番茄社区

At the recent , author, speaker, and neurohumorist delivered the keynote address, which focused on how all healthcare providers can find both amusement and amazement even during tough situations.

In this exclusive 番茄社区 video, Buxman describes her tips and strategies for the sane and successful, including three key points she highlighted in her address.

Following is a transcript of her remarks:

The reason that we pulled together this topic was because of the state of the healthcare crisis that we're going through. And while the focus of the organization NPWH is about women's health and ultimately the care and safety of those patients, right now one of the things that I don't think a lot of people are really recognizing is how is all of this change and all of this chaos affecting us as healthcare providers, nurses, doctors, and other kinds of providers.

What we have right now is a nation, if not a planet, of people with their brains on fire. And when people are under this kind of resistance and this kind of stress, a lot of negative things can happen. It can lower our IQ by 10 points and make us dumber, which I don't know about the rest of you -- I can't afford to lose any more points than I already have. People can't really embrace or grasp what it is you're trying to do for them or inform them.

And so, because of all of the issues with this resistance created in the brain, I pulled together three key points that I think would help us as healthcare providers, and also then for us to pay this forward for our patients and those whom we're serving as well.

And so those three points were: one, live by choice, not by chance. The second was see funny. And the third was to practice random acts of kindness.

And so kind of to cap those or look at those is that so often, particularly when we're under fire, when we're under stress, we go into kind of an automatic mode. Our brain gets lazy and it takes the path of least resistance. But if we're not being intentional about that which we're seeking, we're not going to find it, because our brains are constantly searching for threats.

And for people who are wanting to experience that satisfaction, that happiness, even that joy, that brought us into this profession in the first place, that seems like such a huge leap right now, when we're in this feeling of anxiety or stress -- or for some even further down, depression, despair, hopelessness.

And so being intentional and looking for those things that amaze you and looking for those things that amuse you, what we're doing is harnessing the reticular activating system of our brain to show us more of what we desire -- and so living with intention by choice, not chance.

The second is seeing funny. And I think that humor is the most powerful tool that is overlooked and undervalued that we have at our access. And I think that part of that is because people misunderstand that humor goes beyond entertainment.

It actually has three purposes. Entertainment is one, and I love being entertained. People love laughing; I'm sure you do as well. But the other powers of humor, the purposes, are also to influence others and also to provide well-being. And so if we're trying to entertain people, we measure our success by laughter. But unless we're trying to entertain, we don't have to be funny.

So a lot of people think, oh, but what if I'm not funny? What if nobody laughs? And to that, I respond: great, because you never have to be funny. You can leverage other people's humor. You can leverage other people's laughter just by seeking humor. You're changing your brain state. You're changing your mindset. And so you never have to express your humor either.

But one thing that I think will help you even more, and it lends itself to this next -- which is practice acts of kindness -- is that when you seek humor, then to pay it forward. I mean, that's a very simple act of kindness. And acts of kindness go beyond being nice. They're beneficial for us. It helps our mental health. It helps our physical health.

It's contagious -- research that's been done has shown that somebody who experiences an act of kindness is highly likely to pay that forward to someone else and someone else and someone else. And so these can be huge acts of kindness, but really what's more important is the small, intentional, and consistent.

Is it a kind word to somebody, is it a word of encouragement, is it a word of appreciation, is it sending something to somebody that will make them laugh, is it buying your colleague who's exhausted a cup of coffee and bringing it to them? All of these little things, they seem like small acts, but they can make a huge difference.

So if people can remember those -- live by choice, not by chance; see funny; and practice acts of kindness -- I think that that can improve our mental health, and then also help us to serve better those who were really passionate about making a difference for.

I love connecting with people. I am a real connector, and I love connecting you to other people. I love connecting on LinkedIn. I also have a resource page that I put together because people are like, oh, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go. And giving your brain little breaks consistently is better than just spending 1 day a month bingeing.

So I started putting up these little miniature like 1- to 2-minute video clips on a page. There's a report card, there's an assessment. There's some other things to help. And it's called . And if you go [there], you can find all sorts of things to just again, provide those humorous minuscule brain breaks that consistently over time are going to make a difference.

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