Author: kadubofour

YOU ARE THE SOFTWARE

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Remember this always and with every patient encounter.

The patient never came to see the stiff ware encased in the EHR.

Your healing codes were never

Written in bits and bytes.

Your language has never been binary,

It has always been rich and extraordinary.

Remember who you are.

You are the true software.

You are more than a doctor.

You are a healer filled with dignity and kindness.

Your software is a heart unmatched,

A brain that cannot be replaced by AI.

For your operating systems are not filled

with ones and zeros.

Your operating systems are built on the rich

Tapestry of love and empathy and compassion.

A software language seeped in intermingled nerves and nano amounts of neurotransmitters.

A software language beautifully arranged with unimaginable grandeur and complexity.

You are beautifully created.

You are not the stiff ware labelled EHR

Turn around. Face your patient

Listen quietly.

Listen to really listen,

Listen to understand and be mindful

Of every complaint whether they be shallow or deep

Be in attendance.

Be present.

Palpate and marvel in every pulse, every breath sound.

You have 10 to 20 minutes. Use it.

Relegate the stiff ware to the minor leagues.

You are a major player in these healing arts

 Remember who you are – the true software. 

Kwabena O.M. Adubofour, MD, FACP

AWE

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Submission by: Kwabena Adubofour, MD

Could your life be more awesome? The scientific study of AWE is relatively new; the Greater Good Science Center’s director, Dacher Keltner (UC Berkeley), has been one of its pioneers. Already studies have linked it to better health and increased generosity, and researchers are zeroing in on how to cultivate more of it in our everyday lives.

What is an Awe Walk?
“An awe walk is a walk within a place of meaning and beauty, where your sole task is to encounter something that amazes and transcends, be it big or small. I look for awe walks during my work day, with my family at night, and in rural and urban settings. And on very fortunate days I get to do awe walks, in a places like Muir Woods National Monument.”
Learn more about Awe Walks here https://www.mindful.org/awewalk/

“Awe is the experience we have when we encounter things that are vast and large and that transcend our current understanding of the world.“

Pretty Ugly

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Submitted by Barbara Entsuah, MD, Family Medicine, Clermont, Florida

There are 2 ways to read this incredibly amazing poem by Abdullah Shoaib.

We all deal with self-doubt from time to time and this poem tells us that we deserve love, compassion and kindness and belief in ourselves but that the well from which all that springs should start from within us.

I’m very ugly
So don’t try to convince me that
I am a very beautiful person
Because at the end of the day
I hate myself in every single way
And I’m not going to lie to myself by saying
There is beauty inside of me that matters
So rest assured I will remind myself
That I am a worthless, terrible person
And nothing you say will make me believe
I still deserve love
Because no matter what
I am not good enough to be loved
And I am in no position to believe that
Beauty does exist within me
Because whenever I look in the mirror I always think
Am I as ugly as people say?

Now read the same words, but READ THE LAST LINE FIRST AND GO UP.