Learn Serve Lead:

• Attended the AAMC annual conference in Austin, TX over the weekend. High quality conference. One of the keynote speakers was Dr. Angela Duckworth who wrote Grit. 
• Wellness was a recurrent theme in several lectures and panel discussions. Many focused on burnout, but some on wellbeing. One great slide said 1 in 5 docs burnout (low number compared to most data), but that speaker was “interested in the other 4.” 
• Exactly what were trying to do with Practice of Wellness. Strengthen the behaviors that make you one of the docs who thrives. We will all have a setback or major challenge, and if you are just above water, you will go under. 

Lewis Thomas:

• Lewis Thomas was an American physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher. One of the best physician writers of the 20th century, he wrote on many different topics.
• This brainpickings post covers one of this essays, Seven Wonders, published in the 80s but entirely relevant today. He covers seven wonders of biology in the modern era, with humanity itself leading the charge. He writes (pre-Internet) about humanity as one large living organism, interconnected and interdependent, capable of amazing things because (unlike termites or ants) we can extend beyond what is coded in our genes.
• My personal favorite Lewis Thomas piece is Autonomy, originally published in NEJM. You can find the book in which it appears, Lives of a Cell, free in PDF form online. In Autonomy, Thomas ponders on how the body runs itself, and what might happen were he to control his organs consciously. “If I were informed tomorrow that I was in direct communication with my liver, and could now take over, I would become deeply depressed.” Also check out Music of this Sphere if you follow the trail to that book. The Youngest Science has the most content related to his medical training. 

Gratitude:

• At Harvard, Herbert Bensonhas published extensively on Mind-Body interactions. He talks about “remembered wellness,” where people who have chronic health problems can remember back to when they were stronger and healthier. This visualization exercise has striking epigenetic effects.
• See the quote at the bottom describing the gratefulrelief experienced by a patient who is recovering. Instill this optimism in your patients as often as possible.

Coffee:

• Caveman coffee is single origin coffee from a small company. They sell a Mammoth variety that can also be purchased ground, with MCT oil infused (2g per cup brewed). Many of their beans are on the darker side – strong flavor and less caffeine. Amazon sells a few of the varieties. Watch out, some will cost you >$20 for 12 ounces. 

Winter:

• Last winter you saw a link for Badger Balm, a natural salve especially useful on dry, cracked hands. Well Badger Balm makes chapstickas well. Might find it in stores, but it is Prime on Amazon right now. 

Quote:

“Gratitude pours forth continually, as if the unexpected had just happened – the gratitude of a convalescent – for convalescence was unexpected … the rejoicing of strength that is returning, of a reawakened faith in a tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, of a sudden sense and anticipation of a future, of impending adventures, of seas that are open again.”

– Frederick Nietzsche