We spend our days in exam rooms with patients. One after the other. We walk in the room to connect, problem-solve, and heal.
How we feel when we walk into that room is important.
Taking a little time—a microsecond—to manage our feelings before we step across that threshold can make all the difference—to us and to our patients.
How do we do that? By developing our awareness. What thought are we thinking as we get ready to enter the next room?
Whatever that thought is, it will cause a feeling. I believe our feelings arise from our thoughts and our thoughts appear—but we can consciously generate them, too.
Some of the thoughts that appear right before we enter the room, like This is going to take forever, are not going to help us serve our patients in the moment.
When a thought like this appears, we have many choices. We can
- question the thought,
- challenge it,
- accept it,
- or let it go and
- intentionally choose a different thought.
- or let it go and
- accept it,
- challenge it,
We have all these choices—but only if we are aware of them.
If I walk into the exam room telling myself, “I’m never going to get out of here,” how am I going to show up for my (sometimes garrulous) patient?
With that thought, I’m feeling stressed–anxious, unsettled.
When we are stressed, our minds shut down. We no longer see possibilities. We only see (hear, conclude) whatever proves what we’ve already been thinking.
This way of showing up does not make for a good brainstorming session over a vague physical symptom. In fact, this thought and this feeling create the perfect environment for us to ignore a vague physical symptom. It may go unheeded.
This way of showing up also leaves us drained and defeated—before we enter the room, and when we arrive home many hours later.
We came to this work because we care about our patients and we want to serve them well.
Serving well starts with managing our minds before we go into the exam room.
With your hand on the exam room door, stop.
Take a deep breath.
One deep breath.
With that deep breath, choose a useful thought. Perhaps: “May I be present with this patient so I can offer my help, for their highest good.”
Or even just a wish or a prayer:
“May I be of service to this patient today.”
Or even, “Focus. Focus on this patient now.”
What would be a useful thought for you before you see your next patient?
Or just stick with one deep breath.
That one breath brings us back to the present moment. To the now. So we’re no longer in the future, trying to finish up our day, no longer in fantasy land despairing that we’ll never get through this mountain of charts.
We’re right here, right now. Ready to serve this person right in front of us.