Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw

In this brief but powerful episode, Dr. Shaw looks that how the choices we make in life with our personal priorities can truly guide us in the right direction. She begins by sharing a story from her personal life that demonstrates how we can stress ourselves out if we don't have our priorities in the right place.  We might find that we are over-committed to things and can't do it all, and when something like that occurs, you're living your life out of balance.  On the other hand, if we stay clear about our priorities we will have the energy to do what we need to do... if we are not clear and we're confused, we end up not doing anything well.

In this brief but personal episode, Dr. Shaw shares the ways in which she tries to observe herself in order to improve her interactions with people and to live her best life.  She shares elements of how she responds with her partner and how she uplifts her friends, and all of it stems from self-reflection.  She always teaches that it's important to observe yourself and gauge how you react in situations, and if you are not happy with how you react or if you are seeing ways in which you want to change your behavior you can control that. It's all about understanding things that are challenging, where we are successful, strategies that we use and tools that help to live the best life possible.

In this brief but important episode, Dr. Shaw explains how our reactions and in fact our suffering can be connected to our preferences which can often guide our sense of happiness. In simple terms, when we get something we like, we are happy... when we encounter something we don't want or like, we are unhappy.  The one consistent thing is how we show up, and the question becomes: how can we show up in a way that we are not driven by our preferences?  If we know we are always showing up in the best possible way and in a way that allows us to do the best work we can, we can deal better with those times when things are not good.  If we aren't be victimized by not getting our preferences then we can live life more successfully.

In this brief but valuable episode, Dr. Shaw makes reference to one of the four principles explored in one of her favorite books, The Four Agreements, and that principle is to not take things personally.   Here, Dr. Shaw tells a tale that came from her own recent real life experience, and she shares the revelations that came to her from that experience. The life lessons and learning lessons that were built into that experience gave her some new perspective that she shares in this podcast.

In this brief episode, Dr. Shaw's commentary relates to a recent hospital stay that her disabled son went through. She perceptively discusses how the quality of workers and service personnel is divided into three groups... the small percentage who are terrible at what they do, the vast majority who are great, and a tiny minority who are extremely special.  That handful of special people are the North Stars of the experience, and what makes them special is that they truly partner with the patient and their families.  They have no arrogance or condescension about what they do; they do what they do out of service.  In the hospital specifically, those who work from a place of ego won't be good partners, and those who don't will appreciate and nurture the partnership that exists between someone needing to heal and their skill set.

In this brief episode, Dr. Shaw discusses what it means to be "in right action."  She begins with the premise that right action leads to right results and that wrong action cannot possibly lead to right results.  She then takes the conversation into illustrative examples from her career as an educator.  She acknowledges and promotes the understanding that some actions are a match with others and some are not, and she emphasizes that if something is not a match, it's not a big issue.  She concludes by saying that she is always working at being her best, and if she's not a some point, she simply forgives herself and moves on.

In this brief episode Dr. Shaw shares a phrase that came to her and it's the title of this podcast, "Care Before Crisis" Intervention.  It's word intervention that's the key to that phrase... we are accustomed to crisis intervention, but care intervention would be a whole new novel approach.  To treat someone or yourself with care BEFORE a situation reaches crisis is a good samaritan way to show up to yourself and others.  Yes, there are hard times, but we can de-escalate things before there's a crisis by caring.

In this super-brief installment of the series, Dr. Shaw puts forth one of her favorite recommendations for success in life... she says, "don't give up, show up."  She rounds out that advice with some additional detail and some added perspective on what that means, but in essence this podcast has a simple and direct message.

In this brief but insightful episode, Dr. Shaw puts forth the notion that how you treat yourself is mirrored in how we treat others AND how the world treats us as well.  She shares some real life examples and some of her personal experiences, and she points out that sometimes it's counterintuitive to behave in the manner that serves us best.  She also reminds us that observing yourself is incredibly valuable in helping to establish how you want to be and how you want your life to unfold.

In this brief but very thoughtful episode, Dr. Shaw discusses the notion of having or being given grace and how that may differ from being enabled.  This concept began with a question posed by a fellow faculty member who works with Dr. Shaw, and the examination and discussion goes from there.  For Dr. Shaw, the notion of grace is a more divine and helpful energy while being an enabler isn't usually good for anyone involved.  She also points to the difference between enabling and being supportive.