Nurses Need to Meditate!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it loud – NURSES NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MEDITATE!

While this site is for anyone interested in the art and practice of meditation, its roots are in the book that I published, Minding the Bedside: Nursing from the Heart of the Awakened Mind. This book, while written for nurses, can be used by anyone interested in learning to meditate. However, my feeling is that nurses – especially – need to meditate!

What meditation does for you is to bring you closer to your undistracted, present and compassionate self. Considering that nurses are charged with providing care and comfort for those who are experiencing life-changing events, I can think of no better way for nurses to show up at the bedside than to learn how to work with their hearts and minds.

Change Your Mind and You Can Change the World

I’ve written that it’s my belief that meditation can help to heal the woes of the healthcare system and that nursing can change the world. But before you go about changing healthcare (or the world) you need to change how you respond to your environment and to your world. You need to change your own mind!

As nurses, we need to make a commitment to be our best at the bedside. For those of you reading this who are nurses, I’m certain that you’re already doing this, that you’ve already made the commitment to be your best at the bedside…haven’t you?! Or, has the routine of work worn down some of your resolve to show up, 100%, for every one of your patients?

As a professional, you’ve probably been urged (or even coerced?!) into being better at what you do. You may even be tired of hearing that you can do better, or that more is expected from you. How about this; what if you were told that there was one thing that you could do that would help you to be better at everything you do, whether that’s nursing, parenting, partnering, or…running? What if one “remedy” would help you to have a stronger mind and better resolve to show up at the bedside?

Your Mind is At the Root of Everything that You Think, Say, or Do

It’s said that mind is the forerunner of everything. Everything that you do in your life, and how you do it, is based on the state of your mind. Why would you chose anything else than to be present in the moment, with a mind that’s well-trained, and not lost in reactions and in the emotions of hope and fear? Why wouldn’t you want to train your mind so that you can be the best-that-you-can-be in every moment of the day? Want specifics? Okay, here they are:

Eight Reasons Why Nurses Should Meditate and How to Do It

There are plenty of reasons to learn how to meditate. I could list at least 100…I think. But for nurses, I can think of eight main reasons why learning how to meditate can make your work – and your life! – a lot less stressful and a lot more joyful. Here they are:

  1. You’re Not Given Enough Recognition. How many times have you done something really good for one of your patients, maybe even saved their life, and all you have to show for it is your own inner feelings of accomplishment…if that?! When you meditate, what you come to realize is that there’s a part of you, an inherent part of you, that is at peace regardless of what the world says about you. AND, this part of you also knows how to ask for recognition when it’s deserved; it’s a strength that you can rely upon to speak up for yourself and advocate for yourself and your patients.
  2. Work is Stressful. Show me a healthcare workplace that isn’t stressful and I’ll show you a…Disney Movie? I’m not sure about you, but for me, I know that in all of the hospitals that I’ve worked in (and I’ve worked in many) there wasn’t one where stress didn’t take its toll on its employees. It’s only natural! As if caring for those who are ill and dying isn’t enough, sometimes the politics and policies in the healthcare environment are enough to make you scream, right?! Meditation has been proven time and again to help decrease the effects that stress has on your well-being.
  3. You’re Burned Out. Burnout is endemic in nursing. According to various studies, anywhere from 30 up to 50% of nurses experience some degree of burnout. While meditation isn’t a cure-all for nurse burnout, many of the reasons cited for nurse burnout are found to diminish with a meditation practice.
  4. You’re in Pain. Believe it or not, more than half of all nurses experience lower back pain or some form of musculoskeletal pain. Half!! Holy crap, seriously? Yes! Meditation can help you deal with pain differently. It may not relieve you of your pain, but if you perceive your pain differently and literally experience it differently, then wouldn’t that be a great benefit?
  5. You’re Caring for the Dying. Caring for those who are dying can be incredibly rewarding. Having spent over 6 years doing hospice work, and over 30 years in nursing, I’ve been blessed with having been with thousands of people during the dying phase. And each death has been an amazing experience. AND, being around those who are dying can also take an emotional toll, especially if the death is a tragic, painful, or otherwise difficult one. Meditation is a great way to still your mind so that when you’re working with others who are dying, you’re able to be present and to know that you’ve been your best during this important time in a person’s life.
  6. You’re Finding that Compassion is Hard to Come By. Sometimes, the circumstances that we find ourselves in when we’re doing our job can wear down our compassionate impulse. Long shifts, heavy patient loads, or working nights can whittle away at our compassion. A meditation practice can help you to reconnect with the wellspring of compassion that you have within yourself.
  7. You Don’t Sleep Well. If you’ve ever worked nights (all those who have, say “ay!”), you know what it’s like to suffer from sleep loss and lousy sleep. But even if you work on days, you can feel tired and your nights may not be restful. Meditation has been shown to benefit people who suffer from insomnia and to bring a feeling of well-being to people.
  8. You’re Depressed. I’m not assuming anything by having this reason on the list. It’s just that many nurses (and people in general) suffer from depression, even mild cases. In nurses, it’s been estimated that at least 20% of nurses suffer from some form of depression. Crap! That’s unacceptable. Did you know that meditation can prevent and lessen the effects of depression?

Of course there are many, many more reasons to meditate, the most important being that through meditation you come to realize an aspect of your mind that’s uncluttered and undisturbed by the normal arisings that occur within the mind. So, let’s get down to it.

How To Meditate

Maybe you’ve already got a meditation practice. If that’s the case, great! Keep it up. And feel free to use all of the content from this site to support you in your efforts. If you haven’t started to meditate, begin now.

Many people don’t meditate because they believe that they need to do “something special” in order to meditate, maybe you’re one of them. “Doing something” special isn’t the case. All you need is your breath, and a few minutes of time set aside to begin your practice. Here are some tools to get you started:

This site has tons of tools for learning how to meditate and be compassionate.

I encourage you to look through the HUNDREDS of articles that I’ve written and especially check out my weekly meditation tips and other useful meditation materials provided for your health and well being. And please let me know if you’d like to discuss anything with me, have any questions or need clarification regarding anything that I’ve written about.

Thanks for visiting and have a mindful day.

Hey Look*** This blog post was written to be included in the next edition of the new Scrubs Magazine Nursing Blog Carnival. The Nurse Blog Carnival is a series of blog posts on all things nursing hosted by nurse bloggers across the web. Every two weeks, you’ll find a new link to a new host blogger’s post for the Scrubs community to enjoy, which will be hosted by various nurse bloggers and published on a regular basis. I’ll be hosting the January 1st, 2014 – stay tuned!