Schuster Family Medicine and Osteopathic Care

01/14/2026

BLESSING FOR PEACE

As the fever of day calms towards twilight
May all that is strained in us come to ease.

We pray for all who suffered violence today,
May an unexpected serenity surprise them.

For those who risk their lives each day for peace,
May their hearts glimpse providence at the heart of history.

That those who make riches from violence and war
Might hear in their dreams the cries of the lost.

That we might see through our fear of each other
A new vision to heal our fatal attraction to aggression.

That those who enjoy the privilege of peace
Might not forget their tormented brothers and sisters.

That the wolf might lie down with the lamb,
That our swords be beaten into ploughshares

And no hurt or harm be done
Anywhere along the holy mountain.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

From the book, Benedictus
County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill
https://johnodonohue.com/

01/13/2026

THE GOOD YOU’VE DONE

Don’t look back on family pictures,
where your children were babies
but are now adults living far away,
and sigh, “where did it all go?”

It went to new life, to grandchildren,
to joy and happiness spread wide.
It went to inspiring new hope,
and proof that wisdom guides.

Tell your children not to weep
to see you were once young.
Tell them to laugh and be glad:
as a family, you created lasting love.

01/07/2026

This is an important differentiation. Solitude is not loneliness. We can be very lonely in the midst of many people, even family.

Everyone needs a little alone time, but with the current pandemic, you might have either too much "me" time or not enough. Let's get that balance back. This episode breaks down some of the research behind what makes even small bouts of solitude restorative and what to do when you're alone too much.

01/07/2026

One of my favorite poems

START CLOSE IN

Start close in,
don't take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don't want to take.

Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.

Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people's questions,
don't let them
smother something
simple.

To hear
another's voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate private ear
that can
really listen
to another.

Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don't follow
someone else's
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don't mistake
that other
for your own.

Start close in,
don't take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don't want to take.

-from David Whyte: Essentials

‘Start Close In’ is A New Year’s poem if ever one was written, but it was written at, and for, all those thresholds of our life where we need to find a tiny, often un-illuminated footing in the dark, hidden deep inside our sense of self. A hidden place to step onto and then, when found, a place to step from. I’m very touched by all the comments to the post and all the lives the poem has touched in turn. My close in step in writing the piece has led to me holding so many other hands as I go, each of us, individually and communally, trying to find our way into the next dispensation of our lives. DW

The next Three Sundays Series, The Invitational Identity begins Sunday, January 4th at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. Learn more or register here: https://davidwhyte.com/store/three-sundays/jan-2026-series/

01/01/2026

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Take a moment to be quiet today. Look out the window at the sky. Take a breath. Feel fresh air fill your lungs and renew your vigor.

You’re here. Like anyone else, your prospects today are a mix of problems and promises. Like looking on either side of a ship, you might see hope on one side and discouragement on the other. Nevertheless, you’re on a single ship, traveling a single ocean. Let’s not be so preoccupied that we forget the essential unity of our life.

After all, today is January first. One-one. Yes, in the year ahead, there will be three hundred and sixty-four more days, fifty-two weeks, twelve months. We will subdivide time into units as narrow as we need—an hour until the deadline, half-an-hour until the train arrives, five minutes to get a snack, a minute until departure. When we look at our computer files, it gives us the time they were created. But with all those subdivisions, let us not forget the whole. Let us not forget one-one.

Later in the year, when the weather has turned warm again, when work is as frenetic as ever, when people are counting the days until the next holiday, don’t forget this day. Don’t forget one-one.

Keep the whole. Keep yourself one with that whole. Then the entire year will stay new.

Happy new year. May each of your lives fill with many blessings.

01/01/2026

AT THE END OF THE YEAR

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them...

Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.

We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the blessing, 'At the End of the Year,' from the books
Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Winter Sunset at the Cliffs of Moher
County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

10/19/2025

A friend of mine who a PhD geneticist and avowed atheist, asked me some years ago, “How are you Catholic?” I know what my answer was at the time, but it is one I have continued to ask myself over the years. This discussion adds to those thoughts and I thought worth sharing at this time when we should all be asking what we believe, and why.

Podcast Episode · The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J. · 10/14/2025 · 57m

10/12/2025

Just because…as someone said, we need a reason to smile:

Simon and Garfunkel, The Boxer, Live, Central Park, Madison Square Garden, Inc 4th verse.Live mix of The Boxer including the often missed 4th verse."The Boxe...

10/11/2025

Let us remember, we all live here on this Earth. It is our home and needs taken care of:

Listen to “Our Common Nature” EP - Out Now https://yoyoma.lnk.to/ocnIDFollow Yo-Yo Ma: https://www.yo-yoma.com/https://www.instagram.com/yoyoma/https://www.f...

10/11/2025

David Whyte's Three Sundays Series in September 2024: Intimate: The Art and Practice of Working from the Inside Out. Virtual Series.

08/24/2025

Awaken to the mystery of being here
and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.

Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.

Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.

Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path...

May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.

May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention...

May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpts from the blessing, 'For Presence,' found in Benedictus (Europe) /
To Bless the Space Between Us (US)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare Cottage, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

08/09/2025

At the heart of things is a secret law of balance and when our approach is respectful, sensitive and worthy, gifts of healing, challenge and creativity open to us. A gracious approach is the key that unlocks the treasure of encounter. The way we are present to each other is frequently superficial. In many areas of our lives the rich potential of friendship and love remains out of our reach because we push towards 'connection.' When we deaden our own depths, we cannot strike a resonance in those we meet or in the work we do.

A reverence of approach awakens depth and enables us to be truly present where we are. When we approach with reverence great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty of things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and the arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace. Beauty is mysterious, a slow presence who waits for the ready, expectant heart.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his books, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace (US) / Divine Beauty (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill