title: Can you take your soul to work?
abstract: David White in The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of Soul in Corporate America explores ways for professionals to take their souls to work, instead of checking them at the door. "We simply spend too much time and have too much psychic and emotional energy invested in the workplace for us to declare it a spiritual desert bereft of life-giving water." Several ideas are presented to help physician executives preserve their souls in an increasingly corporatized U.S. health care system: (1) Figure out what you are meant to do as your life's calling; (2) know what you think and want; (3) share some of what you think at work, while being careful to not lose your job unless you choose to; (4) be a trustworthy listener and find one; (5) get yourself outside; (6) pay attention to your physical space; and (7) develop some new hobbies or refresh old ones. "One of the disciplines of building a rich soul life seems to be the simple act, on a daily basis, of remembering what is most important to us."
authors.affiliation: American College of Physician Executives, Tampa, Florida, USA. blinney@acpe.org
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Linney
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003405:Creativity; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D015279:Organizational Culture; D008486:Physician Executives / Q000523:psychology*; D011361:Professional Competence; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration