Books and articles to be inspired by...

The Joy of Medicine by Corey Martin in Minnesota Medicine Magazine.

Determine what matters most to you.

A Journey from Surviving to Thriving

Corey Martin, MD describes the life changing work of the Bounce Back Project.

Colleagues Deaths Inspired FP to Bounce Back by David Mitchell

On a fall day in 2014, family physician Corey Martin, M.D., walked into his hospital's same-day surgery center where his patient was scheduled for a colonoscopy. Although there was nothing remarkable about the procedure, Martin remembers the day clearly because it was the day after a pediatrician had taken his own life in the hospital chapel.

Paging Dr. Burnout by Sheila Eldred

You know who’s feeling exhausted, depressed, and sick of it all? Your physician.

The Resilience Bank Account by Michael Maddaus The day-to-day life of a cardiothoracic surgeon and other high-stakes occupations is riddled with chronic stress punctuated by acute, sometimes life-threatening, crises. Additional stress from the realms of a surgeon’s personal life can add to the silent burden surgeons often carry. The tolls paid for poor management of the cumulative stress load can impact surgeons and their patients, leading to errors of clinical judgment, burnout, early departures from practice, health issues, and substance abuse. This article reviews 6 individual skills or habits that can, when proactively integrated into a daily routine, make the difference. The idea of investing in a resilience bank account is suggested as a metaphor for the reserve building and cumulative positive impact of these habits over time.

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she's showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.

Dare Greatly by Brené Brown

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, LMSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Rising Strong by Brené Brown

The physics of vulnerability is simple: If we are brave enough, often enough, we will fall. Rising Strong is a book about what it takes to get back up and how owning our stories of struggle gives us the power to write a daring new ending. Struggle can be our greatest call to courage and and the clearest path to a wholehearted life.

Flourish by Martin Seligman

While certainly a part of well-being, happiness alone doesn’t give life meaning. Seligman now asks, What is it that enables you to cultivate your talents, to build deep, lasting relationships with others, to feel pleasure, and to contribute meaningfully to the world? In a word, what is it that allows you to flourish? “Well-being” takes the stage front and center, and Happiness (or Positive Emotion) becomes one of the five pillars of Positive Psychology, along with Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment—or PERMA, the permanent building blocks for a life of profound fulfillment.

Into the Magic Shop by James Doty

We each possess an extraordinary power to realize our greatest potential and live the life we want. Dr. James Doty is living proof, as so many readers of his bestseller Into the Magic Shop will attest. Having grown up in an environment of poverty and neglect, James Doty was 12 years old when he walked into a magic shop and met an extraordinary woman who introduced him to a series of teachings that changed the trajectory of his life. With Lessons from the Magic Shop, Dr. Doty offers an in-depth training program with the same transformational practices that helped him overcome great odds en route to becoming a renowned neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, and one of today’s leading voices on the power of love and compassion.

Let your life speak by Parker Palmer

With this searching question, Parker Palmer begins an insightful and moving meditation on finding one's true calling. Let Your Life Speak is an openhearted gift to anyone who seeks to live authentically. The book's title is a time-honored Quaker admonition, usually taken to mean “Let the highest truths and values guide everything you do.” But Palmer reinterprets those words, drawing on his own search for selfhood. “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it,” he writes, “listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.”

Vocation does not come from willfulness, no matter how noble one’s intentions. It comes from listening to and accepting “true self” with its limits as well as its potentials. Sharing stories of frailty and strength, of darkness and light, Palmer shows that vocation is not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received.

Leadership on the Line by Ron Heifetz

Those who choose to lead plunge in, take the risks, and sometimes get burned. But it doesn't have to be that way say renowned leadership authorities Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. In Leadership on the Line, they show how it's possible to make a difference without getting "taken out" or pushed aside.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

Finding Balance in a Medical Life by Lee Lipsenthal

The system of medicine, world-wide, is in a state of rapid change. This has left physicians in a state of anxiety, fatigue and even burnout. Finding Balance in a Medical Life is the culmination of the authors years of working with large physician groups, evaluating physician health research and delivering workshops to physicians and their families. It is intended to help physicians, healthcare professionals and their families to understand how they find themselves 'stuck' in their work lives and even in their personal relationships. It explores the ramifications of the physician personality structure and helps the reader to analyze their own personality. It clarifies the effect of medical training and practice on the physicians' health and relationships. It teaches the reader various tools and techniques to manage stress, enhance performance, and improve communication as well as how to plan their futures in by identifying their life purpose.

Inside out Coaching by Joe Ehrmann

“One of the great myths in America is that sports build character. They can and they should. Indeed, sports may be the perfect venue in which to build character. But sports don’t build character unless a coach possesses character and intentionally teaches it. Sports can team with ethics and character and spirituality; virtuous coaching can integrate the body with the heart, the mind, and the soul.” -Quote from Inside Out Coaching