In my opinion, I feel my profession still operates in the negative. It may seem benevolent and positive on the surface of Medicine in the Western World, but is it really?
Every day I am bombarded with articles, reminders, conversations and dialogues about patient complaints about cost of co-pays, deductibles and so on. I am reminded about long hours, exhaustion and burn out. There are constant complaints about managed care and the pharmaceutical industry as well as many other related issues. I hear of many practices closing, physicians changing careers, physicians being stuck, physicians getting ill----and needing therapy, support and medications themselves. Some physicians are dying of heart attacks in their 50's---and some are aging prematurely.
Long hours, less dollars after so much time energy and sacrifice over the years. Is this the energy of the 21st century in health and healing? Is the focus that a new paradigm in Medicine is supposed to be about? Technology and rigid mental focus over the heart?
Not only are physicians and other health care workers feeling the impact of many negative forces, they also I feel sometimes still project this negative energy to clients and patients and the medical environment----including myself at times.
This takes many forms. In my experience, physicians are relating less openly with colleagues, staff, and patients. Everything is cut to the chase, very brief dialogue, rushed and stressed encounters, quick focus on test results lab numbers, emphasis on medical procedures, decisions about care and in an out quick rounds with the pressures of seeing high volumes of people for so little reimbursement---and thus difficulties maintaining stable practices for some.
I wonder about the internal world of the physician. Are we really happy? Did we start out idealistic only to find that we have reached a glass ceiling and that we are caught in a web of financial and other logistics that are hard to break free from to really feel like we are doing our mission that we had set out to do in this field. Are we on a hamster wheel that has no stopping or relief?----
I see colleagues for support and treatment and there are many internal woes including depression, anxiety, fear, anger resentment bitterness and many negative emotions at how this highly professional group of people are being reduced to worker bees by large corporations who know nothing really about the subtleties of medicine, and in my opinion, sometimes pretend to care when they really do not. Behind closed doors it is really about numbers and dollars.
And then you take all of this and in conversations with patients and clients ---so much negative support is consciously or unconsciously given:----Still I hear many say; "she will never walk, he will never be normal, they will never do this and that......"---This negativity is a powerful force that can affect patients and clients and subsequent generations. And, doctors are sometimes too tired and exasperated to provide empathic, longer support time ----due to high volumes and demands that even staff cannot sometimes manage.
Please understand, I am not saying every physician is a miserable wretch, they are all negative and they hate their profession. Not at all. There are extraordinarily stellar physicians who are making fantastic contributions to their communities and to the world. And there are many that carry the gift of being able to hold positive energy for themselves and others and do many interesting things inside and outside of Medicine.
What I am saying in my opinion, physicians and all health care providers and staff have an opportunity if they are open to find ways to at least create or find some kind of sacred atmosphere for themselves to bring back the energy of the "Divine Feminine"---this means to remember the softer side of healing---love, purity, wholeness, re-generation, positive thinking, rejuvenation, healing, any form of relaxation and Spirituality. Many areas that include artwork, expressive and creative therapy and activities, help to get back to feeling and experiencing one's real and authentic emotions.
A review, study, and understanding of ancient Medicine principles that are currently mostly lost in today's Modern world would greatly help I feel....Ancient medicine is based in principles of enlightenment----ancient health focused on prevention through spirituality as a means to heal-----Ancient medicine is well-versed in the energy and the Spirituality behind the body and mind, something not really taught in conventional Medical schools in any real depth.
Group support and therapy within clinics --that involve group yoga, prayer of any kind, meditation, journal writing and sharing, creating a sacred space for all involved will truly go a long way to create this kind of positive energy within a clinic and truly shift the day into something that everyone can look forward to rather than dread.
And in doing so, a light in the heart can be lit---and if it is already lit --the heart can burn brighter so that some of these ideas and experiences can be introduced into one's busy practices. By awakening inside, the positive energy and Higher Self can be channeled into one's work and career in a new and profound way that fosters the sacred in clinical medicine.
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