Episode 129 - COVID-19 MORTALITY & WITNESSING EACH OTHERS' PAIN

The Survivor's Guide to Life

The pandemic has been a wakeup call, challenging us to look at ourselves and our mortality. Dr. Sunita Puri, a palliative medicine physician, writes movingly of her work with dying patients and their families in "We Must Learn to Look at Grief, Even When We Want to Run Away" (New York Times, 2-23-22). Dr. Puri shares our firm conviction - that facing death and mortality without running away is an opportunity. She explains that "witnessing is essential" in her role as an end-of-life practitioner, and that witnessing "requires seeing another's pain as no different from our own." We also discuss another recent article, "Your Body Knows You're Burned Out, (New York Times, 2-15-22), which shares valuable information on another area of our expertise - the debilitating physical symptoms that can arise from unresolved stress.