Spelade

  • Sometimes it feels like we’re buffeted by the winds of life and have little control over what happens to us. The more this cycle recurs, the more helplessness embeds itself into our psyche. Chances are that some of the decisions you make (or don’t make) come from a place of internally throwing your hands up and feeling like you have no say in the matter. The opposite of this mind-frame is called 'agency', or acting with agency. When you act with agency, you own your decisions and act with specific intent. It’s not always easy to get there, however.

    In this episode of Stimulus, we speak with Christina Shenvi MD, PhD about acting with agency - what it means, actionable skills, and how to apply it. We also talk about: the importance of being specific and deliberate about your philosophy of life, how remembering your mortality puts the rest of life in perspective, Stoic philosophy, Viktor Frankl, and whether or not we have free will.

    Awake + Aware | Our 2025 Live Event

    ⭐ Join us at Awake and Aware 2025, a game-changing 3-day workshop from May 5-7 in Bend, Oregon. Learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited.

    🖱️ Website: Awakeandawarebend.com

    🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event!

    The Flameproof Course

    The hidden anti-burnout curriculum we all should have learned in training. Cohort 3 begins Sept 10, 2024. Get the deets

    For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast website

    We discuss:

    Corporate vs. personal mission statements and how codifying your life philosophy can help you live with intent [03:00];Rob and Christina’s personal mission statements [06:15];The fact that even when we try our best to act in accordance with our values, it sometimes feels like there are magnetic forces pulling us away [08:30];Martin Luther, the famous theologian, said that there are two days that matter, this day and judgement day [10:35];The concept of Memento Mori [12:00];The psychologist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, whose writing about stimulus and response is like a look into the human soul [16:27];Whether we have free will [18:10];Stephen Covey’s book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and what the word responsibility means from a Stoic perspective [19:45];What it means to have agency and the way it relates to how you see yourself making decisions [22:55];The importance of knowing that you are the author of your own story [26:10];Learned helplessness and how it stifles creativity [28:00];Barriers to acting with agency [29:50];Different approaches to managing your emotions when criticized by a colleague or consultant [31:40];How Shenvi skillfully manages negative swirls of emotion [41:10];
  • Our guest today is Dr. Zubin Damania (aka ZDoggMD), an internist, hospitalist, and healthcare evangelist. ZDogg is dedicated to turning the practice of medicine into the healing art that it should be, rather than the leviathan of bureaucracy, roadblocks, and nonsense that it sometimes seems to be. In this episode we cover:  the morality of masks and not wearing them in public, racism, suspension of the scientific method in the early phases of the pandemic, Star Wars, and much more.

    Awake + Aware | Our 2025 Live Event

    ⭐ Join us at Awake and Aware 2025, a game-changing 3-day workshop from May 5-7 in Bend, Oregon. Learn how to stay cool when the pressure’s on and lock in the mindset you need to flourish. Space is limited.

    🖱️ Website: Awakeandawarebend.com

    🎓 P.S. Yes, this is a CME event!

    The Flameproof Course

    The hidden anti-burnout curriculum we all should have learned in training. Cohort 3 begins Sept 10, 2024. Get the deets

    For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast website

    We discuss:

    The RECOVERY Trial which found that steroids reduced mortality in certain COVID patients [02:10];The optimal way to introduce Star Wars to someone who has never seen an episode [07:50];How ZDogg prepares for the flow state of an unscripted live show or polemic [12:30];Why wearing a mask in public during the COVID pandemic is like paying taxes [17:50];Virtue signalling [23:00];The time when Rob was most proud to be ZDogg’s friend [23:55];Pandemic & Protest: Racism As A Social Determinant Of Health [23:55];The fundamental unfairness when judged on something that you cannot control [28:30];The challenge of being both authentic to yourself but also using your large social media platform to spread important messages [34:40];Things that surprised ZDogg about COVID-19 [37:25];The danger (and benefits) of dissemination of anecdotes [40:15];How distancing has disrupted the fabric of society [41:35];The importance of recognizing your emotional response and biases [44:25];Victims of misinformation and how they’re influenced by FLICC [46:20];How infrequent hand-washing demonstrates that quality in healthcare is equated with what’s financially incentivized rather than what really makes a difference [51:20].