Ocean plastic picking is an easy way for doctors to practice mindfulness.
October 20, 2019
by drplasticpicker
Drplasticpicker in my real life is in middle management. I do half time clinical work, and the other half at endless meetings. Trust me, I’ve heard about mindfulness and physician wellness. I sit there sometimes, and I just nod mindlessly about our discussions about mindfulness.
Mrplasticpicker is also a doctor in a specialty and he is also middle management. Mrplasticpicker went through a wellness seminar where physicians sat around with eyes closed practicing mindfulness in a circle and shared their innermost turmoil with a bunch of strangers, and trying to practice mindfulness in the hospital and spilling your feelings to those who do your evaluations! I’m sorry people, how can you practice mindfulness when you are in the hospital???!!! It’s the setting of all your stress! Wellness champions go around to department meetings, teaching physicians a few yoga moves and meditation exercises. Mrplasticpicker said one specialist tried to teach a bunch of surgical type people a mindfulness exercise with a cutie. They sat around holding the cutie, sniffing the cutie, rubbing it on their face, but never eating the cutie. I’m not sure how effective that is? I’m obviously not on the mindfulness committee, but behind the scenes I care about physician wellness quite a bit. My take on physician wellness, is that we need to reduce physician extra work, stream-line office management, and get doctors home.
When you have a little bit more time, each doctor can now HEAL THYSELF! Find your passion that is completely different from medicine, and do it. I find ocean plastic picking a natural way to practice “mindfulness” because I am mindfully trying to look for little itty bitty pieces of plastic, and it calms my mind. Plus I’m outside. And I’m also picking up plastic that would otherwise go into the nearest humpback whale’s digestive tract causing bulk effect and malnutrition. And through ocean plastic picking I began blogging, and I remebered how much I love to write. I am not sure how many people are reading, but I’m writing and clicking on my keyboard – and it has been the best thing.
So, drplasticpicker recommends to all my fellow MDs to get outside and plastic pick somewhere in nature. Beaches, rivers, streams, nearby parks, canyons – all that plastic will end of in the ocean anyway. Let your mind wander and concentrate on the little bits you need to find, and I think you will now have the focus to puruse your outside-of-work passion. Doctor HEAL THYSELF! Rather than 5 minute meditation exercises, management needs to give you more time to find what true mindfullness means to you. I sincerely hope my phyisican colleagues find it. Drplasticpicker has three close friends also pediatricians, and they are especially mindful people. One is a singer, another a recent award winning photographer and another makes beautiful hand-crafted soaps. They heal themselves daily with their outside passions. You are worth it. You are needed. You can only help others if you care for yourself. You need more time in addition to some yoga exercises in your office.
This is drplasticpicker just venting which is also therapeutic. I never noticed these beautiful daily things before, the shells, the kep and the clouds. But I had to keep my eyes open, get out of the hospital, and it did not involve sniffing a cutie. The world should really listen to drplasticpicker, I make more sense than a lot of upper management.
Congratulations on you blog! Your writings are some inspiring. Also you post beautiful photos! And you are so right about needing to be and do something mindful every day! Thank you for reminding us about this important aspect of our life!
Thank you Charles for your kind words about the writing and the photos! So happy to know there are folks out there reading