“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle,” famed Greek philosopher Plato once said. While these are wise words to live by, it’s not always easy to put this sentiment into practice, especially when you have your own daily issues and stressors influencing how you feel and behave.

Here’s where mindfulness can play a huge role in compassion, especially among clinicians, says Susan Bauer-Wu, Ph.D., R.N., the director of the Compassionate Care Initiative, a program at University of Virginia that aims to help cultivate resilience and compassion in the healthcare workforce. “In order to be truly empathic, which means being able to put yourself in the shoes of another person, you need to first be in tune with you who you are and how you are feeling,” Bauer-Wu tells Sonia Jones in this video.

Through this UVA program, Bauer and a team of experts teach nurses, physicians, administrators, professors, and students three key practices to improving the quality of their interaction with patients and others. Watch this video to learn more about how you can channel your body, mind and heart to be more resilient and compassionate towards the people in your life.

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