Go Deeper To Get Better…or Else You’re Doomed! Part 2

July 31, 2013 by

In the first article in this series we introduced the idea of going deeper to get better – meaning that when faced with a problem or challenge, successful people look beyond what is on the surface and address the deeper underlying cause.

As a health practitioner I have certainly recognized this pattern in people over the past 12+ years in my office. This model of success is also evident when looking at finances, career, sports and hobby performance, relationships and literally every other important part of our lives.

The benefit to going deeper is that we actually get to the bottom of what is causing our problem, leading to a more sustainable and long-term solution. The ADDED benefit is that addressing underlying causes will often have an impact on other secondary problems we did not necessarily know were related, resulting in an overall increase in our quality of life.

Please understand that I am not making it wrong to patch up a surface problem – crisis do arise from time to time that must be handled. I think we can all agree though that crisis management is hardly a great way to go about our health, finances and relationships.

 

So, in this article, I wanted to give some examples of going deeper in order to make it more applicable for all of us.

Let’s say someone finds themselves in a financial crisis. They are in debt and are having trouble making ends meet. What would be a superficial patch to this problem? They could buy a lottery ticket hoping to win enough to pay their debt. They could file for bankruptcy, effectively wiping out that debt, or perhaps they have a wealthy parent or relative who could pay it for them.

All of these options would take care of the surface problem (that they owe money) and depending on the circumstance may be a good short-term option. I think we can all see that none of these would really address the underlying cause though and would not be enough to create a long-term solution.

Going deeper would require looking at what caused this unmanageable debt. Was it poor spending habits that need to be corrected? Perhaps poor investing advice? Perhaps business or employment conditions that led to a loss of income? There are many possibilities that may be addressed to truly correct the problem and if we don’t look past just paying the debt it will never happen.

 

Another secondary condition I hear about frequently is back pain. Because chiropractors have such a great reputation (lol!) usually by the time people consult with me they have tried many other products and services for their pain. Most or all of these potential solutions focused on the secondary issue (the pain). Some worked for a while and some didn’t but the reality is that it kept coming back.

My job is to look deeper. What is underlying the secondary condition? Why does it keep coming back? What must shift in order to get a sustainable change? This is why people undergoing a program of Neurospinal Optimization in our office not only get great changes with back pain, but also notice results with other secondary conditions. In fact, as their spine and nervous system become more optimized they actually find it easier to go deeper themselves and become less reliant on our care.

 

Hope these real life examples helped. Next article we will look at what it means to be…..DOOMED!

Are You Winning The Game of Life – Part 2

May 4, 2012 by

In the last article we discovered that by focusing on symptoms instead of health we can actually end up sick, miserable, frustrated and even dead before our time. We also identified the 6 keys to winning the game of life. This week we will continue to explore those keys to a great life.

Key #2 – Being able to do what you enjoy! Having time for leisure and having the ability to choose how we spend our time are crucial to our mental and physical well-being. Active leisure can be divided into 3 categories: social leisure with friends and family, cognitive leisure focusing on mental stimulation, and physical leisure including sports and exercise.

While most people recognize how important these are, the reality is that our leisure time is disappearing. A study demonstrated that Canadians are spending an average of 1.5 hours less on leisure in 2005 compared to 1998.

What was the outcome of this? In 2005…35% of Canadians were overweight, while 24% were obese. 47% of Canadians were considered inactive compared to 23% active! Can you see where this trend will lead? You cannot win the game of life if you are fat and inactive.

Key #3 – Feeling Energized and Passionate! Here is some good news – a whopping 92% of Canadians say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives! Yet, according the same source, 1 in 5 Canadians were taking antidepressants in 2004 and suicide rates are at an all-time high.

What makes you energized and passionate? What are you yearning to do but can’t find the time for? Sports, hobbies, family time? What is stopping you?

The problem is in what takes up our time. Over 50% of workers say they often spend 12 hour days on work related duties.  The biggest concern among young workers is not having enough time for both their family AND work responsibilities and 40% of employees work overtime or bring work home EVERY week. The fact is that we are spending more time at work and less time enjoying our lives.

Key #4 – Nurturing and Fulfilling Relationships. Where would you rather spend your time – work or home? Since 1969, family time for a working couple has shrunk by an average of 22 hours per week. 88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life and 64% of family caregivers are employed – most full time.

Do you have balance between work and life? Most don’t – 58% of Canadians report “overload” associated with their many roles. What is the result? Employees who consider most of their days to be stressful were over 3 times more likely to suffer a major depressive episode!

That isn’t all. About half of all workers feel that stress is affecting their interpersonal and sexual relationships. Couples who are stressed have a less active sex life and it is known that low sex marriages have a high probability of separation within 12 months.

It is clear that this lack of balance is a growing concern. Both workers and students rate work-life balance as their top concern and consider it more important than money, career advancement, or location.

In addition, this stress is affecting our physical health which can place even more strain on a relationship. Work stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than any other life stressor. Employees with the highest amounts of workplace stress suffer from over 3 times the rate of cardiovascular problems, over 5 times the rate of colorectal cancer, and up to 3 times the rate of back pain. 81% of people on earth say their jobs are affecting their health and health expenditures are 50% higher for workers with a high level of stress.

This problem has gotten so bad we are getting violent. 14% of people felt like striking a co-worker in the past year, 25% felt like screaming due to job stress, 9% are aware of an assault of violent act in their workplace, 18% had experienced a threat or intimidation in the past year, and 10% said they work in an environment where physical violence has occurred because of job stress. Are these the relationships we want where we spend such a large part of our lives?

This really becomes an issue when we bring it home with us. How is your patience with your children? How about your spouse? How are you dealing with all of the people you interact with such as in stores, at the bank, and on the road? Have you noticed that you have less patience lately?

Why is this important? These stresses are not just a concept. It is real and is damaging to our mental health, relationships and is costing us in the quality and quantity of our years.

If that doesn’t motivate you to get this handled, it is also costing you money. Stress means a loss of work and money. Disability claims have risen significantly and the area of largest increase is in mental/nervous conditions. The cost for our country was an estimated $7.9 billion in 1998 alone and about $6.3 billion was spent by individuals on uninsured services and taking time off work due to depression and distress.

Absenteeism due to stress has increased by over 300% since 1995 and over 50% of work days are stress related.

Perhaps this will motivate us to spend more time on what is truly important in our lives.

Next article we will continue with the final 2 keys to winning the game of life, and introduce the traps that most people fall into that lead to them to failure.

 

ACT How You Want Your Life To BE!

November 26, 2011 by

It’s All About Mickey Mouse

I just returned from a week-long family holiday at Disney World in Florida. Surprisingly, I returned refreshed, relaxed, and recharged heading into the Christmas craziness. Being away from work and in a different setting always helps me to think and see things a bit differently. So, this article is essentially my “What I learned on my Disney vacation assignment.”

Health Obsessed

The first thing I noticed reading the newspapers, watching the news, and eavesdropping on conversations is that Americans are even more obsessed about their health than Canadians are. This is interesting because we also know that overall Americans are a bit LESS healthy than we are. It was obvious to me that people’s waist lines were significantly larger (kids included) and the quality and quantity of food consumed poorer than what I am used to observing here.

What does it mean that we have 2 extremely health obsessed countries, yet poor levels of health? My only answer is that while we do all of this obsessing and debating and arguing over health care, most people aren’t actually doing anything about it!

BE – DO – HAVE

It is really quite simple – if someone wants to BE healthy, they have to DO healthy things. This is true of any aspect of life. If you want to be wealthy you must conduct yourself as wealthy people do. If you want to be a good student you have to do the things good students do. Same goes with relationships, hobbies and athletics. How have we missed this universal truth when it comes to health?

Treatment does NOT equal Health

One of the reasons is that we have fallen under the illusion that having treatments available to us will make us healthy. This is particularly true in Canada where there is an unsaid feeling that universal access to medical care will save us. No disease treatment can ever make you healthy. No drug, no surgery, no MRI, no herb, and no chiropractic “treatment” will ever make you healthy and it is not their job to make you healthy. Of course, any of those things may save your life or get you out of a crisis – which is great – but it is not their intent to create health.  In fact, most pain and disease treatments actually decrease your overall health, sacrificing it to save you from the crisis. So, if your health care plan is high quality disease care you are unlikely to experience great health in the long term.

What are you REALLY willing to Do?

Another reason health obsessed North Americans aren’t very healthy is that I really question how important health is to most people. What are you willing to do to be healthy? Are you willing to change your lifestyle, or would you rather just wait until you get sick and get someone to fix you? There is no wrong answer but I think it is important for everyone to acknowledge this for themselves.

I see some people in my office who truly don’t care about their overall health and only come in for episodic care when they have pain or a health challenge. These people tend to experience a slow decline in their health over time, but they understand and accept this fact and our relationship is great. Sometimes they change their minds and turn their health around.

Other people are really committed to a healthy life and their reasons for receiving NSA care are much different. While they may sometimes have a health challenge they get regular care to enhance their health, vitality and quality of life. These individuals also tend to make healthier choices in other aspects of their lives and I have observed that in contrast to the first group their quality of life tends to continue to increase over time – even into their golden years.

Know What You Want, Then Act!

How do you want your life to be? What do you want it to look like? These are important questions everyone should answer for themselves. Once you know don’t waste your time debating and arguing over it – take ACTION! It is the only way to get there.

Just in case you need some motivation to get started, Click HERE to watch a great 1 minute video.

© Copyright 2016. All Rights Reserved.