A new book on mindful medicine may help you in your pursuit of Healthy Survivorship: Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness and Humanity.
(from The Healing Power of Attending)
Ronald Epstein, a Clinical Professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, ...offers a fresh view of high-profile topics, such as compassion, suffering, medical errors, and the wounded healer. Without whining, he addresses the challenges to providing comprehensive care. Without patronizing, he suggests ways to overcome them."
I especially appreciated Epstein's discussion of curiosity and how fostering curiosity can help you handle difficult situations and people in healing ways. As I explained in my review,
"For one, curiosity is an intrinsically rewarding drive. Constantly looking for something new, unexpected, or interesting—in other words, 'preparing to be unprepared'—puts you in a state of 'relaxed awareness' that is energizing, in contrast to hypervigilance, which is exhausting. For another, under stressful circumstances, increasing curiosity triggers a feedback loop of decreasing anxiety, rigidity, and defensiveness, all of which help you uncover the truth of the matter"
In Attending, Epstein illustrates how clinicians benefit from engaging their curiosity. Similarly, patients who engage their curiosity can benefit when dealing with the inconveniences, discomforts and anxieties associated with tests, treatments, checkups and consultations.
This book literally changed my life for the better. If only by encouraging you to be curious in uncomfortable situations, this book may change your life for the better, too. [For the full book review, click here.]
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