A strong thread of compassion runs through the culture of health care, but that compassion is often obscured by the tribulations of clinical life. Doctors, nurses, and others whose daily lives are lived in the presence of conspicuous suffering, care deeply about their work and their patients. In the face of this caring, productivity demands, fear of emotional intensity, bureaucracy, and other obstacles can make grief, frustration, and exhaustion the day-to-day experience.

Then it is easy to become alienated from work, to feel cynical, to feel ones work is losing its meaning, to feel sad and angry. When that happens, it is common to feel less generosity and exertion, and to feel a loss of heart. One puts less into ones job and feels it taking more than one can give. This is called burnout in conventional language. It leads to increased intra-staff tension and friction, increased sick days, increased staff turnover, and, of course, less connection with patients—less caring, which in turn affects the quality of the care provided.

Burnout is fundamentally disconnection. The seed of burnout is the disconnection from awareness of the body and the physical environment in the moment—a reaction to speed, stress and unpleasant emotions. In burnout there is also disconnection from ones sense of agency, and of self-efficacy. This leads to disconnection from any sense of meaning in ones work. Along with this disconnection from self, there is a loss of the feeling of connection with others, the very connection that could sustain us through difficulties, and the connection that makes us effective caregivers and makes caregiving rewarding.

Across specialties, nearly half of the doctors (Shanafelt 2012) and the majority of nurses (Mealer 2009) in the US are currently experiencing burnout symptoms. This situation is found in many other service paths in the modern world, including education, social service, and public safety (police and firefighters). The cost to those workers, to the system, and to those they interact with is horrific.

These front line warriors are society’s treasures. They have committed themselves to work that expresses and protects the dignity and richness of society. Their inspiration, training, commitment, and the same warm heart that makes them vulnerable to burnout, are of incalculable value to the world. The Present Moment Project offers methods to revivify the noble heart that motivates caring professions, and to provide the antidotes that healthcare workers need to the speed, fearfulness and alienation so they can return to that noble heart when faced with the tribulations of clinical life.