Virtual Resilience Offerings
"Everyday Mindfulness" (Online course via Zoom)
April 22 - May 20
Every Wednesday from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Course Instructor: Trinh Mai, LCSW
"What we need is here.”
In this poem, Becky invites us to pause and remember: hope and strength can be found around us and inside of us. From green grass rising out of dark asphalt to the stomp of our feet and power in our bodies, inspiration is here, if we tune in and pay attention. Nature is an especially wise and generous guide, offering countless, colorful displays of hope and strength. Even in the bleakest environments, the poem reminds us, there is “life persisting with delicate ease.”
“What gives you hope and strength?”
Perhaps after reading the poem, you might take a moment and reflect on this question with yourself or your team, noticing how it feels. Or you might hold the question as you conduct your daily activities or go on a walk or run and see what you discover.
–Trinh Mai, Mindfulness Educator/Social Worker, U of U Health Resiliency Center
Most of Us Live Off Hope Street
By Becky Nirav
y body rushes down Hope Street,
fleeing towards the edge,
telling cars to simply
stop.
No pulsing engines on this road tonight,
only air
as dark as the underside of asphalt,
laid down to suppress the burning earth.
But that beauty still rises
still breathes
from under Hope Street.
Grass stuck between the cracks,
life persisting
with delicate ease.
Tree trunks pushing up the sidewalk,
weeds growing green
where they are not supposed to grow.
Acorns dancing on the street,
leaves singing on graceful branches,
earth swelling to the soles of my shoes,
billowing and exhaling infusions of Hope.
On cultivating hope
Duke University psychiatrist and resilience researcher Bryan Sexton shared his findings and practical insights on cultivating humor, hope and gratitude with U of U Health.
Now I take a turn
to draw strength from Power Street.
Leaping down the wide path
brightly lit
for this celebration of my arrival.
Fear buried with every stomp of my feet,
driving midnight tension underground,
reciprocating new energy up
through my toes.
Shady spots beckoning to be reclaimed,
hidden corners finally revealed,
glances abated.
Only me and the road,
body inhaling the Power
to get home.
Trinh Mai
Terry Tempest Williams is a Utah native, writer, naturalist, activist, educator—and patient. Terry’s brother Hank Tempest fell sick with Covid-19 in early March and is now recovering in the desert. In this fifteenth dispatch, Terry interviews Hank.
We all need faith right now – whether in ourselves or a higher power. Harvard Graduate School of Design student Emily Duma shares three poems that offer a blessing, a prayer and a brief respite from our broken world, with an introduction from U of U Health Chaplain Lorie Nielson.
Though we feel urgency and angst in this moment, there is beauty and calm all around us—we just have to take the time to see it. Harvard Divinity School student Dan "Shutterbug" Wells shares the beauty he encounters and gives thanks, with an introduction from GME Wellness Director Rob Davies.
