Being a doctor, especially a surgeon, requires full focus and attention. You would be operating on people, which means that you will be saving their lives. This process involves being totally focused on what you are doing, as one wrong move can easily turn into a disaster.
Mindfulness is a practice wherein you focus on one thing at a time with no distractions at all. This can be useful for physicians and surgeons, which is why below, we will teach a few mindful practices you can follow to make sure that you will be using different tools such as the haemoband on your patients properly and safely.
Don’t be Scared to Pause and Recalibrate Your Breathing
Breathing exercises are important when it comes to being mindful. When you are nervous and anxious, you tend to breathe faster and faster, which can send signals to your brain that something is not right. Your body then follows and sometimes, you can experience chills, sweaty hands, tingles, and even numbness, which can then lead you to become more anxious.
If you are feeling overwhelmed before or during an operation, you can pause and try to normalize your breathing. Remember that you can only save someone else’s life if you focus on yourself and your well-being first.
Be Aware of Your Thoughts and Feelings
Before surgery, you can stop and meditate for a while — even just 10 minutes would do. Be in tune with yourself and how you are feeling. Close your eyes and listen to your head and what you are feeling. Are you sad? Are you scared of the upcoming surgery? Are you ecstatic?
Knowing how you are feeling and acknowledging it will make you more aware of your surroundings. This will help you focus a lot more on what is currently happening rather than having your mind drift away to something else.
Focus on Everyday Tasks
Do this at least twice to thrice a week, or you can do it every day if you want. Make your routine extraordinary by getting in tune with it and really noticing how you do it. Mindfulness is about focusing on just one thing at a time and taking the time to give yourself a chance to be attentive when doing it.
For example, you can start with brushing your teeth. Try using your non-dominant hand and see how hard it is when doing so. This will let you focus on just brushing your teeth and its sensations, which can help you focus on different things a lot better.
Scan Your Body
You do not have to do this literally — you can simply close your eyes, lay down on a comfortable couch or bed, and start getting in tune with your whole body. Make sure that you are doing this somewhere that’s quiet so you can focus.
Are you feeling and hearing your heartbeat? How fast is it going? Do you have something in your body that seems to be aching or painful at the moment? What does it feel like? Being aware of your own body will help you focus on different things in the future and of course, help you relax before, during, or after surgery.
A lot of surgeons and physicians practice mindfulness, so you should go ahead and try it today. Relax your mind and body and the rest will follow.
