Let`s redirect our attention back to the PHPEP and its mission.
The idea is to create a new culture in our health care system based on restoring the essence of humanity, compassion, connection, care and kindness in our care by full attention to well-being of our health professionals and creating patient experience. But why is it that these two elements are so critical in achieving our mission? You might also ask, in this era of war, animosity and hostility, significant natural adversities and human inequalities, what is the point of talking about our innate goodness, honoring humanity and striving to be a good human being? But I argue that now more than ever we need to adhere to the essence of our humanity, the virtues that have been accepted throughout the world and history by any race, group, religion and culture. Yes this is the right time, it is the time to recognize what has separated us and created a culture of indifference among us and what has been the true remedy throughout the history of mankind.
For instance in our health care, despite the remarkable advancement in medical technology, improved understanding of the medical problems and significant progress in their therapies , we are facing a culture of indifference with less patient satisfaction and more health professional burn out. It is unreasonable to assume that the enforcement of new policies and procedures to our frustrated, overwhelmed and exhausted health professionals could inspire them to generate genuine human experiences for our patients. This inspiration has to come from their heart and soul with authenticity. But why should we even care about creating human experiences and how do we motivate ourselves in this culture to pay attention to this important aspect of our profession?
In my opinion, full attention to the well-being of the health professionals is the essential key for their self-motivation towards creating patient experience and on the other hand generating this humane experience which is usually associated with patient`s gratitude and appreciation, has the potential to raise their sense of well-being and fulfillment in life even higher. Yes, these two elements are interconnected, feed from each other, enhance one another and need to be addressed as the fundamental pillars for the change in the culture of the health care. Of course all the institutions have a critical role in improving the well-being of the health professionals by providing fair and adequate economic and environmental resources. However, recent scientific discoveries have demonstrated the power and ability of human beings to change their mind and behavior towards the self-growth and individual flourishing. Yes, this is our choice, our responsibility, and our freedom. The PHPEP is all about personal responsibility toward our personal well-being. It’s about self-growth, self-development and self-inspiration. It`s about taking charge and controlling our destiny. It`s about knowing and believing that it is possible that even in hardest time of our lives we still have the power of choice to make remarkable changes in our mind, attitude and behavior towards savoring the full life.
So let`s talk about self-growth and self-development. Most of us are living life robotically, day in, day out, waking up in the morning, going to work feeling miserable, not liking our job, checking in, without any sense of engagement and going back home feeling lonely, depressed and unfulfilled. Some of us feel ok about it, live in the comfort zone and resist any change, because it might hurt and be uncomfortable with even more pain and struggle. Some of us don’t have the self-esteem to start any change. Some of us have fear, fear of loss, fear of the struggle and pain of the process and fear of the consequences. So we settle. We think we can hide and keep ourselves in the comfort zone. But most of us eventually regret with even worse pain than any other pain. Because we realize that there is more into life and by settling in the comfort zone we have lost the opportunity to savor the full life.
Life is like a river with mysterious beginning and end that does take you through a journey with ups and downs, sadness and happiness, struggle, disappointment and pleasure, heart break and love. Life is unpredictable and in this journey it could take you to dark places or land you on the most incredible locations. So we have two options. Whether to accept and let life takes us wherever it wants or make choices and swim away to change the direction of life towards the places we wish. On this journey, we would have failure, defeat, disappointment, struggle, pain and heartbreak. It’s not easy to change direction, it’s hard, but the key is the belief that it is possible and then have the discipline to work hard, get stronger, grow and be prepared for the opportunity not only to reach our dream but also to give and contribute to life and in this process also to love and be grateful.
Health professionals, due to the nature of their profession are in a very unique position. The medical profession is a remarkable platform with all the essential elements for the lifetime journey of accomplishing the personal fulfilment. But, how? First and foremost it requires a fundamental change in our mindset to recognize the sacred value of medical profession, a unique profession which involves caring and healing others in a daily basis, a purpose beyond and above ourselves which creates a long lasting contentment in life. It allows the health professionals not only to relive patient`s pain and cure their physical problems, but also to engage and heal their suffering souls. Yes, health professionals are not just only nurses, servers, or providers, they are the healers. What health professionals do in a daily basis has the potential to change people lives and touch their hearts and souls. This is priceless. Medical profession also allows them the opportunity to create authentic human connection in a deeper level and practice the essence of humanity, compassion, care and kindness. The daily reminder and exercises of these practices would gradually build virtuous characters among health professionals and also institute the new culture of “care” in the health care system. In this culture, our days could be filled with graceful positive emotions, delightful human experiences and connections, fascinating challenges and achievements and most important of all “the sense of true meaning and purpose in life” and all that, is what you could call “flourishing life”. Yes, a graceful symphony of human energy created by interconnected minds of virtuous human beings.
So let`s redirect our attention back into PHPEP in 2016 and promote this idea and together create history and leave a legacy in our health care. Let`s do that not for recognition or validation, but for us and for them and in this process I promise that you will see the change inside of you, you will see the self-growth and self-respect.
