Hello Moral Health friends!

As we continue our journey toward building the foundational components for Moral Health, calling in community, and adopting a restorative mindset, we now turn our focus toward ourselves.

Our next community cornerstone honors the wisdom of the late Grace Lee Boggs, a trailblazing activist and philosopher. Her mantra, "Transform yourself, transform the world," challenges us to examine our personal lives, jobs, and relationships as the frontlines for cultivating new systems.

As we strive to improve healthcare, it's important to consider whether positive change can occur without individuals within the system committing to personal growth, healing, and introspection. While change is inevitable, it's crucial to ask if it can be directed towards progress without inward focus. This is where the concept of Moral Health becomes crucial as a catalyst for driving substantive change.

Healing and Evolving Together: A Journey of Equals

One thing that should be made clear from the outset is that everyone at Moral Health, myself included, is joining you on this journey as equals, not from a position of moral superiority. We're all in this together, learning and growing with each step we take. In the spirit of "the healthy don't need a doctor," despite healthcare being full of them, we acknowledge that we are all here to heal and evolve. Boundless humility, unwavering accountability, and insatiable curiosity define the essence of our shared pursuit.

Embracing the Unfolding Healthcare Revolution: Could Facing Your Demons Unlock the Future of Healthcare?

A recent PwC survey of 2,000 CEOs revealed that 40% believe their companies will cease to exist within a decade, and nearly 60% feel they should invest more time in transformation. Healthcare, as an integral component of this landscape, confronts a seismic shift that presents a multitude of challenges.

To successfully navigate this transformation, we—healthcare professionals, patients, and administrators—must be adaptable, innovative, and courageous. Dave Chase, a healthcare visionary, recently underscored the necessity for resilience and resourcefulness amidst the "Innovator's Dilemma." We are called upon to embrace new ways of thinking and develop groundbreaking solutions to the challenges we face.

Building on Dave's insights, could it be that we have missed a vital element in our quest to revolutionize healthcare? What if an additional component to transformation lies in prioritizing our personal healing? By bravely confronting and resolving our inner traumas, biases, and struggles, we become clearer and more creative effortlessly. I contend that leaders and business builders who take an integrated mind-body approach with themselves can be more effective in establishing an adaptable healthcare system that values and respects the worth and dignity of every individual. This is because they have learned to do the work on themselves first, enabling them to build systems that reflect their inner empathy, authenticity, and compassion for the people they serve. Although this trauma-informed leadership approach is often overlooked, I am convinced that it can play a critical role in addressing the many challenges facing healthcare today.

When people carry unresolved pain, they not only inflict harm on others but also contribute to perpetuating dysfunctional systems.

The healthcare industry, worth trillions of dollars, is a lucrative space that rewards even the most unskilled and unfeeling among us. However, if we truly yearn to go beyond profiting off the pain of others and create a healthcare system that is truly transformative, then we must make self-healing a top priority. Neglecting to acknowledge and address our own wounds and traumas will only serve to uphold an unjust and dysfunctional system.

Are we willing to acknowledge the role our own personal growth and healing can play in creating a more equitable and just healthcare system? Can we dare to question how our own transformation can be the catalyst for uprooting a colossal "too big to fail" system?

The key lies in understanding that broken individuals create and maintain broken systems. This cycle persists as the pain of one is unconsciously transmitted to others, and the broken system itself only serves to reinforce this suffering. To truly break free from this pattern and foster genuine healthcare transformation, we need to muster the courage to confront our own brokenness and harms and address them, healing one at a time.

Having fun with chaos theory.

Chaos theory highlights the "butterfly effect," implying that even the smallest actions can yield significant and far-reaching impacts in complex systems. Recognizing that all individuals carry some form of trauma, and that no one possesses a perfect set of circumstances, those who have not embarked on the journey of healing inadvertently make small daily choices and decisions that perpetuate this cycle of dysfunction on others and within the system. On the other hand, I believe that by pursuing a path of self-healing and growth, we can contribute to rectifying these systems. Just as the subtle flutter of a butterfly's wings can set off a chain of events culminating in a distant tornado, our personal healing journeys are crucial in reshaping healthcare.

A collective shift in how we manage our personal well-being is essential if we aspire to create systems that genuinely care for others. The process of healing begins with simple measures: learning to acknowledge and sit with our emotions, nurturing self-compassion, taking accountability for our actions, and embracing and offering forgiveness. As we achieve inner balance, we disengage from harmful patterns, establish boundaries with individuals and systems that evade accountability, and move towards people and systems that conscientiously strive to be sources of authentic healing. Through our individual healing and growth, we transform into healthier people, eager to construct and participate in healthier systems. Our personal development catalyzes a ripple effect, inspiring others to embark on their own healing journeys. This marks the tipping point for a profound evolution in healthcare.

Let us carry with us the wisdom of Grace Lee Boggs and remember that true transformation starts within ourselves and radiates outwards to the world. By turning inward with grace and determination, we can co-create a future where every individual has the opportunity to be healthy and free.

In solidarity,

Michelle and Moral Health

Reflect. Write. Transform: Narrative Medicine Meets AI

Prepare to embark on a contemplative journey as we explore the world of Narrative Medicine and AI-generated art. Take a closer look at the artwork below and allow the feelings it evokes to wash over you. What memories and thoughts does it bring to mind?

Select a prompt and take three minutes to reflect and jot down your narrative. Whether you choose to express your thoughts in a journal or share them in the comments, the critical thing is that you take the time to consider the art and what it signifies to you.

AI Art #1

Prompt #1: Describe a moment when you realized that healing is not a linear process and how that understanding has impacted your journey.

AI Art #2

Prompt #2: Share a personal story about how your unhealed wounds or biases led to a difficult interaction with someone else, and how you overcame the situation through self-reflection, awareness, and personal growth.

Prompt #3

Prompt #3: Share a personal story of a time when you discovered the need to prioritize your personal healing journey and began to explore and embrace the different parts of yourself that you may have previously ignored or suppressed.

Thanks for stopping by! As you reflect and write, consider sharing your thoughts with a loved one, or a colleague, or posting them below.

Here are three ways to get involved with Moral Health:

* Read and engage with our content by subscribing to our substack.

* Reflect and grow with our narrative medicine prompts, either in your personal journal or by sharing in the comments section below.

* Submit your story or artwork to be featured on the substack and inspire others and be part of shaping a better healthcare future for all.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit moralhealth.substack.com