I’m very excited to get to tell my story on Her American Story podcast!  Listen in to hear about my life, growing up as the child of Syrian immigrants in America’s Midwest.  Would love to hear your feedback. Find the episode linked here or at Her American Story on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

I’ve heard a lot of advice about cutting toxic people out of your life. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is that simple. Often times, these people are inextricably linked to us either through family, work, or other reasons.  In many cultural & religious traditions, it’s wrong to cut off family members & break family ties.

So if we cannot completely avoid such people, we should try to limit the power they have over us.  How?

1️⃣ Remember that most people who behave negatively are doing so out of their own pain.

So try to view them with compassion. Realize that they have their own hurt that is causing this behavior. Look at their brokenness rather than their harshness. This will decrease the power they have over you. Do not confuse compassion with sympathy or empathy. Do not become a doormat or let them abuse or hurt you. But rather shield your heart from them & think of them in a different way; view them as weak rather than strong.

2️⃣ When you interact with someone you perceive us “toxic”, realize that perhaps they are bringing out the worst in you. In that case, you benefit more by addressing what is within yourself, rather than worrying about their bad qualities.

We have certain chemistry with everyone we interact with; synergistic or antagonistic. The way our substance is touched by another person’s substance can bring about a good or bad reaction. Most of that is related to our own old wounds.

So when someone brings out negativity in you, take a moment to try to address those feelings. Don’t worry about the other person, reflect on yourself. What are you feeling & why? Try to peel back the layers & dig a little deeper. Perhaps with time you can realize what things trigger you or open your wounds. What things touch on your sensitivities and why. By doing that you can safeguard yourself & protect yourself from further hurt.

Ultimately I think forgiveness is better for us. So if we can try not to hold grudges & forgive people, it will decrease the power they have to hurt us. By forgiving & letting go, we are not doing it for them or justifying their actions, we are doing it for the healthiness of our own heart. ?

Forgiveness.

There are times in life when people will hurt you. Often it’s the people you trust the most & have allowed yourself to be most vulnerable with.  Getting through those experiences can be very tough.  Here are things that may be helpful.

Talk it through with a trusted person.  Sometimes you need to get it off your chest & you need someone to listen & empathize or sympathize.  But other times, you need good advice on how to handle it.

In the case of the former, speak to someone you trust to not share your personal life with others.  Choose someone who will respond in a way that validates you without stirring you up further.  Otherwise, your well-meaning friend may make you feel even worse.

In the case of the latter, speak to someone who can look at the situation objectively & give you good advice.  Consider seeking professional help from a #therapist, especially if this may be an ongoing situation.

Take time to process your feelings before you confront the person that hurt you.  Write out what you wish you could say to them.  Then edit it over time.  You’ll find that as time passes & your emotions become less raw, you will be able to say things in a less confrontational way.  Often, if you spend enough time on this step, you won’t even feel the need to share those words with the other person because that process can be therapeutic.

Depending on the situation, you may need to eventually explain to the offending person why what they did was hurtful to you.  If so, make sure you’ve taken time to process your feelings, calm your emotions, & think through your approach.  If you attack them, they will go on the defensive & not really hear what you have to say.  If you want some change to come from this conversation, you will have to approach it calmly, & clearly outline how it could be handled better to be less hurtful to you.

Also check out my blogpost Overnight Hearts about the value of sleeping on things.

Have you had to interact with people you feel are toxic?  How have you managed? What are your tips on handling hurtful situations and arriving at forgiveness?

I am excited to have my writing featured by The Mindful MD Mom.  Please check it out!

Do We Really Need to Do It All?

What weighs one ounce and has 7 fellowships?  In this podcast interview, I discuss topics that every physician should know about my specialty.

 

I had a great conversation with Dr. Errin Weisman in this podcast interview about my personal pursuit of contentedness. 

Per Merriam-Webster dictionary, contented is an adjective meaning:  feeling or showing satisfaction with one’s possessions, status, or situation.  Contentedness is the noun of that feeling.

Some of us experience a mid-career ennui.  As life finally starts to settle down, the new calm can feel like a void because we are so used to working to achieve the next milestone.  Especially for those of us in medicine, we have been running for so many years from one step to the next; undergrad, MCAT, med school, USMLE, residency, board exams, fellowships, etc.  It is non-stop for 12+ years.  As that is finishing up, some may be getting married, trying to start a family, buy their first home, succeed in their job, or spend time with their young children.  But as the years post-training pass, and the high-adrenaline pace of those years fades into the distance, we may find ourselves in a lull.

Most of us have always been high-achievers and might not know how to just sit down and enjoy the temporary quietude. We don’t know how to sink into and experience contentedness.

In this podcast conversation, I share my experiences trying to fill every moment of my time, starting a non-profit and running a school, and how I deal with the challenges of time passing and embracing contentedness.

Take a listen and drop a comment or question below!

I recently had the pleasure of meeting a friend for lunch. We are both ophthalmologists, moms, and busy community members involved in a variety of things. But we took the time out to sit together over a meal and connect. One of the things she shared with me is that she does daily gratitudes with her kids. I loved this idea and have started doing it with my boys in the morning before school.  In order to keep it going consistently, I make it very simple. Once we get in the car, and say our usual prayers, we each name 5 things we are grateful for.  It has been interesting observing their gratitudes get deeper and more reflective. They started out with things like: my eyes, my ears, my nose, my house, my shoes, my socks.  But now they have moved on to more detailed and personal things.  We often incorporate recent events, something we see out the car window at the moment, or play off one another’s ideas (sometimes straight copying).  I love this time of the morning, and I can tell that they do too.  They never resist or whine when I remind them to do it.  Practicing gratitude is replete with benefits in mind and body, as I will discuss below, and it’s a beautiful way to start the day.

One of my favorite reflections of gratitude was when my daughter surprised us last year at her high school graduation by thanking her father and I on her graduation cap.  Her gesture opened our hearts to her with even more generosity and love than was already pouring forth.  And that’s the beauty of gratitude.  Practicing it actually makes you joyful and brings more goodness into your life.  Studies have shown that gratitude interventions appear to significantly increase happiness, well-being, and positive mood. As a Muslim, none of the recent research and enthusiasm about practicing gratitude comes as a surprise to me.  It is a part of the fabric of Islamic belief. One of the most quoted verses of the Quran is: your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you’ (14:7).

So what is it about gratitude that makes such a positive impact?

Robert Emmons, a leading scientific expert on gratitude, argues that gratitude has two key components, which he describes in a Greater Good essay, Why Gratitude Is Good.  “First, it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”  Second, he explains, “we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”

Here are some of the interesting things I’ve learned about gratitude, all supported by results of scientifically sound studies:

• brain areas have been identified that are likely involved in experiencing and expressing gratitude, providing further evidence for the idea that gratitude is an intrinsic component of the human experience
• girls and women report feeling more grateful than boys and men
• certain traits have been identified that act as barriers to gratitude; including envy, materialism, narcissism, and cynicism
• social factors—including religion, cultural influences, and parenting styles—may influence a person’s tendency to experience gratitude
• gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, and decreased materialism
• more grateful people are happier, more satisfied with their lives, less materialistic, and less likely to suffer from burnout
• gratitude practices can increase people’s happiness and overall positive mood
• in one study, grateful cardiac patients reported better sleep, less fatigue, and lower levels of cellular inflammation
• in another study, heart failure patients who kept a gratitude journal for eight weeks were more grateful and had reduced signs of inflammation afterwards
• grateful people experience less depression and are more resilient following traumatic events
• even in people suffering from depression or anxiety, gratitude writing (along with ongoing counseling) was shown to improve their mental health more than counseling alone
• more grateful adolescents are more interested and satisfied with their school lives, more kind and helpful, and more socially integrated

Although what I’m doing with my boys is a quick and easy variation of gratitude practices, I can still see the benefit in it.  More elaborate gratitude practices would including counting one’s blessings through journaling, writing gratitude letters to people in your life, or incorporating gratitude affirmations into meditation. 

Do you have a daily gratitude practice? If so, what is it and how has it helped you? If not, what is holding you back from starting?  Would love to hear your thoughts!

Reference:  Greater Good Magazine