I appreciate this phrase from Jeff Thies, “we maintain a commitment to the tension,” from a phone call I was in yesterday. Jeff is a senior leader with St. Joseph Health System. He was describing some of the realities of their efforts, everything from the inspiring spiritual grounding of dignity, care, connection, and compassion to the juxtaposed current runaway-cost of healthcare, confrontative political context in the US, and culture of disease management. I love Jeff’s honesty in it. “We try to stay present to what wants to evolve,” he said.
Good to hear this with Jeff. And, beyond the words of it, nice as they are, to feel the realness of his voice. Hmmm…. To stay present requires a realness. And an ability to lean in to the tensions. Become curious about them with each other. That’s pretty good learning and practice at all levels of scale, isn’t it.
