You Are Here and Here Is Good
Dear Patient,
A while back I bought a decorative pillow for my clinic’s waiting room that says “You are here and here is good.” One of my coworkers picked it out—she noticed that patients would sometimes arrive for their treatment in a rush, or a mental fog, or just not fully present. We thought a gentle message from a pillow might help.
After a while some of the stitching started to come apart, so I brought the pillow home with the intention of mending it. That was about two years ago.
I never made the time to haul out my sewing machine, even though it was a quick fix. Then the pandemic hit, and I moved all the furniture out of the clinic's waiting room, so even if I fixed the pillow, I had nowhere to put it.
It’s still at my house, without a permanent home. I move it around, mostly to get it out of the way. It goes from the bed, to a chair, to a table, to the floor, back to a chair. It currently resides on top of a box on the floor next to my bed.
All the while it quietly broadcasts its message. What was that again? You are here and here is good.
Sometimes I wonder why can’t I just mend this pillow and find a place for it. What stars must align before this pillow fulfills its purpose? Perhaps it’s already doing so.
You are here and here is good.
Love and gratitude,
Your Acupuncturist