2.2 - Humility

Following our interview with Professor Carter Snead, we dive into Humility, one of the "virtues of embodiment" that he identified as being essential to human flourishing. Join us as we explore how to practically live out this virtue, to benefit our patient, colleagues, and friends.

18 minutes • Published Dec 02, 2024 • Download • Transcript

Recommended readings

What it Means to be Human, Carter Snead
The Virtuous Physician: The Role of Virtue in Medicine, James A. Marcum
The Time-Block Planner: A Daily Method for Deep Work in a Distracted World, Cal Newport
The Virtues in Medical Practice, Edmund Pellegrino & David Thomasma
Humble: The Quiet Power of an Ancient Virtue, Daryl van Tongeren
The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation, Betsy Ng
Growth Mindset Podcast, Andrew Huberman.

Transcript

[Intro music]

Welcome to the Hippocratic Society Podcast. This podcast is a project of the Hippocratic Society.

In the podcast, we aim to reflect on deeper questions in medicine, all with the aim of rediscovering the ideals that brought us to medicine in the first place in order to better serve our patients and colleagues.

Thank you for joining us and we look forward to engaging with you through this podcast.

Hi and welcome back to the Hippocratic Society Podcast, where we aim to help physicians and trainees thrive by giving them the tools to pursue and practice good medicine.

My name is Michael and I'm joined by Dr. John Rhee. Today we would like to talk about humility.

This episode follows our interview with Professor Carter Snead on his book what It Means to Be Human.

During that interview, we talked about what Professor Snead termed an anthropology of embodiment, which is essentially the conception of human beings that follows from an acceptance of the body.

Central to this anthropology are networks of uncalculated giving and grateful receiving that make up communities.

Friendship represents the fullest expression of this anthropology,

and within friendship we find certain virtues that are characteristic of embodied beings.

In this episode we would like to focus on one virtue,

humility.

And as part of our Part two series, this episode will build on the ideas of the interview with Professor Snead, but will be shorter and will focus how to practically live out those ideas in our daily life, work and relationships.

So let's jump right in.

Great, Michael, Excited to be here.

Great. So let's start with the very basics. What is humility? And what are the characteristics of a humble person?

Great. Thanks Michael.

And I think it's great that we're starting with a definition of humility because it helps us to be on the same page as we reflect together on these larger ideals or virtues.

So humility is a virtue that's characterized by accurate self knowledge and attentiveness to others,

by sincerity and honesty,

especially in one's demeanor and interactions.

And humility is an acknowledgment of our weaknesses, our faults, our dependence on others.

It's a key virtue in this idea of self discovery because it helps us see for ourselves who we are,

both our strengths, but also where we can and should grow.

The interesting thing about humility is that it's a virtue where the presence or perhaps lack thereof is quickly recognizable by others.

I remember one anecdote where I saw a patient as an attending with a brain metastasis causing status epilepticus and she was admitted to the Neurology service.

I had ran into the resident and shared some thoughts about which anti seizure medications may be most helpful based on their mechanism of action.

And I sensed by the way that this resident responded quickly with I know that repeatedly that there was a lack of receptivity to the suggestions.

This was in stark contrast to another scenario where I was a senior resident and I saw a junior resident tell a medical student with good intention that the presentation was a bit too long.

But what that junior resident didn't know was that I had also seen another junior resident tell that same medical school student a few days prior that her presentation needed more detail and that she had been responding to that feedback.

Still, I was impressed by the humility of that medical student who didn't argue or try to prove herself,

but rather took it in with a smile and asked how she could specifically mold her presentation to find the right balance.

I feel like those two anecdotes are interesting because we find ourselves attracted to humility in others and also are turned off by pride,

such as attendings who don't admit doing wrong or tend to show off their knowledge or even belittle others with that knowledge.

So humility opens the door to other adjacent virtues or ideals.

These include sincerity,

especially in self examination in situations in which we are involved,

where humility helps us to be willing to be wrong and see things for how they truly are.

It also is adjacent to fortitude because it helps recognize our weaknesses,

our inabilities,

and therefore we are more willing to step out of our comfort zone and take risks,

including risks where we may be willing to potentially fail.

Third, gratitude,

because as we see our littleness, we understand how much we have depended on others and turn to gratitude for the care and effort that they have invested in us to get to where we are now and fourth, patience,

recognizing our own failings and struggles,

we are more understanding of the faults of others and willing to help them through their challenges.

It also helps us to see that we are not the center of the universe and makes us more open to different views and less imposing on others.

Humility is also related to this large virtue called magnanimity because it allows us to see the whole picture beyond ourselves and helping us to give ourselves to a greater cause.

It also shows us with sincerity where our skills and talents lie,

fosters a sense of responsibility to using those for others.

It opens our eyes to the fact that we did not develop our own skills or talents or circumstances completely by ourselves and reveals that idea that Professor Snead talks about of this giftedness.

It tempers this attitude where we may use other people,

this extractive attitude,

considering them only for the purposes that they serve in carrying out what we want or our wills.

And it stirs up in us the need for sharing, especially with those who have not been in as advantaged positions by the natural distributions of gifts and talents.

Now, another reason why it's really important in medicine is that humility is also related to intellectual humanity.

Intellectual humility,

because without intellectual humility,

recognizing that we all have to continuously learn and that we can learn even if we're experts in a particular field,

that we can learn even from those who are more junior than ourselves.

And to do this, we have to practice entering into the lived experiences of others,

to be able to take others points of views,

step into their shoes,

as we often do in medicine.

Literature and art can help with this. And we often try to step into the shoes of our patients,

because that allows us to broaden our perspective, learn from our patients.

Not just by saying that we want to learn from our patients, but truly doing so.

It acknowledges this idea of fallibility of obtaining knowledge and openness and curiosity.

Just the last thought is that humility is not subservience or broad submissiveness. It is not the constant. My complaint or request is too small for their attention.

Because this could be contrary to justice or seeing ourselves as less than we are or less capable than we are. This is also contrary to justice as our skills or gifts to be used for the good of others.

Rather, by being humble, we are truly human. Because we recognize that in the bond that we have with others,

there is always going to be times we give,

but also times we receive.

And at even the height of our physical ability or professional standing, that we still depend on others relationally for love,

for affection,

and for personal growth.

So it seems that truth and justice are really at the core of humility, as you're talking about it. As you were saying, we see ourselves for how we are not more, not less, and understand our responsibility towards others,

but also our limitations and how others can help us when we're in need.

Okay, so now that we have that basic understanding of the virtue, why is it so important?

And particularly why for medicine, as you were mentioning.

Thanks, Michael. Yeah, we talked about this idea of intellectual humility.

But humility also helps with our relationships. It helps us serve others better and helps us grow in our abilities. It's a necessary condition for real progress in living all of our ideals,

which is why it's such an important virtue to stalk talk,

which is why it's such an important virtue to talk about early on in our relationships. It makes us more approachable as we have more open and understanding hearts to others around us.

I remember as a medical student, I found it really hard to approach attendings that were super prideful because pride also brings with it a sense of disdain for those under oneself.

On the other hand, the attendings I learned the most from were those who had true humility even to say to me, I learned something from you today in the way you treated that particular patient with love and care.

So humility helps us to be open to the viewpoints of others and see the good in others as well as the gifts and services that they have provided for us.

It's key to this idea of this growth mentality.

It removes the pride that tends to reject things immediately in response to constructive criticism.

And then we remain totally stagnant in our growth.

Humility allows us to be sincere and learn from our mistakes. And a humble mindset reveals that there is always room to grow and helps us in our constant pursuit of the good.

It shows us the possibilities in front of us and helps us to strive for those possibilities.

This idea of the growth mindset and intrinsic motivation are highly correlated and mediated actually by dopamine. They both increase the enjoyment and development within the learning process and gives us the tools to ask for advice.

Rather than clinging to the pride that convinces us to go into ourselves and that we do not need help,

and even to the point of potentially being harmful to patients and patient care,

it also helps us to serve our patients best.

It recognizes and uses our talents for the good of others.

It combats the pride that sees everything as a tool for our own gain or to impose our will, even to the detriment of patients.

And it allows us to foster this sense of altruism and self effacement as we realize that our goals and needs are not the highest good and are willing to sacrifice our pride for others.

Of course, it's important to say that prudence moderates the extent of that sacrifice.

And so we have to also acknowledge that we have needs. And how to find the balance of goods is of course important.

And also humility combats the modern belief that we have to take care of ourselves first and put our own interest ahead of others.

The growth and relationships that humility fosters provides us further opportunities for service as we are in touch with more people and therefore able to do more for others.

To give of ourselves a little bit more each time to our patients without losing ourselves.

This is so important in healthcare for the good of the patient,

to be able to receive feedback well, to build relationships with colleagues and patients and to learn how to serve them better,

while also learning to care for ourselves,

to find that balance within ourselves for the betterment of patients.

Okay, well, clearly humility is an essential part of serving others, especially in healthcare. As you were saying.

So now what? How do we build and practice this humility with our patients, our colleagues, friends, family?

What's the next step?

One exercise that could be helpful is to try to think of a time where perhaps you strongly disagreed with feedback you received,

or you didn't ask a question for fear of being embarrassed,

or you took your own needs as higher than someone else's.

In these situations,

where was the opportunity to act differently or to grow?

Perhaps as you're reflecting on that, there are still specific circumstances that come to mind.

And I just want to say that humility is a constant struggle. It's a constant work.

And at the same time,

it is in that struggle that we find growth.

We have to desire growth,

to be in situations where we are humbled, even humiliated,

because it is in those moments of discomfort.

It is actually in the struggle.

It is in those situations where if we accept and see that it contributes to our growth,

we can then come to grow in humility.

This means embracing constructive criticism.

We have many, many opportunities for that in medicine,

because in some ways there's always somebody senior than us,

even as an attending. I can say that for sure.

And how we can do that is by, I would say, perhaps four things that we can reflect on.

One is practicing active listening,

as well as with that, admitting mistakes and apologizing.

So listening, acknowledging that my own interests are not the best thing,

humbly accepting the person and the conversation of another and giving of ourselves and our attention without thinking that we are too good for the person in front of us.

One way to be able to practice this is just to be aware of how many times I insert myself into a conversation.

And every time I feel like I want to do that, just to take a moment to be like, you know, I'm going to use this moment to actually ask more about the other person in front of me.

I think this is also related to the idea of admitting my mistakes and apologizing, which tends to destroy the pride that says that I have done everything perfectly and that helps me be willing to grow from my mistakes.

I think two is engaging in self reflection,

which we talked about part two in a previous episode,

but just taking the time for inner silence, to look interiorly and See, where can I grow?

Where are my faults?

And also where I have talents that could be utilized in a way that is more giving,

more serving of others, more loving.

I will say that these last two practices, though,

are oftentimes the things that I find help people grow most in humility.

And one is this idea of serving others.

When we focus on others more than ourselves,

and we look for opportunities to benefit others and take care of serving them in little things because we're not too good for those things,

or we're not above serving in those little aspects.

It is in serving others in these little things that we grow in all the virtues, in fortitude, constancy, temperance, loyalty.

And when we learn to serve others in those little things, in our home environments, in our friendships,

where we make small sacrifices for our friends,

for our spouses,

where we put our preferences second to theirs, but in a way that truly takes their preferences into account because you love them in that way, through that service,

we are able to forget ourselves and live more. This virtue of living for others,

it is that paradox of humility, where when we forget ourselves more, we actually somehow come to understand more deeply who we are.

And then I think, secondly, gratitude,

when we see that we are dependent on others. And I think that this comes really strongly back to Professor Snead's point that everything that we have really comes from others, where others have helped us in our lives.

And when we can be thankful for that explicitly,

perhaps by thanking those who most obviously helped us, our parents, our siblings, our relatives, our closest friends.

But I also find the practice of recalling to mind things that we are thankful for, lists of things that we are thankful for,

and coming back to that every evening and really giving thanks for that.

That could be in the form of a journal or writing things we're thankful for, or just even reflecting on things that we're thankful for.

We grow in the sense of humility because we see that everything we have is gift.

So this week we could reflect on perhaps one person who has helped us,

and perhaps to thank them explicitly,

and also one person that we may have wronged or not treated us properly and with courage and fortitude,

find that place inside of us to apologize.

Because whenever we mend bonds, relationships with others,

we always grow in humility.

I love that last exercise. That will certainly be useful for our bonds and also garner humility.

Well, I hope our audience can take away some thoughts for reflection and these ideas for growing in humility. I know that I certainly can. Thank you very much, Sean.

Thank you very much for joining and reflecting with us today.

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