As I repeated the Loving Kindness exercise, I thought of two things.  First, I kept thinking of my wife's suffering.  She is almost 33 weeks pregnant with our second daughter and she is miserable.  As I write this, she is lying beside me with a heating pad to her jaw.  On top of all the pregnancy stuff, we found out today that she may need a root canal.  I feel completely helpless in relieving her suffering.  I try massaging her feet and back, but that only temporarily makes her feel better.  Every day I want to help make her feel better, but it is hopeless.  At least she only has a few more weeks before Malin arrives.  Hopefully, then she will have some relief.

Then, I began to think about all of my patients in the operating room.  Some of them are really suffering.  I began to think of how honored I am to play a part in relieving their suffering.  Many of the surgeries we perform make the patient's lives better.  I find comfort in knowing that. 

With the Integral Assessment exercise, the area that I found to be the greatest area in need of growth is the biological.  I really need to get back into shape.  I am satisfied with every other aspect of my life expept my physical fitness.  My overall general health is pretty good, but need to lose some weight.  The problem is that I find it hard to find time to exercise.  The only exercise I get right now is playing and dancing with my 21 month old daughter, Maddison.  My life is so hectic now with work, school, and church.  This is my last class of the Bachelors program, and I don't start my Master's until next fall.  So, I can hopefully find the time to work out soon.  I am going to try to start walking at least 30 minutes a day.  After a few weeks of that I may try to step it up a notch.  I used to do P90X, but I am not sure that I am ready for that again.  But, I can find a workout that will suit my lifestyle.  Wish me luck!!!

John