By Carla Mariano, EdD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAIM Nursing students face many stresses as they juggle school, family, often work, and expectations of self and others to succeed in all aspects of their roles. In addition, the very transition to becoming professional nurses, dealing intimately with the lives, health, illness, and crises of clients/patients, and families, can …
In the midst of the current pandemic, isolation, economic, social, and political turmoil, we are facing unprecedented stress at the levels of the mind and spirit. Stress on these levels invariably take their toll on the physical body as well. I offer the following points as among the most useful I have incorporated in my …
It’s nearly holiday season, and for many people living lives with the volume turned to 11, this is not necessarily good tidings. The additional stressors and obligations of the holidays can threaten the delicate emotional balance they strive to maintain. At this time of year especially, giving yourself the gift of a calm, tranquil mind …
Continue reading “The Many Marvelous Benefits of A Few Minutes of Meditation”
Are you getting your MDR (Minimum Daily Requirement) of gratitude? Harvard Medical School reminds us that “the word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness”. Who doesn’t want more grace in their life? It’s no surprise that gratitude is strongly correlated with greater happiness and better relationships. The …
Continue reading “The Appreciation Prescription: Why You Need Multiple Daily Doses of Gratitude”
Make sure you don’t lose sight of your own needs when you’re taking care of patients with these self-care tips
May is Better Sleep Month! Here are some tips to improve the quality of your shut-eye.
The month of April is Stress Awareness Month. Take time to incorporate some easy tips to reduce stress into your busy life.
With Caroline Ortiz, RN, MSN, MPH, CCAP, CMI; Christine Gilchrist, RN, MSN, MPH, NC-BC; and Jeanne Kenney, RN, BSN, HN-BC, CCAP As a population, nurses are measurably more stressed-out than most people. Despite plenty of evidence that unmanaged stress amongst nurses often causes poor health, leading to medical errors, frequent sick days, and high job turnover, nurses have …
Continue reading “Nurses Helping Nurses Reclaim Their Balance One Breath at a Time”
By Thea Elijah, LAc What is sympathy? I say sympathy is the way of total acceptance and total transformation. Total acceptance is the job of the stomach and total transformation is the job of the spleen. This is the highest skill of the Earth element: total acceptance, total transformation. What most of us work with …
Continue reading “WHAT IS SYMPATHY: Reflections on Si Jun Zi Tang”
One of the four categories of examination in Chinese medicine is the “looking diagnosis”. Observing the patient’s skin tone, the Shen in the eyes, and checking the tongue are all elements of creating a clear, effective diagnosis. Observing posture can add a layer to the examination that is insightful, especially given the frequent occurrence of postural distortion in modern times. We can start looking at our patients as soon as we greet them in the waiting room. How do they sit, stand, and walk? What kind of posture do they have? Instinctively, many of us sense that a slouching or hunching patient has a qi deficiency.