Sangha of Auspicious Companions

August 27, 2012

a project of ServiceSpace

The Literary Physician & How Stories Heal

When physician-writer William Carlos Williams was asked how he managed his dual careers, he replied, “It’s no strain. In fact, the one nourishes the other, even if at times I’ve groaned to the contrary.” It’s a philosophy shared by Rita Charon, director of a new program in narrative medicine at Columbia University, where students and clinicians learn to shape the fragments of medical work — a symptom, a conflict, a difficult conversation — into coherent narratives that reflect not only their points of view but also the patient’s. Here, Charon explains how a habit of narrative writing can change the way a medical professional sees her patients and herself. { read more }

Be The Change

Bring narrative writing to your next project or activity, tying a variety of perspectives into a cohesive thread.

DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers “good news” to 119,312 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here.

Other ServiceSpace projects include:

HelpOthers // CF Sites // KarmaTube // Conversations // More

ENDURING SUCCESS

It is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire, it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common sense and becoming careless and arrogant. As it is said, “Nothing corrupts a person more than power.” Very powerful people sometimes become so proud that they no longer care about their actions or about the effect they have on others. Losing any sense of right and wrong, they create severe problems for themselves and everyone else.

Even if we have all the success we could dream of—fame, wealth, and so on—we must understand that these things have no real substance. Attachment does not come from having things, but from the way our mind reacts to them. It is fine to participate in good circumstances, provided we can see that they have no real essence. They may come and they may go. When seeing this, we will not become so attached. Even if we lose our wealth we will not be badly affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and arrogant.