“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.” ~ Khalil Gibran. I was introduced to the poet Khalil Gibran in high school. I don’t know who was the first person to find and share ‘The Prophet’ but his prose […]
“Don’t you know yet? It is your light that lights the worlds.” ~ Rumi. I was fortunate to grow up without many fears. My mother was a very matter-of-fact person, so you were expected to face life head on, and deal with whatever came your way. Moving to rural Jamaica from an English city meant […]
FMM 11 5 2021 Soul Imprints “Live a life full of humility, gratitude, intellectual curiosity, and never stop learning.” ~ Gza. I never met my mother-in-law. She died in childbirth, tragically, leaving behind a husband and young children. My father-in-law I first met through letters and photographs, until I finally met him on my first […]
“Only humility will lead us to unity, and unity will lead to peace.” ~ Mother Theresa. The first time I visited New Jersey was on my way to New York city on a Greyhound bus. To be honest we were just driving through it, but took an unplanned break in Newark. My father had decided […]
“The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” ~ Muriel Rukeyser. The art of science is to be able to make it comprehensible to common man. I remember learning ‘General Science’ in high school, and learning about the water cycle. To illustrate this concept, we had to draw a body of water, the sun […]
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ~ Anton Chekhov. I don’t remember learning about ‘therapeutic communication’ when I was in nursing school forty years ago. Of course, some concepts have earned names which change over time, but being taught how to respond to patients, especially […]
“Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.” ~ Robert Fulghum. The soundtrack of my teenage years was mostly composed of reggae (along with its forbears the ska and rocksteady), with a layer of ‘soul’ music flowing through. It took a while for original Jamaican music to be […]
“Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light. Above all things reverence thyself.” ~ Pythagoras. I believe I have always had a fascination with nature. As I got ready to leave Jamaica after high school to go to nursing school in the UK, I made sure to take plenty of photographs. […]
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.” ~ Emily Dickinson. I realized some time ago, that the secret to living in a land not of your birth, is to be able to eat the food. One way […]
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl. When I was young, I hated being called the ‘baby’ of the family. I was the youngest, big distinction. I did not like to be picked up […]