60 Day Turnaround

What is the value of an adjustment?  A singular adjustment?  In a corrective care environment like my office, we tend to dismiss the value of one adjustment in the way we speak.  Your back hurts, you want one adjustment to “fix” you.  But that is unlikely.

See the problem lies not in how it is feeling in the moment, but rather in the underlying treatment of the structure leading up to that moment.  So if you bent wrong, twisted wrong, or sneezed wrong, it is likely not the bend, twist or sneeze of the moment, but rather all of the bending, twisting and sneezing that was done improperly leading up to it (actually in most cases, it is simply the sitting).

You can see how the importance of a singular adjustment, can quickly fade when you consider the concerns of time and degeneration over years.  How could one adjustment combat that?  Of course not.  But have you been so privileged to have come into our office, or another chiropractic office in pain, and get an adjustment, and have it fade immediately?  Or perhaps, in a bout of high blood pressure, and one push of the atlas and it fades.  These stories happen, with somewhat regularity, but how?

Timing.

In chiropractic, the value of an adjustment is primarily based on timing.  If the timing is dead on, then the value is dead on.  When you come in, immediately following “the incident” that takes the relatively stable structure, with the underlying instabilities from sitting wrong for too many years, and moves that structure into an unstable place, then there is hope for a singular adjustment to make a magnificent change in neurological tone, and for healing to happen, immediately.

Do you know the story of Harvey Lillard?  The first adjustment, that resulted in the discovery of chiropractic?  Harvey had lost his hearing in a short time 17 years prior after hearing a “pop” in his spine.  When examined by DD Palmer, DD decided to push it back into place, and Harvey gives this testimony in response:

I was deaf 17 years and I expected to always remain so, for I had doctored a great deal without any benefit. I had long ago made up my mind to not take any more ear treatments, for it did me no good. Last January Dr. Palmer told me that my deafness came from an injury in my spine. This was new to me; but it is a fact that my back was injured at the time I went deaf. Dr. Palmer treated me on the spine; in two treatments I could hear quite well. That was eight months ago. My hearing remains good. HARVEY LILLARD, 320 W. Eleventh St., Davenport, Iowa.^[17][18]

This was primarily one, perhaps two adjustments that changed Harvey’s life, and ultimately the life of thousands as the result was the birth of a profession.

Have you heard me tell the story of one of our young patients, who had suffered from daily seizures for the duration of her short life.  Not a day went by without a seizure.  When her parents decided to get her under care, it wasn’t until 150+ adjustments and 9 months that her life was changed.  The “timing” was simply that time had to be put in.  Her spinal damage had occurred at birth, so having lived seven years with it, caused her to need more help to resolve it.

That is in strong opposition to Harvey who after 17 years was able to have significant change in a very short period of time.  But Kaley, the girl above, was free of her seizures after 9 months of regular care.  At seven years old, the process was more gentle than it was for Harvey, perhaps the reason for the time difference.

Dylan, a young boy who we adjusted at only 36 hours old, had suffered from 8 seizures in that short time.  His one adjustment was all that it took, as he has lived years free of all seizures, and never had another following that first adjustment.

The value of an adjustment, of every one, is significant, but the realization of that significance only happens in a small percentage of adjustments.  When white blood cells are increased from an atlas adjustment… to most that goes unnoticed, but for the person in the right place at the right time, it is a big deal.  This is how the quiet,  internal change of a body working in harmony, alters every single process from the greatest to the least, by SILENTLY undergoing a move towards greater homeostasis, or neurological balance.  This is the essence of chiropractic, and it is why there is great value in every adjustment.

Be well and be blessed! – Dr. E

Have you had the same goal, year after year, every year, since time began?

I need to lose weight.

I need to spend more time with my family.

I need to stop… smoking, drinking, some other addiction…

These are all good goals, there is surely no fault in the goal.  But how is the success?  Have you succeeded?  If you have, then you have embraced a critical piece of the puzzle that has to be navigated to achieve so many components of life.  Embrace the need, for a “SUPERIOR PLAN”.

That is the key, to have a superior plan.  Dr. Ben Lerner, co-founder of Maximized Living, and author of Body By God, the first book from the Chiropractor who has started a movement to change the world; wrote about the superior plan in Body By God, and he has used it in discussion many times over.  It is important to possess that most awesome superior plan, that will allow you to achieve the results you yearn for.

Over the years I have taken care of some amazing people.  I have had relationships with or taken care of those who have truly mastered superior health.  Not fitness, but health… all components.  Clean diet, peaceful living, great fitness.  All five pillars of health.  I have taken care of highly successful individuals, pastors who have led thousands of people if not tens of thousands to faith, business owners who have taken their companies public and made millions in a day.

I have seen mothers, who have built the most successful homes, with children who make decisions that seem infallible because of the wisdom these kids employ.  The type of home that obviously is following a superior plan, a plan designed to build resilient kids.

However, the one thing that I have not seen on a very regular basis, is any one individual who has accomplished all of these things.  Indeed they exist, but it is hard to find, and the reason is because it requires sacrifice in one area, to improve another.  And though it is possible to be amazing at all of things listed above, most do not have the discipline to do so, which gives us an opportunity to focus in on a narrow list, and to do those things well.

A good question for you is simply this – If you have to make choices, and can only focus on a few things with great diligence.  Should your health not be at the top of the list?

But what if all that was needed was a superior plan, and the discipline to commit?  I have to say, after dozens of 40 and now 60 day challenges.  The greatest problem that exists, when we present a superior plan, is simply discipline.  Decision.  It is a hard place to be, with all of the tools that you could ever need to succeed, and nothing left to stand in the way.  That makes it awfully hard to blame failure on anything but yourself, and that is a rough place to be.  Guilt and remorse tend to rule the day when we are in that bubble.

So.  Here we are, the New Year is upon us.  Now what to do?  Well, the key to finding greater health on the cusp of a new year, is to make commitments, but small ones.  If you drink soda, choose to drink NONE the entire year.  But if that seems impossible, none til April… or July perhaps.  Now, do I never drink soda?  I think I had one about 8 months ago (I do drink the Virgils ZERO root beer), but when I first gave them up, I gave them up completely for over a year.  Then it was over…. done!

So what kind of goal do you see for yourself?  It is weight loss, then it needs to start with diet.  I have been a partner in crossfit gyms for almost 6 years.  Been running lifestyle classes for a dozen.  We don’t exactly how to quantify the percentages, but we would say that success in weight loss is 70-90% diet, and 10-30% exercise.  Which brings us right back to making decisions, and sticking with them.

The next 60 Day Turnaround is coming.  The focus is mostly diet, because it is so important, but in the end it is always about discipline.  Focusing in on the important decisions, and staying with them.  So what about this new year thing, and using the new year?  It all comes down to a feeling of renewal!  Of revitalization… re-birth!

Even though it is only another day, God put something so huge in it, that we have a chance to start over.  To be NEW in this week, and to see ourselves differently, as capable and accomplished beyond ourselves.  To have a new ability to commit to the hard choices/decisions.  To be able to make wiser choices and to stick with them.  This is the blessing of the new year… and your time is right now!

I recommend you get committed now.  Sign up for the 60 days that will start the rest of your life. End of January we will begin your journey.

Be well and be blessed!  Dr. E

This brings up a good question, and ultimately the answer becomes more about “can I get it” than it is about the difference between the two.  So, what is the difference between a stomach bug and food poisoning?  Without going into the details of what you can read in the literature, lets just go from what we know.

Food poisoning, would be food that is tainted with some micro-organism that is a toxin to your body.  One that your body recognizes as a toxic substance, so it attempts to remove it from your gut in the most violent fashion.

Stomach Bug, is simple a micro-organism that your body identifies as toxic, and thus attempts to remove it in the most violent fashion.  So interestingly enough, the two are pretty much the same thing.  A small little creature that occupies your gut, and you toss him out, up, and onward.  Evicted.

So why does it matter so much between the two?  Virulence.  How infectious the organism is, or how likely you re to get it.  According to WebMD –

More than 250 different diseases can cause food poisoning. Some of the most common diseases are infections caused by bacteria, such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, and botulism.

Seems to be worthy of some knowledge with 250 known versions of food poisoning out there. In addition, the first one on the list has this to be said about it:

What Is Campylobacter Infection?

Campylobacter is a bacterium that causes acute diarrhea. Transmission usually occurs through ingestion of contaminated food, water, or unpasteurized milk, or through contact with infected infants, pets, or wild animals.

Symptoms of campylobacter include:

• Diarrhea (sometimes bloody)
• Nausea and vomiting
• Abdominal pain and/or cramping
• Malaise (general uneasiness)
• Fever

Is Campylobacter Infection a Serious Health Concern?

Campylobacter infection can be serious, especially in those with weakened immune systems. In rare cases, campylobacter infection can cause additional problems such as arthritis or brain and nerve problems. Occasionally, these problems occur after the diarrhea has stopped.

So the question I want to ask/answer, is how serious is it to you and I?  And how do we know? Well, it all starts with your personal immune health, which is a function of nervous system health, as well as dietary choice.  The healthy human gut should contain close to 1 quadrillion probiotic bacteria.  This is more than an imagination can fathom.

1 Quadrillion pennies stacked behind the Empire state building, Washington monument, football field, etc.  This should shock you.  That you could have 1 quadrillion bacteria in your gut.  But at that level, you will have covered every micron of intestine with a layer of bacteria.  And these bacteria help you digest food, fuel your colon, and protect you from foreign invasion.  Actually how they do all of it, we don’t know.  But we do know a lot.

The waste products of most probiotics is somehow tied to both function of your cells, and/or death to bad bacteria.  Staph and strep cannot live in the presence of the waste of good bacteria (at high enough concentrations), thus what an awesome protection.  Same goes for most of those 250 foreign bodies that might enter your gut via food.

Stomach Bugs – so what is the difference with these? Rotavirus is one of these relatively common “bugs”.  As the name suggests, it is a viral infection, and it spreads the fecal/oral route, which can move very quickly even though it sounds disgusting.  So consider this, if it is spreading from one to the next without any way to see its transmission.  Do you think you are better off spraying down everything in your environment with sanitizers and chemical killers, or are you better off dumping as much into your health as possible?  Yeah, time to think healthy.

Stomach bugs, as the same with food poisoning, can lead to days of diarrhea, which becomes the problem for many people with both their health, as well as with the increased likelihood of transmission.  As the virus is often still being “shed” in its live form, and the process from toileting to washing hands, can leave it on toilet handles, towels, sinks, door handles, floating in air… yep, pretty much anywhere and everywhere.  So stop thinking you  are ever going to somehow kill it all.  Cannot be done.

I enjoyed reading this TOP TEN LIST on the WebMD site.  It offers the SOLID advice to not try drinking while still throwing up.  As you will simply see it all again.  🙂  In addition, they also say that you are still contagious until you have solid stool.  Which is why I am sitting home from church today, writing this, and wondering if I will be at work tomorrow.  It is a risk to take with other people to head back into environments when you till have diarrhea.  One that you can control fairly well by washing hands really well, spraying down the bathroom after you use it, etc.

But, in the end, you cannot kill it all.  So wearing a mask, washing up, etc… these will not work out to well to prevent transmission to an immuno-compromised individual (any of you who do not work to increase your probiotic levels every single day).  So, I might be home tomorrow, because two days before Christmas, I don’t want to cause anyone to end up on the toilet while their kids are opening presents in the other room.

So lets give some good solid advice to help you be quick to overcome these problems – I only threw up one time… five straight minutes, but then it was over.  This is effective, and effectiveness starts with preparation.  So prepare –

1. Visit Beyond Organic as these guys make more probiotic rich foods than anybody.  I purchase their Amasai, Suero Viv, Cheese, probiotic almonds and seven seed crackers every month.  Every one of these foods is loaded with probiotics.
2. Create an account if you don’t have one, the best way to get a free preferred customer membership is to order a Suero Viv cleanse (you don’t have to consume suero as a cleanse, I drink it most every day and use it as  a hydration drink – loaded with electrolytes as well).
3. Set up an auto ship – easy, just put items in a cart, then when checking out, click the auto-ship button.  This will help you keep yourself committed to the consumption of these healthy foods.
4. Last – be sure to stick with a regular level of consumption.  I push for 200 billion a day (even today, I will get a few billion in, even though I am eating pretty much nothing).

http://healthsprout.mybeyondorganic.com/

other ways to get a free membership – https://healthsprout.mybeyondorganic.com/Enroll_FreePCPromotion.aspx

There are certain bugs that will pass through your stomach unnoticed when you have a really strong immune system.  I have adjusted over 100 of you who have had stomach bugs in this last six week period.  Finally, I have picked up something noticeable, but I have had a few hours here and there where I have had some stomach cramps, I classify those as likely times that i was killing off viruses.

So regardless if you get a chance to see me tomorrow or not, know that this is a plan of action that yields results, and they stretch way beyond being prepared for stomach bugs.  The assistance in your digestion, your cell to cell signaling (I’ll write a sprout on this one day), your protection from colon cancer, your improved function of your intestinal villi, all of these stretch beyond what you can see on a day to day basis.

Be well and Be blessed, and have yourself an incredibly Merry Christmas!  – Dr. E

I have a lot of patients who profess to have developed positive lifestyle habits vs moments of health pursuit.  The difference, is a daily commitment that transcends effort to be committed.  A good example, I don’t think about going to work out, I just do it.  I enjoy it immensely, and it is odd for me to take a day without it (like today), and I actually think more about it if I don’t.  But to go do it, is simply part of living… lifestyle habit.

Diet is a harder one.  We obviously are tempted at many times in our day, and that temptation is much more a part of marketing than the temptation not to exercise (though that is marketed to you as well… TV, technology, other sitting around activities).  I think it is harder to manage our diets on a lifestyle level, simply because we use the poor diet as a social excuse.  “Well what could I eat, I had nothing, I was at a party, etc.”  I hear this more times in a day than you would imagine, and the reality is that if I am 80/20 (80% good, 20% bad), then it doesn’t matter where I am.  If it is time to eat healthy, I simply won’t eat.

And that is a good one to consider.  Over the years I have had so many people tell me it is too expensive to eat healthy.  Then you should consider trying to eat like my typical week.  It isn’t expensive unless I choose to make it.  What I mean is, I will go three days a week that look more like a fast than a diet.  If you are drinking water, and eating spinach and kale, with some almond butter.  You can get through a day on about $5 or less.  And many could stand to hold this diet for 6 months and gain a lot from the leveling of blood sugar and hormones.

Indeed at some point I will want you to open up those food lists a little and reach into broad diversity, but to build the habits of a lifestyle that will forever change your life for the better, how could that not be worth it?  So now that we have laid the background of value, and why positives can be achieved in the face of difficulty, lets delve into this whole “I am committed/or am I” thought process.

What I have found over the decade and a half that I have been teaching wellness, is that you can best test someone’s resolve for lifestyle choices, over two separate “times” in their life.  The first, and typically most successful at derailing people, is the vacation.  And the second, and more devastating to the average person, but not quite so bad to someone committed to health, are the holidays.  Have you ever used this excuses yourself:

Well, I haven’t worked out in awhile because of the holidays.
We have been eating just so awful because of the holidays.
I have been so stressed because of the holidays.
I’ll get back on track after the holidays (usually used by people who are never on track for more than two weeks at a time).

Self examination is an important thing.  I don’t want you to self implicate, or deprecate.  You don’t need to use guilt, as guilt rarely produces results.  You need to simply be aware of where you are with your lifestyle.  Be confident in what you do right, but don’t sugar coat what you do wrong.  You are so much better off if you see your lifestyle faults for what they are, how else will you partner with the right people, organizations, programs to improve, if you don’t first see the truth for yourself.

So, if your lifestyle, isn’t where you like to think it is, then make a change.  Pick one thing to improve.  Don’t say you don’t drink soda, if you still have one a every week.  If you choose to not be caffeine addicted, be sure that you aren’t.  Move in the direction of better choices, but make commitments along the way.  If exercise is your new lifestyle, start living it.  If you can’t get to the gym, do it at home.  If you cannot do what you had hoped, do 50 burpees.  Just make it happen, regardless.

I love Christmas, more than Thanksgiving which I love a ton!  My wife has her birthday on Christmas day, it is an awesome time at my house.  I pray you will enjoy it the same, but I pray that you won’t lose sight of what will help you to celebrate more Christmases for years to come.  Be well and Be Blessed!  – Dr. E

You know, I gave some thought to writing a flu vaccine sprout, as I recently read an article about a death that happened within a day of receiving the flu vaccine… one of those, “maybe it was this, maybe it wasn’t” types of stories.  But that kind of story always has a place, regardless of season.

Then I figured it would be a good idea to write about holiday foods, and give some ideas for preparing healthy food dishes.  As we all want to eat perfectly healthy over the holidays, right?  Well, wrong.  I know that most of you will eat whatever comes your way this holiday season, and its OK, I will love you the same, no matter what!  Seriously, I don’t get upset when you eat poorly, don’t worry, I am not so shallow.

But, what really struck me, was this really cute (I don’t normally use that word) blog post about a toddler and a puppy.  It was enjoyable to the point where I was giving some audible “ahhhhh”s as I looked at these photos.  And I thought, “I’d like to share this”, but then reading the comments below the photos from other readers, I decided that I had an angle.

The angle is exposing our children, and ourselves to immune building situations.  We wrote a Daily Sprout, long ago on dirt being really important in a child’s life.  That was actually written by Dr. Amy when she was with us (you might remember her, PhD in biochem with post graduate work done at Harvard.  Yeah, she knows a bit about this stuff, and recommends dirt.  As do I.  If you talk to me long enough, you’ll hear me say that I make my kids lick shopping carts.  Which doesn’t really happen, but in a secondary kind of way, it actually does (with your kids too).

When they get into putting their hands in their mouth, even as they age, and it is done while putting food in, vs. shoving it in as a chew toy, they are still introducing whatever they have touched.  And it is OK.  The only way you or your children will “map” the protein shell of a virus, and have the ability to build the antibody that will eventually learn to destroy that shell, is to be exposed to the virus.  And over years of life, as you map thousands of these viruses, you will become a better natural killer.  Which is where the dog comes in.

So this puppy sleeps with this child during nap time.  He runs in, jumps up on the bed, and snuggles the child and falls asleep.  Laying all over the child… and forcing improved immunity on that child.  Funny how some think it is awful because of the lack of cleanliness, vs. me feeling it is amazing because of the lack of cleanliness.  Now remember, my results are a child turning 9 in two weeks, who has yet to have any drug in her body, ever.  And she is REALLY healthy, so I kind of trust this method so far.  So check out the photos, laugh and smile, then go get dirty!

To see the whole blog post with editorial and more pictures – visit : http://www.natureknows.org/2013/12/toddler-naps-with-his-2-month-old-puppy.html

Be well, Be Blessed and Be Dirty!  – Dr. E

Thanks to Wyndi – we are continuing this article from Dr. Bradburn’s website:

Written by:

Dr. Michael Moss – HealthSprout

Well, I had a pretty incredible and life changing weekend in Orlando this past weekend.  This was my first experience at a breakthrough camp so I didn’t really know what to expect going down there.  I just knew that something had to change in my life.   As the saying goes… “I better change directions, or I may end up where I’m heading.”  I was headed for a lackluster, uneventful life in which I would never meet any of my life’s goals… and definitely not make an impact on the world in the way that I need to.

This weekend was chock full of learning, and pushing ourselves physically and mentally to the limit.

I did more physically at camp than I thought my body could ever handle. There isn’t a spot on my body that isn’t sore!  As Doctor Eric mentioned, the point of pushing ourselves physically was to break us down to the core, so that nothing was left but you and whatever was holding you back from achieving greatness.

The first thing we learned, and the greatest insight I brought away from camp was that to achieve a life of greatness and a life of happiness, you need to wake up every morning with the “Big Why” on your mind. Focusing on WHY it is that you wake up in the morning and WHY it is that God put you on this planet.  For all of us, it’s certainly not to live a life of selfishness and laziness.  We all have our own big WHY. My “Big Why” happens to be that I don’t want to see people needlessly suffering.  I want to empower people to see that they CAN take control of their health. They CAN beat CANCER, diabetes, heart disease… the 3 big killers in our country that kill 5 out of 6 Americans are PREVENTABLE!  That is profound to me…  5 out of 6 Americans are suffering or will suffer needlessly.  And for the most part it is not their fault.   America has been DISempowered by the medical system, by the food industry, biased research, and by pharmaceutical propaganda.  We’ve been sold an “easier” way to deal with our health… We’ve all seen the advertisements for weight loss drugs, cancer therapies, and statin drugs.  We’ve been taught as a society to understand that our bodies breaking down is normal and that disease is a crap shoot that you can blame on your genes,  and we should seek the cure in a drug or surgery.  It isn’t fair.  Someone has to speak up and tell people that there is another way… the only way.  Following the 5 essentials of health.  And for those of you who have forgotten, those are:

Maximized Mind-  The most important and impactful essential to health is having a healthy mindset.  It is truly mind over matter.  Without the will to live, the body has little chance at survival.  In fact, cancer has been linked to mental trauma and depression.  Waking up with that “Big Why” will make an enormous impact on your health.

Maximized Nervous Supply-  Needless to say, because if you are reading this, you are here working on freeing up your nervous systems… but it wouldn’t hurt to reiterate anyways.  The ONLY reason that you heart beats, or your digestive system processes food, or a cut heals on your leg… is because of the brain and spinal cord.  All healing and all function begins in the brain and goes down and outwards.  If a subluxation is cutting you off from this healing power… you automatically begin to have dysfunction which then leads to disease and early death.  It can be a truly devastating condition.  Chiropractic is the only way to free your nervous system.

Maximized Nutrition- Come to one of our nutrition talks:)

Maxmized O2 Supply-  Every cell in the body needs oxygen. Interestingly enough, cancer cells thrive in an environment with little oxygen.

Minimized Toxins- AKA look at what’s in your food, under the kitchen sink, in the air that you breath… don’t let it into your body.  It may be necessary for some of you to detox to achieve your optimum health potential.

So back to camp.  We were all there wanting to find out more about ourselves and find out what story we’ve been telling ourselves that just isn’t true.  These stories were holding us back from that life of greatness that God wants for us all.  Some people knew coming in what their stories were, others didn’t find out until they were face down in the sand pit after almost 300 burpees, jumping jacks, sit ups, and push ups. I got to witness  people transform themselves from an introverted, and unconfident person… to a person that was leading the entire camp of 75 chiropractors in workouts.   It’s amazing how the story we tell ourselves forms our reality.  Anything that you tell yourself, the brain will believe as truth.  If you tell yourself you are worthless, and you are undeserving, your brain will understand that and take it as fact. If you tell yourself you are an amazing person with an endless amount of love to give, and that you can move mountains with your confidence and faith… your brain will believe that as well.

This post is a prelude post to one that Dr. Mike will write in a couple days.  The funny thing, is that he doesn’t know it yet.  We haven’t talked about this at all, but I am POSITIVE that he will be eager to write.  The reason is that he spent the weekend at Maximized Living’s Camp Transformation.  I recall being there quite well, and hope that it leaves that lasting impression on Dr. Mike.

So what is Camp Transformation?  I like to affectionately refer to these types of camps, as psycho babble camps.  Where there is a significant push to alter your state of mind, but exposing you to your false realities.  I will say, after a half dozen similar type camps over the years, this one was the best.  Led by Maximized Living (I have been a part of this group for nearly a decade now), you know you are going to have Christian leadership, which I am a fan of.  In addition, you know you are going to feel greater purpose as a chiropractor.  All good for guys like us!

So the thing about psycho babble camps (again, this is with affection, seriously), you need to wear down the body, if you want to get to the mind.  Same idea as torture, but the torture is much more acceptable.  The second camp like this that I had ever gone to, simply used straight physical weariness, with seminars inside one room lasting for the entire day, days straight.  It worked well, most people couldn’t hide anything about themselves after two days of that… then there was still a third day!

The first such camp for me, was Total Solutions.  On a mountain in Colorado in the snow, looking out at Pike’s peak in the distance.  Yep, you might have guessed it, altitude.  We hung out at 11,000 feet and worked out in the snow, and sat in class, and worked out in the snow, and sat in class.  But the best way to do to wear down the body for such events?  Use the “basic training” style.  Work them hard, and when they think it is over, work them harder, then when they think they are going to get a break, work them again!

I am not sure if Dr. Mike’s experience was in a rainy Orlando, or a sunny one.  I was in Biloxi MS where it should have been 70 degrees, and instead it was 49 as a high, and I was outside for the entire day.  I wonder how that weather would have helped break down a body.  Nonetheless, that is not my point of writing this sprout.

The dreaded Orange Groves!

If you have never been woken up out of a deep sleep to be pushed into a workout, you don’t know what you’re missing.  Absolute hell.  Think about how you feel in those first few minutes you wake up.  Now, imagine it was abrupt, in the middle of your full sleep, and suddenly you are thrust into activity.  My first experience with this was as a pre-teen, at the Howie Meeker hockey camp in Potsdam NY (the frozen tundra).

We were woken, and within 20 minutes on the ice fully suited up skating speed drills back and forth.  I remember meeting a kid from NY City, and though I was in Buffalo, it was my first time meeting anyone from the city, and the first time hearing that accent.  I also remember, it was the first time I realized how awful it could be to push yourself to the limit physically.  But I also liked it.

At Camp Transformation, you run.  You run, and you do burpees, and you do sit-ups, and push-ups, and then you run.  We ran a 5k one morning before there was any light in the sky.  And as the sun came up, we were in the orange groves.  Thick sand, like a panhandle beach.  I am good with my distance, so I was pretty confident we were running 800M at a time (half mile).  We were in groups, lined up facing into the orange groves between rows of trees, “run until you run into a line of trees in your way then turn around.  Run as hard as you can.”

By the third time, I had finished first the prior three times, and with no idea as to how long we would be doing this, I decided to ease up some.  At the end of that run “Eric, you can run faster than that, go back in and get your team, run fast, and help push them to get back.”  As we approached the road where the leader was standing, “everyone in Eric’s team.  He slacked on the last one, so he is going to stay here with the other groups, while all of you run an extra one”.

Ooooh, I had been singled out for the whole purpose of teaching a lesson.  Well, so it would seem, but the reality was, it helps bring us to that place where we can dig deep and further understand ourselves.  I can tell you, I didn’t hold anything back the rest of the time.

I am good at the physical stuff, that is one thing that I was reinforced at Camp.  I tend to “know it” too, that was another thing reinforced at camp.  Learning that I can become prideful very quickly, and ultimately, figuring out why that is.  You know, for me, it wasn’t centered around a daddy issue, I know the reason, and it was family that drives that in me, but not my immediate family.

If you have never given in to a level of effort that breaks you down, you need to.  It is worth it.  And if it takes three days in order to reach that level, then you need to spend three days at it.  Let’s look forward to hearing how Dr. Mike’s time went!

Be well and Be blessed!  – Dr. E