New Home Forums Progress Logs OPERATION HEALTHCARING PROGRESS LOG

91 replies, 10 voices Last updated by  Bradley Morris 6 years, 4 months ago
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  • #60915

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    I’m going to start a new thread because my project has morphed yet again.  This sure can be a messy process!  Here are several links I may want to reference later.  Look how much I’ve grown!!!

    Earlier Progress Log – Motivation Superhero Progress Log

    October Challenge (Validate Your Course Idea) – Project Healthcaring!!!

    September Challenge (Start Your Own Show) – The Motivation Superhero Show!!!

    August Challenge (Make Your Best Video Lesson) – Motivation Superhero August Challenge

    July Challenge (Make a Mini-Course in a Month) – The 5 Dares in 5 Days Challenge

    June Challenge (Live, Learn, and Teach) – Build the Right Habits – CROWNED WINNER!

    May Challenge (Blog Away the Fog) – Motivation Superhero

    April Challenge (Screw It, I’m Gonna Do It) – Screw It, I’m Really Doing It

    #61008

    Mars
    Adventurer
    @Mars

    Absolutely FANTASTIC!! Well done. You’ve done, and you’re doing, so much. Brilliant!

    #65122

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    I can’t tell you how proud of you and happy for you I am after all of the work and progress you made this year. You have rocked it, grown so much and shown up again and again this year.

    I’d love to hear your year in review and to see what you’re intending for 2018.

    #65678

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    November (The Daily Writing Challenge) – I’ve Got This!  Operation Healthcaring 750 Words

    FYI today marks Day 61 of my daily writing streak.

    I look forward to sharing much more progress with all of you in 2018!

    #66530

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    See my most recent post in the Community, Engagement, and Gamification Campfire – My Big Concern: Community vs. Therapy

    #66726

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    How Things Went > I feel as though I’ve crawled into a cave to hibernate.  This has been a good thing.  I’ve had time to reflect on 2017 and linger over my ideas for the new year.  I’ve been reading a couple of books that have resonated deeply with me (Attending: Mindfulness, Medicine, and Humanity and Heal Thy Self: Mindfulness in Medicine) and they have lighted a new path ahead for me.  Unexpected, therapeutic, and very, very exciting.

    Where I’m At > I am “fleshing” out the ideas and content for the first Operation Healthcaring course module.  It will be a free course offering.  I guess I can call it a mini-course.  The theme for this core module will be LUNGS/MINDFULNESS. It will focus on the idea that each breath gives us life, as well as the idea that mindfulness starts with the breath, paying attention to the breath, and using the breath as we move forward and out into the world. Just as breathing is a part of every moment, mindfulness will be present in every single module and lesson that follows. Later on, I can use the same core mindfulness module in courses such as weight management, childhood feeding and eating, time and priority management. I’m realizing that this practice literally gives breath and life to all of these concepts.

    This means that I will want the course material for this module to be universal – not necessarily specific to medicine or anything else – because then I won’t have to revisit and recreate it for each new course. It will prepare the soil (or shall I say the flesh?) for each of the courses that follows.

    I have a template in mind for each of the course modules, which begins with this first core module.
    1. The Link. What Mindfulness is and how it relates to Lungs and the breath.  Each concept relates to an Operation body part.
    2. The Lesson: Comfort vs. Discomfort.  The lessons will focus on two opposed ideas and looking at them with new eyes.
    3. The Practice: Just Breathe. I will describe the practice and share worries and pains that are commonly experienced by others.
    4. The Invitation: Join the community and share your own thoughts and practice experience with others.

    Here’s an overview of the first lesson concept (first draft, work in progress):

    “People often have a misconception that when life is going well then we are supposed to feel happy and comfortable and satisfied. But that can be a dangerous place.  Discomfort leads us to curiosity and learning and growth. Discomfort is what gives us the motivation to take the next step and change things that aren’t working. So, in many ways, sadness and disappointment, pain and suffering (based on my research I need to use the word suffering here) – these are all are necessary catalysts that bring us closer to the truth and deeper purpose and meaning. They are essentials in our lives, gifts in many ways that it’s hard for us to understand and appreciate in the moment.  Discomfort is the wound, the injury, the disease, the sore spot. We are afraid to look at it, and yet we cannot grow and flourish unless we learn to face it and acknowledge it and share our observations and experiences with others.”

    What I’m Going To Do > The next step is to work on writing the content for the mindfulness module.  I have SO MANY MORE exciting plans to share, and yet I have to keep a razor-sharp focus so I can keep my momentum and make great progress in 2018.

    By the way, I reconsidered my word for 2018.  I’ve now decided my one word is LINGER.  I am lingering with my thoughts and concepts for this first module, what they mean to me, my readings on the topic, how I can best share these concepts with others.  I’m adding more mindfulness to my own life by lingering more often.  I’m also giving myself a generous 6-month timeline for this first course module because I want to savor every moment of this creation and still reserve space in my life for lingering over all the other things that matter to me.  Perhaps I will launch the course sooner, perhaps it will take longer.  Honestly, I’m letting go of any pressure or expectation and I’m focusing only on the very next step – and so far this has been working really well for me.

     

     

    #66748

    Mars
    Adventurer
    @Mars

    Loving ‘razor sharp focus’ – I need some of that! Sounds like things are going the way that you want them to and that’s great.

    #67846

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    I’ve completed my own challenge for January – the intro video for the first course module on Mindfulness and the Lungs.

    The next task (that I seem to be really good at putting off) is to create the content for the different course sections – the part that explains why the breath is so important and how that’s related to practicing healthcare.  This task is challenging for me because I’d really like a block of uninterrupted time (Ha!  What’s that?) to review what I have, figure out what’s there, and decide what needs to be added.

    Here’s the video:

    #68123

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    Way to go with the video @laurakoller. It’s great and has a great message. 

    I’d love to see you offer a simple 3-minute guided breath practice as well where you encourage people to put it on and breathe with the guided cues. If you do that, I’d encourage you to stretch the inhales and exhales from 2-seconds each, to 4-5 seconds each. This should be pretty simple to create. This would make a great little bonus resource to go with teh video.

    You could also bring the music volume down just a tiny, little bit. It was a little overpowering of your voice.

    Sending high fives and cheers your way!

    #68409

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    @bradleytmorris – Thanks for the feedback.  I’m planning to include a guided breath practice as part of this module.  I appreciate your advice to stretch the inhales and exhales to 4-5 seconds each – and yet that leads me into conflict territory.  Most of what I’m reading about mindfulness is about accepting things as they are right now – and that also relates to the breath.  It’s about connecting with yourself and your breath, not changing it or forcing it.  Which was kind of a disappointing revelation, because I had this crazy idea of a Playful Breathing Practice that asks students to take deep breaths, shallow breaths, pant like a dog, breathe different vowel sounds, and even hold the breath.  I still like that idea as an option for developing a more mindful connection with the breath and how those different styles feel in the body – but it does fly in the face of Thich Nhat Hanh and MBSR and traditional mindfulness meditation practice, which is kind of what I’m relying on for supporting evidence.

    I think I’ll try something like what you’re suggesting, and then create a more traditional guided breath practice about observing and paying attention to your breath just the way it is.  Then I can share both of them and see what others think.  And, just for fun, I can try the Crazy Breath Practice, too.  You know, just to push the boundaries and have some fun 😉

    #68411

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    Oh – Bring out the celebration cake.  Today marks Day 100 of my daily writing streak.  That’s right, I said 100 DAYS.  Woohoo!!!

    #68419

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    There are countless styles of meditation @laurakoller. I say, have fun with it. Folks breathe way too seriously these days. 😉

    Congratulations on your 100 days of writing. That is incredible!!

    #68573

    DavidJ Jurasek
    Adventurer
    @DavidJ

    Wow @laurakoller!

    I just got on this thread. Love seeing the summary — you are AMAZINGBALLS! with how far you’ve come and how much of your power and heart you’ve put into all these accomplishments!

    I want to echo Bradley’s note on breathing… teaching Mindfulness for over 10 years now and being in Mental Health… I respect that you are trying to stay true to a body of evidence (established by MBSR for example) but Mindfulness is at it’s heart about being aware of yourself and accepting what is… and then applying “skillful means”. Also, most people I know have little patience or capacity to learn Mindful practices the way they were taught traditionally — to monks and through long arduous and stoic practices.

    I think a way to reconcile and remain in integrity with your own nature and the practices might be to do something like this:

    1. Teach raw awareness practice
    2. Encourage acceptance of what is.
    3. Invite a change — like deeper breathing or playing with the many types of breathing as an exploration.

    I think all of those layers can use a large heaping of compassion and humour and playfulness also.

    When I teach parents and kids, I often play contrarian and play the boob — screwing it all up as badly as possible… and exagerate reactions people feel internally…

    PS — there’a whole body of research and theory also supporting play as a deeply effective change process also!

    PPS — people who are on the sidelines not participating go gaga over research, but the people who are brave enough to try what you have to offer and want to experience change don’t give a hoot about what some stuffy labcoats discovered. They want results. And when you lead them through a Mindfulness excercize (whether it be sitting in zazen or dancing and being wacky together) if you lead them to NOTICE the effect it is having on their present moment physiology, they will have hard evidence that proves to them it is something worth doing again… and again… The task at this point will be not to convince them of effectiveness but to inspire and compell them to establish a practice that creates habit and long term effects that they have tasted and want more of.

     

     

     

    #68594

    Mars
    Adventurer
    @Mars

    Fantastic work @laurakoller I can’t wait to take it to my next bunch of students. Do let me know when I can. Your breathing work is so important for doulas, and I think that if more of them knew how to do it, they would really understand what it means to ‘be’. Brava. Great work my friend.

    #74327

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    (stretches)

    I’ve been hibernating here on the mountain with my buddy, plugging away behind the scenes.  I’ve been creating some GREAT STUFF.  When I last checked in (nearly 3 months ago) I was working on the first module.  Then I hit a bump in the road, and decided to shift my focus to the overview for the course.  It would be hard for me to summarize the many scattered steps that have led me to this place, but finally the temperature is rising and I can feel myself pushing through the soil to the sun once again.

    I’ve now outlined 8 modules, linked them to body organs, dis-eases and symptoms, and procedures.  For each module, I’ve written a poem intended to mirror those on the Operation game, selected a core question that will be used for the introductory video (see the “Are You Breathing?” video, above), mapped out a couple of lesson ideas, and assigned worthy and symbolic achievements.

    The outline itself is only a couple of pages, but this has been exhausting work!  With all that heavy exertion, I think my brain may have doubled or tripled in size.

    In terms of next steps, there are a couple of directions for me to go.

    One direction is the landing page for my site/course.  I found an incredible graphic that my dear buddy, with all of her technical talents, has offered to modify for the course, and I’ll need to work on writing content.

    The other direction is to start on the actual lessons for my first module.  I’ve already completed most of the other items – the video, an example scenario, even journal questions.  For some reason, I’m having this huge block in writing the lessons themselves.  I’m feeling intimidated because they seem like such big and important ideas, so I think I’m overestimating the time and effort that I’ll need to invest in writing and revising the material.  I’m also not quite sure how I want to present the material – a video?  a PDF?  an audio? – so I think that lack of clarity has made it challenging to start.

    All that being said, I’m really proud of how far I’ve come.  I don’t have many large uninterrupted blocks of time to work, so my progress reflects a consistent daily commitment (obsession?) to steal and scrape together random moments for the project.  I’m still not sure how much longer this will take – longer than I’d like, though less time than it would take without the support and inspiration from all of you here on the mountain – but I will continue to put one foot in front of the other and maintain faith that I am inching my way closer to the summit one day at a time.

     

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