ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an invitation to step back and considers the joy and challenge of joining clinicians of varied disciplines as we enter the lives of patients and families who are in the process of evolving illness. Palliative care teams work constantly in the wake of what has come before, from the smallest to largest details of what is unfolding in the lives of patients and families and what may unfold in the future. Teams work in the wake of physical, emotional, and existential suffering and in the wake of the many overlapping relationships that surround each patient, all changing in the sea of illness. To step back and consider palliative practice through a prism that separates colors and light creates the possibility that we may hold and appreciate the intimate weaving of self and other. To be in this conversation day after day honors heart, courage, honest reflection, and the care of patients, colleagues, and self alike.
