183: The Secret to Less Stress & a Calmer Mind with Dr. Ryan Niemiec

DocWorking: The Whole Physician Podcast

“You catch your breath for two breaths, three breaths, and ask yourself ‘Which of my character strengths do I want to make sure I’m bringing forth?’”

-Dr Ryan Niemiec, Psy.D., Bestseller Author, Director, VIA Institute on Character

Today, psychologist Dr. Ryan Niemiec speaks again with Cohost and Lead Coach Jill Farmer about how physicians can practice mindfulness to better manage stress and increase well-being. “The Mindful Pause” is a short, one minute break in your day that can help you become present and awake in daily moments. Want to know where to start? Often, we as healthcare professionals may find ourselves overwhelmed with scheduling, productivity, time management, and other external factors. Dr. Ryan Niemiec shares how you can reclaim your mind, and how this helps to prevent burnout. Different from mediation, Dr. Niemiec ensures listeners that mindfulness is an easy and advantageous practice to add to your daily life. In addition to normalizing the practice of mindfulness, Dr. Niemiec discusses the intersection between character strengths and mindfulness and how their development can benefit you as a clinician.

DocWorking: The Whole Physician Podcast Episodes featuring Dr. Ryan Niemiec:

174: Keys to Flourishing for Physicians with Dr. Ryan Niemiec- https://docworking.com/2022/05/26/character-strengths-flourishing-for-physicians-healthcare-professionals-dr-ryan-niemiec/

Ryan M. Niemiec, Psy.D. is a leading international figure in character strengths that are found in all human beings. As an educator, scientist, and practitioner, Ryan is the education director of the renown VIA Institute on Character, a nonprofit organization in Cincinnati, Ohio, that leads the global advancement of the science of character strengths. Ryan is an award-winning psychologist, annual instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of 11 books, over 100 academic papers, and several-hundred user-friendly articles. His books include the bestselling consumer book, The Power of Character Strengths, the popular stress workbook The Strengths-Based Workbook for Stress Relief, the 2020 workbook The Positivity Workbook for Teens, and Positive Psychology at the Movies. He’s also author of the two leading practitioner-focused books in positive psychology – Character Strengths Interventions and Mindfulness and Character Strengths. The latter book contains the evidenced-based program he founded, Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP), used by practitioners and researchers across the globe. He created VIA’s first character strengths certification program – MBSP Certification – in 2021.

His research areas include character strengths, MBSP, positive interventions, peace psychology, nature/environment connection, spirituality, life meaning, disability, and positive health.

Ryan has been interviewed by a number of luminaries including the legendary Larry King in 2020. He’s given over 1,000 presentations on positive psychology topics, including a character strengths world tour in 2009-2010, a TEDx talk in 2017, a speaking tour of Australia, a keynote at a Harvard conference, and invited keynotes and workshops at conferences across the globe. He is Fellow of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and serves on their Council of Advisors. He is co-founder and president of the Spirituality/Meaning Division of IPPA.

Ryan lives in Cincinnati with his wife and three young, zestful children. His highest strengths are hope, love, honesty, fairness, spirituality, curiosity, and appreciation of beauty. Ryan’s hobbies include playing tai chi, chess, basketball, and guitar; watching Michigan State athletics and The Walking Dead, and collecting vintage and rare Pez dispensers.

Find full transcripts of DocWorking: The Whole Physician Podcast episodes on the DocWorking Blog

The past few weeks have been busy at DocWorking! We have been working behind the scenes to add even more CME credits to the THRIVE memberships.

Let your CME budget help you prioritize your own wellness so you can get on with living your best life on your own terms, as defined by you, with DocWorking THRIVE.

You can take the first step today by taking our 2 Minute Balance to Burnout Quiz! Where are you on the Balance to Burnout Continuum? Take the quiz and find out today!

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Podcast produced by: Mara Heppard