This episode included clips from a workshop inside the Empowering Women Physicians coaching program with Dr. Kristen Neff on self-compassion. We discuss the difference between tender self-compassion and fierce self-compassion. Dr. Neff speaks up about the need for women to advocate for themselves and how that is indeed an act of self-compassion.

We discussed that self-compassion can be measured using the Clinical Self-Valuation Scale and that it can be significantly improved in just a short period of time, as documented by a change from 18% to 64% of women physicians inside EWP meeting criteria for a self-compassionate perspective in just 8 weeks.

Links for resources mentioned in this episode.

EWP coaching guide https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/guide

EWP Newsletter: https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/newsletter

EWP Published data: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38840137/

Stanford Clinician Self Valuation Scale https://med.stanford.edu/wellmd/selfassessment.html

Self-valuation. Attending to the most important instrument in the practice of medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31543254/

Study on self-valuation being the largest mediator in the difference in burnout between male and female physicians: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2846632

In this episode, we listen to a full two hour workshop held inside the EWP Coaching Program with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. She is a Harbard neuroanatomist who had a stroke that led her to see her brain and psychology in a whole new way. Her TED talk is one of the most watched of all time and author of the books My Stroke of Insight and Whole Brain Living.

She shares her neuroanatomically based psychological paradigm to help others live more peaceful lives. In this workshop she discusses how this framework applies to us as physicians.

For more information on our Physician Coach Certification visit https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/certification

To get on on the waitlist / interest list go to https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/certificationwl

In this episode, we discuss the unseen burden and mental load of taking over-responsibility for things that aren't ours to carry. We discuss the difference between taking Radical Responsibility for those things that are yours to control (your thoughts, feelings, actions, and results) as opposed to taking responsibility for things that are not yours to control (such as others thoughts, feelings, actions, and results).

In this episode, Dr. Sunny Smith reflects on how a recent life threatening situation helped her to see what things really matter in the end, and how most of the things we spend so much time worrying about don't really matter at all. It changed her perspective to help her take radical responsiblity for making choices in her life that didn't serve her.

She also announced a brand new physician coach certification program that can be found at https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/certification/

If you aren't signed up for our newsletter yet, you can do so at https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/newsletter

Our last episode was a conversation with Dr. Edith Eger on how we always have a choice. No matter our situation, we always have a choice. This episode is a reflection on a conversation with her and Oprah Winfrey that included how we go about making our choices when the answer doesn't seem clear. Oprah discussed her own reflections with and experiences of Inner Knowing. She says we were all born with an inner knowing and if we can just be still and listen, it is always there.

If you'd like to join us for a live workshop, simply go to https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/workshop

We'd love to see you there.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Edith Eger who is a 97 year old Holocaust survivor, clinical psychologist, and New York Times Best Selling author of the book The Choice.

The wisdom she shares is truly unforgettable.

She teaches us how her mother taught her that no one could take away from her what she put in her mind. She reminds us that we all have choice, no matter the circumstance.

Links from this episode:
For those who want to join us for a workshop go to http://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/workshop

Dr. Edith Eger's book - The Choice. https://dreditheger.com/the-choice/

In this episode we examine the evolution of the understanding of Learned Helplessness. We review the neuroscience that explains how helplessness is a default and what we are actually learning is control.

This allows us to have a deeper understanding for ourselves and compassion for ourselves when we do feel helplessness in the face of ongoing challenges.

It also empowers us to proactively strengthen our self-efficacy, agency, and autonomy.

Learned Optimism helps us remind ourselves that challenges are not personal, not permanent, and not pervasive.

Upcoming EWP in person event

EWP Toronto event with Liz Gilbert and Martha Beck

https://empoweringwomenphysicians.com/toronto-2024/

References

Maier SF, Seligman ME. Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. Psychol Rev. 2016 Jul;123(4):349-67. doi: 10.1037/rev0000033. PMID: 27337390; PMCID: PMC4920136.

In this episode we learn about Martin Seligman's initial experiments on Learned Helplessness. This context can help us better understand ourselves and why we may sometimes not believe that we have power to take action to decrease our own suffering.

In person event:
EWP Toronto 2024 with Liz Gilbert and Martha Beck - click here

Coaching Guide:
To download click here

Podcast link:
To send to a friend click here.

We'll be placing links to references here soon.