One of many thank you’s I owe
I’ve been doing/performing/practicing community acupuncture for about 4 ½ years now. It was a struggle then, it’s a struggle now just less so in some aspects. But through it all there have been my patients, clients, and patrons. Right now, during POCA’s membership drive, I’d like to thank those patients that were and are my patrons.
Patron: a person who gives financial or other support especially regularly to a person, organization, cause, or activity They may not define themselves as patrons but in a very real sense to me they are.
When I had just started and my technique and results both suffered, you returned because you confided in the medicine and in me. When my office space was not in the best looking building and didn’t look it’s best with white walls, low but flourescent lighting, noisy school next door, and medical marijuana suppliers who dealt in empty suites as if they were on the streets, you returned because you confided in the medicine and in me. When I made mistakes in communication or in office operations, you didn’t return but in that action you taught me not to betray your confidence like that so that someone else in the future could continue to confide in the medicine and in me.
And so a big thank you to all of my and other CA clinics’ patients and patrons. POCA and community acupuncture clinics are here for you and because of you. As an acupunk that’s in love with community acupuncture, I want you know that by supporting community acupuncture via myself we will change things over time for ourselves, for those just starting to get interested in POCA and community acupuncture, and for those who don’t even realize yet that community acupuncture is a very real option financially and medically. Much health and love to you all.
Whoa! What happened to my formatting? Sorry!
Mike, is that better? I guessed at your line breaks. Also, I LOVE THIS POST. Thank you.
I had trouble with the formating on my post also. I love this post. It’s so sweet and honest.
Love this:
“When I made mistakes in communication or in office operations, you didn’t return but in that action you taught me not to betray your confidence like that so that someone else in the future could continue to confide in the medicine and in me.”
So, so true. Great perspective on the fact that we all make mistakes, we all mess up, and our patients always have something to teach us.
I love this post. I often feel this kind of gratitude at work, and you said it really well. Thanks Mike!
Great post! Honesty and sincerity take us a long way. Valuable lessons we all learn along this journey of community acupuncture. Our patients can teach us so much and in turn we get to express our love of affordable community healing to our patients.
thank you for your humble post, mike. i’m grateful to know you.
Thanks for the edit Lisa! Gotta blog more so I can get the hang of this thing.
You DEFINITELY should blog more. 🙂 But truthfully, I don’t know how to deal with the formatting thing without going through the back end of the site.
I love your expression of gratitude for other POCA clinics’ patients. I’ve felt that a lot, but never really articulated it or recognized that’s what I was feeling. Especially since I’ve been lucky enough to visit a bunch of my comrades’ clinics, I have the opportunity for all sorts of warm fuzzies when I see the patients in them. But to me that’s one of the best things about POCA. Certainly I never felt a rush of gratitude for other acupuncturists’ patients back in the bad old days before you guys came along — I mean, why would I, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have been likely to be in one of their clinics when it was full of people, and I wouldn’t have felt any kind of kinship with them. Now it really does feel like all of the clinics and all of the patients are somehow connected, and that is SO MUCH BETTER.