As a new nurse practitioner, I was practicing conventional (Western Medicine) at an acute facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I wasn’t connected with my spirituality back then as much as I am now. When a patient had stones in her bra for protection, I pretended I understood, but in my brain I was like, “what is this?!” (It was myself and my Ego struggle, but that’s for another story) 😉
One particular male patient I had, was a little ‘out there’. He had total electrolyte imbalances, so I attributed his unique characteristics to that. I wish I remembered his name. He was at the facility to recover and go back home from some acute ailment. Nobody wanted to go into his room because he would keep the CNAs and staff occupied for hours. Including me. I knew that if I went into his room I would be working a 16 hour day by the time I got done charting. But, as the only medical provider on site, I did have to go check on him routinely to make sure his medication regimen and overall health was in check.
One day he was talking to me about a spiritual group that he belonged to with these other ladies and raved about how enlightening their talks were. He told me how powerful women were and clearly was very passionate about the power of the feminine. At this time, I didn’t really understand what he truly meant.
And then during one assessment, he said something to me that I’ll never forget. As I was looking him over he stopped me and said, “Wow… You will have many experiences in this lifetime. There are a lot of experiences coming your way”. I took him down to physical therapy and he even told one of the therapist, “Hey! She is going to have many experiences in her life!” I looked wide eye and grinned at the therapist, and shrugged it off and went about my day. That sentence did make me stop with gratitude and look back at all of the experiences I already had.
I now think about him often… It finally connected with me! I always had that curiosity of what he would have told me about life if I would have just taken the time to be present and listen. Life lays things down as they need to be laid, so I’m sure that the wisdom he bestowed upon me that day, was exactly what I needed to hear and carry with me at that time.
What I’ve learned about experiences since then is that there are no good or bad experiences. Things that happen in life are just experiences. There are no labels… Nothing in life that happens is ‘good’ nothing in life that happens is ‘bad’. It just IS. It is the experiences that create the journey and path we are on. If we remember that no experience is bad, then we can always carry that hope that what is in store for us is a lesson to be learned or a path to be explored. An experience is always there to serve a higher purpose for our soul.
Someday I’ll have to meet him again so we can chat about our experiences. This time, I’ll give him as much time as he would like…
<3 Steph