PLANTING SEEDS

I recently had the wonderful privilege of giving a talk for TEDxSuny. In this talk, I discuss the importance of finding connection, first and foremost with ourselves, and then with those around us. I expound on the idea that we, as humans, are wired for connection and desperately need connection in order to thrive. However, through the passage of time and the advancement of technology, we have come to believe that self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and individualism are the route to success.

I further discuss that in medicine, a profession where clear communication, understanding, and deep connection are essential, our training supports a highly separatist agenda. This can lead to an overwhelming sense of isolation, loneliness, and resentment that affects how we engage with our lives. I propose that by building connection, we can transform the culture of medicine to one that allows us to maintain awareness of our deepest values, align our being with those values, and by doing this, bring our greatest potential into actualization. If you are interested in watching this talk you can go here: https://www.marpejourney.com/resources-marpe.

I have received many comments from those who have enjoyed my talk and found it useful. I am so grateful for those comments, and sincerely hope that my talk can bring inspiration to others. However, in this post I would like to acknowledge those brothers and sisters in medicine who find my talk to be a reflection of “wishful thinking”. I want them to know that I hear them. That I understand why they feel that way. I want them to know that I, too, felt that way before. For many years I felt trapped on a roller coaster. I saw no way of getting off that roller coaster, or even slowing it down a bit. I felt like I had no choice in that ride that was called my life. And, I know that if I had listened to my talk 10 years ago, I would not have believed it was possible for me to find more joy through connection. I was simply trying to get through each day, to fulfill all the obligations and expectations of my life, and to succeed. The thought that all of that could be accomplished in joy, or that perhaps all of those expectations were disconnecting me from my truest self and were not the way to achieving my greatest joy, was simply something that never even crossed my mind. I was working so hard to do everything that I believed I “should” be doing, and I had specific ideologies about how the world “should” respond. When the world didn’t respond as I wanted it to, and the outcomes I had worked so hard to secure didn’t come about, I felt defeated, frustrated, and useless. For me, it took a cancer diagnosis to catapult me out of that reality into one where I could learn to stop trying to control that which I cannot, and learn how to better surf the waves of life.

We are all at different stages in the journey called life. That’s okay. For many of us it, unfortunately, takes a “life altering experience” to wake us up to the possibility that we have a choice in how we live our life, how we respond to the waves that come upon us. My goal is simply to inspire, to invite, and to plant seeds.