was

"thought provoking"

and rather engage in some of the exericse

I couldn't help but noticing she was writing feverishly the slides that were shown.
I am ever so glad that
I do not take tylenol for the fevers of others.

I couldn't help but think of the others in the last two days,
the sounds of the laughter shared in both cities, as I reflected on their willingness to step out of thei comfort zones,
the area of practice to embrace and honor the stories of each other, while stepping through their stories of pain, and the stories they hold inside
some of their traumas they have attended to and by the afternoon talk about how good it felt to hear not only the sound of their own laughter but that of the others in the room.
In those other Michigan cities people left feeling much lighter, having exhanged phone numbers and names so that they would have established a supportive network that would help them in their work of combating
compassion fatigue in the future
using the tools they recieved from a day together of
hard work, refinding old tools and new
ways of implementing them
thanks to
PESI/CMI bringing them together
for this seminar.
I truly hope that some of the folks of
Lansing will find their way to others
and be able to do the same
in their city
and
in their life.

After I thanked my coordinator and we visited a bit, she packed up all the information to be shipped back to WI,

and she herself headed home for a 2 hour drive to her home.

I took a walk and then

met a lovely young man

named MIKE

in the bar

and enjoyed a lovely dinner.

I have forgotten the water's name but he too was delightful.

I never met the GM as it seems they are not visible like at the

Holiday INN in Traverse City!

BUT

the room service tray sat outside my door for two days and nights

without being picked up although I did inform folks at the desk!

I enjoyed Mike at the bar, he was delightful, kind and friendly and

will be entering Michigan State

with great hopes of a PhD in Math

and hopes to teach at a University.

"Best of luck MIKE"

you will be great!

I also had the fortune of meeting a young man named Jason

the Valet

who also kept a watchful eye on my comings and goings

and

was most delightful and helpful

I felt safe under his eye

and

I hope he will move on up to manager

because he knows how to treat guests there.

I was up at 430am and off to return the rental car as Avis said it was due back at 6am.

Well I was there in plenty of time,

standing at an empty counter after filling it up and parking, recording the mileage and keeping my part of the contract.

After 20 minutes still no agent, I noticed a box and it said,

drop the contract and keys in the slot.

Problem was,

slot was taped closed,

then noticed the sign that said, if we are closed go to the budget counter!

Went to the budget Rental Car Counter where I saw a sign that read,

"If we are closed please see the

AVIS Counter".

Returned to Avis,

dialed the friendly 800 number and after waiting and waiting

spoke to three agents

and

then was told,

"uh, ere, well, you can leave the keys and contract on the desk behind the counter".

I said

"Would you like me to leave the GPS there as well, since I now have been here 45 minutes and have a flight to catch".

To which they replied,

"Only if you want to be responsible, I would suggest leaving the airport, returning to the car, locking it in the car, returning to the counter and then leaving the keys and the document behind the counter for the next available agent"...

You can imagine, at that hour at that point

AVIS had entered my "happy place, and managed to drop a brick on it."

So I let them know my thoughts on their

professionalism, their information system for customers, and promply hung up

after also letting them know that their are other rental agencies.

Arrived at my gate and had to have a bite to eat...
Met a lovely woman at the small counter of the
Spartan Pub,
Jimmy Dean sausage/egg/cheese muffin, milk, coffee
and a conversation with an unemployed
social worker
who NEEDS to be working in the field!
We talked a bit and she was friendly and kind.
Thank you Ms Spartan Pub Social Worker!

I found TSA and they liked me, I liked them

it was off to Detroit,

air to ground 38 minutes,

taxi time seemed much longer to the gate.

DETROIT TO TAMPA

in my happy place.

CLICKING MY HEELS at the baggage claim,

Action Sedans waiting for me

trunk open

Michelle takes my bags,

I'm in the back seat, resisting the urge to ask her to pull over so I can

kiss the waters edge.

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN

><

Color me happy.

Met an absolutely wonderful woman on the plane who works for the

Detroit Medical Center

and

we had a lovely conversation.

Hope she will let me know

she needs me to come out and do a keynote

at her next event for her staff their,

I would love to see Detroit,

The Motor City

and

home to some fine muscians.

I learned that if a person in Lansing was diagnosed with Cancer,
they should get to
Detroit Medical Center
or
University of Detroit
as they are cutting edge in Cancer treatment and research
and
this woman was bright, powerful
and
had years of experience. She was real, she was a woman that reminded me of those I have had the honor to work with before
"no nonsense, but with a passion that continues".
Thanks Dr Iris, it was an honor to meet you.

So
there you go,
another virtual and very real journey
now it is time to rest.

Happy Saturday
to all.

Mom is doing great, back from
"La La land" almost off the pain meds
and doing much better.
She returns via chauffer Angie to NC for her follow up with the Cancer Doc
and we are praying and saying
"cancer free"
and
that she will return to a life that is now
like the good ole' days
of no more health scares, no more deaths who are ill or dying
and
a life lived with joy and stress free for
COB.
She thanks all here for your support and prayers.

The fire is lit, burning brightly and the sage is going up,
with hope, healing and prayers in the air
for all who enter here.
Will be asking for some special strength for some warriors tomorrow.

"The Life you live is either inspiration
or Desperation"

Walk In Beauty,
DRSES
author of
Healing Heartaches
www.drsherryeshowalter.com