Resilient Threads: Weaving Joy and Meaning into Well-Being

by Mukta Panda, Timothy Brigham (Foreword)

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW A 'must read' for anyone working in the health care community, especially during the once-in-a-century impact of a global pandemic, "Resilient Weaving Joy and Meaning into Well-Being" will have great value for readers in other stress-filled occupations and circumstances as well. Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Resilient Weaving Joy and Meaning into Well-Being" is especially and unreservedly recommended for both community and college/university library Health & Medicine collections. A Journey to Champion Soul-Deep, System-Wide Self-Care "Resilient Threads" is a 2021 Silver Nautilus Book Award winner! If you've ever asked yourself "Who am I? Where do I belong? How do I heal as a strive to serve?" —whether you work in healthcare or any vocation that requires strength of heart—this woman physician's story will resonate. Physician burnout, depression, and suicide are tearing at the fabric of our health care system, which Mukta Panda has witnessed firsthand. In a culture that privileges evidence over empathy, technology over touch, and what’s measurable over what’s meaningful, many of us—no matter our profession—feel more fragmented and isolated than ever. In RESILIENT WEAVING JOY AND MEANING INTO WELL-BEING, Dr. Panda gives voice to the exhaustion and gives courage for another way. As a physician and medical educator, she has fought to return human touch to healthcare. As a mother, she has committed—and sometimes failed—to balance the personal with the professional. And as an immigrant from India, she has clung to the wisdom of her family and faith in the face of discrimination and fear. By weaving stories of connecting to her patients, students, and colleagues with her own stories of belonging, she models how we can each thrive by creating community and self-awareness. “Ritual, relationships, and reflection are key threads in how I learned to thrive,” Dr. Panda writes in the introduction. So, too, are they key for the thriving of our world. The well-being of our clinicians and patients, teachers and students, parents and children depends on integrating these threads into a new social fabric, one that honors the whole of who we are with what we do. PRAISE FOR RESILIENT THREADS Amy C. Edmondson, PhD, Professor, Harvard Business School, author of The Fearless Organization and Building the Future —Resilient Threads is a treasure…Mukta Panda has beautifully captured what it means to be a compassionate physician—one who effortlessly dedicates herself to the well-being of not just patients but also colleagues, students and friends alike. Donald M. Berwick, MD, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement and former Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services —The external aims to provide better health for society cannot happen without tending to the inner imperatives. We need a holistic approach to individual courage and institutional change, and Dr. Mukta Panda shows us how it can be done. Parker J. Palmer, author of On the Brink of Everything, The Courage to Teach, A Hidden Wholeness, and Let Your Life Speak —I’m grateful to Mukta for having the courage to share how she keeps her heart open despite heartbreak, and is teaching her medical students and residents to do the same.

Genres: Nonfiction

266 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2020

Reviews

[Sarah Rex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with my book club. My book club has a bunch of medical professionals in it, so when it was chosen I thought, how am I, a singer/theatre person, going to get anything from this book? Fast forward 2 weeks.

I really feel like this book has something for everyone. Dr. Panda has a way of writing that gets you to self reflect in whatever profession you are in. The emphasis is the importance of being human, being vulnerable and caring for yourself while caring for others. I caught myself highlighting various passages to reflect on.

[Christine Herbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Panda courageously explores her journey as a medical professional—first in India, then in the USA. Weaving together stories of inspiration, loss, discrimination and triumph drawn from her own life—as well as her colleagues and patients lives—she invites the reader to examine the challenges facing physicians who strive to provide compassionate care in our modern medical system. An engaging read!

[Anna Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

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