Mindfulness Requires Action

This morning during our safety moment, Dave Mayer said Mindfulness requires action. Mindfulness has become quite a buzz word in medical education to prevent burnout. Being a type A person who finds mindfulness practices frustrating and anxiety-inducing, adding action to mindfulness makes sense to me.

It isn’t enough to be mindful of the interactions that trigger frustration for me, I should act to resolve such interactions so they are less frequent. It isn’t enough to be mindful of trash on the floor of the hallway as I pass it, I should be more proactive in keeping a place of healing, like a hospital, clean. For me, adding action to mindfulness puts the concept into a version that I can fully embrace.