Blog: Whole Healer
Our medical culture is not kind to its practitioners. It’s my belief that we can change that culture, but only after changing ourselves. How do we do that? By managing our minds, becoming aware of the limiting beliefs handed to us in our medical training, and changing the beliefs that don’t serve us as we do the work of caring for others.
Am I Only a Doctor? In a Word: No
Once you become a doctor, it can seem like that’s all you are. I’ve written about the road to this “single identity” here. Many of us feel that the other parts of ourselves got lost along the way, but there are things you can do that will help you expand into all the...
If I Leave Medicine, Who Am I?
We take on the identity of “Doctor” long before we get the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For me, it started when I was 11 years old and decided I was going to be a doctor. I had many reasons for this decision: I couldn’t think of anything more useful than being a...
I Learned to Meditate When I Was at My Most Miserable
Don’t get me wrong, I had (have!) a great life. At the time I realized I was so miserable, many years ago, I was just working way too many hours and had no time to enjoy my great life. Once I realized I was miserable, I tried to meditate. (That’s supposed to help,...
Doctor is Not Your Only Identity
Recently, I had three different conversations with three different people who were all part of the medical profession. The conversations echoed each other in a way that made me really think about how we medical types identify ourselves. Long before I started medical...
One Deep Breath Changes All
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...
Journaling While Exhausted Reveals Limiting Belief
There was a day, back when I was working full-time as a family physician, when I sat at the water’s edge on a beautiful, rugged beach in Maine, trying to enjoy the view and the sound of the waves, despite my exhaustion. As it turned out, that was the only day I got to...
How to Help Your Patients Make Positive Changes Using The Four Tendencies Framework
As physicians, we do a lot of different things for a lot of different people including, hopefully, ourselves. Sometimes we are more successful than other times.. In her book, Gretchen Rubin explores how we handle expectations—internal and external, and I found it a...
How Cognitive Dissonance Can Help You Grow
Have you ever become defensive when your partner told you you’ve been working late too much, and claimed, “I always put this family first!” yet you know the reality is you’ve missed dinner and bedtime with the kids every night this week? Have you ever ignored expert...
A Mistake Was Made
One of the stories that has haunted me since medical school didn’t even happen to me. It happened to my good friend Ben, a tall man with a sweet smile and a gentle manner. We were doing our surgery rotation at a private hospital in Brooklyn and the chief resident, Dr....
Complaining is a Choice
When we complain about a situation, or “vent,” we are actually releasing some of the pressure we feel when we are in the situation, so it feels slightly less intolerable.
This is not necessarily a good thing.