This past week I completed another phenomenal read. In my opinion, every nurse would benefit from reading this awesomely written book by a holistic breast surgeon.

The Healing Consciousness: A Doctor’s Journey to Healing by Dr. Beth DuPree was given to me by one of my funky, yet fun neighbors/friends. He came back from a retreat offered by Dr. DuPree to breast fellows this past winter. When he gave it to me he said, “This book has to do with Reiki and stuff. I’m sure you will like it. When are you going to read it?”

Since I do most of my reading in the summer, I put it aside telling him I would get to it when I got through the pile I was already involved with. Well that didn’t happen at all. We got some awesome new living room furniture that was calling my name and with my friend continuously asking me when I would read the book, I decided I would start in on it after dinnertime one evening.

Well I couldn’t put it down! My husband wondered when I might get back to hanging out with him after dinnertime, since each evening I would go back to my comfy new chair and curl up with this exceptional book.

Dr. DuPree is a role model for practicing medicine. She bridges the Western training she earned with her medical school experiences with the healing traditions she journeyed through during the course of the book. She touches on Reiki practice, dis-ease in the mind-body connection and our responsibility to foster healing in each human being/spirit. The book speaks to her journey through her own healing as a medical professional and she shares fun and uplifting stories from her experience.

[Tweet “If you are a medical professional you have got to check out this fun and easy-to-read book.”]

Finishing a book is always bittersweet to me. On one hand I don’t want the book to end since I am enjoying it so much but continuing to drag it out means I am not really taking what I read and putting it into practice.

This very conundrum I often find myself in got me to thinking about taking in more information versus actually putting the tools into practice.

As curious beings who enjoy the learning process, we often want to take on more and more and more. More workshops, trainings, teachings and books. More teachers, guides and mentors. Find new and better ways to help and heal ourselves. Engage in practices that will allow us to let go and appreciate the joys of life.

All of that learning is well and good, but what about actually putting it into practice?

Part of the reason we need to continue to add more information on to help us feel better is because we are not actually putting what we learn to use.

So I want to challenge you here.

Instead of just reading a book or going to a class, do the steps you learn. Use the tools you receive. Before you sign up for another new modality, actually try out the lessons learned. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find out in that you may not need that next class/book/tape you signed on for.

While I am not putting learning down; I am urging you- use the tools you receive. Don’t just take the information in; actually do something with it. Take and make the time to practice what you receive.

I would love to hear from you. What courses or trainings have you gone through that you actually implemented into action? Did you see any different results from when you may have just taken the information in without really doing anything about?