What we're learning from people who need wellbeing the most right now
“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
In medical school, doctors are taught to empathise with their patients. Most doctors, and other medical professionals study medicine with the aim of helping others. The more you can walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, the more likely it is you will be able to help them.
Indeed, studies too support the idea; higher empathy scores in doctors correlate with faster recovery times in their patients, this is true whether they are learning to control their blood sugar, or whether they need to overcome a harsh cold. (Source 1)
While this point may not seem very revealing to you, it’s the next part that gets interesting. By the time students become practicing physicians, a recent study finds that up to 60% of them report feeling burned out. They mention emotional exhaustion, and depersonalisation (treating patients as objects), and a lower sense of accomplishment. (Source 2)
This last fact brings up a few important observations:
Knowing how paramount something is does not mean we can practise it well, and consistently.
Empathy can be painfully difficult. If you put yourself in the shoes of someone suffering, then you too, can start to suffer.
Empathy too, like other fundamental emotions, is a skill.
So, how then, can we find the right way to nurture this salient emotion, in a time where we need it most?
ABC: Always Be Compassionate
Leo Baubata writes: “I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives.”
Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other. The key to developing compassion in your life is to make it a daily practice; to continue to develop a curious interest in growing your compassion.
Begin the day the right way
Important things need reminders. If we start our day with gratefulness, we are all much more likely to be compassionate. Here is an example of a classic morning invocation from the Dalai Lama:
“Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
Include Empathy Reminders at Every Meal
All of us are empathetic, and while empathy is incredibly hard to measure at any given moment, most of us would probably also agree we could be even more empathetic, and with that, greater levels of happiness could be reached.
Everytime you sit down for a meal, practice empathy. Think of a loved one, and think of the potential challenges, struggle, and suffering they may be facing. It’s hard isn’t?
It is thought that Ian Maclaren was the original source of the quotation “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle you know nothing about”.
What lessons are we walking away with?
Working closely with healthcare professionals has lead us to understand that giving something may sometimes mean we forget ourselves in the process, and while healthcare professionals are known to be the most full-filled from their work, they too, can be at risk of deficient wellbeing.
With the Global Leadership and Wellbeing Survey, combined with wellbeing coaching, we’ve had the pleasure of helping some healthcare professionals understand more precisely where they stand with their own wellbeing, and how they can create their own roadmap to continue to flourish over the years. If that is something you are interested in, we would love to discuss with you, likewise, we can also discuss how you can leverage some free tools to help you, without needing to make any financial commitments.
Reference
Del Canale, Stefano, et al. "The relationship between physician empathy and disease complications: an empirical study of primary care physicians and their diabetic patients in Parma, Italy." Academic Medicine 87.9 (2012): 1243-1249.
CARE, PRIMARY. "Association of an Educational Program in Mindful Communication With Burnout, Empathy, and Attitudes Among Primary Care Physicians." JAMA 302.12 (2009): 1284-1293.