Categories: Scrubs

Difficult coworker meditation

Image: Steve West | Digital Vision | Getty Images

Breath Prayer

Breathing in: Guide me…
Breathing out: …Guard me

Reflection on Dealing with a Difficult Coworker

Take a few moments for yourself at the water cooler.
Drink a few sips of cool water as you drink in composure.
Invite deep, calming breaths to flow through your body.
Remember that there are times when change and compromise
may be necessary.
Feel gratitude for your ability to remain calm and composed.
Remind yourself that your relationship with this difficult coworker
is an I-Thou relationship, not an I-It.
Ask for a glimpse of cosmic patience,
the infinite ebb and flow of galaxies.
Ask for help from the Source of all patience for internal restraint,
the ability to step back, to reconsider.
As you finish your drink of cool, calming water,
patience and calm deepen your awareness,
penetrating your own shields and defenses
and allowing you to reach your deepest feelings of compassion.

From the Bible

Recall how the rocks in the wilderness
cracked open,
that you might drink your fill
as from the deep.
—Psalm 78

Rabbi Sheryl Lewart

Sheryl Lewart was a beloved spiritual teacher who lectured and led workshops and seminars in mystical Judaism (Kabbalah, Hasidism and Mussar). She served for 12 years as rabbi of Kehillat Israel—the largest Reconstructionist congregation in the world—in Los Angeles, and gave seminars regularly on values-based decision-making. Before passing away of cancer in late 2012, Sheryl offered spiritual direction and guidance in order to help others understand that by developing our own spirituality, we discover a deeper intimacy with God and a genuine compassion for all of creation. God, it has been suggested, is the wind that blows our ship, but it is up to us to turn the rudder and shift the sails in order to more fully catch the wind that freely blows.