Serving More Wisely

     In our time of workaholism, substance abuse, materialism & other severe imbalances, secondary traumatization, burnout and suicides, we need a MUCH healthier perspective on life.

     "… an important teaching by Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen: ‘Helping, fixing, and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole.’ Remen explains that helping is based on inequality: ‘When we help we may inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them; we may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of self-worth, integrity and wholeness. When I help I am very aware of my own strength. But we don’t serve with our strength, we serve with ourselves. We draw from all of our experiences. Our limitations serve, our wounds serve, even our darkness can serve. The wholeness in us serves the wholeness in others and the wholeness of life.’" 
       Joan Halifax. “Standing at the Edge. Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet.” Flatiron Books, 2018.


     “Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of our words that we are able to effect the most profound changes in the people around us. When we listen, we offer with our attention an opportunity for wholeness. Our listening creates sanctuary for the homeless parts within the other person. That which has been denied, unloved, devalued by themselves and others. That which is hidden.... 
     Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life.” Rachel Naomi Remen MD

     “… the spiritual is inclusive. It is the deepest sense of belonging and participation. We all participate in the spiritual at all times, whether we know it or not. There’s no place to go to be separated from the spiritual, so perhaps one might say that the spiritual is that realm of human experience which religion attempts to connect us to through dogma and practice. Sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it fails. Religion is a bridge to the spiritual - but the spiritual lies beyond religion. Unfortunately in seeking the spiritual we may become attached to the bridge rather than crossing over it.” Rachel Naomi Remen MD
 
     "I am reminded that death, like love, is intimate, and that intimacy is the condition of the deepest learning.
     I am reminded, too, of the simplicity of the true teacher, and the power of story to include us in a web of connection far more profound than the superficial things that divide us.
     Ultimately, death is a close and personal encounter with the unknown. Many of those who have died and been revived by the skills of science tell us that the experience has revealed to them the purpose of life. This is not to become wealthy or famous or powerful. The purpose of every life is to grow in wisdom.” Rachel Naomi Remen MD

     “mindfulness concerns freeing oneself from misperceptions, thinking patterns, and self-imposed limitations that impede creativity, clear seeing, and optimal mental and physical health. Moreover, from both the Eastern and Western view, every individual has the intrinsic capacity to be mindful, and with intention and practice, mindfulness can garner strength and stability. In this sense, the greatest potential of mindfulness may emerge when one consciously decides to pursue mindfulness not as just a ‘tool’ in the proverbial toolbox, but as a way of seeing oneself and the world, or a conscious way of being and interacting.”
        Jeffrey Greeson, Eric L. Garland, David Black. “Mindfulness - A Transtherapeutic Approach for Transdiagnostic Mental Processes.” in Amanda Ie, Christelle T. Ngnoumen, Ellen J. Langer, eds.
 “The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Mindfulness
.” John Wiley & Sons, 2014. 

Taking Care of Ourselves More Wisely

"Sometimes I go about with pity for myself
and all the while Great Winds
are carrying me across the sky."             Ojibeway wisdom

     "Be still... drop in deeper... listen.... sense into these 'Great Winds' that carry you...."                                    WisdomAtWork.com

     It's normal & healthy to look after ourselves. But don't we at times flip-flop between self-neglect & overindulgence? 
     Consider the ideal grandparent. Doesn't she wisely nurture her beloved grandchild? Nurturing means providing whatever's needed to maximize the probability that a person, animal, plant or project will flourish, thrive. 
     Wise nurturing has at least three components: unconditional love, experience & patience.
     Experience requires not just time, but also quiet, patient, honest self-reflection - intentionally, humbly learning from our mistakes, as well as things that went well; always guided by the open question, 'What will nurture us, others & our environment in the long-run?'
     Unconditional love is very rare! It must come, first & foremost, from ourselves! We must generate this precious, vital nurturing energy through self-acceptance, self-compassion - recognizing ourselves as being human beings, instead of mythical superheros. Unconditional love is the one & only source of the essential energy that unleashes & fuels our full human potential.
     All this requires patience, for we need to listen deeply to re-connect with our authenticity. Authenticity is easily drowned out by noisy distractions and the roller-coaster artificial highs & lows of our adrenaline-junky lives. Wisdom waits patiently as we slowly realize that we're fed up with noise, and that we're much, much more than thrill-seeking children. 
     Wisdom awaits - AND - life is short.

Two Levels of Consciousness

     We’ve all experienced – and vividly remember – occasions when we were fully present, totally engaged in any of a wide variety of situations: while relaxing, caring for or loving a person or activity, including work. Such experiences stick with us because they stand out as qualitatively different from everyday life. 
     During such “wisdom” experiences, we’re intimate with whomever or whatever we vividly share the present moment. Self-talk fades away - our noisy, anxious self-concern having subsided. We become unconditional friendliness, kindness, peace, gentleness, patience, acceptance, equanimity, perseverance, stillness, silence & timelessness.

     How do wonderful “wisdom” experiences come to an abrupt end? Doesn’t “self talk” predictably burst onto the scene insisting that we “don’t have time” and must get back to focusing on our fears, worries & anxieties? So our noisy ego, anxious self-concern, our stressed-out “everyday mind” quickly & easily drowns out the peace & wonder of our innate wisdom. 
     Everyday mind so dominates, that we (mistakenly & to our detriment) assume that this primitive, fear-based, survivalist level of consciousness or operating system is literally who (& all that) we are. And it’s distressingly easy for most of us to remain trapped – by default – in this distorted, unrealistic, unhelpful, unhealthy state of mind. 

     “My mind is like a bad neighborhood, I try not to go there alone.” Annie Lamott
 
     Psychotherapists describe everyday mind as a real mess: 
     “an innumerable swarm of disconnected impulses, thoughts, reactions, opinions, and sensations, which are triggered into activity by causes of which he is totally unaware.”
     “a disconnected, helpless collection of impulses and reactions, a being of disharmonized mind, feeling, and instinct." 
       John Welwood ed. “Awakening the Heart. East / West Approaches to Psychotherapy and the Healing Relationship.” Shambhala, 1983.

      Wisdom is a completely natural, inherent, accessible part of our consciousness, intelligence, or operating system. Yet sadly, we're barely aware of it, don’t know how to intentionally access it, and don’t really trust it! And since most of us feel at least somewhat stressed most of the time, our stressed-out everyday mind becomes our default identity.

     "What we experience is our state of mind projected outward." Gerald G. Jampolsky MD

     “Wellbeing is not found by calming the mind, changing our thoughts, or adjusting our attitudes, but by actually shifting into a level of mind that is already calm and alert.”
       Loch Kelly. “Shift into Freedom. The Science and Practice of Open-hearted Awareness.” Sounds True, 2015. 

Opportunities Everywhere!

     “Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of our words that we are able to effect the most profound changes in the people around us. When we listen, we offer with our attention an opportunity for wholeness. Our listening creates sanctuary for the homeless parts within the other person. That which has been denied, unloved, devalued by themselves and others. That which is hidden.... 

     Perhaps the most important thing we bring to another person is the silence in us, not the sort of silence that is filled with unspoken criticism or hard withdrawal. The sort of silence that is a place of refuge, of rest, of acceptance of someone as they are. We are all hungry for this other silence. It is hard to find. In its presence we can remember something beyond the moment, a strength on which to build a life.”                  Rachel Naomi Remen 


     “Times of transition are strenuous, but I love them. They are an opportunity to purge, rethink priorities, and be intentional about new habits. We can make our new normal any way we want.”  
       Kristin Armstrong, professional road bicycle racer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, winner of the women's individual time trial in 2008, 2012 & 2016.
 

     “It’s no small thing to be born human. A lot of ‘stuff’ comes along with the opportunity of human life. Zazen (open-awareness meditation) is an incredible doorway for getting to the bottom of it all, and learning to live your life out of what you directly experience yourself: not what somebody tells you, not what you read, not because you should, but because your own direct experience of yourself and your life tells you what to do.”              John Daido Loori


     “Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed, do not squander your life.”            Dogen Zenji 



      “I think I’ve learned so many things from this experience. I don’t think in 54 years I truly understood the suffering, and once this happened to us (her husband being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis {ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease}), I was amazed at how I just didn’t pay attention to all the suffering going around. Before ALS I had my perfect little life, I was really enjoying it – we were both enjoying it, very busy, and I just didn’t see that. And I would never want to go back to that blindness. And I hope that at some point in the future I’ll be able to give back in some small way the amazing love and devotion that we’ve been showered with throughout this experience. So I wouldn’t trade that in. … I think maybe we see (the suffering), but don’t feel it. I could see and think ‘Oh, that’s so terrible,’ but I never felt it. It’s terrifying to feel it. But once you’ve experienced it, it opens you up to so much other suffering, and to knowing that you do have the opportunity to help. … It’s really a different way to live.” Ev Emerson, Bruce Kramer’s wife

Bruce Kramer's EXCEPTIONAL interview by KristaTippett
http://onbeing.org/program/feature/in-the-room-with-bruce-kramer/7424 

      “I didn’t need to not be angry. I just needed to stay with my anger long enough to see what it actually was and how it arose (or co-arose with my chicken heart). This kind of big-picture thinking, where things make sense as a whole when taken in relation to each other and not as unconditionally separate parts, is the spiritual project in a nutshell. Spiritual work is not the same thing as self-help. It is not meant to ‘everlastingly improve’ or fix you. It’s a means to help you see clearly what’s been there all along, beneath the surface, both in the larger sense and within yourself. 
     You don’t have to change things. Just see them properly, bear witness, and they fall into place. Attention, not intervention, leads to true healing. If you spend all of your time and energy trying to become a better person or ‘change the world,’ you miss a profound opportunity to see how all the imperfect, muddled, fucked-up things in our world come together, find their place among each other, and then form something far greater.”

       Shozan Jack Haubner. “Zen Confidential. Confessions of a Wayward Monk.” Shambhala, Boston, 2013.

     “I’m struck by how suppressed the life energy of many students in my current undergraduate class seems to be. … I keep sensing something is somewhat missing: perhaps the ‘primordial confidence’ … 

     Students are not given much opportunity to attend to their inner lives, to explore their unfathomable riches, to plummet the depth, and to be nourished deeply by such engagements. Yet, it is only through such engagements that energetically charged awareness deepens and expands, connecting self with cosmos, and fully reconciling us with life and universe."
       Bai H, Cohen A, Culham T, et al. “A Call for Wisdom in Higher Education. Contemplative Voices from the Dao-Field.” in: Gunnlaugson O, Sarath EW, Scott C. eds. “Contemplative Learning and Inquiry Across Disciplines.” State Univ of New York Press 2014.

Fear of Death - even among Healers

     "Consistent evidence suggests that physicians who treat terminal patients experience many difficulties. The contact with terminal patients reminds them that death is a universal human phenomenon and thereby evokes their own concerns about dying. Because they are unable to keep these patients alive, as is the mission of their profession, they tend to develop feelings of general hopelessness and personal failure. Moreover, it is emotionally wrenching to absorb the loss and separation implicit in the deaths of people one has cared for. These difficulties may lead to psychological exhaustion, impair their professional functioning, and affect the physician’s attitudes toward death in general and their own death in particular.
     Exposure to the death of significant others somehow leads one to a greater acceptance of death, both as a universal phenomenon and as a personal event. This possibility is supported by our finding that increased age was related to less fear of personal death. 
     Fear of death, and not acceptance, is behind the reduced reporting (of death anxiety by some physicians eg surgeons). While such 'repressors' admit to less death anxiety on self-report measures, they produced stronger physiological reactions (assessed by galvanic skin responses) to the threat of shock than 'sensitizers'. Repressors are not 'low anxiety' individuals, but, on the contrary, are highly vulnerable to anxiety-arousing stimuli."
       Hamama-Raz Y, Solomon Z, Ohry A. "Fear of Personal Death among Physicians." Omega 2000; 41(2): 139-149.


     "... death was one of the prominent aspects of dukkha motivating the Buddha-to-be to set out on his own quest for awakening. ... for the Buddha, the decision to 'renounce the world' and undertake the life of a wandering ascetic was, then, an attempt to resolve the existential problem of 'being toward death' ... his goal was to conquer death within life.
     Having reached the deathless through full awakening, one is no longer affected by the mortality of one's own body or that of others'."
       Analayo. "Mindfully Facing Disease & Death: Compassionate Advice from Early Buddhist Texts.” Wisdom, 2016.

 

Visitors by Robert Pope   http://robertpopefoundation.com/

Bad Behavior, Self-acceptance & Interoception

     There's often far more to disturbingly "inappropriate" or "bad" behavior than immorality or poor parenting. Significant trauma enters the equation much more often than we think. "Knowing the difference between right & wrong" and "trying one's best" have very little influence when a posttraumatic reaction is triggered.
     We may suspect, but usually have no idea about peoples' past history, even of those we've known for a long time. Trauma is not something most of us want to revisit, much less share with others.

     “Paradoxically, the more we try to change ourselves, the more we prevent change from occurring. On the other hand, the more we allow ourselves to fully experience who we are, the greater the possibility of change."
       Laurence Heller, Aline LaPierre. "Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship.” North Atlantic Books, 2012.


     “…trauma is much more than a story about something that happened long ago. The emotions and physical sensations that were imprinted during the trauma are experienced not as memories but as disruptive physical reactions in the present. 
     … the engines of posttraumatic reactions are located in the emotional brain. In contrast with the rational brain, which expresses itself in thoughts, the emotional brain manifests itself in physical reactions: gut-wrenching sensations, heart pounding, breathing becoming fast and shallow, feelings of heartbreak, speaking with an uptight and reedy voice, and the characteristic body movements that signify collapse, rigidity, rage, or defensiveness.
     …the rational brain cannot abolish emotions, sensations, or thoughts (such as living with a low-level sense of threat or feeling that you are fundamentally a terrible person, even though you rationally know that you are not to blame for having been raped). Understanding why you feel a certain way does not change how you feel. But it can keep you from surrendering to intense reactions (for example, assaulting a boss who reminds you of a perpetrator, breaking up with a lover at your first disagreement, or jumping into the arms of a stranger.) However, the more frazzled we are, the more our rational brains take a backseat to our emotions.
     The fundamental issue in resolving traumatic stress is to restore the proper balance between the rational and the emotional brains, so that you can feel in charge of how you respond and how you conduct your life. … 
     Recovery from trauma involves the restoration of executive functioning and, with it, self-confidence and the capacity for playfulness and creativity. 
     If we want to change posttraumatic reactions, we have to access the emotional brain and do ‘limbic system therapy’: repairing faulty alarm systems and restoring the emotional brain to its ordinary job of being a quiet background presence that takes care of the housekeeping of the body, ensuring that you eat, sleep, connect with intimate partners, protect your children, and defend against danger. 
     The neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux and his colleagues have shown that the only way we can consciously access the emotional brain is through self-awareness, ie by activating the medial prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that notices what is going on inside us and thus allows us to feel what we’re feeling. (The technical term for this is ‘interoception’ – Latin for ‘looking inside.’) Most of our conscious brain is dedicated to focusing on the outside world: getting along with others and making plans for the future. However, that does not help us manage ourselves. Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves.”
       Bessel Van Der Kolk. “The Body Keeps the Score. Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.” Penguin Books, 2015.

But Who's Listening?

     Misogyny, sexual discrimination, racism, antisemitism, and all sorts of other social illnesses seem to be, at least partially, communication problems. Progressive attempts to correct these therefore include immersive techniques such as talking circles, restorative justice processes, truth & reconciliation. The understanding behind these is that when we truly see, hear and understand an individual human being, we will naturally treat that person as a unique valuable human being, not as "the other" - something foreign, subhuman.
     We naturally expect people to behave in socially acceptable ways in public, such as in the workplace, educational institutions and health-care facilities. What's not so obvious, is that each of us behaves very differently depending on where we are and the company we keep. Who among us presents the same persona at work, in a place of worship, at a bachelor's party, babysitting, and hiking with an old friend in the back country? So, is one or more of these persona 'real,' and the rest 'fake' - mere acts put on to fool others? 

     I suspect that most of us don't really know, and find such questions that require deep self-reflection uncomfortable - something we rarely do (unless forced on us, occasionally, by traumatic circumstances). Because we're not self-reflective, we have far less conscious awareness of our thoughts, speech or behaviour than we assume. Instead, we instinctively condemn "bad" people, and feel totally different than "the bad guys." We strongly prefer avoiding such topics, and to busy ourselves with other matters - things we're good at.

    But without intentional deep self-reflection, we have minimal self-knowledge & self-acceptance. And if we're not aware of & can't accept our own many imperfections, then we can't really be sincere, full participants in corrective measures like restorative justice. We may be well-intentioned, but we're actually part of the problem! Without owning our own shadow, we simply cannot accept others' shadows. If we can't accept others' shadows, we tend to project our own onto others - see the things we can't accept about ourselves in others - "scapegoating". Scapegoating is expressed through: misogyny, sexual discrimination, racism, antisemitism, etc. These are widespread societal problems in our evolving (not evolved) human race.
     FIRST we must learn to be brave, and intentionally practice self-awareness. The deepest method is meditation; the easiest, most approachable form is Mindfulness. As we come to know & accept ourselves as far-from-perfect human beings with tremendous potential, we learn to be far more understanding with, and helpful towards others.
     All of us can intentionally evolve psychosociospiritually to contribute constructively to civilized society, and in doing so, find personal peace & deep fulfillment.

Gaudi's Park Guell, Barcelona

"Not Good Enough" Runs our Lives

     I'll never forget an instructor in first year dentistry - Dr. S. Each time I'd show him something I had just finished working on, he'd look at it for 30 seconds or so with a disgusted look on his face, then inevitably say "Ehhhh, do it over again." What he meant of course was "not good enough!"
     Like Dr. S, our parents likely meant well by repeatedly urging us to improve on various activities - HOWEVER - after a steady diet of this, doesn't a distinct impression form that WE are not good enough? And what do we do about this deep sense of insufficiency? WE STRIVE for ACCEPTANCE, which deep down we know we can't ever achieve, because ... we're simply "not good enough." 
     So we sense that we're perpetually running after (praise, acceptance) some elusive "must have" thing - like the fake rabbit that's always just out of the reach of the hounds on race tracks. Is this at least partly why some of us will "never retire"? At the same time, we're running from criticism, rejection.
     Maybe "not good enough" not just runs, but ruins lives. Is there any wonder why self-acceptance is a critical part of various psychotherapies?

Simulated Town, Palestine - Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin

Integrating Knowledge & Behaviour - Teaching the Talk AND the Walk

     Mindfulness practice cultivates "‘... a quality of self-focused attention characterized by openness & acceptance of experience that is not articulated in the descriptions of ... other constructs involving self-observation’. This quality of attention could potentially assist learning in social work education. 

     ... in order to equally value the sensory & bodily experience with conceptual knowledge, greater emphasis needs to be given to the phenomenology of experience, and to ‘... the reunion of our mind with our body, emotions, & spirit in teaching & learning’. ... (considered) essential to integrating ‘what one learns & knows with how one acts’."

       Lynn R. Mindfulness in social work education. Social Work Education 2010; 29(3): 289–304.

Yochi23   www.dpreview.com

Healing Starts with the Healer

     "There is symmetry between someone’s relationship with the outer world and his or her inner world. All the qualities of the inner relationship with the self will also be reflected in outer relationships. The inner relationship is the basic template for any encounter with the world, and as such is the starting point for all encounters. If one is able to acknowledge herself, she will also have the capacity to acknowledge others. If someone cannot accept himself as a whole and has to neglect some aspects of his personality, then he will not be able to accept others for what they completely are. I call this symmetry the mirror principle because it reflects in both directions. In transforming the attitudes toward the self, one can start to encounter the world in a different way. 

     I believe all healing relationships start in the person of the health care professional. To the Western mind this sounds unexpected because one of the basic assumptions of the Western medical philosophy is the idea that something has to be done for the patient. This often includes the idea that the health care professional has to hold back his or her own personality in a medical context because the patient comes first. The concept that every healing intention starts from a healthy attitude towards the self, or in other words, healing starts by healing the healer challenges that assumption. 

       Schmidt S. Mindfulness and healing intention: concepts, practice, and research evaluation. J Altern Complement Med 2004; 10 Suppl 1: S7-14.

     See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/11/432-i-try-and-i-try-but-i-cant-get-no.html
       and about self-acceptance: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/search?q=self-acceptance

 

CapturingMoments   www.dpreview.com

Healers, Drugs, Machines, & their Relative Value

     "It is the non-judgmental, non-condemning, and non-manipulative atmosphere between doctor and patient that will permit the most open, and therefore, the diagnostically and therapeutically most meaningful communication between them."  
       Ornstein PH. The family physician as a 'therapeutic instrument.' The journal of family practice 1977; 4(4): 659-61.

      So the ability to accept patients as they are is critical for optimally engaging with them in therapeutic alliance. Of course acceptance of others must be preceded by self-knowledge, self-acceptance, tolerance for ambiguity, and other mature, highly evolved human characteristics.
     We know that "emerging adults" are, at best, 'getting there'. We also know that medical & dental training negatively impacts psychosocial maturation.
See: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2012/07/soft-skills-undervalued.html 
and: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2012/11/emotional-intimacy-too-busy.html

     So are we graduating the best healers ('therapeutic instruments') possible? Ensuring student wellness & quality of life during training is an excellent, logical place to start. How much trust (curriculum time & course weight) do we actually have in drugs & machines compared to the human agent of healing? 
     Promoting (rather than disrupting) our students' health & healthy maturation remain critically undervalued educational missions.

Wise vs Other Approaches to Life

     A lifelong intentional transformative maturation journey involves numerous transitions:

     • from self-centered reactivity toward altruistic response to others’ needs
     • from stuck in the past, or daydreaming of the future toward dynamic presence 
     • from rigidity & cynicism toward psychological flexibility, acceptance, humor & joy
     • from “I can’t handle this” toward increasing abilities to manage complexity, ambiguity & difficulty with competence & composure.

      These are NOT "shoulds", NOR things we "must do, or else", but intelligent, logical, mature changes we naturally, eventually make towards a more satisfying way of life. 
     The reinforcement is from DIRECTLY EXPERIENCING a higher quality of life. We seem to learn not from theory, nor other people's experience or advice, but by making our own mistakes (often repeatedly), then finally, we try something different that seems to work better. How long it takes for us to get tired of other directions depends on our individual tolerance for suffering & frustration.

     See also: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/search?q=Sternberg
     and: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/search?q=wisdom     

Shad Bay area, Nova Scotia, early morning, September 28, 2013

Healing - a Calling, not just a Job

     Your life has a meaning far beyond simply performing a few techniques from which to earn a living. You’re following the calling to be a health-care professional. You’re on a lifelong intentional transformative maturation journey, from layperson – to – healer: 

     • from self-centered reactivity toward altruistic response to others’ needs
     • from stuck in the past, or daydreaming of the future toward dynamic presence 
     • from rigidity & cynicism toward psychological flexibility, acceptance, humor & joy
     • from “I can’t handle this” toward increasing abilities to manage complexity, ambiguity & difficulty with competence & composure

     This evolving consciousness is essential to form effective healing connections with patients, others, and yourself. Much of this may not immediately resonate with you. Nevertheless, tuck it away, carry these thoughts with you as open questions. Many other puzzling aspects of life, if held as open questions, will gradually become clear, important, and deeply meaningful.

Brooklyn Warehouse restaurant, Halifax, NS