Can Meditation Change the World?

And can nursing change the world...? I have to say that somewhere in my heart, I hold the aspiration to "change the world." Not in a Gandhi or Mother Theresa kind of way; those individuals are as rare as stars in the daylight. I'm thinking more about making a small contribution to the world, something that can make a difference to a few people who can then in turn, bring benefit to others. As a nurse, it's easy to get caught up in the "caring" aspect of nursing while forgetting that every time you care for someone from a "meditative" [...]

2014-09-08T23:47:38-06:00By |Nursing|2 Comments
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Compassion Fatigue in Nursing? There’s No Such Thing! Five Reminders…

BOLD STATEMENT: there’s no such thing as compassion fatigue! What?   Have you heard all of the talk in healthcare and in the literature about "compassion fatigue?" I just did a Google® search for the keywords "compassion fatigue in nurses" and came up with 104,000 links, up from 46,700 links just last spring! What?! You’d think that we’re all suffering from burnout, which can’t be possible…or, is it? The notion that being compassionate can cause fatigue gives me cause to pause, how about you? Can compassion really lead to fatigue? Can caring so much for another cause burnout? Perhaps the [...]

2019-02-26T10:55:35-07:00By |Nursing|4 Comments
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Why Meditation Matters in Healthcare! Five Simple Reasons…

Meditation Matters in Everything that You Do...   Meditation matters in your life. It matters in your relationships and in your family. It matters when you drive the car and when you eat your meals. (starting to see the pattern here?) Meditation matters everywhere! It almost seems like I could start a Dr. Seuss rhyme here, "...in a park, on a train, in the dark, in the rain!..." Previous posts on this site, as well as posts on other sites like What Meditation Really Is, The Promise of Mindfulness Meditation, and even on Richer Life, have stressed the importance of [...]

2016-01-12T17:17:30-07:00By |Nursing|1 Comment
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Minding the Bedside, Watching the Clouds. It’s All Meditation!!

In previous posts we've discussed how to work with the breath as an anchor for taming the mind, bringing our attention into the present, and maintaining an attention of moment-to-moment awareness. We've also covered how to work with thoughts, sensations, emotions, and...even sleepiness!! When caring for others, in this case, at the bedside, as a healthcare professional, we can use all of the methods that we've learned to ground out attention in the moment, for those we care for. Minding the bedside aware and compassionately comes from realizing the changing nature of our thoughts and from turning and returning the [...]

2014-09-08T23:42:42-06:00By |Nursing|2 Comments
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Meditation in the Workplace…Meditating at the Bedside?

The topic of bringing our meditation practice into our workplace, whether as a nurse or as a supermarket cashier, requires of us an understanding of what we mean when we use the word, "meditate." For many people, meditation brings up images of monks or solitary souls seated on a cushion, mumbling "om" with incense and candles. Sure, that can be meditation, but more often than not, this isn't the case. And, in the case of how we bring our meditation practice to the bedside, these images don't represent what a meditative presence truly embodies when caring for another. As was [...]

2014-09-08T23:41:58-06:00By |Nursing|3 Comments
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Meditation With Death in Mind (memento mori!)

We’ve discussed and shared a lot of different aspects of meditation and how to work with the mind on this site. One topic that we haven’t strayed into is how working with one’s mind can not only affect the quality of one’s life and the lives of those around us, but also how the stability that we can find in learning to meditate can also help us when we or our loved ones approach the transition of life into death. The Latin words memento mori—“remember death” or “remember that you must die”—were used in ancient Rome and in medieval times [...]

2019-08-12T17:47:25-06:00By |Nursing|3 Comments
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The Nature of Mind, Nursing, and Rumi’s Wisdom

  Minding the bedside, remaining mindful, aware, and compassionate in the presence of those we care for,  comes from turning the mind, re-turning the mind inward; transforming the stormy arisings of thoughts, emotions and feelings and recognizing them to be impermanent phenomena, like passing clouds in the sky. The Poet Rumi wrote: The Guest House This being human is a guest-house Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its [...]

2021-09-27T00:44:33-06:00By |Meditation, Nursing|0 Comments
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Mindfulness, Meditation, Compassion and Nursing – The Perfect Fit!!

I'm stuck in Washington at Dulles Airport, “G” Terminal with several hundred other souls crammed into the boarding area. Outside, flashes of lightning illuminate the cloud-darkened sky; the loud thunder-clap strikes come alarmingly close to this small, overcrowded weigh-station. As we watch the Departure Boards, one flight after another posts “CANCELED,” and a tide of anxious and angry passengers washes over the customer service desk, employees frightened for their well-being. How appropriate it is then that I am on my way back from teaching a class on mindfulness and meditation to a group of health-care practitioners in Seattle. What a [...]

2014-09-08T23:33:54-06:00By |Nursing|6 Comments
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