Reflecting on small bits of beauty from this summer. 🌺 🪻🌼
Reflecting on small bits of beauty from this summer. 🌺 🪻🌼
Reflecting on small bits of beauty from this summer. 🌺 🪻🌼
Part I: Living Peacefully with Chronic Pain Our physical pain is invisible to those around us. Yet our insides are full to the brim with a relentless experience and heightened awareness of the pain inhabiting our bodies. How do we live with some ease, grace, an even temperament, & maintain (some?) happiness while enduring pain no one can see or medication barely touches? In this three part series, I share what I have and am learning about chronic pain. For me, it’s an intractable migraine, which comes once every 1.5 years or so, and sometimes lasts for months. This headache bloomed 23 May. Let’s explore this together, sharing what helps (and at times, giving others grace, and sharing what doesn’t help. I have to teach people how I need to be treated, which can be so annoying! Shouldn’t they just know?!). This three part conversation I’ll be sharing over the next few days is about the place of spiritual practice while abiding pain: Life is not always fair. Life is good. “God suffers with me.” “God is in me like butter is in milk.” I am grateful for these teachings from Fr Richard Rorh, and James Finley, both of the Center for Action and Contemplation. Who teaches you? #chronicpain #chronicillness
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
Bluegrass music on a Sweet Sabbath Sunday. The music of my soul. Station Inn has bluegrass gospel every Sunday. Pop sings with Val Storey and her pickers! He invited me to join and sing! Appalachian music is my heart. That “stranded on a desert island” question? I would only need bluegrass for all eternity. (Beethoven’s violin concerto is 2nd.) Blaine, KY: The old Judd homeplace, is also where Bluegrass legend Larry Cordle is from! I said to Mr. Larry, “Shirt Tail Branch….” and he completed my phrase: “….of Little Blaine.” Y’all that is a CREEK we are talking about it, and he knows and loves it! I remember clogging at bluegrass festivals as a child. (Anyone else ever clogged? Or done any “hollering?”) Pop and I then shared strawberry shortcake. I am replete. Music suggestions to start you with: Larry Sparks and Ricky Skaggs (try “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies”), and Patty Loveless “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”
While walking with chronic pain, I need safe-feeling interactions with others – loved ones and strangers. This is essential because connection and belonging are all the more important during times of feeling so unwell. Pain is isolating. Connection is healing. And yet our culture doesn’t teach us very well how to be with those who are hurting. We try to fix each other. Oh, God, please spare me the fixers. Please, however well-intentioned (and however much your practitioner, device, retreat, herbal formula, colonic, whatever, helped you) refrain from advice-giving. Please trust I truly want to be well and I have all good things in place and a support team for appropriate guidance. Instead, what truly supports and helps me? Wash my dishes. Make one of my appointments for me. Walk our dog. Let me put a pillow on your lap where I may rest my weary head. There is a delicate and often really difficult balance between advocating my own best interests & letting go completely. From my Pastor: “To walk with God is to dance between order & chaos, unified by grace. It we listen closely enough, our ear can catch the tune.” How do you seek having your needs met while walking with pain?
I have been encouraged to be intimately familiar with my values. Not just a broad sense of how I feel, like, “Family is the most important thing to me,” or, “I was raised with a faith tradition still practiced,” but to truly grasp and articulate what matters to me in my core. This helps me create meaning and purpose in my life, even while unable to participate in my usual sweep of activities and pursuits. Because when I am fluent with my values, I can access them easily, even while in pain, and do small things (maybe only one small thing) each day that is consistent with my values. This helps me make meaning and have purpose. Without which we flounder and despair. An example is my beloved Mary Tripp from KY, who had to come to town. I feel so unwell, yet I am thrilled she and her 17-year-old daughter will come to spend the night. I may not speak a word, but I can lay on the sofa with my eyes closed and listen to the melody of their voices, which is good for my soul. Providing hospitality, nurturing long friendships, knowing my friends’ children, & breaking bread together are absolutely core to my values. Citizenship. Faith. Being in nature. Relationships. Learning something. All parts of my values. Share some of yours in the comments.
I have been encouraged to be intimately familiar with my values. Not just a broad sense of how I feel, like, “Family is the most important thing to me,” or, “I was raised with a faith tradition still practiced,” but to truly grasp and articulate what matters to me in my core. This helps me create meaning and purpose in my life, even while unable to participate in my usual sweep of activities and pursuits. Because when I am fluent with my values, I can access them easily, even while in pain, and do small things (maybe only one small thing) each day that is consistent with my values. This helps me make meaning and have purpose. Without which we flounder and despair. An example is my beloved Mary Tripp from KY, who had to come to town. I feel so unwell, yet I am thrilled she and her 17-year-old daughter will come to spend the night. I may not speak a word, but I can lay on the sofa with my eyes closed and listen to the melody of their voices, which is good for my soul. Providing hospitality, nurturing long friendships, knowing my friends’ children, & breaking bread together are absolutely core to my values. Citizenship. Faith. Being in nature. Relationships. Learning something. All parts of my values. Share some of yours in the comments.
At the @SXSW panel, @ashley_judd, actress, advocate and suicide loss survivor, tells us caring for someone who’s struggling doesn’t mean we have to set aside our own happiness. Empathy is key to supporting those with mental health struggles. #SXSW
As a @UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, I join the humanitarian community today on #WorldHumanitarianDay, urging leaders to #ActForHumanity. Humanitarians bring hope when lives are ripped apart and the world is reduced to ashes and rubble. From Ukraine and South Sudan to Bangladesh and Türkiye, the humanitarians I have met delivering UNFPA’s services to women and girls are brave and inspirational, dedicating their lives to saving others, even when their own worlds have been turned upside down. 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse. These facts expose a glaring truth: the world is failing humanitarian workers and, by extension, the people they serve. While civilians, including aid workers, pay the ultimate price in unconscionable numbers, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, destroying homes, livelihoods, families and women’s bodies with impunity. This failure of humanity, responsibility and leadership cannot be allowed to continue. Attacks on humanitarian and health workers and assets must stop. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop. They are #NotATarget. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
As a @UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, I join the humanitarian community today on #WorldHumanitarianDay, urging leaders to #ActForHumanity. Humanitarians bring hope when lives are ripped apart and the world is reduced to ashes and rubble. From Ukraine and South Sudan to Bangladesh and Türkiye, the humanitarians I have met delivering UNFPA’s services to women and girls are brave and inspirational, dedicating their lives to saving others, even when their own worlds have been turned upside down. 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse. These facts expose a glaring truth: the world is failing humanitarian workers and, by extension, the people they serve. While civilians, including aid workers, pay the ultimate price in unconscionable numbers, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, destroying homes, livelihoods, families and women’s bodies with impunity. This failure of humanity, responsibility and leadership cannot be allowed to continue. Attacks on humanitarian and health workers and assets must stop. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop. They are #NotATarget. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
As a @UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, I join the humanitarian community today on #WorldHumanitarianDay, urging leaders to #ActForHumanity. Humanitarians bring hope when lives are ripped apart and the world is reduced to ashes and rubble. From Ukraine and South Sudan to Bangladesh and Türkiye, the humanitarians I have met delivering UNFPA’s services to women and girls are brave and inspirational, dedicating their lives to saving others, even when their own worlds have been turned upside down. 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse. These facts expose a glaring truth: the world is failing humanitarian workers and, by extension, the people they serve. While civilians, including aid workers, pay the ultimate price in unconscionable numbers, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, destroying homes, livelihoods, families and women’s bodies with impunity. This failure of humanity, responsibility and leadership cannot be allowed to continue. Attacks on humanitarian and health workers and assets must stop. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop. They are #NotATarget. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
As a @UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, I join the humanitarian community today on #WorldHumanitarianDay, urging leaders to #ActForHumanity. Humanitarians bring hope when lives are ripped apart and the world is reduced to ashes and rubble. From Ukraine and South Sudan to Bangladesh and Türkiye, the humanitarians I have met delivering UNFPA’s services to women and girls are brave and inspirational, dedicating their lives to saving others, even when their own worlds have been turned upside down. 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse. These facts expose a glaring truth: the world is failing humanitarian workers and, by extension, the people they serve. While civilians, including aid workers, pay the ultimate price in unconscionable numbers, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, destroying homes, livelihoods, families and women’s bodies with impunity. This failure of humanity, responsibility and leadership cannot be allowed to continue. Attacks on humanitarian and health workers and assets must stop. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop. They are #NotATarget. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
As a @UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, I join the humanitarian community today on #WorldHumanitarianDay, urging leaders to #ActForHumanity. Humanitarians bring hope when lives are ripped apart and the world is reduced to ashes and rubble. From Ukraine and South Sudan to Bangladesh and Türkiye, the humanitarians I have met delivering UNFPA’s services to women and girls are brave and inspirational, dedicating their lives to saving others, even when their own worlds have been turned upside down. 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse. These facts expose a glaring truth: the world is failing humanitarian workers and, by extension, the people they serve. While civilians, including aid workers, pay the ultimate price in unconscionable numbers, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, destroying homes, livelihoods, families and women’s bodies with impunity. This failure of humanity, responsibility and leadership cannot be allowed to continue. Attacks on humanitarian and health workers and assets must stop. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop. They are #NotATarget. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
As a @UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, I join the humanitarian community today on #WorldHumanitarianDay, urging leaders to #ActForHumanity. Humanitarians bring hope when lives are ripped apart and the world is reduced to ashes and rubble. From Ukraine and South Sudan to Bangladesh and Türkiye, the humanitarians I have met delivering UNFPA’s services to women and girls are brave and inspirational, dedicating their lives to saving others, even when their own worlds have been turned upside down. 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse. These facts expose a glaring truth: the world is failing humanitarian workers and, by extension, the people they serve. While civilians, including aid workers, pay the ultimate price in unconscionable numbers, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, destroying homes, livelihoods, families and women’s bodies with impunity. This failure of humanity, responsibility and leadership cannot be allowed to continue. Attacks on humanitarian and health workers and assets must stop. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop. They are #NotATarget. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
As a @UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, I join the humanitarian community today on #WorldHumanitarianDay, urging leaders to #ActForHumanity. Humanitarians bring hope when lives are ripped apart and the world is reduced to ashes and rubble. From Ukraine and South Sudan to Bangladesh and Türkiye, the humanitarians I have met delivering UNFPA’s services to women and girls are brave and inspirational, dedicating their lives to saving others, even when their own worlds have been turned upside down. 2023 marked the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse. These facts expose a glaring truth: the world is failing humanitarian workers and, by extension, the people they serve. While civilians, including aid workers, pay the ultimate price in unconscionable numbers, the perpetrators continue to evade justice, destroying homes, livelihoods, families and women’s bodies with impunity. This failure of humanity, responsibility and leadership cannot be allowed to continue. Attacks on humanitarian and health workers and assets must stop. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop. They are #NotATarget. It is time for those in power to end impunity and #ActForHumanity.
There are always choices for us to support each other. @ashley_judd, mental health advocate and suicide loss survivor and panelist at a @SXSW Festival panel, urges us to lean into this hope and promote helpful resources in our messages about mental health. #SXSW
