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MERI Center Blog

March 24, 2020
Resilience Tips

At today's UCSF Symptom Management Service Interdisciplinary Team meeting, Judy Long, Chaplain extraordinare, led us in a short resilience exercise.  We hope to record them in the future, but alas, did not record today's session.  

Judy started with a grounding exercise, asking us to breathe in and out. Then she prompted us to ask ourselves:

Why:  Why am I here? Why am I doing this work? Why do I care (about my work, my family, etc.)?  

What: What is going on in my body right now? Do I have a headache, stomachache? Notice in your heart anything that dominates. What emotions are on the surface?

Next, think about the person you are meeting with next. What are the stories I have about this person? What are my preconceptions? What is the narrative I have about this person.  Recognize that they are preconceptions and narratives.

Now imagine what they may be going through, what they may be feeling.  Are they in pain? Nauseous? Are they scared? Angry? Worried?

What narratives may they have about you?  Be mindful of how all of this affects your interaction.

Bonus tip:

Think about someone you’d like to connect with and how you could connect with them.  Phone, text, video.