Knots, Contemplative Practice, and the Origin of Satsumas

Posted on December 11, 2025 by marylbrandt

Maybe it’s because I’m a surgeon, but I’ve always loved knots… and this website is great resource to learn how to tie them.

PSA for holiday wrapping…this surgical knot lets you tie your ribbons without them being loose (or needing someone to put a finger on the first knot)

This Book

Not long ago I saw a post by someone on Bluesky (which I can’t find now) that said we should reread books that “break us open”. I just finished this truly remarkable translation of the contemplative classic, Practice of the Presence of God by the 17th century monk, Brother Lawrence. It “broke me open”, and I’m already halfway through my second reading.

Although Brother Lawrence and Carmen Acevedo Butcher are both from the Christian tradition, I am convinced that the practical contemplative practice of “Turning to Love” that is described here can be reframed only slightly by those who are of other traditions (or none).

Practice of the Presence offers new ways of seeing that surpass our sometimes tense and either-this-or-that mindsets. And my work with this translation seeks to honor and share his positive, open-hearted wisdom.
Carmen Acevedo Butcher

On Oranges, Satsumas, and Not Taking Common Things for Granted

“What exactly is a satsuma?”

Photo of Satsumas from Buchanan’s Native Plants, my favorite nursery in Houston

Thanks to my mother-in-law (who asked me this question at Thanksgiving) I got to do a deep dive into something I hadn’t really thought about.

The history of citrus begins around a billion years ago as Algae developed from cyanobacteria and photosynthetic eukaryotes… followed by what we would recognize today as land plants which evolved around 400 million years ago. The family of land plants that evolved into the first citrus plant probably originated in Southeast Asia, specifically in the southeast foothills of the Himalayas. What we recognize now as the three “ancestral” citrus fruits, the pomelo, the citron, and the mandarin, evolved from this original, profoundly acidic (and therefore inedible) citrus fruit.

The three ancestral fruits evolved, in different genetic combinations, into the citrus fruits we know today.

It turns out the satsuma is a mixture of mandarins with a little pomelo…. One of the Type 3 or late-admixture mandarins.

Shohei Ohtani, Attention Spans, and Elevation (Gratitude on Steroids)

Posted on November 26, 2025 by marylbrandt

How Shohei Ohtani became a super star…

Sahil Bloom shared this image in a recent newsletter, along with an explanation of how Ohtani used the “Harada system” to become the superstar he is.

*The chart Ohtani created as a freshman in high school to meet his goal of being drafted 1st in the Nippon Professional Baseball League.*

The story of the Harada system is delightful. It was developed by Takashi Harada, an junior high track and field coach in Osaka, Japan who realized that his young athletes needed more than just drills and strength training to succeed (in all ways). He developed a system for them to define their own goals and actions, and then used it to take his last place team (out of 380 schools!) to 1st place – a position they held for 6 years.

Source of this photo (thank you again, Austin Kleon)

Increasing our attention spans

Our ability to pay attention is how we accomplish the things that are important to us, whether it’s being one of the best (if not the best) baseball players in the world like Shohei Ihtani, or finishing a book that has been lying fallow on a computer for too long (Mea culpa).

Thinking about how to better pay attention led me to this post, which summarizes and shares a 4 minute video from Daniel Pink with his 5 step plan to improve our ability to pay attention👇

Set a baseline

See how long can you read a book until you are distracted

As you add steps 2-5 (below), repeat to monitor your improvement

Eliminate distractions

Make where you work a “no phone zone”

Close tabs and anything else on your computer that might distract you

No notifications on any device!

Create a focus ritual

It doesn’t matter what it is, but it matters that it exists

“It’s like hitting play on a playlist your brain already knows.”

Take breaks and move

“Think of your brain like a toddler… It melts down if you don’t give it snacks and naps.”

Reconnect attention to meaning

Take the time to articulate the “why” of what you doing

“It turns a chore into a choice.”

“Purpose fuels persistence.”

*Outside* article that is the source of this photo

Elevation (gratitude on steroids)

In 2000, Jonathan Haidt defined elevation, which he described as “a warm or glowing feeling in the chest [that] makes people want to become morally better themselves.” It’s the “thrill we experience when we see someone act with courage or compassion”, and it’s most likely the source of prosocial contagion.

And how do we promote elevation, which sounds like just what we need in our society right now? According to Nancy Davis Kho, it’s by developing an ongoing practice of gratitude.

“Research published in 2015 in Frontiers in Psychology found that an ongoing practice of gratitude basically rewires our brains to reward us for the positive perceptions we have of the people around us. That begets more gratitude and “elevation,” a lovely scientific term defined in a 2000 article by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt as “a warm or glowing feeling in the chest [that] makes people want to become morally better themselves.” Pour me some elevation, barkeep, and make it a double!”
The Thank-You Project by Nancy Davis Kho,

Roman Roads, Ordination, and #BanTheBouffant

Posted on November 14, 2025 by marylbrandt

This is cool research.

You’ll enjoy exploring this online tool (assuming you are enough of a history, map, and/or liberal arts nerd). It’s an interactive map developed by a multidisciplinary group of European researchers for scholars (and the rest of us) to explore 299,171.31 km of roads built during the roman empire.

Ordination

Tomorrow is my ordination in the UCC… which is not just a genuine calling but, for me at least, is also a form of resistance in a world that right now has a lot of “not-love”. I’m so grateful.

Cloth hats for the win!

I hope the tide is turning, but due to a misdirected effort to improve quality (see this article, which is one of my favorites!) many operating rooms still force surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, techs (and everyone else who enters the OR suite) to wear bouffant hats.

#BanTheBouffant

I was delighted to read this recent article showing yet another reason to wear cloth hats in the OR… they were studying communication and camaraderie in the OR and showed that cloth hats with names and roles on them helped with both.

Fractal Fluency

Posted on November 10, 2025 by marylbrandt

Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.
Benoit Mandelbrot, in his introduction to The Fractal Geometry of Nature

Earth’s Most Stunning Natural Fractal Patterns

The Fractal Foundation describes a fractal as ““a never-ending pattern that repeats itself in different scales. This property is ‘self-similarity’”. These repeated patterns are found in the “roughness” of nature and the structure of our bodies, creating an order which is thought to be the subconscious reason we have such deep emotional responses to the beauty of nature.

Human beings are fascinated with the symmetry and beauty of fractals despite (or perhaps because) they are mathematically incredibly complex. Benoit Mandelbrot, a mathematician and polymath, coined the term “fractal” while working to understand the “roughness and self-similarity” in nature. Well, actually, his first work was looking at the “wild randomness” of the stock market… but as he explained, his formal work at IBM for 35 years allowed him to ask deeper questions.

“Dramatically referred to as “the fingerprint of life,” their repetition of patterns across multiple scales forms the basic building blocks of many of nature’s patterns ranging from clouds, trees, and mountains through to our brains, blood vessels, and lungs.”
Fractal Fluency: Processing of Fractal Stimuli Across Sight, Sound, and Touch, Taylor et. al. 2024

Most of us haven’t heard of fractals… but knowing about them allows us to see the world and our studies in medicine through (literally) a different lens. How cool is that?

A Surgeon’s Blessing for a Friend Undergoing Surgery

Posted on August 29, 2025 by marylbrandt

Why I’m Leaving Substack

Posted on July 28, 2025 by marylbrandt

When I first signed up to post on Substack, it was because there were many writers and theologians I respected who were posting there. I was vaguely aware of the controversy about white supremacists who were self-proclaimed Nazis who posted on Substack, but I was also told that Substack had taken steps to block posts that “incite violence based on protected classes”

I’ll be honest.

I didn’t do my homework.

But once you become aware that things like this post (from today) are being allowed on Substack, how can you stay?

Most of the time, I cross posted between Substack and this website, but there were exceptions. There won’t be any going forward, which means there will be a blend of a lot of different things I’m exploring. Hope you enjoy them. Let me know what you think.

Choose Hope.

Posted on July 2, 2025 by marylbrandt

When we stare political conflict (here or elsewhere) in the face, try to help wounded healers, or (for many) just do our best to get through the day, we can’t help but feel discouraged. But that’s when it’s especially important to remember two important things:

Hope is a choice*.

Real change happens slowly.

When we choose hope we become oriented towards creating, sustaining, and connecting… instead of anger, destruction, and fear.

When we choose hope we join others who boldly look hatred in the face and say out loud “Not this.”

When we choose hope we hold space for others so they, too, can begin to see the possibility of change.

When we choose hope we act in small ways that inevitably (and delightfully) “move the needle” towards love. And these collective small actions result in persistent and unrelenting progress towards the goal of the beloved community.

Choose hope.

*Choosing hope means to cherish a desire with anticipation with an expectation that it will happen (even if the likelihood is small).

Learn to be Brave

Posted on June 11, 2025 by marylbrandt

“The wrong side of history will always tell you to be afraid – the right side of history will always expect you to be brave.”

JB Pritzker, Knox College Commencement Address, June 8, 2025

It is easy to be swept away by fear, to respond to fear with more fear (as well fear’s cousins anger, hatred, and anxiety). This is particularly true right now,when we are contantly confronted with messages of invasion, violence, and “others” who are trying to somehow hurt us. But it’s crucial to recognize that our response to these messages, the fear we are all feeling right now, is a normal, hard-wired, very primal response. When we become afraid, we move automatically – without conscious thought – into “flight, fight, or freeze” mode.

Fear as a response to threat is hard-wired because our response to what frightens us is protective, much like our immune system protects us from bacteria, viruses and other causes of disease. But, like the immune system, if our initial fearful response is not met with balancing forces to “turn down” the heat, fear can destroy us.

Fortunately, we can learn to be brave…

1. Realize that your fear is not the “truth”. Recognize it for what it is… an emotional response to a threat (perceived or real). Because it’s an emotion, it can be regulated (not as good as eliminated, but still very helpful). Joan Halifax’s technique which uses the mnemonic “GRACE” is a great place to start.

2. Welcome fear with a sense of gratitude. I know, this seems crazy. Everything in us wants to throw fear out the window, suppress it, rationalize it, compartmentalize it, transform it into anger… anything that makes it seem less threatening. But none of those techniques work. Like making you pull your hand away from a hot stove, your fear is there to protect you. This welcoming practice is a much better way to defuse the emotional impact of fear.

3. Don’t lose your moral compass. Fear of the other is weaponized and used in all societies, but it is rampant now. Don’t let that change your basic goodness, don’t let it force you into becoming someone you don’t want to become. Make sure you articulate and then follow your “true north”.

4. Choose courage. After all of this I have some bad news – You will still be afraid. As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”

And what are the things that are more important than fear in your life?

What makes up your “true north”?

It will vary a bit between us, but honesty, generosity, integrity, fairness, and compassion tend to be anchoring principles for a good life that are found in virtually all philosophies and faiths.

Choose honesty, generosity, integrity, fairness, and compassion… and then choose to act on them despite the fact that you are afraid.

I started this essay with a quote from JB Pritzker’s recent commencement address …. but there’s another recent quote (unattributed) that also blew me away. It seems a fitting book end to these thoughts…

If you can’t be brave, at least be kind.

If you are interested in reading more about learning to be brave:

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Fierce Love, by Jaqui Lewis

Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh

Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet by Joan Halifax

How We Learn to Be Brave by Marian Edgar Budde

Crossing the Rubicon – Thoughts on Courage, Democracy, and what we can do.

Posted on March 27, 2025 by marylbrandt

In 49 BCE, Julius Caesar stood on the edge of a small river and decided to cross it, a decision that made him dictator for the remainder of his life (which was only 5 more years).

In 49 BCE the Rubicon river marked the border between two provinces of the Roman Republic. There were strict rules about crossing from the province you ruled to another province, particularly if it involved your army. (One might say these rules were an important political guardrail of the time.) But Julius Caesar broke the law and crossed the Rubicon at the head of his troops, making him and his troops outlaws, condemned to death.

I have been hearing the phrase “crossing the Rubicon” in news reports and political analyses this week, which is why I looked it up. It’s an idiom that means making a decision that cannot be undone… no matter how terrible the consequences. It’s similar to being “past the point of no return”, a phrase from the world of aviation. The point of no return refers to when you’ve burned enough fuel that you can’t turn around and go back to where you started from. From missing guardrails to plane crashes. Seems somehow appropriate this week…

I know I’m not the only one who feels that, as an American, I’m riding in a plane where the pilot has decided the point of no return doesn’t matter.

But it does…it really does.

All of us, no matter where we stand on the political spectrum, are being summoned to do our best in these very difficult times.

Summoned to do what? First and foremost, we are being summoned to bear witness, to not look away. And, once we see clearly where we are, we are summoned to check our individual and collective moral compasses to make sure we have not strayed too far from where we should be.

What else can we do?

Timothy Snyder provides other actions with his list of 20 ways to defend democracy. Here are the three I’m starting with.

Join me?

Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.

Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

^{p.s. I never use AI to write, but I did use it to create the photo in the banner of this post.}

^{p.p.s. I will always let you know if I ever use AI – for anything.}