Wellness Corner

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness simply put is "living in the moment." It involves both awareness of one’s current circumstances and acceptance of them, whether one is happy or sad, stressed or relaxed, hot or cold. Meditation is a path to mindfulness.

Why should I practice mindfulness?

Benefits of mindfulness include reduced stress, improved focus, improved working memory, reduced emotional reactivity and improved relationship satisfaction, among others. Research also suggest that meditation may help in the management of anxiety, asthma, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome and sleep disorders.

Where do I begin?

If you are interested in learning more about mindfulness and meditation, consider the following:

• Vicki Freedenberg, PhD, RN, in electrophysiology is a mindfulness meditation champion at CNMC. She leads the Mindful Mentor program, sends daily mindfulness quote e-mails (contact her at vfreeden@childrensnational.org to subscribe!) and holds meditation sessions every Friday afternoon on the main campus. Her mindfulness work with cardiology patients has been published in Pediatric Cardiology. We will host Vicki at an upcoming RadU; stay tuned!
• We will be instituting brief mediations and breathing exercises during daily huddles and faculty meetings.
• There are a number of apps available for meditation, some free and some paid, including Headspace and Meditation Studio.
• Your local yoga studio may offer meditation classes.
• or, just take a few minutes on your own to sit in a comfortable position, in a quiet space, and focus on your breathing. Simply be aware of what thoughts and feelings come and go without trying to control them.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner.aspx

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858

https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/namaste-mindfulness-aids-cardiac-patients/

Highlights from the Junior Faculty Career Exploration and Development Program:

-          The traditional “triple threat” model of a successful academic physician being an extraordinary clinician, teacher and investigator is being replaced with the “modern triple threat”: clinician, educator OR investigator OR QI specialist OR advocate OR administrator, and work-life balance.

-          In a study of physician at the Mayo Clinic in 2009, those spending less than 20% of their time on the “most meaningful activity” had the highest rates or burnout (in this survey patient care was considered by 68% to be the most meaningful part of their job). Therefore it is important to focus on doing what you love, which takes mindful planning. “Be present and in control of your own academic career development plan.”

-          The importance of mentoring: it is common to have multiple mentors  for different aspects and different phases of your career. In order to have a successful mentoring relationship, know what you are looking for as a protégé. Ideally, both the mentor and protégé will learn from each other through the mentoring relationship.

-          Focusing your research and other efforts on megatrends in medicine will help you succeed. Megatrends include financial, demographic, research and other external influences such as the changing education landscape, aging population, increasing population diversity, increasing prevalence of complicated chronic disease, mental health, opioid crisis, etc. Megatrends can be discerned by scanning the headlines from societal news brief e-mails (e.g. ACR, AAP…).