Flush to Flourish
Now you are kidney dudes are you not, between you, you probably know more about workings, the breakings and fixings of kidneys than anywhere else in the Trust. Whereas I am simply an owner of 2 of them.
I am certainly not here to give you a lecture about kidneys, but, it would be remiss on World Kidney Day and in this group not to give them a not too small role in the event.
So correct me (gently please) if I am wrong but the owner’s manual for kidneys would say something on along the lines of:
Kidneys are the filters of the body. They sort, second by second, what is coming in, what is needed, what is good for me, what is bad for me, and then sends the good to where it is needed and the bad to the trash disposal.
Am I on the right lines?
Yes!
For the kidneys to work we need to be kind to them, they need to be hydrated regularly, they don’t mind occasional glasses of something other than water, but only in moderation?
They like to have minerals, salts and vitamins that help the body regulate and rebuild itself?
Is that the right idea?
Yes
So if it is the right idea for our kidneys, then why not for the rest of us, and in particular our souls and minds.
It stands to reason that if we don’t regularly hydrate our souls, then they can’t work well.
It stands to reason that if we only put bad stuff in to our souls and minds, then there is nothing of good to be filtered into the rest of us.
If we have nothing good and only bad then surely our filters will become overwhelmed and stop working, just as our kidneys would, then we would become, well what? You’re the medical folks:
(Suggestions from the audience)
Toxic, poisonous, lacking of energy, unwell, tired??
So what can we do to hydrate our souls?
We can flush.
Flush out the toxins, the waste products; we can make a positive decision to give ourselves a good clean out.
Then when we’ve detoxed, we can in the same way as most people seem to do from the 1st to about 6th of January every year, we can resolve to continue to look after ourselves, by hydrating our souls regularly, in the same way that we should be hydrating our kidneys, regularly throughout the day.
You will have all heard I imagine the expression “you cannot pour from an empty cup” and it is true.
In the recent series “Mutiny” when a team of lads re-enacted Captain Bligh’s extraordinary 4000 miles journey from the middle of the pacific to Timor in a tiny open boat. They got to within 130 miles of their destination when they had to call in the medic on the rescue boat, who pleaded with them to take on fresh water from them and drink it, as they were all in an advanced state of dehydration. The GP acting as ship’s surgeon on the little boat, said the last time they had peed had been 24 hours ago and it looked like Guinness!
These guys literally had nothing left in their cup, they were beat and emotionally they were not far from failure. However when the Captain gave the go ahead for the water to come onboard and to be drank freely, not only did they physically begin to pick up, but emotionally and psychologically as individuals they did, and so did their team work.
In short draining yourself to the point of Guinness pee, is not good for you or your team or your family. It is toxic, poisonous, unhealthy and not necessary. This applies to both your fluid intake and your soul.
You cannot drink from an empty cup…
How do we get back from this…
We Flush,
We Flush our systems out
We Flush our souls out…this can be annual leave, days off, something just for you that reboots you and flushes out all the toxins.
So on the theme of water, last weekend I packed up my campervan and headed up to Kielder water. On the first day I set off and ran to the source of the North Tyne, just over the border of Scotland. To see this tiny little spring bubbling up and knowing what it would be within in 2 miles was amazing. On the second day, having spent the night camping at a viewpoint alone, watching a dark sky come alive – (hydration for the soul enough!), I set off to run 27 miles right around the reservoir, no headphones, no company, just me and my tired and weary soul. 6 hours later with a little stop for soup at the cafĂ© at Kielder. I arrived back at my truck, with weary legs and a revived soul.
Whilst running works for me, it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t even matter what you do, as long as it hydrates your soul and refills your mind cup.
In Flushing out the toxins, we free up space for 3 letters.
O R and I
Adding those three letters to our Flush
Creates
FLOURISH
#Flourish is a part of life here in the hospitals. It is a force for good, it is like adding a sachet of those minerals and things to our water which help top up what we need.
In hydrating ourselves we enable ourselves to #flourish in part because we are hydrated enough to work/live efficiently and secondly because of how we are then able to be alongside others.
For example, if we are running on Guinness pee reserves, all anyone sees of us is toxins and that’s not nice. Our lack of energy becomes contagious and saps others, and the atmosphere becomes unhealthy, we become radgy and irritable when dehydrated and this is also true when we are emotionally dehydrated. If however we take the time to Flush and thus enable flourish to become our norm, then things can be different.
We will embody healthiness, we will have more energy with which to engage, encourage and inspire others. We will be able to work more efficiently to sort out the good we need from the bad that we need to let go and dispose of.
We see the difference not just in our working environment (our kidneys) but in our whole lives (the whole body), our families and friends, the people who so often are on the receiving end of the toxins and waste products.
Those around us will begin to see the difference in us and be inspired by who we are, thus flushing and then flourishing themselves.
When not just the kidneys are working effectively in the body, but all of the systems and organs, then just how awesome are we as humans; and similarly as teams and families when we are all working well, just how amazing are we.
In long distance running It is really easy to skip filling up your water bottle regularly and by the time you feel thirsty and get a headache it is too late, you are dehydrated, you’ve got the cramps and legs that wont move, your race is over. Taking time out to stop at the fuelling stations is imperative and essential, yes it might seem to cost you time, that when you are as slow as me, you don’t have to waste, but unless you take time to stop and refuel and refill, your race is over, you just don’t know it yet.
When we are dehydrated emotionally chances are we have already been causing damage to ourselves, our kidneys our soul. We just might not have noticed yet, or we might be so chronically dehydrated that how we are feeling has become our normal. Tired, grumpy, headache and lacking in enthusiasm for the things that used to make us happy and energised. Dare I say it is like coming in from a night on the pop, knowing that you really should have been drinking water alongside your chosen tipple, that you really should have a pint of water before you go to bed to counter the inevitable sore head from dehydration in the morning, but you can’t be bothered and you have gone past the point of caring about the consequences. You’ll really wish you had in the morning.
Taking the time to flush and refuel your soul is not selfish, it isn’t time wasted, it is investing in you. Under our professional leadership standards I would go as far as to say you have a duty to model good soul hydration regimes to those around you and to encourage others to take the time to find what helps them to do the same.
It can be hard if someone doesn’t recognise that emotionally they are dehydrating, and it takes courage to be like the medic on the rescue boat approaching a bunch of hardened survivalists to tell them they are really not doing themselves any favours by sticking to their damaging regime. Sometimes folks will listen, sometimes they will act on your advice and take action to flush out their systems. Sometimes you just need to leave a bottle of fresh water on their desk, in the hope that they will take a sip and taste just how thirsty they are. All we can do is the best we can, to encourage and nurture, to grow and develop. From that tiny spring on the hillside that I visited, flows the beginnings of the north Tyne, which by the time it joins the south Tyne 46 miles later is a torrent of fresh tumbling powerful energy, but never forget it starts with that tiny spring.
Remember though that water left becomes stale, it becomes unhealthy and rank. It can itself become poisonous, and so can we. If we are left, if we leave others behind stuck in their own bog or swamp, then quickly that water can become bad for us. Our souls can only take so much before they like kidneys start to flounder with the toxins. If we leave things or issues unchecked, they become stagnant. Flush it away, great rid of the waste products, the problems, the anger and that will leave you, your kidneys, free to flourish again. Sometimes flushing will need to be in the form of a torrent of water, a discussion, a meeting, sometimes it will need to be a gentle pouring of warm water over a cold or injured soul. Flushing away the toxins and giving yours or another’s soul a clean filter to work with is important. I guess in some way it is like using dialysis to help a person whose systems are broken or overwhelmed a way of getting rid of the waste, allowing them to feel better enough to continue the task of hydrating themselves from the cup.
Find what helps you to become you and to flourish then take the time to do it. Be brave enough to say and I quote from Loreal “I am worth it!” because in doing so you will be living with integrity to yourself, living out your values and allowing those around you as well as you to #floUrish.
Remember that not all angels have
wings but all members of the NHS are angels. You do an extraordinary job, you
deserve to #floUrish not just here
but at home. Be proud of who you are, be proud to flush and flourish.
