Judith Simon Prager | The wise ones say

The wise ones say
There is only one moment
and it is Now
There is only one consciousness
and it is shared

And I understand that if we understand that,
we are home free.

So you, in your car, taking to the road after a long day,
or stirring the vegetables, one color after another,
into the fragrant soup,
or lying in your bed, nearly asleep,
but suspended enough to hear me ask,
how would it be if you shared this
     now
     with me
or each other

or all of those whose exhales you breathed in, even without notice,
exhales that have existed from the beginning of time?

How would it be if you shared this now?

And how would it be if you knew it?

—

Judith Simon Prager, Ph.D., is a therapist, author, and teacher who trains first responders and medical personnel around the world in Verbal First Aid, the protocol she and colleague Judith Acosta, LISW, developed to create calm, relieve pain, promote healing, and even save lives in emergency situations. She has co-authored several Verbal First Aid books with Acosta, including The Worst Is Over: What to Say When Every Moment Counts.

In 2017, Prager published a different kind of book, What the Dolphin Said, about her journey to understand the non-verbal communication dolphins use to bring healing, comfort, and indeed, joy, to children and adults with all kinds of disabilities, as well as to able-bodied divers, sailors, surfers, and others who encounter them in the ocean. She was interviewed in The MOON for the February 2018 issue.