Dr. Gail Gazelle

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

Sometimes it’s hard to enjoy the joy of others.

We’ve all been there. Someone gets an award or a promotion or recognition, and we feel jealous. Or we feel like it should have been us and not them.

And then we feel messed up and guilty for feeling jealous.

I’ve noticed this myself and I talk about it in Mindful MD.

This is a mindset that anyone can have, but it’s more common in us physicians.

After all, from a young age, we are in competition for good grades. Additionally, our training involves a system of ratings, rankings, and comparisons. If that doesn’t fuel a sense of scarcity, I don’t know what does.

Part of the mindful unlearning we need to do to enjoy long, fruitful careers in medicine is moving past the scarcity we were put into.

And that’s what we’re learning today.

Be a Mindful MD today:
The next time you’re inhabiting this kind of scarcity mindset, don’t feel guilt or beat yourself up for it - it’s a normal emotional reaction.

Remind yourself that there is enough to go around, that their success doesn’t mean there’s less available for you…and then lean into genuine appreciation and happiness for them.

Because there is always enough to go around.

09/10/2026

I don’t have to tell you that we are a social species, so it shouldn’t surprise you that our psychological health is inextricably linked to our ability to connect with others.

From an evolutionary standpoint, our ancestors' survival depended on banding with others for mutual support in a harsh, dangerous world; for them, lack of connection could truly lead to death. So social affiliation is hardwired into our instincts, and our emotional health is sustained by our bonds with other people.

Yet, it’s a rare relationship that goes perfectly smoothly; bumps occur in all of our important ones. Unfortunately, we learn little about how to manage conflicts and this can leave us hesitant to address difficulties in our relationships with others.

As we age we see how valuable a real friendship is, and how painful it can be when we lose one.
Close relationships require regular investments of love and care. And the good news is that there are simple strategies we can learn.

In my 2020 book, Everyday Resilience, I present a protocol for repairing relationship strains. The most important aspects of the protocol are asking ourselves a few questions:

What’s important to me about this relationship?
How might this challenge look through their eyes?
What do I appreciate about this person?
What will I gain by working through this conflict?

Be a Mindful MD today:
If you have a relationship in need of repair, take the time to ask yourself these questions.

09/09/2026

So often we feel out of control.

So many physicians come to coaching and say they’ve lost their autonomy, every day feels like a whirlwind, and they have no path towards happiness.

We are working in a broken system. But does that mean we can’t own our own happiness?

While much in our lives as physicians is well beyond our control, there remains much that is not. And succumbing to learned helplessness is the fastest way to burnout. That is not what I want for you.

To expand the quality of our days, we can ask ourselves one key question:

What’s one thing I can do to make today a good day?

That may be eating a sustaining lunch. It may be pushing yourself to smile more or share something good that happened outside of work with your coworkers. It could be taking purposeful pauses in an otherwise packed patient schedule.

Whatever it is, I know that if you pose this question to yourself every morning, you will find that the quality of your day improves.

All we have is today, over and over again. What can you do to make today a good day?

Be a Mindful MD today:
Pose this question to yourself today: What’s one thing I can do to make today a good day?

09/08/2026

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

~Maria Robinson

I'm sending today's quote as I know that it is likely that you are facing challenges in your life. Everyone does. You may be struggling with a challenging practice administrator. Of a difficult patient. Or financial concerns. Or a significant illness. Or care for an aging parent. Or concerns about your health or that of a loved one.

So much of our mental anguish, and rumination, centers around these challenges, and particularly around events that have already transpired.

We can't change the traumas we've lived through. We certainly can't change the family we were born into. We can't go back and write a new beginning, can we?

Resilience is about writing a new ending. That's the part we all have control over. That's the part we have a choice about each and every day. Those choices are the power we each have in shaping the outcome of whatever difficulty we encounter.

Be a Mindful MD today:
Next time you get wrapped up in where you’re at today, linking it to some past event, recenter around the future and what you can control now.

09/07/2026

So often, when we meditate, we think that somehow we're not doing it the right way. That we're not breathing correctly or that we're not sitting correctly or that our mind is too busy.

That it's supposed to be something other than what it is.

Our minds have been conditioned to produce judgments, particularly negative ones. Even more particularly, negative ones about ourselves. With mindfulness, we begin to see that our judging mind is shameless and truly knows no bounds!

The good news is that all we're doing in meditation is sitting with whatever arises and getting to know what our minds are up to. We're noticing when the mind is off in judgments, self-criticism, comparisons, reviewing, predictions, rehearsals, story-telling, and so much more. Then we're gently and kindly redirecting the mind to where we want it to focus, typically on the breath.

That's all. Over and over and over again.

There is no wrong way to meditate.

Be a Mindful MD today:
In your next meditation, remind yourself that your only job is to experience whatever comes up - there’s no wrong way to do it.

09/04/2026

Oftentimes, we physicians feel like we have to be superhuman. That we always have to have the correct answer, we can’t make mistakes, we always have to be perfect. Heaven forbid, we ever show any emotion!

And yet, underneath the veneer of being a physician, we are human. We don’t always know the correct answer. We sometimes make mistakes. We cannot always attain perfection. And we have feelings.

The more we can give ourselves permission to be human, the less anguish we experience in the moments when our human foibles are present. And the less anguish we experience, the less at risk for burnout we are.

Be a Mindful MD today:
When you’re chastising yourself for any human foibles, remind yourself that you are human too.

09/02/2026

Are you someone who learned how to be kind to yourself?

If you answered “no,” you are far from alone. Most of us never learned how to be as compassionate with ourselves as we are with others. Further, our medical training is much more focused on our shortcomings than our strengths. Unfortunately, this leaves us being harshly critical of ourselves.

The costs of self-criticism are high! When we exclude ourselves by giving compassion to others and not to ourselves, we’re basically telling ourselves that others are worthy of love and compassion, and we are not. This leaves us isolated, another risk factor for burnout.

Be a Mindful MD today:
Today, notice when you’re being critical of yourself. Push yourself to counter self-criticism with a message of self-kindness.