wounded healer

Imperative 3 To guide but never lead. We have great knowledge and must use it wisely. We are called by the dying to be their guides through this final passage. It is the height of arrogance to believe we can somehow lead them through the end of life, step-by-step. We are simply to be guides […]

Imperative 4 To be honest. Nothing can shatter a relationship more quickly and more completely than dishonesty. To be sure, we do not hit people over the head with the truth they are not prepared to hear. That would be cruel. We must rigorously avoid a self-serving deflection of crucial issues and truths in order

Imperative 6 To be joyful. Laughter and joy can be a more effective medicine than anything we hope to produce in a laboratory. The joy of medicine was given to me by my patients. I will always remember the day I sat in the bedroom of a hospice patient who was surrounded by his immediate

Imperative 7 To be knowledgeable. There is so much I don’t know that if I had a lick of sense, I would use my medical diploma to line my kitchen cabinets. The single greatest sin I can commit as a physician is to know not and know not that I know not. To be knowledgeable,

Imperative 8 To be courageous. Courage is contagious. The defining moments of history have been immortalized because common men and women inspired others with their courage and together they all accomplished the seemingly impossible. No one and no thing must ever cause us to shirk our duty to a patient who relies on us to

Imperative 9 To be strong. Strength has a resolute spirit that stands in spite of overwhelming obstacles. We can become a source of strength to our patients and their families. They can draw strength from us. If we are willing to hold their disappointments, their fears, their guilt, not succumbing to desperation, even when that

Imperative 11 To be authentically human in our encounters with patients and families. To be effective, I must be willing and able to throw off the protection of the white coat and be fully human at the bedside. So often I hear professionals say that they just wouldn’t know what to say to a patient

Imperative 12 To recognize and believe in the Supremacy of Spirit. Our personal religious convictions–or lack thereof–must never cloud our awe at the great miracle of the spiritual realities that come breaking forth as patients approach death. We must be prepared to help patients and families address the great spiritual questions of life: Who am