Flourish
Two wishes for my colleagues in medicine on National Doctors Day.
To flourish
Grow luxuriantly, prosper, develop in a vigorous way, grow well, thrive, be healthy, develop rapidly and successfully.
To treat yourself the way you wish others would
“The greatest kindness is being kind to yourself.” Charley Mackasy
Let this Doctor’s Day be the one where you appreciate yourself and choose to flourish.
Let this Doctor’s day be the one where you don’t wait for a gift or lunch from the hospital admin or someone else significant to define your value or your worth.
Let this Doctor's day be the one where you choose to move beyond “resilience” and “engagement.”
Let it be the one where "you go high when our system has gone low."
Let it be the one you choose to flourish and treat yourself the way you wish others would.
Flourishing may seem like a stretch from where you are today.
Medicine, the last few years especially, have been exhausting, depleting, and overwhelming.
Physicians show up at my retreats unable to take a deep breath, with heavy tight hearts, and unsure how to move forward. They leave feeling light, hopeful, and curious. With full souls, hearts, and bellies.
Physicians show up for coaching stretched, angry, resentful, and anxious. Very early in the process, they are calmer, have a new perspective, and are finding joy again. Lightbulbs go off.
People show up for yoga with frazzled nervous systems, chest tightness, spinning minds, and a stuckness behind their hearts. They leave centered, calm, and with a clear head. Grounded and nourished.
Choosing to flourish and treat yourself the way you wish others would is empowered, productive and kind.
Physicians are some of the most resilient people I know.
They don’t need to learn to “adapt better in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats"
They need and deserve to flourish. You deserve it. Your families deserve it, and your patients deserve it.
Practicing medicine and life should not be about surviving and pushing through. This is not sustainable and it isn't our highest good.
Medicine is hard work but can also be beautiful and soul-filling.
There are many, many ways to heal, guide, and support others towards greater human health. We help others to flourish and this is best done by people who are flourishing themselves.
Supporting physicians and helping them flourish has been my passion since 2002.
I have been speaking up and advocating for flourishing physicians for 20 years.
We have come a long way and still have a long way to go.
I recently stepped outside the system to do this work so I could flourish- grow luxuriantly; prosper; develop in a vigorous way; thrive; be healthy, develop rapidly and successfully.
And so I could help more of your flourish by using my wisdom, skills, and experience to help others in the most efficient and optimized way.
Mindfulness and coaching help you flourish
Professional training builds patterns in our brains that help us get through training but negatively impact us in our relationships and in the rest of our lives. The blend of mindfulness and coaching calms the nervous system and makes it receptive to rewiring and letting go. Mindful brains are more accepting, less judgmental, curious, and generous. They are less graspy of scarcity mindsets, negativity biases, catastrophizing, always looking for problems, and focusing on the past and future. In a calm and present mind space - creative solutions are accessible- without willpower.
Flourishing doesn’t come from shifting your urgency and need for external validation to something else- investing in real estate, FIRE, side gigs, and doing more.
It comes from a shift within.
Flourishing and being willing to care for yourself the way you wish others would come from shifting your mindset, rebalancing your nervous system, and living in alignment.
Alignment may be investing in real estate, leaving medicine, pursuing your passion in the form of a side gig - or something else.
Pausing and being present, breathing deeply, enjoying calm, practicing self-compassion and contentment are what help you discover what it is that brings you alignment and peace. They help you clarify your personal path. They help you repair the cracks with gold and truly flourish. They help you turn anger, irritation, frustration, and resentment into connection, clarity, and action.
From a place of love and wanting the best for each of you and the world, don’t wait for the gift of appreciation from your medical system. Don't wait for the right time or for the system to change.
Treat yourself the way you wish they did -- right now.
Gift yourself the best doctor's day gift ever-- choosing to flourish and treating yourself the way you wish others would.
May you all be well
May you be happy
May you be healthy
May you flourish