The whole point of Social Media has always been to connect and have meaningful dialogue with colleagues and like-minded folks. Although we can do that in short form via Twitter chats, the introvert in me can appreciate longform with online pals who I may never have the opportunity to meet in person. A thinker needs to talk. Beth Coll, on… Read more →
Fear and Surrender. Staring into the glazed-over unfocused dilated eyes of a jaundiced man with end-stage liver cirrhosis. Fear. Witnessing him take his last breath and watching as his whatever it is was that resembled his unique life force of collective stories and emotion from his whole life through dissipate into an unknown. One last sigh. Surrender. Collecting mementos from… Read more →
As a daily journal writer, I’m always on the lookout for some good writing prompts. Here are a few I’ve come across lately that work both for professional and personal reflection: “If we weren’t trying to control, what would we do differently? Make a list, then do it.” – Melody Beattie “Tell me about a time you knew glory. Go…. Read more →
There’s a lot of buzz around the action of “storytelling”. It’s a trendy term. Some marketers hijack storytelling as the art nouveau of their work. I suppose that’s fine, but it still rings generic. Nurses, we live storytelling. Our work is storytelling. The intimacy in the care we provide is like a Bob Dylan song because storytelling doesn’t have to… Read more →
Last night I spoke to a person who expressed feeling nervous & upset: her speech was fast, she felt unfocused, she needed to vent. After assessing her clinical symptoms, I invited her to take some deep breaths. We did it together on the phone – I lowered my voice, slowed the pace of the conversation, and encouraged her to breathe…. Read more →
The move to New York City is a fast one. A Brooklyn apartment broker scolded me when I met her three months ahead of time to look at apartments. She refused to show me places to live even after I clarified that I was visiting from Ohio and wanted to know the lay of the land. “Come back one month… Read more →
I recently sat in the front row of a Humanities in Medicine Conference at Columbia University, my iPhone was in my lap, I tweeted one bit of info, then I stopped. The panelists were directly in front of me gazing at the audience as they presented their compelling presentations about storytelling in a female prison, media and live narratives on… Read more →
Burn out is an absolutely real phenomenon that happens to many of us throughout our nursing careers. Sadly – I still don’t think we address it as often as we should, whether personally or collectively as a group. We are strong. We are soldiers. We work long hours. We do the work of two or three nurses. We are also… Read more →
On a visit to the Modern Museum of Art in New York City – I stumbled upon this minimalist piece of art in one of the galleries. “Language is not transparent.” I’ve been reflecting on it for some time. The art speaks not so much about verbal language, in my assessment, but the written word. Words stamped onto a graph… Read more →
We have a plethora of tools at our fingertips to enhance our creativity in this age of technology: Evernote and Idea Organizer to file our ideas via audio, text, and photo SoundCloud to record audio and tell stories Photography applications like Instagram and Wood Camera to play at being amateur photographers Audio Note to create additional verbal notes to self… Read more →