Category Archives: medicine

A Little More Inspiration

Posted on by
Reply

img_4550NaBloPoMo 2016, Letters to Patients, Day 18

To Patients Seeking Inspiration:

May you find it all around you!

Today I want to share Donna’s and my 3 Question Journal shares from yesterday.  To learn more about the practice, check out yesterday’s post.  Please join us!  See our ongoing thread on Day 9.

Today I also reference Donna’s post from yesterday, as its raw vulnerability inspires me, too. 🙂

Donna:

Hi, Cathy, I cheated a bit. I prefer to think of it as creative accounting.
SURPRISED to discover how much easier it is to stay focused on the lectures in my audio course if I color while I’m listening. If I try to listen while idle, I drift away. Hmmm, this is an area where multi-tasking is actually beneficial.
I’m making this a two-fer:
INSPIRED and TOUCHED by many of the speeches at the National Book Awards: Rep. John Lewis tearfully relating how as a teenager he was refused a library card because he was black, and now he was on stage accepting a National Book Award. Colson Whitehead’s “formula” for feeling better in these worrisome times: “Be kind to everybody. Make art and fight the power.” And poet Toi Derricotte’s declaration that “joy is an act of resistance.”
Hope you’ve had a great day today, Cathy, and will have a better one tomorrow. See you then!

Me:

Hi Donna! I heard parts of those speeches on NPR this morning, too! And yes, very moving.
I just arrived in Champaign for the American College of Physicians Illinois Chapter Meeting. Tomorrow morning I will give a fifteen minute summary of highlights from the international physician health conference.
I’m surprised at how not nervous I am about this talk. But then again, maybe there is no need. I know this stuff, I love it. There are no facts to memorize, only passion and inspiration to share!
I am moved by my conversation with my friend in the car. We talked for 121 miles and then some. We realized that we have been each other’s mentors in different ways these last few years. I also realized that knowing her has made me more confident, more brave, and more *my best self*.  Truly moving.
I’m inspired by the message I’m about to deliver tomorrow. The profession struggles to sustain its calling. Our circumstances undermine the meaning in our work, obscure our calling. And yet, like you posted today, the well will still fill, from the deep. Oh my gosh!! I think I will quote you tomorrow!! OMG it’s PERFECT!! YOU inspire me, Donna!!!
It’s gonna be great. Because I have so much inspiration all around me.
This was a pretty great day, Donna.
I hope your well fills in a little and a lot more every day. Let’s look for that 3:1 ratio, and continue our journal. It’s really helping me! …And staying off of Facebook is also paying off–in time, energy, and mood. Hugs to you, friend!!

On Inspiration

Posted on by
3

 

dsc_0460NaBloPoMo 2016, Letters to Patients, Day 17

To Patients Who Share Your Stories:

You inspire me.

For the past week or so Donna Cameron and I have practiced the 3 Question Journal, since I wrote about it 9 days ago.  Every day we look for one thing each that surprised us, touched us, and inspired us.

I find that my inspiration comes almost always from my interactions with others, and often from patients.  It’s the stories.  I bring my laptop into the exam room, and I notice when I stop typing and sit forward, usually chin in hand, to listen to what you have to say.  Usually you’re telling me about a problem you solved at work, or your kids, or that crazy illness or injury you overcame.  You look and sound proud, confident.  You sit up straighter.

The stories from past and present help me tie together your symptoms.  Maybe you get headaches more lately.  But you’re not stressed, you say.  Then looking back, well, your mom has been losing her memory fast the past year.  And your co-worker was diagnosed with cancer.  You found mold in your basement and it’s going to cost you both time and money to abate it.  Oh, and your only son will graduate from high school next year.  Hmmmm, are you sure you only have headaches and not other symptoms, too?  Yeah, you say, you’re actually doing pretty well, all things considered!

I never know what will come up when I see you.  If our relationship is established and positive, I will always look forward to your next visit.  I can’t wait to catch up.  I want to hear what you’ve noticed about your health habits, their consequences and interactions, since we last met.  The little things make me giddy—like the newfound flexibility after a couple of yoga classes, or the discovery of a new favorite health food—who knew quinoa was so delicious as a hot breakfast ?

Maybe the best part comes when I can really relate to a story you tell.  Wow, I think, we live parallel lives!  We struggle with the same barriers to healthy habits.  We share the common experience of perfectionism and self-doubt.  We both seek acknowledgement that we’re doing our best, and forgiveness for our mistakes.  We are all simply human.

Please keep sharing your stories.  You inspire me more than you know.

On Fasting

Posted on by
11

dsc_0520

NaBloPoMo 2016, Letters to Patients, Day 15

To Patients Who Are Fed Up:

Try fasting.

That pun really was unintended!

I asked a colleague about fasting once—what are the benefits, why does he do it?  He asked, “Don’t you ever feel like it’d be a good thing, every once in a while, to stop eating for a day?”  Ummm… No, are you kidding me?  That would never and still has never occurred to me, I love food too much!

Tonight, however, I think I may understand a little better.  Maybe fasting is about counteracting overconsumption.   Certainly we have a problem with food glut here in the US.  I have heard the word ‘detox’ associated with fasting, too…  Maybe I just refuse to admit how poisoned I am by the food I eat to consider this remedy—I am pre-contemplative here.

I am finally ready to concede, however, that I overconsume Facebook.  Sure, it provides plenty of material for this blog, and I really do interact meaningfully with a lot of people (but wait, do I, really?).  And, I have let it overtake my consciousness too often.  The time suck is interfering with other tasks and yes, relationships, I must admit.  I rationalize that I am ‘reading,’ that it’s a source of so much interesting information and idea exchange.  That may be partially true, and still, it costs too much.

So I commit to a Facebook fast this day, November 15, 2016.  It’s been a long time since my last fast—actually a year, come to think of it—yup, almost exactly!  How funny…

Is there something you need to take a break from?  Something you do habitually, that’s not all bad, but that may be excessive, a little out of control?  Maybe you don’t need to quit it altogether, necessarily.  But maybe taking a little time away will help put it into perspective?  A little break—a pause.  Test your ability to resist, challenge yourself to notice where the habit shows up, what drives it, what you might substitute for it, and how the withdrawl sensations may evolve…

Now I’m wondering if I could actually apply this to my eating.  No, not fasting from all food (again, are you kidding??), but maybe something a little more manageable:  Fast from dessert for a week—substitute fruit.  From sweetened condensed milk on weekdays (“That’s like dessert!” one of my patients exclaimed once)—substitute soy milk.  This looks more like actual behavior change than just fasting… huh.

I will be back on Facebook tomorrow.  It will likely look very similar to my usual pattern, maybe even a rebound effect—a more intense fix after the sudden withdrawl.  Well, we’ll see.  I feel a lightness to trial and error lately, and this is worth a try.  I shall report back, so stay tuned!