Stay Grateful and Positive With Poetry

Almost 10 years ago, a derecho hit my hometown in Central Virginia. A derecho is a fast-moving windstorm often accompanied by a series of thunderstorms. Unlike the swirling and spiraling winds of a tornado or hurricane, derecho winds move in a straight line.

The night of the storm, I was giving the commencement address to Lynchburg Family Medicine residents; I spoke on the following 17th century Haiku poem by Mizuta Masahide:

“Barn’s burnt down —
Now I can see the moon.”(1)

I told the graduating residents that although they will face adversity, tragedy, and storms in their personal and professional lives, they must look for the joy and beauty — the moons — that often appear after losses and mourning periods.

How ironic that I was talking to residents, faculty, and families about how to reframe their thinking about tragedies and loss while we were in the middle of a severe derecho that eventually caused widespread damage to our city!

After the graduation ceremony, my wife and I drove home in complete darkness, past downed trees and electrical wires scattered along the streets of the city. A former graduate who had attended the graduation ceremony later shared that her medical office burned to the ground during the storm! She remembered the poem and was grateful for the moonlight provided during her misfortune.

The Power of Poetry

Physician leaders frequently face fires, storms, and crises. How do they stay positive, grateful, and hopeful during times of severe stress? Most of us look to our faith, family, and friends to see us through the tough times; mentors, coaches, physicians, and counselors may assist us, too. Personal fitness, sleep, mindfulness, and diet are also important.

I include poetry in this list. As cognitive behavioral therapists have taught us, what we read and hear can change our thinking, which in turn can change our feelings, words, and actions. Here is what poets do that ordinary communicators struggle to do:

• Invent new language, metaphors, and imagery to describe common subjects like gratitude, hope, and love.

• Guide us to experience and feel gratitude in new ways.

• Help us to understand that good poems are by definition not clichés — they are unique expressions that stir the heart and soul of a person.

• Stimulate discussion about deep subjects and feelings that might not otherwise be talked about.

• Create emotion and intimacy in their poems that can be shared in conversation, even with people less known to us. A good poem has universal appeal — the feelings and emotions generated by the language, rhyme, rhythm, and metaphors often resonate deeply within us.(2)

Here is a leadership cliché: “Seasoned leaders grow through adversity.” Listen to how the poet Wendell Berry, in his poem “The Real Work,” invents new language and imagery to convey the same sentiment:

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”(3)

How often do physician leaders lose their way, not knowing where to go or what to do next? Berry reminds us that when we come to that point, we have found our real work. We are called to embrace the challenge, not shy away from it: “The mind that is not baffled is not employed.” Even as I write these words, they are woefully inadequate to express the thoughts and feelings the poem itself generates in me.

The next time you face a crisis and don’t know what to do, maybe this poem will encourage you to put your brain to work and think about the impeded stream that sings!

The mindfulness movement encourages physician leaders to stay focused on the present and not to dwell on past mistakes or become overly anxious thinking about future problems.(4) William Stafford’s poem “Yes” expresses this in a unique and beautiful way, one that reinforces and deepens what it means to live in the present moment:

“It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.
It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out—no guarantees
in this life.
But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.”(5)

Using Poetry for Positive Results

Here are a few ways physician leaders can use poems in their personal and professional lives:

• Read poems to build emotional intelligence.(6)

• Read poems for personal growth and reflection.

• Read poems to strengthen empathic muscles.

• Read poems to strengthen language skills, communication, and imagination.

• Use poems to start a meeting or leadership discussion group. Talking about poems is an indirect way to get people — especially emotionally reserved physicians — to talk about emotions and feelings. Poems can serve as ice-breakers before sensitive discussions about mistakes or conflicts.

For many years, I have been collecting poems that have medical themes and poems that personally resonate with me. As a busy clinician and leader, I tend to like short poems that, to use a cliché, pack a punch. In just a few stanzas, they can communicate deep truths in novel ways. Reading poems has also increased my appreciation for precise language when talking to patients, colleagues, residents, and students. Few things build emotional intelligence and empathy like good poems.

In the Face of Challenges

In summary, physician leaders today face many challenges: COVID-19, clinician burnout and low morale among physicians, nurses, and staff; nursing shortages, inequitable care, and persistent safety and quality issues. It is almost impossible, because we are all so human, to remain calm, positive, and grateful in every situation. Given the enormous challenges, it is important to be kind to ourselves and to offer compassion to our colleagues. Reading and sharing poems can help.

Finally, do not forget the healing power of humor:

“If you can sit quietly after difficult news; if in
financial downturns you remain perfectly calm;
if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic
places without a twinge of jealousy; if you can
happily eat whatever is put on your plate; you
can fall asleep after a day of running around
without a drink or a pill; if you can always find
contentment just where you are: you are
probably a dog.”(7)

References

1. Stryk L, Ikemoto, T. Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter. New York: Grove Press; 1995.

2. Gianakos, D. Getting the News from Poetry. Family Medicine. 2007;39(6):390–391.

3. Berry W. “The Real Work.” In Standing by Words. New York: North Point Press; 1984.

4. Epstein, R. Attending. Becoming Mindful. New York: Scribner, 2017; 177–191.

5. Stafford W. “Yes.” In The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press; 1998.

6. Gianakos, D. Emotional Intelligence: Build by Reading Poetry. Physician Leadership Journal. July/August 2019.

7. Kornfield J. A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times. Louisville, CO: Sounds True; 2014.