The inner outer awareness dilemma

Seems nursing poses a risk for inner awareness
so much of what we do in nursing is observing others
monitoring physical status and behavior while we try and do 10 things at once as well as keep an eye out for the pool nurse who has come to lend a hand
The dilemma is how to be aware of ourselves, our breathing, our stress levels, our thoughts and feelings; while managing the multiple demands posed by nursing day after day - not enough staff, more and more of our colleagues leaving and an endless array of tasks to be down and ever increasing responsibilities and sicker and more complex patients to care for

Try being fully engaged in the moment, slow down, let go of yesterdays nasties, override negative mental chatter, be prepared but not so focused on the next moment that you forget to engage with the here and now

and above all remember to breathe...

Awareness

In retrospect I should have known the minute I squirted toothpaste on my black shirt it would be one of those days. However coming from an approach of your day is what you make it I continued on unsuspecting despite a twenty minute search for the car keys which were where I left them (if only I could have remembered where that was twenty minutes earlier). A nanosecond after closing the front door on my way into work I had tripped down the front steps (well OK step as there is only one) and without a drop of alcohol past my taste buds. The ‘trip’ proved quite spectacular not the least that it was in full view of several neighbors and on a day when I had given up my preference for wearing trousers and gone all girlie with a skirt. A skirt that made me look the epitome of a professional woman when worn vertically, when worn horizontally well that was a different matter. All this was before 7am. I’ll let your imagination wander through what the rest of my day looked like as I try and explain where I am heading with all this. Perhaps if I backtrack a little and share some pearls of wisdom Carol a friend and mentor of mine gave me many years ago. Her view was that there are no accidents. Carol’s view was that it was about loss of awareness. The busier we become the less aware we are. We hurry through life, ‘wired’ for speed, like a headless chook packing as much as possible into our day; weighed down by the multiple responsibilities of life, family and work. We become less aware of our feelings and less aware of what is going on around us. As a consequence we often don’t pick up on our stress levels as we push onward. This can result in what we commonly refer to as ‘accidents’. Using Carol’s perspective however the cause is more about loss of awareness and certainly for me when I start having days like I describe above it is past time for me to slow down.

According to Henry Miller ‘the aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware’.

Where is your awareness?

Focused on the million things you think you have to accomplish by noon?

If this is so for you….focus your attention inward, take a deep slow breath and slow what you are doing.

Pay attention to your thoughts and feelings.

Center yourself and proceed with a slow steady speed with increased awareness of yourself and the world around you.

You will feel and be better for it…