My goal for all my relationships with the people that I serve is to be their advocate. This is done by a careful structure from the first phone call to the office. It then is designed in our structure, to make sure that we understand, and so does the patient, the purpose of our relationship. In other words we start with “Why”. This is done by meeting with the patient and spending some time prior to the clinical evaluation making sure we are directed to the patients expectations. Then once that is determined, the patient is invited to enter with the doctor and the team, a co-discovery process, where we learn together the things that are healthy and those that are not as healthy as the patient would like to see. Ultimately the patient learns the cause of disease and what they can do to take control of their own health. We truly become the advocate for the patient and help them determine how healthy they want to be. This is a successful model for health.
Archive for the ‘Principles of the Path’ Category
Goal Setting in 2013
In a health Centered Practice goal setting is a huge part of helping people take control of their own health and breaking out of the disease cycle. I thought it would be good to write about the goal setting process as I know many of you probably have started to undertake the New Year’s Resolutions for 2013 and are now about a month out. To make sure these resolutions turn into attainable goals make sure of the following:
The acronym S.M.A.R.T. may be a helpful reminder of things that are needed to make sure the goals are achieved in what ever you do. “S” stands for specific. When you have a dream of accomplishing something, make sure that the goals that you set are specific and crystal clear. An example of this concept is this time of year many say that they want to lose weight. The question is, how much and why. Incorporate this into your goal and your chances for accomplishing this goal will increase.
“M” means that the goal must be measureable. Having this feedback is critical to know where you are and where you want to go. It also serves to help you know when you get there. “A” stands for attainable. Is the goal that you set able to be attained? “R” is for realistic. The goal in order to be attained must be realistic. Lastly the “T” stands for time. There must be a specific time when you plan to attain a goal.
Knowing these things when you set goals will help you to accomplish a great deal in 2013. People who set goals are always successful. They plan, and work the plan. I always say to my patients that if you have a plan you will succeed. To have no plan is to plan to fail. We have the patients set both short and long term goals. We also give them feedback on how well they are doing in accomplishing those goals with measurable objective information. That way they know whether they are moving closer to or farther way from their health.
Good luck on setting and accomplishing your goals in 2013. If you would like more information about how to take control of your health in 2013 or if you are healthy how to make sure that you stay that way, please call me at 572-8000 or contact me through my website at www.drtjbolt.com
How Long Are You Planning To Live?
In 1334 BC the average life expectancy was 25 yrs. It stayed the same for 3000 years and then in 1400 AC a person might live to 30. By 1800 AC the probability increased to a whopping 37 years. Fast forward 100 years to 1900 AC and now you might live to be 47 years. Things really improved in the next 100 years so in 2000AC where the average life expectancy was 77 years. Now we have a problem in that when Social Security was started a large portion of the population never lived to the age where they could collect benefits. There was plenty of money to go around. People are living longer today.
It’s 2012 and people reaching 70 years are the new 50. 100 could be the new 70. Of course genes, lifestyle, ability to chew and eat, plays a factor in longevity. How long are you planning to live?
It is one thing to increase a person’s lifespan but what is their quality of life going to be? People are seeking age reversing medical and dental care in record numbers.
How will you spend the remaining years of your life? It could be struggling through each day or enjoying a wonderful day with a good quality of health. It all starts with some preplanning. It starts with finding health care providers and not just disease care specialists. It is finding health coaches in the creative orientation and not just providers taking care of disease. It starts with setting goals and having someone care enough about you to help you be accountable to what you say that you wanted. Now these providers are hard to find since the majority in doctors are favoring the reactive disease care mode, but health care providers are out there. It depends if you want to be in control of your health or you want your disease to take control of you. Dean Ornish MD said, “Take time for your health today or you will be forced to take time for your disease later.”
To create health you can’t take it for granted. You have to be part of the process. It makes good sense for you to take care of yourself, since you may be around for a long time as the above statistics are showing us. If you are spinning around in the disease cycle and would like to get on a different path and would like more information on health coaches please give me a call at 402-572-8000, or check out my website at www.drtjbolt.com
Celebrating the Gift of Work
On this Labor Day 2012 I am very blessed to have a job that I love to do. I have been able through careful study to make my job my vocation. To be able to help another individual add significance to their life is very rewarding. Through a system derived from health centered philosophies I can help a patient break out of the disease cycle and take control of their own health. On this Labor Day I pay tribute to the two places that changed my life to help people change theirs. These two places for me were like no other. They are The L.D Pankey Institute and The Schuster Center for Professional Development.
In Hans Selye’s book Stress Without Distress, work is discussed at great length and I would like to share just a passage and encourage you to find something that you are passionate about in order to live a purpose filled life.
Selye states, Man Must Work: Just as muscles become flabby and degenerate if not used, so our brain slips onto chaos and confusion unless we constantly use it for some work that seems worthwhile to us. In the book he sites the great Canadian physician William Osler who recognized the significance of work:
Though little, the master word looms large in meaning. It is the “open sesame” to every portal, the great equalizer; the philosopher’s stone which transmutes all base metal of humanity into gold. The stupid it will make bright, the bright brilliant, and the brilliant steady. To youth, it brings hope, to the middle-aged confidence,, to the aged repose. It is directly responsible for all advances in medicine during the past twenty-five years. Not only has it been the touchstone of progress, but it is the measure of success in everyday life. And the master word is WORK.
Happy Labor Day 2012.
More on Humanistic Medicine
There is a difference that must be understood between a disease and an illness. A disease is a pathology which a doctor diagnoses from the problem that the patient presents with. An illness is the personal experience of the disease. This takes into account the entire person including their attitudes, feelings, thoughts, and values that surround the disease. This reflects and often defines the disease.
Those doctors that are trained and see themselves as teachers and not just treaters will spend time in a participative role asking questions and helping their patients understand the difference between these two domains. In a busy disease care clinic unfortunately this will never happen. Knowing this difference is enlightening to the patient. It is essential for the growth of the patient and will ease the effects of disease itself.
Humanistic Medicine
In 1975 there were a group of people who were not satisfied the way that people were being treated in the medical model. Doctors were treating patients differently than what had preciously been practiced. It seemed as if they were taking the Art out of Medicine and just making it all about the Science. These people formed a group and wrote a small book called The Dimensions of Humanistic Medicine. This group was not around when the first Private Care Conference in 1995 got together in Scottsdale Arizona presented and hosted by The Schuster Center for Professional Development. At that time 300 dentists from all over the United States got together and formed a Creed that has been lived by many dentists over the years. The Creed was formed from the group from 1995 under the premise that people longed for the Art in Medicine. It was also believed that over the last seventy years that the Art had gradually been taken away. In 1995 we believed that this is true. It was also believed that Medicine has helped people physically, but it has not satisfied some other essential human needs. They are: A need for personal recognition, compassion, choice, and self determination.
I am happy to report that even though this Private Care Community of Commitment has not met for a long time, there is still passion for the Creed that we formed, and is practiced by many dentists and physicians still today. Almost twenty years these principles are being lived out in the form of Health Centered Philosophies where people are given the respect that they deserve by seeing the whole person and not just body parts. There are health care providers who are willing to take the time to listen to their patients and to from a partnership with them to help their patients to take control of their health instead of just allowing them to leave it to fate or luck.
I am excited to get together with a committed group of doctors this September 13-15, 2012 in Boulder Colorado where we will discuss these very important concepts and create an action plan to see that this Humanistic Style is still preserved and will live on in this dramatic changing time. Stay tuned for more details as this Community impacts the Nation. For more information on this and more see my website at www.drtjbolt.com
Long Range Planning
Last month I talked about the power of goals setting. This month I would like to talk about planning not one or two years out, but the power that comes from planning 10 years out.
There are three reasons why this is powerful. Here are the benefits. First by putting your vision of what you want to create 10 years out on paper, the subconscious mind embraces it and brings the vision to reality. Maxwell Maltz the author of Psychocybernetics calls this a servomechanism. Secondly people who set goals are more likely to reach them. Lastly it establishes sophisticated milestones that act like a crowd of well wishers that cheer every time that we go past one of them.
By putting this plan 10 years out, it really brings about the plan to us quicker by as much as three years. It is important for us to realize that when we do not put the planning process out 10 years and move it closer to current reality we run into obstacles. By setting a ten year plan it is far enough out that there are no obstacles and we can be completely creative. In other words it frees up our mind to think ideally. By doing this it is like looking at things from hindsight in advance. Think of an occurrence that you have had years ago with the obstacles that were before you. When you look back on things the obstacles don’t look that big. So project 10 years and get it firmly grounded and we can practice hindsight in advance.
One important aspect of projecting 10 years out and the reason for having a clear purpose is illustrated by this example. A person with no real purpose plans their 10 year plan at age 55. Because the 55 year old was planning on retiring at age 65 his 10 year plan was focusing on retirement not what he would do when he retires. There are many people with similar stories and here is a sad statistic. The death rate between age 66-67 is very high. This is like planning to die. The 10 year plan really needs to be well grounded in a life purpose. Long range planning takes commitment. There will be no commitment without a clear purpose.
There are seven areas of life that need consideration for long range planning. They are:
Spiritual, Family, Career, Self Improvement, Health, Social, and Financial. All these areas are important but the first three are placed in order for importance. The others can be taken as one sees fit except for the last which is financial. The financial goals are designed to bring about the other six and can only be computed after the other six are fully defined.
Now knowing all the seven areas to set goals it looks like we have a lot of planning to do. Good luck and because I am a dentist of course helping you with your health goals is an area of my prime interest, so we have laid the ground work and next month I will focus in on the ways that we work with our patients to become successful on their health goals. For more information on this and other topics go to my website at www.drtjbolt.com
Goal Setting in 2012
In a health Centered Practice goal setting is a huge part of helping people take control of their own health and breaking out of the disease cycle. I thought it would be good to write about the goal setting process as I know many of you probably have started to undertake the New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 and are now about a month out. To make sure these resolutions turn into attainable goals make sure of the following:
The acronym S.M.A.R.T. may be a helpful reminder of things that are needed to make sure the goals are achieved in what ever you do. “S” stands for specific. When you have a dream of accomplishing something, make sure that the goals that you set are specific and crystal clear. An example of this concept is this time of year many say that they want to lose weight. The question is, how much and why. Incorporate this into your goal and your chances for accomplishing this goal will increase.
“M” means that the goal must be measureable. Having this feedback is critical to know where you are and where you want to go. It also serves to help you know when you get there. “A” stands for attainable. Is the goal that you set able to be attained? “R” is for realistic. The goal in order to be attained must be realistic. Lastly the “T” stands for time. There must be a specific time when you plan to attain a goal.
Knowing these things when you set goals will help you to accomplish a great deal in 2012. People who set goals are always successful. They plan, and work the plan. I always say to my patients that if you have a plan you will succeed. To have no plan is to plan to fail. We have the patients set both short and long term goals. We also give them feedback on how well they are doing in accomplishing those goals with measurable objective information. That way they know whether they are moving closer to or farther way from their health.
Good luck on setting and accomplishing your goals in 2012. If you would like more information about how to take control of your health in 2012 or if you are healthy how to make sure that you stay that way, please call me at 572-8000 or contact me through my website at www.drtjbolt.com
On Values: Values Becoming or True Values
We do a lot working with people who say they want to be healthy. They would espouse this to the world but their actions would determine otherwise. In Sid Simons work on values he addresses the issue of values or values becoming. In order to be a value they only are a value if they pass this criterion:
They must be chosen freely. They must be chosen from alternatives. In determining if it really is a value or not they must be reflected upon. Once they are reflected and decided that they really mean something to that person, they become prized and cherished. At that time they become part of that person’s standard operating procedure and so they then become publically affirmed. Most importantly then to be a value in order to be a true value must be acted upon.
It is important to think on these things because it is through the adoption of these core values that helps you conduct your life in either a positive or negative way. It is your choice.
For more information on these kinds of ideas please see my website at www.drtjbolt.com
Caution: Don’t Take Our Liberites For Granted
This July as we remember the men who sacrificed everything for our freedom let us fast forward to the happenings of today to reflect if we are taking their efforts for granted. Let’s take a close look at the 56 who signed the Declaration that could be viewed as a death sentence.
Here are some important facts: Of the 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence nine died of their wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned suffering at the brutal hands of the British. Some lost their wives, sons, or entire families. One lost 13 children. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Not one went back on their pledged word or defected.
During this past year many would feel that our elected officials are taking this for granted as they continue to pass laws that escalate our national debt and take our liberties from us. We pray that they on this Independence Day reflect on their past colleagues who were willing to pay the ultimate price. We pray that they have a clear vision in respect to directing this Country to those liberties that our Founders were willing to put in writing that are ageless and time tested. It is what defines us and what has made us strong. GOD BLESS AMERICA.