Bienvenido, bienvenue, hello and welcome to the website, www.elementarymydearmd.com, and blog of the Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience.

My name is Dr. Michelle K. Watson, my pronouns are she/her/hers/ela/ella/elle, and as your bold, unabashedly intrepid host, I am pleased to have you accompany me on this sublime audio journey where the belief is that equity in medicine can be both evolutionary and revolutionary.

Our mission in healthcare is to include and stay divine, every single time. 

I am thrilled to have you accompany me on this journey to educate, investigate, evaluate, and create an open think tank for solutions necessary for achieving healthcare equity for BIPOC populations around the world.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been a revered and well-established public figure in the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the quest for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the United States and worldwide.

Due to the fact that Dr. King’s legacy is so well known, I will offer something quite different than what other celebrations on this national day of honor tend to offer.

It is my hope that we are all familiar with MLK’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

If this is not the case:

A link to MLK’s verbal tour de force is located in the description area of the Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience DEI Weekly Wrap Up podcast episode related to this blog article under the EMD Executive Audio page of this website, http://www.elementarymydearmd.com.

One of the most popularly quoted lines from this speech is:

I have a dream that my four little children 

Will one day live in a nation

Where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,

But by the content of their character.

I have a dream.

In modern times,

This excerpt from the King “I Have A Dream” speech is repeated as a mantra.

Speaking of mantras, this episode of The Humanities In Medicine Podcast Experience Weekly Wrap Up is celebrated on January 16, 2023, the Dr. Martin Luther King National Holiday in the United States of America.

To also honor the National Day of Racial Healing on

January 17, 2023

involves a presentation of a Microaggression Mindfulness Meditation.

A microaggression is defined as a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group, such as an ethnic or racial minority, one that is differently abled, or a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

In other words, microaggressions are the daily, commonplace verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights, insults, putdowns, invalidations, and otherwise offensive behaviors that BIPOC populations have to routinely deal with. 

These everyday annoyances communicate derogatory, hostile, or negative attitudes towards race, gender, sex, ethnicity, and age surrounding stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups. Microaggressions are considered a form of covert racism.

Macroaggressions on the other hand, are more extreme, physically assaultive forms of racism, such as the occurrences leading to the untimely demise of George Floyd. The term microaggression originated in the 1970’s with Harvard University psychiatrist, Dr. Chester M. Pierce’s descriptions of undesirable, insulting, and disparaging behaviors demonstrated towards African-Americans by individuals of non-color. 

The term was later popularized by Dr. W. Sue, another DEI pioneer I have previously mentioned in Episode 2 of The Humanities In Medicine Podcast Experience, It’s All About The Benjamins. Dr. Sue has offered the concept of microinterventions as a workable solution to microaggressions.  

The microaggressions I have experienced most frequently as a BIPOC woman professional are acscription of intelligence, where I am believed to be in possession of only a certain level of intellect or cogitative capacity solely because of my racial composition, or exoticization due to being multiracial and multilingual. 

Microaggressions can also appear in three forms:

• Microassaults
• Microinsults
• Microinvalidations

These will be discussed in depth in other episodes of The Humanities In Medicine Podcast Experience.

Mindfulness is defined as a state of being fully present in the moment and 

aware of what we are doing, where we are, and not being overly reactive to what is happening around us.

This state of awareness helps us to better appreciate and be grateful for the things, people, and occurrences in our lives, both large and small.

It teaches us to remain calm, and to not react immediately or negatively to situations, regardless of the associated circumstances. The utilization of mindfulness meditation can be of tremendous assistance while learning, working, and existing in extraordinarily racist, morally deficient and spiritually bankrupt environments teeming with microinvalidations, and fraught with supremacist ideology.

According to the National institutes of Health, or NIH, over 18 million adults in the United States practice mindfulness meditation as a part of their mind body and spirit routine to remain healthy.

On this day, I chose to have the Humanities In Medicine Podcast Experience DEI diversity, equity, and inclusion family undergo this moment of mindfulness together as a DEI family.

It is now time to begin our moment of mindfulness.

I invite you to find a quiet, calm, and comfortable space to engage in our meditation.

If you feel the need, please do bring along a comfortable blanket, covering or pillow.

Play your most relaxing music, whatever that sounds like for you.

You may sit in your most comfortable position, or go supine in a corpse pose, savasana, or even prone.

Whatever that looks like for you.

Let us begin.

When your body feels ready, you may gently close your eyes.

With your eyes closed, take a moment to tune inwards.

First, by simply noticing your body.

Tuning into the weight of gravity.

The points of contact between you and the surface on which you are resting.

What else do you notice?

What is it like for you to be in your body right now?

As you observe this, simply allow and accept whatever it is you notice.

Harboring no judgment, even when you have been unjustly judged by others for simply being who you are, and who you were born to be.

Just being mindful.

Noticing what is with a sense of compassion in your heart.

Even when empathy and compassion were not afforded to you and letting it be.

Continue to do this now in your breath as well as your body.

If you haven’t already, begin to tune into the sensations of breathing.

What do you notice?

Just observe accept and allow.

No judgment.

Just letting everything be how it is.

As you stay mindful of your breath and your body with a sense of compassion in your heart.

Compassion for those limited places and confined spaces

That would not let the true you shine and just be.

Keeping your eyes closed, you allow your awareness to expand to include the space surrounding your body.

As if you can sense the air around you, the objects around you, and you just allow them to be as you simply are.

There’s nothing to do. 

There’s no one here to judge you.

No microaggressions.

No hurts.

No slurs.

And if your mind wanders, that’s okay.

There’s no judgment.

No being overlooked or invisible.

Just return your focus to what is.

Being connected to your breath, your body, and your sense of presence in the world around you.

Release the microinvalidations of the past, no matter how painful.

Being minimized.

You let everything simply be, including yourself

You may now begin to have your attention travel back.

Becoming more and more aware of physical sensations by rolling your shoulders, and wiggling your fingers and toes.

Still being mindful of what is and taking this present moment awareness with you as you slowly begin to open your eyes back to the world around you.

Welcome back.

I express my gratitude for your entering into a safe, generous, and affirming meditative space.

Venturing into a Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience microaggression mindfulness meditation practice with me.

You all have done a wonderful job.

I hope you enjoy the rest of this beautiful, historic day as a member of the Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience DEI diversity, equity, and inclusion family.

I, Dr. Michelle K. Watson, thank you.

All Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience blog articles and podcast episodes illustrate the significance and virtues of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) concepts of cultural competence and cultural humility with an extensive healthcare literature review, and touches of world culture, humor and musicality.

All ages, gender identities, races, nationalities, creeds, religions, and ethnicities worldwide are welcome to enjoy an audio escapist edutainment moment with me, Dr. Watson, the podcast creator, producer, and host.

Join me, Dr. Watson, your Chief Diversity Guru, producer, and host, on this groundbreaking audio revolution for a new episode every month on all major podcast hosting platforms.

To learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion done the Elementary My Dear way, head on over to the links listed in the description area. Be certain to visit my website and landing page and sign up for exclusive content, DEI healthcare news, and a most wicked plethora of edutainment delectables to titillate your fancy.

To learn more about my experiences in diversity, equity, and inclusion as a physician, purchase my book, The Women of Purpose Anthology, a collection of inspiring stories from empowered women from all walks of life from the EMD Executive Equity online store on this website.

Informed, culturally relevant content.

Custom-created and curated for an informed listener base.

For a more informed future.

Elementary my dear listeners.

I am Dr. Michelle K. Watson, innovator, producer, host, and creator of the Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience. Join me on this audio revolution for a new episode every month on all major podcast hosting platforms. 

Don’t forget to like, share, subscribe, and comment.

At the information listed in the description area.

If you wish to donate to support and contribute to the Elementary My Dear Humanities in Medicine Podcast Experience revolution, becoming a supporter and benefactor to the creation of avant-garde content of exceptional quality, again, feel free to do so at the information listed in the podcast episode description area, or on this website, http://www.elementarymydearmd.com. 

Pertinent hashtags include:

#livewellwithdrmichelle

#learnwellwithdrmichelle

#laughwellwithdrmichelle

#bewellwithdrmichelle

#emdexecutive

I thank you for allowing me to be of service to you.

This is Dr. Michelle K. Watson, signing off, wishing all of you a safe and equitable life journey.

Until we meet again.

For the next episode in this revolution.

Evolve safely.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Namaste.