When I worked as health professional, people would typically come to see me to be fixed. When they left the clinic, there was less than 20% compiance with any reccomendations that would be suggested or written out.
It made me realise that people are so busy, that they simply need a bandaid solution to keep living their busy lives. Without any deep seeded desire to change something.
After 5 years in practice, I took stock of all the people that I had seen over the years. I simply asked whether they were better today than when they arrived for the first visit.
It was a shock to the ego to see that even with my good intentions. People presenting with knee pain 3 years ago, still had knee pain. People with headaches were still working long hours behind computers, returning for treatment of their headaches. People who had come in with an acute injury and were on no medication, were all of a sudden taking 5-10 medications every day to manage a pain that should have resolved within 12 months.
I realised that I was both the problem and the solution. I quit my clinical practice to build this ecosystem as a reminder that we have never needed to be fixed.
However, a friend once shared this with me. If someone stubs their toe and it's bleeding. What do you give them? Do they need a course on how to walk better? A meditation app to help them be more present and not kick their toe in the first place? A pair of expensive shoes to improve their gait and protect their feet? An emotional release consult that links their foot and walking to past traumas and the balance of masculine and feminine? No, none of it.
They want a bandaid first and to know that the skin will heal naturally within 3-7 days providing they keep it clean and stock knocking it.
We need to meet people where they are, at any moment. If we truly listen, we are here to give people what they need at any moment and solve a problem. Once we have trust we can walk them towards what they are really seeking a solution for. I feel like we can have a yes and both approaches. However, without trust there is nothing.
As I started to round up my clinical practice. If someone was treated by me and they came back worse than when they arrived. I wouldn't charge them and would continue to problem-solve with them until we found a solution. Over time, I stopped treating people and became progressively redundant. Referring them to community programs and activities that would keep them fit and healthy over their lifespan.
Using this approach it taught me something special. I was disempowering people by overtreating them. I was unconsciously teaching them, that they needed me to feel better. It was a good business model, but not good for the long term. So patients I even refused to treat until they had done what was recommended in previous sessions. Some patients would never come back, some would send me an email and thank me for reminding them of what was already readily available in plain sight.
Whatever path you choose. Find a community and a mentor to guide you back towards bliss and harmony. Once you are on the path, be prepared to walk it alone for a while or share the journey with a community. When I connected people with the community, their compliance after treatment jumped from 20% to 80%.
We need to take radical self-responsibility for our choices as a starting point. But we were never meant to walk this path alone.
ONE MESSAGE
It takes a village to raise a child, a community to heal the sick and a community to live towards longevity.
DIY - DO IT YOURSELF (LEARN ~ ASSESS)
Our hope is to sift through all the noise, misinformation, misdiagnoses, BS, fake news, and hidden agendas so that you can embody healthy lifestyle choices today, with a deep sense of trust to share it with the people you care about. We hope to share multiple perspectives and truths so that you can come to your own realizations in your own time, from mentors who show you where to look but never tell you what to see. We simply want to remind you that you have never needed to be fixed, simply nourished, supported, and connected on your own unique path.
SelfCare Global Collective
DWU - DO IT WITH US (DO ~ SHARE)
Dr. David Katz draws upon the latest scientific evidence and decades of clinical experience to explain how we can slash our risk of every major chronic disease— heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, dementia, and obesity—by an astounding 80%.2 By simply making better daily lifestyle choices, living in nourishing natural environments and being part of empowering communities. Share any tools that help you too and we will share them.
If you live a busy lifestyle and love simplicity, we have created simple courses and a structure to support and guide your journey. All the energy exchanged here will help us have a bigger impact.
Rory Callaghan
DIT - DO IT TOGETHER (EMBODY ~ BE)
Throughout this book I will often reference “the ripple effect.” As some of you may know, this quote has been attributed to Mother Teresa: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” Although no one really knows if she did say it (there is a divide in the research)—what we do know is that this specific quote has had many ripples itself. The quote has impacted many just by its existence. This book recognizes ripples—and you’re one of them.
LET’S GET IN MOTION WHILE WE LEARN TOGETHER
The 5 core principles to being empowered in your own SelfCare Journey
- Ignite your human potential
- Empower your experience by taking radical self-responsibility
- Optimize your human performance
- Live to longevity, without dysfunction, restriction or disease
- Live your legacy and be a high-impact human
If you would like to take action as you learn each medicine and choose your own lifestyle habits without judgment and comparison, then join “EMPOWER”—our online, interactive, action-orientated course and workbook that will complement your journey and kick you into the action dynamic.
You can DIY (do-it-yourself) by following the book or you can do it with some guided support. All energy exchanged with us will be circulated back into helping us have a bigger impact.
We start by welcoming you and igniting your curiosity to dream by asking you:
What does your ideal day look like? What does your ideal lifestyle look like, if time, money and resources were not an issue?
SUMMARY
8 steps to EMPOWER your own SelfCare revolution
- Be evidence-based, solutions-focused: Blue Zones
- Start with your why, an inspiring future vision: your True North
- Create a personal and meaningful goal: What by When
- Align your internal compass with your True North
- Choose your normal; minimize self-harm and find a balance of healthy moderation
- Master SelfCare and the 12 Medicines
- Fill your cup each day and serve from overflow
- Self-mastery, power of small and 1% growth per day.
By the end of the SelfCare Book and Empower Course you will already be in motion with your own
self-care, creating a unique and personalized 3 pillar morning program, where every time you do something good for yourself, something good happens in the world!
CALL TO ACTION
Join the Empower Course below. If you subscribe to our weekly newsletter you can get 80% off :) Enjoy!
Rory Callaghan
REFERENCES
This is directly referenced from the best-selling amazon SelfCare Book "Lifestyle Medicine For the People" by Rory Callaghan. If you would like to read more content like this. Grab the free online chapters of the book or a hard copy.
We have done our best to reference everyone’s expert opinions, peer-reviewed science, and original thoughts, all references available here and referenced in the text.
We also understand that most thoughts are not our own and there is a collective unconsciousness, unconsciousness, and universal mind stream of energy that is always at work. How are references are sorted and filtered is here.
