The Ritual Nurse

The Four Agreements of Nursing

• Riva - The Ritual Nurse • Season 1 • Episode 20

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The Four Agreements of Nursing — 

This week, Riva dives into a deceptively simple book with a surprisingly deep message for nurses everywhere: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

But this isn’t a book club. It’s a reckoning.

Because when nurses are expected to carry entire systems on their backs, absorb everyone’s trauma, and do it all with a charting pen in hand… how the hell do we stay whole?

Turns out, The Four Agreements might be the answer.

In this episode, we explore how each of the Four Agreements translates directly into the real-life mess and magic of nursing:

  • What it really means to be impeccable with your practice
  • How learning not to take things personally can save your sanity (and maybe your job)
  • Why assumptions kill -  in life, and at the bedside
  • And how giving your sustainable best is a radical act of self-preservation

Riva shares personal stories, hard-won wisdom, and a science-backed breakdown of why these principles aren’t just spiritual fluff they’re neuroprotective, trauma-informed, and resilience-building tools every nurse deserves.

Then, in our Crystals, Coffee & Divination segment, you’ll get a sunkissed reminder of what ritual means and why we do this (along with a heartfelt plea for recipes for Mexican Coffee)(help your girl out!), a spot on pull for the week that's just so good, and a card pull for nurses who are done carrying what was never theirs.

This episode is for every nurse who was trained to sacrifice and is now learning to survive.

Listen in and start healing, one agreement at a time.

Links + Resources:

  • New to The Ritual Nurse? Start here: tcth.org
  • Grab the free downloads or shop the store: Ritual Nurse shop
  • Submit your story or question for an upcoming episode: Hello @ ritualnurse (dot) com

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#HealFirstNurseBetter
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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Ritual Nurse, where healing meets humor, science and a touch of magic. Hey, family. Welcome back to the Rit podcast, where we heal, first nurse better and actually survive this career. We've all given so much of ourselves to this week. I want to share something personal.

Speaker 1:

I just recently read the four agreements for the very first time, I know. I know I know it's one of those books that people have been recommending for a long time, for years. Okay, don't at me, but timing is everything, and reading it now I'm pretty sure hit differently than it would have at other points in my life. You know I went through phases of kind of collecting self-help books and motivational books to really kind of make up for the dopamine and executive functioning. I mean, let's just be real that I was lacking at the time and it just ended up making me feel less competent, less confident, just less Like it wasn't motivating and a lot of it is, because almost all of those books are designed for neuro-normative people, not neurodivergent people. But there was something about this that was just simple, straightforward, wasn't overwhelming, and it just felt like the time to dive into it. And as I went through it I realized something that, without knowing it.

Speaker 1:

These four agreements were pretty much how I had to learn to nurse, how I had to learn to nurse. They were how I the boundary lines that I set up, you know the bounding box that I created around myself as I developed as a professional nurse. They certainly were not part of my nursing school education. Nobody sat me down in clinicals and actually taught me how to build boundaries, how not to carry things home, how to protect my own mental health. Um, I had to learn that the hard way, through experience, through burnout, through over a decade of exposure to trauma, over a decade of exposure to trauma, both primary and secondary exposure and eventually healing. It's been a really long road that actually came from a place stemmed from a place of trying to heal other people. I mean, isn't that how we all do it? You know we're super good at taking care of other people. We know just the right advice to give. We don't follow any of it ourselves, of course, but you know it was a long path.

Speaker 1:

The one agreement, though, like, as I contemplated all of this and really kind of connected the dots in my head, the one agreement that hit me the hardest was don't take anything personally, because as a nurse, that's probably the hardest one of all. You know we're taught to care deeply, to invest, to be responsible for everyone's outcome. Nobody teaches us how to separate our identity from our job. You know you are a nurse, that is, that is what you are, that is what you stepped into. You know it's really kind of been crafted as that identity. We are so often reminded that. You know it's not a job, it's a profession. It's not a job, it's a calling. It's not a job, it's a, it's a passion, it's a life mission, it's a and you know those are all valid aspects of it, absolutely, absolutely. This is not just a job, for sure. But nobody teaches us how to hold space without carrying the entire emotional weight and psychosomatics of everything around us. You know the weight of the world.

Speaker 1:

So today let's talk about how the four agreements fit in nursing and maybe, just maybe, how they might save some of us. Let's go one by one. If you haven't read the four agreements of nursing, I highly recommend it. It is incredible. I want to talk about how I see these agreements, you know, fitting into nursing and we'll go from there.

Speaker 1:

But if you haven't picked up the book, you can find it everywhere. I actually found it at grassroots, which is this incredible used bookstore here in Reno. I found a brand new copy of it. The author is Don Miguel Ruiz. He has other books out.

Speaker 1:

The fifth agreement is one of them. Oh my gosh, I just looked at the other two books and I don't remember their names. But Don Miguel Ruiz, the Four Agreements, a Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, is the book that I'm talking about. And so the first one, be impeccable with your practice. So in the book, the first agreement is to be impeccable with your word. For us, I think it really translates into more than that. It translates into being impeccable with our practice. And that. What does that look like? What am I talking about? That looks like know your scope, know your limits, and by limits I don't mean legal scope, I mean know your personal limits. So for me, for example, critical care nurse ER, love it. So for me, for example, critical care nurse ER, love it.

Speaker 1:

The adult side, however I stayed. I actively, consciously stayed as far away from PICU, nicu and most of PEDS, er as possible. You nurses out there, physicians, healthcare workers, team members out there that work in PICU, nicu, pdr, you know, you are my actual heroes, uh, peds, oncology oh my goodness. Uh, I stayed as far away from that as humanly possible. You better find an adult to your adult to do that, because it's not me, I, the adult stuff. No problem. Missing an arm, I will find it, we'll reattach it, figure out something to do with it. You know no hitch in my step there. When it comes to acute adult emergencies, you know wild things. Not a problem, pete. On the other hand, absolutely not. So knowing your limits is not referring to your medical legal limits, it's your personal limits. Um, stay up to date on evidence-based care. Protect your license and document like your career depends on it, because it does.

Speaker 1:

Being impeccable doesn't mean being perfect. That's never a part of any conversation that I will ever have with you. It is not real, it doesn't exist, it's not a thing. It means being impeccable with your practice means being honest, accountable, safe. You know, for example, like with our documentation, your documentation is your voice when you're not in the room. So be impeccable with it.

Speaker 1:

The second one don't take it personally. For us that really kind of looks like. Don't take the system personally. Now, this is what I mean by this. I don't mean let them get away with it. I don't mean turn the other cheek, anything like that. This is what I'm talking about and this is one. This is one that took me years, years to learn a lot of self-awareness, a lot of emotional intelligence like developing it, honing it, boundary setting. Emotional intelligence like developing it, honing it, boundary setting. Lots of you know limit setting and what this looks like.

Speaker 1:

You know the patient who's screaming at you, the doctor who condescends, the family that doesn't trust you. The broken staffing matrix that you know leaves you totally drowning and you feel like you can barely keep up. Nevermind, do it. Well, it isn't about you, it's not. That isn't your point of failure, is what I'm saying? It's about them. It's about the healthcare system that should hire more nurses so that they have a safe staffing matrix. It's about the family system that should hire more nurses so that they have a safe staffing matrix.

Speaker 1:

It's about the family experiencing and the patient, you know, experiencing that visceral panic, that terrifying emotion, that inherent vulnerability that they're unprepared for. They are experiencing their emergency. You are helping them navigate it. You are not their emergency. You are helping them navigate it. You are not their emergency and you are not the problem. You are not the issue. It is about them, it's about their fear, it's about their grief. It's about their grief. It's about their own trauma. It, you know it's. It's about a system that was broken long before we ever locked, walked into the building and, yes, we're doing everything that we can to fix it because it's not sustainable and we're not going to, we're not going to stay in it. You know it has to change, whether they like it or not, but it's not about us, because of us.

Speaker 1:

I used to take everything home with me Every mistake, every missed IV stick, every angry family member. I wore it like it was a reflection of my worth. This job will eat you alive if you don't learn how to say I hold space for you, but I will not carry what is not mine. Now, okay, if you make a mistake that harms a patient, it is very natural to think that that guilt, that emotion, that you know those feelings, all that you know that's going to go home with you. If you cause harm to someone, you know that that's something that you might not. You know you'll obviously never forget it, but you know that's going to impact you deeply Because we just you know that goes against everything in our grain.

Speaker 1:

You know to harm a patient, but what I mean is being tired and burned out and feeling like never mind, not being able to give your all. You're not even meeting the halfway mark. You're checking boxes, you're keeping patients safe and alive till 745. And none of it is the care that you want to be delivering. I mean situations like those. I mean the guilt over do I pick up that overtime shift? They're short staffed. It's my team and you know really feeling that guilt, as if the weight of that, for some reason, is on you. It's not, it is absolutely not, as the it is the healthcare system's job to staff their units appropriately, not yours, um, but that's what I'm talking about and that's the boundary work that we were never taught.

Speaker 1:

You know, we, granted, I graduated a long time ago, but I still hear it in nursing. For those of you that don't know, I am forever the nursing student. I'm still in school. Hi, hello, it is me. I am still in school. I am finishing my FNP and my doctorate simultaneously and there's still echoes and whispers of that altruism my personal nursing instructors. Do not tell us that I have phenomenal nursing instructors, but I'm also a. I am also a nursing instructor, I teach BSN students and in academia.

Speaker 1:

That is a battle cry, that is a slogan, that is a moniker that refuses to die, it just refuses to be put down. This notion of this altruistic, self-emptying, self-depleting asset that is the nurse, that is somehow, you know, more than human and able to, you know, do inhuman feats of compassion and empathy and caring and nurturing and giving you know without exhaustion, somehow, um, and without caregiver fatigue, without burnout somehow, and without caregiver fatigue, without burnout, without normal human responses to trauma. So that is something that you know. Those whispers are still around there. So we were not taught these boundaries when we were in nursing school, nor were we as new grads, and we certainly weren't taught how to fashion any of these boundaries or hold the space for ourselves as we moved through the healthcare system. And if this is something that you're struggling with, just know that. You know I see you. There's so many nurses out there who are doing this work, who are further along in this work than I am, who are just beginning in this work, and we see you, we see each other, you know, because we felt these things too, we survived these things too. We are going through these things too.

Speaker 1:

Another one, the next one, like the third one, is don't make assumptions. This one, really, you know this is clinical safety 101. Assumptions kill. Never assume that someone else verified the order. Never assume that the med was double checked. Never assume that vague handoff gave you the full picture. Sbar exists for a reason Clarify, validate, ask.

Speaker 1:

There is not a dumb question. The nurse that stops asking questions is going to kill somebody. The nurse that is not willing to acknowledge she doesn't know, or he doesn't know or they don't know what they don't know, is going to kill somebody. Even if you feel dumb, especially if you're new, especially if you are seasoned, okay, that tunnel vision and those blinders are far more dangerous than the gaps in clinical knowledge that a new graduate has or a beginning professional has. Ask the questions, clarify, validate, get another pair of eyes on it. A nurse who asks is a nurse who protects. We're human, like we don't know what we don't know, and certain skill sets and certain layers of knowledge if you don't flex them and use them continuously.

Speaker 1:

You got to brush the dust off. You got to go look up the policy. You got to go ask the clinical educator where the heck the cheat sheet is for XYZ, whatever the heck it is, or look up the evidence-based practice. Maybe stuff has changed in the past 10 years. Science and medicine change fast. Always be looking for that answer, the updated resources, the person who can answer your questions, the nursing buddy that can give you another pair of eyes and help you see, you know, uncover any clinical biases that you might have.

Speaker 1:

The last one is always do your sustainable best. So in the book it says always do your best in nursing. We have to adjust that. I mean really in life, I think we have to adjust that also, but in nursing cause that's what we're talking about right now Always do your sustainable best, because our best on a fully staffed, smooth day is, quite frankly, not the same as our best on a one to WTF ratio, short staffed, nightmare. It just isn't because it humanly can't be. It just isn't because it humanly can't be and we need to really match our expectations and our demands to reality within the scope of our practice.

Speaker 1:

Um, and sustainable best means protecting yourself from perfectionism. It doesn't exist, it isn't real. Giving what you can give in that moment, giving what you can give that day, and knowing when enough is enough and sometimes surviving when that's all that's possible. Perfectionism fuels burnout. Perfectionism fuels burnout. Perfectionism is such a monster and it is purely utterly made up. Sustainability, however, fuels resilience.

Speaker 1:

And I'm going to say this I'm going to hold your hands, all your hands, with so much love when I say this, and I'm going to hold your hands, all your hands, with so much love when I say this and I'm going to say it. I'm going to pause and I'm going to say it again. Do not turn off the podcast when I do this. Hang in there with me. But your worth is not measured by how much you sacrifice. I must say again your worth is not measured by how much you sacrifice. Do your sustainable best, whatever that might be, in that shift, in that moment, in that hour, that day.

Speaker 1:

Let's take our usual pause. I want you to breathe, I want you to hydrate. I want you to roll your shoulders, your feet, ankles, neck. Stop rolling your eyeballs. I swear you know how they used to tell us us your face is going to get stuck like that. You know when you like.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if you grew up, when I grew up, but you'd get told by adults you know that your face was going to get stuck like that. If that was true, my orbital sockets would be permanently like evulsed or something, because my eyeballs the amount of times that I'm rolling my eyeballs in my cranium, I am looking at the back of my skull and my eyes would have gotten stuck like that if that was true. But I want you to roll everything, loosen up, breathe in, breathe out, hydrate. If you're listening at work, I see you. You are not alone. This is your time to hit pause and if you are going to hang out with us, do all the things and jump back in. We're going to hit up some science after the break and, of course, our coffee crystals and divination. If you have to head back to the floor or off to do something else, then you always know you can come back and return for the second half and we will see you then.

Speaker 2:

Some people never learn, but they're not gonna, not gonna watch me burn, cause, baby, I got you, you, you, you. Here's to new beginnings and a better life, here's to dancing underneath the disco lights. They can try, but they can never take me down. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, take me down, cause I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to love, not afraid to love. I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to love, not afraid to love. They always bring all the lonely.

Speaker 1:

But with you here, nothing can scare me. All right, welcome back. I hope you're hydrated and did all the things. Let's bring in some science. Let's pull the science in, because the ritual nurse is always where the woo meets the data. There's some woo stuff. I'm not going to lie. I like it. If you don't, that's okay, that's totally okay. But I'm also a science girl. I am definitely a type C. You know there's like a type A, type B. I am a type C and that also applies to I'm an amvert and I am also a woo science girl.

Speaker 1:

How about we say that? So cognitive load theory talks about how every assumption, every extra emotion you carry burns brain power. When you stop taking things personally and you clarify assumptions, you reduce cognitive strain because you are reducing cognitive load. So think about your desktop. Well, not even your desktop. Let's just. Let's just go straight for the device in your hand.

Speaker 1:

If you open up your browser, how many tabs you got open, right, I have seen. We're not going to. We're not going to say who, we're not going to talk about who. I have seen tab numbers in excess of 50, 60, 80. Again, we are not going to talk about who. That is the equivalent of cognitive load. Really. Each one of cognitive load, really, each one of those tabs. The thing that you're carrying around, that is mid-process, that is not a closed loop of thought. That is one of the lanes of your multi-lane freeway is still active there with that cognitive load. And the more tabs we close, the more things we put to rest. Something that's so amazing for this is the list. If you don't know what it is, it's in earlier episodes, it's on the website. I have a bunch of free downloads for you guys of the list. It's an incredible cognitive tool that I made and released for my incredible listeners and it unloads all of that nonsense and in doing so you reduce your cognitive strain.

Speaker 1:

Emotional labor is another thing. So research shows that the chronic burden of emotional labor and nursing contributes directly to compassion fatigue and burnout. Both the ANA and the National Academy of Medicine, you know and it's funny because both of those are tell us that Emotional labor contributing to compassion fatigue and caregiver fatigue and burnout. We know, we know that. And the emotional labor that we're doing is also accompanied by being in contextual, being in environments, being in context where it is already high stress, where it is exposure directly to trauma, high emotional load requiring really deep emotional labor, sometimes really deep emotional labor. Sometimes that just further accelerates that compassion, fatigue and burnout.

Speaker 1:

Boundary work in the brain Boundary setting helps regulate our amygdala. That's our fight or flight center and what we're trying to do is reduce that sympathetic nervous system activation Less cortisol, lower anxiety, improved mental health, lower stress levels. And these four agreements in nursing, if you will, or as translated into nursing, ruiz wrote very to the point and very succinctly and it's just so apropos. And when you look at it through the lens of nursing, it's really incredible what a powerful tool those four agreements are through the perceptive filter of our context. You know, and these, these ideas, these theories, these agreements impact all of them Cognitive load, emotional labor, it helps. The four agreements are doing boundary work that impacts the brain.

Speaker 1:

And another thing is perfectionism and the burnout situation. A 2023 meta-analysis in the journal of nursing management showed a significant correlation between high levels of perfectionism and nurse burnout. I love how research sometimes tells us things that are duh like. We all know this. But and I'm not making, I'm not making light of the research, the research is vastly important. Why? Yes, okay, so we knew that the things are duh. We know perfectionism causes burnout. We know it. But in looking at the research and the mechanisms by which it does, the context that creates the perfectionism or the culture of perfectionism, that's how we actually acknowledge it, that's how we actually put voice to it, that's how we actually recognize it. So I'm not making light of the research. It's incredibly important and very powerful. Sustainable practice reduces that risk. You know, when you embody these agreements, even imperfectly, hello, what did? What? Have we said? This entire podcast. Perfectionism isn't real, okay. So when you embody these agreements, however imperfectly, you're not just helping your patients, you're protecting your brain, your nervous system and your longevity in the field. You're protecting your brain, your nervous system and your longevity in the field. You're literally regulating your own neurochemistry by not taking things personally, by not making assumptions, by setting a standard of being impeccable in your practice and always looking for our sustainable best. So the science behind it is rock solid and I'm just going to leave that there. Some I know friends of mine right now are flipping off the their, their phone, aka me. But rock solid, absolutely rock solid. So we're going to do coffee, crystals and divination and I really I don't know about you guys, but in the summer, I usually switch to iced coffee drinks and experiment with all the flavors and all the other stuff.

Speaker 1:

This part of the segment. It's not about uncovering the latest trend or making up some drink or something. This part of the segment where we're talking about our coffee or our tea of the week. The whole idea is creating space, holding space, making a ritual of carving space out of your day for you to do the work of self-care.

Speaker 1:

Any one of the dozens by now, out of all the episodes we have out so far, of the methods of self-care, of regulation, of trauma-informed care designed to help you heal you can listen to the podcast and take notes. And you can listen to the podcast and take notes and hopefully a lot of you you know have copies of the list by your bedside or in your locker or, you know, next to your nursing brain. They're all oh my gosh, I can't believe. I just had to pause to think about that. They're all work appropriate. They're all safe for work. Yes, they're all safe for work. I can't believe I had to think about that. I created some with mermaids on them and suddenly I had to pause and think to myself do they all have tops on. Oh, my goodness, yeah, they are all safe for work.

Speaker 1:

So the point is, when we're talking about our coffee or our tea of the week, it's to give you ideas of that sweet treat or that hydration or that moment, because the more we repeat it, the more we talk about it, the more we synonymously like, identify those things together. You think about it when you go to make your drink. You think about it when you refill your water bottle and take a minute to hydrate or make your flavored water, or brew that incredible aromatic tea or have that yummy frozen concoction, whatever it is. You think about the correlation between that and crafting, creating that ritual space. Ritual is habit. That's what it means. So making a ritual, making a habit Now, a habit is commonplace, is analytical, is cut and dried. Ritual is different. Ritual is it's richer, no pun intended. It's crafted, it's focused, it's nuanced and that's why I keep calling it a ritual. That's why I'm the ritual nurse. See what I did there.

Speaker 1:

Ritual is so important. It ties together all of the concepts and ideas that we want to incorporate while we're holding that space for ourselves. So with your coffee drink of the week, with your tea of the week, make a thing out of it. Give yourself permission, actually name it, create it, craft it, make it a thing. That is your ritual. You are holding space for yourself when you are taking five minutes to drink that still hot coffee drink to get the first really good pulls off of that iced blended concoction that you have before it gets watered down to inhale the aroma of that incredible tea or chai or matcha, whatever it is, your flavored water. Get the first really good crispy sips of that carbonated flavored water, whatever it is that you're creating, and breathe and and do your box breathing, do your head to toe relaxation, the IV push, like whichever of the skill sets or tools that resonates the most with you Filling out your list, taking that time to dive in and fill out your list and feel that cognitive relief as you lower that cognitive load. That's what this is about.

Speaker 1:

And for me, this week I had Mexican coffee at a place called Dream I think it's Dream Tacos here in Reno Nevada, and the guy made it for me. I was like, hey, do you have coffee? And it was kind of like 1130, 1130, 11, 1130. And he kind of stopped and he said, yeah, yeah, I'm going to make you a Mexican coffee and bring it. When I tell you the aroma cinnamon, the sugar cane, no cream in it, not even necessary, no bitterness, the strength of the aroma, the smell I don't know about you, but I love the smell of coffee, the just actual, like brewed hot coffee. The smell of this was so incredible. I had to sit there, you know, with both hands around the mug, sipping it, just actually savoring it, in the middle of this restaurant, and it really brought me back to myself in that moment. It just does. It does because I have made the act of savoring that drink, that beverage, that sweet treat, whatever it is. I have made that synonymous with ritual, with holding space, even if it's five minutes, and your body remembers that. So give it a try, see if you can find Mexican coffee at a restaurant or something, or if you know how to make it. Oh my gosh, if you know how to make it, hit me up on socials and let your girl know what your recipe is, because I do not know how to make it and I want to try a recipe from somebody who knows how to make it really good, like a tried and true recipe kind of thing.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's do our crystal prescription for the week. Let's see what we've got. I'm going to move my keyboard here so I can actually shuffle these decks in real time while I'm talking to you guys. You know, originally when I started this podcast I thought like, oh, how fun, I have so many different decks, we'll just cycle through them and lies, absolute lies. I still use the Crystal Portal Oracle from Moonstruck oh, and that jumped out immediately From Moonstruck Crystals. Oh, so beautiful. These are the decks for this podcast.

Speaker 1:

I use both the tarot deck and the crystal oracle. They have mini versions which I really want to get. I have the silver versions, like the silver hologram kind of edged versions. The foiling is silver, along with the colors. Oh, how funny. Oh, I love this image. It is a beautiful open window with a sun. There's a beautiful black cat sitting on it, a sunstone spire and, of course, the sun itself is colored like sunstone. So that is the stone, the crystal of the week, and let's see what it has to tell us about these agreements for the week.

Speaker 1:

So sunstone is independence, empowerment, vitality and inspiration. Soak up the sun's rays just like our feline friends do. I am such a cat in that regard. It's no surprise here that Sunstone is linked to the radiant energy of the sun. Tap into your inner feline instincts. Cats, known for their independent nature, thrive without constant attention and reassurance. Therefore, sunstone helps you to feel more confident, self-reliant and in control of your own life. Hmm, a lot like the four agreements that we just discussed Wild, this card meows encouragement to find joy in solitude, empowering you to unleash your true originality. That's incredible. Again, totally irrelevant Sunstone it is.

Speaker 1:

I have beautiful sunstones from plush Oregon when my kids were younger and I could throw them both in one vehicle along a bunch of camping gear and whatnot. I would take them first by myself as a single mom and then later, when I remarried with my incredible husband, uh, to plush Oregon and we would go rock hounding for sunstones. It was kind of like a yearly summer tradition for us. We would stop at really cool diners along the way and find just really cool local places. We found an incredible hot Springs up in Oregon by chance driving back and forth, and other hot springs in Northern California. Just incredible stuff. But I have a bag of I've never found any of the big like really huge, like nugget type sunstones and I'm always jealous of those that have, but I do have quite a number of gorgeous little specimens of sunstones, do have quite a number of gorgeous little specimens of sunstones.

Speaker 1:

I guess, when you think about it, even the trip that I took to get them really represents independence as a single mom, packing up my two kids and heading out, you know, on a road trip hours and hours away and camping and rock hounding, you know, for days at a time. Let's do our tarot for the week, let's see what our divination is, what message, and again, I want you guys to take what works for you and leave the rest. If divination, tarot, crystals, that kind of stuff is not for you, no problem. It isn't for everybody, that is okay. This space is completely open and welcoming to you, regardless of whether or not you find crystals and or divination and or coffee, even weirdo, to be relevant to you.

Speaker 1:

The message. I think you can still use the message you know to to spark journaling, to spark thought to, to spark idea. It doesn't have to come, it doesn't have to be inherently linked to the woo-woo type of things. You can, you can take it as you will and, like I said, you know, take what works for you and leave the rest. But let's see what our divination is for the week.

Speaker 1:

These tarot cards. They're all the same size. These are really big cards for my hands. I have big hands for a chick and well, you just want to come out here. Oh, amazing, it's almost exactly the same color. This is wild. I've never seen this card before.

Speaker 1:

It is the six of cups and it is tangerine quartz. So let's find our cups. There is wild. I've never seen this card before. It is the six of cups and it is tangerine quartz. So let's find our cups. There we go. Oh, this is amazing. This is so amazing. I love this for this week.

Speaker 1:

So the six of cups indicates innocence, childhood memories, pleasure Tangerine quartz is our inner child and creativity and joy. The energy of the six of cups is all about revisiting one's roots and happy memories, reminiscing over the good times and getting in touch with your inner child will help you to connect more with your authentic self. Authenticity is really the cornerstone of being able to do the four agreements. There are agreements with yourself. There are agreements with yourself. There are promises to yourself. You have to be authentic in order to live them, to walk them, to nurse by them. So this is perfect. So tangerine, quartz and sunstone and the six of cups just absolutely beautiful, beautiful cards and incredible beautiful messages. If this spoke to you, which I really, really hope it did, I just want you to know that you were never meant to carry the weight of every shift, every patient, every trauma on your back. I want you to release what is not yours, hold your sacred boundary and allow yourself to return to center. And if this episode spoke to you, I'm going to ask you to take a small action. I want you to take a small action for me. I want you to DM me which of the four agreements is hardest for you right now. It could be on TikTok, it could be on Instagram.

Speaker 1:

The text message thing. This is like my favorite thing and I actually have gotten people that have used it and it thrilled me to the core. If you look at the show notes on Spotify or Apple podcast. If you look at the show notes for the episode, the very first line looks like a link and it is. And if you tap it, of course while you're on your phone maybe even iPads do, I think. But if you tap it, so of course while you're on your phone maybe even iPads do, I think but if you tap it, it pops open a text message.

Speaker 1:

I don't get your number, I don't get your info, your secret is safe with me, but you can directly text me and you can directly text me. It goes right to me and you can put your name if you want, or be completely anonymous, it doesn't matter. I don't get your number and it's not signing up for anything. It's not an SMS service. There's no return to sender, is what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 1:

You click on that link and you send me information, whether it's a story you want to share, whether it's, you know. I would love to know which of the four agreements, which of which of the four agreements is hardest for you but don't take it personally was hardest for me, and in some ways it still is and the sustainable best one. That is my second hardest one that I struggle with, sometimes still. So I would love for you to tell me your story, tell me your side and share this episode with another nurse. We are building community here and there are millions of us. I can only build as fast as every one of you hits, share and passes me along. So I'm, you know, I'm asking you guys to to share the episode and share your story with me, share your struggles with me.

Speaker 1:

Um, like I said, it can be anonymous. If you want to be identified or you know, uh, give your name or heck, if you want to be a guest on the podcast, if you have a story, if you have something you're really passionate about, message me. I want to highlight other nurses, I want to highlight other perspectives. Absolutely, message me Like I cannot wait to interact with you guys. But this you know building this community and and sharing these experiences together, this is how we heal first and nurse better.

Speaker 1:

So, don't forget, you can grab free downloads. Um course is still live. Uh, the authentic nurse course is still live. Of course, on the website it always will be Um and the other, the other forms of the list, um, all of that, uh, ritual nurse stuff is over at tcthorg. Everything is there to support your healing. Um, I love your faces, protect your peace and I'll see you next episode. This is your ritual nurse Reva. Thanks for tuning in to the Ritual Nurse Podcast. You can find us wherever you listen to podcasts, so don't forget to subscribe and stay connected For all our social links free education classes, blogs and podcast notes with resources. Head over to tcthorg. Until next time, love your faces.