Healing For Nurses - An Integrative Transpersonal Approach

March 18, 2010 - PRLog -- There are particular qualities and a required set of proficiencies that a nurse must possess in order for them to be successful. On any given day in a nurse's shift, critical thinking, prioritization and autonomy are commonplace. Not only is the nurse responsible for the safety and wellbeing of each individual patient that is assigned to their care but communication, both written and oral as well as receptively and expressively are fundamental. The nurse must coordinate the care of the patient by effectively and continuously evaluating the patient's response to treatment, under time constraints and often under highly stressful circumstances. The state of illness increases the level of stress on a patient therefore their behaviors are often difficult. Additionally, the nurse acts most often as the liaison between the patient and their significant others and the rest of the healthcare team. The nurse plays the role of a teacher, mathematician, writer, persuasive speaker, psychologist, clergyman and limber gymnast with excellent clinical skills who must multi-task and exhibit nerves of steel while wearing a smile, putting out fires, comforting a worried or angry loved one and holding the hand of the dying patient. The nurse must be calm under pressure because the patient is also a customer. The nurse is perceived to be the fixer of all people and things, and above all must instill compassion and caring in everything they do, then come back the next day and repeat the process.

A 'good' nurse must also be able to direct and coordinate the work of others, in all departments, to care for the "whole" person emotionally, physically with regard to overall safety. Using all of your senses is necessary in order to determine the patient's needs, and this is imperative in any client centered relationship. Nurses are human therefore have the same requirements as their patients: empathy, understanding, emotional peace and comfort.

Compassion and caring are most definitely not a set of attributes that one can acquire in a class setting. One does however learn the act of compassion and caring through example or through life lessons. If a child is raised in a home where kindness and consideration for others is paramount, then this concept will be perpetual. True compassion stems purely from one's spirit, without the claws of the ego expecting a gesture of kindness in return. In a sense, one is to innately remain unattached to the results of a caring act of kindness and compassion in order for it to be considered true compassion. However, often the personalities of nurses have dictated their professions because of dysfunctional ego-driven states of consciousness; the need to be needed. In nursing, the care that is provided to a patient and the compassionate manner in which the care is delivered is measured in the form of feedback from your manager, or the patient or a family member. A nurse is then forced by default to be attached to the results of the care given, for it can potentially weigh negatively on their reviews and state of employment. This forced attachment creates further stress on the already overburdened nurse. The patient's perception and expectations of how a nurse should function also play a large role in terms of their own satisfaction and healing experience, and overall perpetuates a poor image of nurses in general. This in turn creates a potentially difficult work environment for the nurse over time. That which attracts particular personality types to nursing is that which can destroy one's very spirit until a breaking point ensues. Indicators such as top heavy and bureaucratic management models in the current culture of the healthcare system under which traditional facilities operate makes it difficult to practice caring because the system actually promotes codependency, not pure compassion.

Codependency is the dysfunction of losing oneself in relationships.We attract into our lives what we perceive ourselves to be, we energetically are attracted to what we energetically emit. Typically, the nursing population is unaware of how to draw the line between what they are responsible for and what they can simply be empathetic about, this being an unrecognizable concept. This dysfunctional mind set could be perceived as the progression of their soul during this lifetime.

A sense of connectedness and belonging along with the feeling of being important and valued for our contributions are natural states of ego driven desire. We all long to be heard and understood, for with this understanding comes the core joy which is central to all, that being validation. Validation creates a knowingness of our integral importance and our place in the world. We need to know that our existence is important. This is a survival instinct. The ego's desire for praise is present in all of us, regardless of the manner in which one's particular set of psychological circumstances dictates. We want to feel appreciated for the work we do, we want acknowledgment for a job well done. This validation is obtained extrinsically in the form of feedback. The ego processes this information then determines through a set of learned values whether or not this feedback is satisfactory. This process in and of itself can result in further dysfunction, particularly if the individual has a low sense of self worth, for negative feedback or even lack of feedback can be perceived as a wound. When one is wounded, challenged or traumatized, as is in the typical archetype of the Wounded Healer, the pull to seek infinite wisdom from one's intrinsic nature is virtually magnetic. Whether we believe in one God, many gods, no god or universal consciousness as our Source, when the ego can no longer justify the rationales for our existence because of tremendous stress, we tend to gravitate inward or skyward to seek answers in the hopes of gaining strength and perspective. We have a tendency to feel as though we to feel as though we are broken during trying times. We may become philosophical, find or gravitate to a religion that we connect with, seek comfort in nature or simply require silent solitude. Ultimately the mind is starving for peace and becomes satiated by brushing the dirt off of one's spirit to scan for higher answers. In the human condition, the ignorant mind (ego) seeks the answers to the questions of awareness (spirit). The spiritual aspect of our Self broadens resulting in an enhanced series of mind driven thought which affects our decision making, changing ourselves energetically. The ego in conjunction with one's spirituality creates the whole individual.

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