Note: Mixing it up today with a poetry post. It’s darker in tone, but speaks to things like vision and responsibility, and what happens when they are absent. 

The City is Contagious

Empty streets, crowded alleys
not a soul to be seen
unless you know where to look.
Change is in the air
traveling as hushed whispers
and uncertain glances.
An invisible feeling is
ever-present in the hearts and minds
of those who call this home
casting shadows darker than before.
Sinister plans disguised as hope
and catalyzed with fear
abscond with our ambition and
weaken our resolve
as we feign ignorance
to avoid responsibility
for the decay and depravity
that has crept within our walls.
A black mold plaguing our foundation
that is hiding in plain sight.
Without vision cities perish
consumed by it’s residents
and reduced to ashes.
Unable to sustain life
it is abandoned and forgotten,
the ruins standing as a testament
to our pestilence.

I’ve been doing some of these handwritten images on facebook and twitter.  This one had a particularly great response, so I wanted to share it here and see the discussion it sparks.  Please share how your dreams have changed or been let go of and why.

It’s December, though you wouldn’t know it here in North Carolina until you see all the Christmas decorations.  The snow-blanketed Christmases of my youth have been replaced by sunny and 50ºF.  I’m not complaining.   For my family (wife, dog, me) December means travel time — preparation, planning, packing, and I’m sure a whole host of other things beginning with a “p.”

This year I found myself reflecting on my trip home last December.  It wasn’t monumental or life-changing, but a few days after I returned to Carolina I felt compelled to write a list of things I learned during the trip home.  Some of them were real-world reinforcements of the blatantly obvious, some were things I knew but didn’t know, some hit me like a ton of bricks.  All were poignant.   Today I share that list with you.

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We all get to a point where we keep doing what we are doing, largely because it is what we have been doing (insanity!).  It’s habit, it’s ritual, it’s even escapism because it feels easy and safe.  Then comes your moment of reckoning — is this what you envisioned?  Are you truly creating art, or just adding to the noise on the internet?  Are you using your gifts and uniqueness, or suppressing them to conform to a perceived standard?

Once you have asked these questions, there is no going back.  You can try, but it will remain in the back of your mind creating discontent until you reach the point where you give in to what is scary, but right.  Here’s what I’ve been wrestling with recently:

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I was talking with a patient this morning, and as she was explaining the stress in her life to me I realized that many people have not heard the full story on stress, how the body responds to it, and what it does to their bodies over time.  This is another conversation I have daily, so I wanted to share it with you.  First, I will tell you a story about a stressful event, and then we will break it down afterward.

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Today I would like to share a story with you from an unknown author.  It is applicable in many ways, but as you are reading it, think of yourself as the carpenter of your body.  You hold within you the power to lead a long, healthy life if you use the right materials and the right effort.  God supplied the blueprint, and daily we provide the materials to rebuild.  Build wisely, and live abundantly.

The Carpenter’s Story

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.   (more…)

Common heartburn drugs are under fire, as a series of studies from the Archives of Internal Medicine released on Monday demonstrating serious side effects such as increase in fractures and bacterial infections.

Collectively, these drugs are called proton pump inhibitors, but they are better known as Nexium (AstraZeneca), Prilosec (AstraZeneca), Protonix (Pfizer), and Prevacid (Takeda).  These medicines have a total U.S. sales of 13.9 billion annually, as an estimated 113 million prescriptions are filled each year.  Dr. Michael Katz, director for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, states that 60 to 70 percent of people taking proton pump inhibitors do not need to be on them.  This problem is augmented by people being unaware of the risk until now.   (more…)