Asking questions.

"The patient has all the answers, they are the expert in their diseases...it's up to the doc to ask the right questions."
--Dr. Larry Weed, MD. Inventor of the "problem-oriented medical record, and guest lecturer at Tufts Medical around 1981.

* * * *

I wish I'd kept track. The number of times per year that I pulled out the above quote from Dr. Weed...probably about 10 or 20. Over my eighteen or so years of part- and full-time teaching, that's a lot of med students and residents whom I hope to have influenced. That one bullet point from a lecture made a huge diff in my practice and my teaching.

Later teachers called it, "Patient-centered medical care." Duh. Except that in the rush in the mid-20th century to specialize and sub-specialize, along with mastering the increasingly predominant lab and technology involved in modern medicine...right, you guessed it (or, you were there)...the patient rather got lost in the weeds out beyond left field, and the old-time GP (general practitioner) was elbowed aside as a curmudgeonly and irrelevant old uncle...oh, and, ignorant, too.

Well, what goes around...in 1969, the GPs decided that riding in the baggage car of the medical train was no fun: the American Academy of Family Practice was formed, in an effort to keep alive the practice of medicine that was indeed patient-focused rather than disease-focused. I just loved being a family doc, with the challenges of knowing a whole lot in both breadth and in depth, and guiding my patients through the congested landscape of modern, technological, specialist-laden medical practice.

The best part was asking questions of my patients. Wide open questions. Questions that you could drive a truck through, such as, "So, tell me more about this problem..."
and, my favorite, "Okay, give me more details....uh-huh, what else?"

Writing is kinda like that, except one part of my brain poses the question, and another part tells the fingers what is the answer.

"Tell me more about how those guys escape. Details, please."
[Sound effect of quill scratching away on parchment.]


Writing...don't try to have all the right answers...but pray to ask the right questions. Hmm, do you suppose that works in other arenas? [Relationships? Religion? An alternative to ranting?]

God wants us to grow and discover

God wants us to grow and discover...and He accompanies us as we pursue deeper knowledge and understanding of Him and His world and His people.
                 --Loyola Press, daily retreats.

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"...pursue deeper knowledge and understanding..." I really like that. Reminds me of the mental ferment of college/med school. While I enjoyed learning in high school, much was just factual knowledge, but college was much more analytical. "Why didn't we ever explore the 'whys' like this in high school? I'd have loved US History then!" was one thought that came back rather often. Or, reading stuff like the bio of Ben Franklin or John Adams--that gives a framework on which to hang US history--again, too bad things aren't taught that way.

In my senior yr of college, taking an economics course, I went to the library and read another book on econ theory. No prof had ever suggested doing anything outside the curric--why didn't this light dawn earlier? Regardless, I cite it as an example of the pursuit of deeper and wider understanding of God's world.

Pursuing a plot line that is populated by characters of my own devising--now that's a pursuit that would be almost too much fun to call work! Except, of course, that it is hard work. What are my biggest challenges?

--the tyranny of the urgent: there's always some other little project here or there that is slightly higher on the perceived priority list

--distractions

--writing too much detail, getting bogged down...shoot, if I think it's boring, it's gonna be even worse for a reader...and then, I'm tempted to spend time editing/fixing/re-writing that problem ppgh rather than just plowing forward. Right, like a snowplow in winter--just make your first pass and get the road open, don't try to get the road perfectly clean and cleared all the way to the edge! Besides, if the plow comes to a stop, it may have a hard time getting restarted if the grade is steep and the heavy snow is deep. (THIS IS HILARIOUS! It's high 90s out right now, here in the Arizona desert!!!)

--distractions.

--did I mention distractions, I was just thinking about something else, right after I Googled an idea, oh, and then had to write it in an email to myself as a reminder...?

Okay, in all seriousness, how am I doing with the pursuit of knowledge of God, his people, and his world?

Let's run with this question...I'll be back later, after reflecting for a bit. Meanwhile, hop on in to the discussion.

Thnx,

David

The art of writing...poetry.

The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
--Aristotle.

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     Writing poetry.

Hmm. Rarely a profitable job. 

Not commonly read by a wide audience.

Why write it at all?

 

Honest answer: it helps me to look at the world through different lenses.

 

Writing poetry helps me focus more on words, their sounds, their shapes, and their rhythms...hah, that said, I've always liked playing with words, word games, writing doggerel, and playing with long words with the intent to confuse, amuse, amaze, astound, and confound. True story: talking about a somewhat sensitive subject with my boss...with the office door open, I warned him that I was about lapse into "polysyllabic circumlocutory utterances." He laughed, "David, I am certain that I have never, ever heard that word in conversation." He probably hoped never to hear it again, either!

 

 

Writing poetry makes common things a bit less common.

 

Writing poetry forces me to take a step back, slow down, and to think in wider circles.

Phooey on circles.

Spheres!

 

Poetry embraces reality but tries to peel off the outer layers,

layers that may hide, disguise, or merely clothe the truth in easily-ignored togs.

 

 

Clearly see.

Reality.

Sets me free.

Poetry.

 

 

   

    

 



On Grazing.

Little blocks of time and effort may yield great outcomes.
--D. Lyn Wood.

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I was reading this blog, pondering a bit, and wondering how applicable this concept of "grazing" was...no, wondering how generalizable it was. When I was a family physician teaching my patients about dieting, I would often tell them a similar story of grazing as did the author of the blog link above. "Eat a little here, a little there, and make sure it's healthy, avoiding dips and dressings on your fruits and veggies."

I quite enjoyed how that author and the many who commented applied "grazing," particularly to the task of writing. My first book, JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF GOD, was written while I was still working full time, taking my nights and weekends on call, teaching Sunday School, attending board meetings, and giving attention to my wife and three kids...oh, you get the drift. Anyhoo, I wrote that 500 page book in spite of other things going on.

What have you been putting off, "I don't have enough time"? Especially, "I cannot put enough time together at once to be worth it."

Humbug, say the majority of comments on that blog about grazing, agreeing that, as with most things in life, slow but steady still wins most races. It's just a case of redefining "steady" to mean, "steadily coming back to the task and adding another several strides down the road."

Longings.

Do you long for the day when political parties are really parties? With cake? And ice cream?

Do you long for the day, back when a child's birthday party was just the biggest event in the world?

Do you long for times ago, or times ahead?

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Reading Mitch Albom's THE TIMEKEEPER, it's an interesting reflection on how we spend so much of our lives wishing for things that aren't, or can't, or mayhaps will be...but, we don't do a good job of being in the here and now.

A good writer captures that sense of yearning, a sense that seems to be pretty much universal, IMHO. Is there something innate in all of us, a yearning for the divine, a "God-shaped hole" that we (sadly) try to fill with everything apart from the one peg that perfectly fits that hole? What's your experience? My experience...well, I think my awareness of a need for God grew and matured over the years, but I never tried very hard to hammer anything else into God's place. Oh, sure, there were other little gods yammering for my attention, often successfully, but they were never anywhere near as good as the God of the Bible at explaining things, at focusing my vision, or at forgiving me when I wandered, wander, and will wander again!

What keeps you grounded in the here and now, the people you are with right now? I'd like to bless you with the thought that Jesus, teaching His disciples how to pray, told them to focus on the simplest, most basic things: daily bread, the tiniest temptations, and forgiveness--given daily and accepted daily. And, to do the simple little things as per "All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten": take care of one another, be nice, always say please and thank you...and, I think the Bible would put an extra emphasis on that part about taking care of one another.

What do you yearn for? What indeed keeps you focused and useful and on task? What is your relationship with God like? Or not? Let's talk.