DARE TO CARE: How to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Medical World
Prof Dr Jan Bonhoeffer wrote ‘Dare to Care’ with his coach and co-creator Arjuna who offered him simple experiments to shift the center of gravity from all the accumulated knowledge in his head so that it could find a natural balance with the ocean of wisdom accessible through his heart.
The book they created together is a series of letters written to Jan's goddaughter, Hannah, when she started her career in a major hospital.
In Jan's Own Words
For twenty years I practiced as a doctor using only the top three inches of my body. I operated, with confidence, in the current state of ignorance known as healthcare, my brain boldly leading the way. I learned all I could, sucking up medical knowledge, first as a young paramedic, then an emergency physician and later as a paediatrician, vaccine safety specialist and professor of medicine.
Since then, I’ve come to understand that my effectiveness as a real facilitator of health rests only in part on what I have learned. The much bigger part depends on whether I can be vulnerable enough to open my heart and allow myself to be fully available for the people I care for. This, it turns out, is not common knowledge even if it makes common sense. It’s a complete departure from everything I was taught in medical school.
The awareness of a profound connectedness, the essence of a therapeutic alliance can only be experienced in the boundless realms of the heart which has never learned division or multiplication. It allows us to practice medicine in this world in deeply rewarding ways that we have not even started to fully comprehend.
Love as a healing force doesn’t appeal to the head which likes logical pathways and tidy data that can be boxed, studied, proven and dissected. The resonant field where we all co-exist is where true healing resides, and I’ve dedicated the rest of my life to exploring and understanding this phenomenon.
I wish someone had written these letters to me when I started out! And while these letters were written for Hannah, they really apply to anyone who has chosen healthcare as their profession. They offer practical tools that any healthcare professional can integrate into their day, as well as a bold invitation from our hearts to yours, to dare to care.
~ Prof. Dr Jan Bonhoeffer
Get 2 Chapters Free
Improving the health and coping strategies of those on the frontline is likely to be the fastest cure for a sick healthcare system and supporting the work of Heart Based Medicine is an opportunity to give something back to the people we all rely on to keep us well.
By daring to care for yourself and others in this way, you too can thrive every day. Endorsed by professors and thought-leaders, we invite you to enjoy two free chapters on us!
Want Bonus Content?
Registering your book gives you access to a wealth of bonus content.
-
"Dare to Care is a wonderful book: full of wisdom, insight, and compassion. I warmly recommend it to all doctors, but especially those in the early years of training, to be read before too much of the “hidden curriculum” has hardened their outlook on the profession."
~Peter Sullivan, MD
Emeritus Professor Pediatrics, University of Oxford Medical School, UK
Associate Dean Postgraduate Medicine, University of Oxford Medical School, UK
-
"Dare to Care is a heartwarming book that uses letters from Dr. Bonhoeffer to his goddaughter, a resident physician. Through these letters, Dr. Bonhoeffer imparts his wisdom, experience and, most important, his compassion not only to his goddaughter but to each of us. Whether you’re a medical student or seasoned physician, this book will remind you of why you became a physician."
~James Doty, MD
Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine
Founder and Director, The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE)
-
"Dare to Care is so empowering, so clearly heartfelt, and written with such reverence and seeming unabashed honesty... I would hope that it could be in the eyes, hands, minds, and heart of every student-physician, intern, resident: it was often new and enriching. I will specifically reference the book in my upcoming lectures and workshops."
~Daniel P. Kohen, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota (Retired)
Co-Founder, National Pediatric Hypnosis Training Institute
Co-Author of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy With Children
-
"A great book! It gives us − medics and patients − a simple truth that everyone knows, but almost nobody bothers about in actual practice: Healing is not only about scientific facts and medical technology (which are important enough); it is also about love. This book contains more wisdom than a bookshelf of recent publications in philosophy."
~Olaf Müller, PhD
Professor of Philosophy of Science and Nature, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
-
"This is a book about feelings and emotions and their crucial role in delivering medical care. It is about deep listening and the importance of empathy over authority in medicine. A must-read book for our time."
~Heidi Larson, PhD
Professor of Anthropology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
Professor, Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle
Author of Stuck
-
"In Dare to Care, the authors astutely describe the exquisite art of medicine. Physician burnout and disillusionment are often the result of extreme focus on the business and science of medicine, often at the exclusion of the sweetness of the physician-patient relationship. The art of medicine does indeed require us to become daring enough to care. This book is a must-read for all medical professionals."
~Kavitha Chinnaiyan, MD
Professor of Medicine, Oakland University, Michigan USA
Author of The Heart of Wellness, Glorious Alchemy, and Shakti Rising
-
"Dare to Care is a heart-warming reminder of the precious inspirations and human strengths physicians bring with them to their training, and the importance of keeping hold of these, while training and professional life can, if allowed, dampen their glow. This book inspires reflection, trust, and love, and keeps the reader grounded with humanity"
~Jim Buttery, MD
Professor of Child Health Informatics, University of Melbourne, Australia
Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
