This is a sweet little story that came to mind a few days ago that I thought I’d share. I’m sure every interaction has a little gift inside it or a little “takeaway” if you look hard enough but I believe that these gifts are magnified if you freely give of your self and your time. For example, I can remember one hospice patient, George. I visited him off and on for several years and he loved for me to read to him from the Thich Nhat Hanh book that always sat on his bedside table. He was never able to speak to me but sometimes I’d look over at him and he’d have tears streaming down his face because he was so moved by the words and I certainly was not immune. To this day, I have a great appreciation for the writing of Thich Nhat Hanh and for me, George lives on through his work. To me, that’s a gift but that’s certainly not the only one I’ve received from companioning the dying.
Two Decembers ago, I went over and did reiki on a man who was dying in his home. I think I was able to get in about three or four visits before he passed away on New Years Eve. At the start of my first visit, I asked him if he wanted me to play any specific music and he pointed to a nearby shelf which was full of cd’s and requested that I play a specific cd from a Mozart boxed set. I was totally game. I’d never done reiki to Mozart before so I was interested to see how that would change the energy in the room. All I can say is, as soon as the music came on, I could feel a shockwave of energy surge go through my mind and body! I was swaying around my client’s bed in time to the music, skillfully dodging oxygen tubes and various other monitoring equipment, and everything felt effortless. It was a transformative experience for me. The combination of classical music and energy work is an unexpected dream pairing. I can totally see why doctors recommend playing classical music to babies in the womb. The few more times that I was lucky enough to visit him, he’d ask his daughter to get the Mozart ready and we’d get to work. It was magic.
The last time that I saw him, he tried to give me his beloved Mozart boxed set but volunteers are discouraged from accepting gifts like that so I politely declined. Trust me, I wanted to take it from him–just to have a piece of something this wonderful man loved so much–but I really didn’t want to have his daughter see me walking out with it. That would look sketchy so I told myself that I’d track it down somewhere. Well, I should have taken it because I scoured the internet and I could not find that exact set anywhere…so I gave up entirely. About a month later, I was at an IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies) meeting in Syracuse and they had about eight random items on a table when you walked in. If you donated money, you could choose one item off the table. Well, wouldn’t you know it, amongst the unwanted bits and bobs was the Best of Mozart cd sitting there waiting for little old me! I threw them my money and thanked my special friend for making sure that I got my gift after all. I’m still looking for that specific boxed set because there’s music on there that I haven’t been able to find elsewhere but I love my cd and I listen to it in my car everyday and think of him.
The Unmaker 