Mindfulness Challenge Day 7 Haiku -- Morning Ritual

If we truly observe ourselves mindfully, we are creatures of habit and ritual. For me one of my morning rituals includes the process of making coffee. I have resisted the urge for a Keurig type of coffee maker with its pre-filled pods of specialty coffee, because there is something so familiar and sensual to grind and smell the freshly ground beans each day. A ritual I would miss.

Morning Ritual

Dark, glistening beans
Measuring, grinding, pouring
Beginning the day




The Rituals of Healing

Do you notice the rituals of healing in the same way as you notice the rituals of religion? It is interesting to think that rituals play a large role in the healthcare system, and perhaps in our ultimate healing. What do you consider the rituals of healthcare? Perhaps the white coat and stethoscope? The physical exam?  Receiving of a prescription for a medicine?  I have been reflecting on what we consider rituals related to the healing process as I have read and watched some interesting remarks on this subject from two leading sources on this topic.

Dr. Ted Kaptchuk, the director of Harvard's Program in Placebo Studies and Therapeutic Encounters, was recently interviewed in the New Yorker magazine about his quest to understand the placebo effect and how it influences quantifiable measures of health.  Could our belief about whether a treatment is effective or our level of trust in routine rituals of healthcare, such as placing a stethoscope on the chest, physiologically change our ability to heal? 

Dr. Abraham Verghese, author and physician, ponders whether we, as a society, are in danger of losing the art of medicine as we have increased access to technology to support the science of medicine. In his recent TED talk,  Dr. Verghese argues that while it is important to have modern tools of medicine, which are enabled by science and technology, the art of medicine is essential as well.  For it is the art of medicine that allows for the human connection between patient and healer to emerge and the rituals of healing to be sustained.

What are your thoughts?