ABSTRACT
This chapter presents practical ways for implementing human presence, empathy, and compassion in daily practice, integrating theory, our experience, and exercises for regular practice. Human presence, empathy, and compassion are the natural offspring of this understanding, which is cultivated by practicing mindfulness. Natural curiosity and genuine interest about our patients’ lives are essential for fostering human presence and empathic stance. Being trained to take rapid, standardised histories, doctors learn to subdue curiosity in medical practice. One of the major obstacles for human presence, empathy, and compassion is emotional distress. Human presence is a quality of being and it represents a therapeutic approach rather than a therapeutic skill or act. Research has demonstrated that compassion practice influences parts of the brain that are correlated with understanding and resonating with others feelings, regulating our emotions, and expanding emotional compass.
