Leverage

It's interesting to me how things manifest themselves in clusters.  On three occasions today the word leverage came up in unrelated conversations.  When that happens, as I've been told, there's a lesson to be learned.  

Leverage is one of those ambidextrous words that's both a noun and a verb.  One can have leverage, and one can leverage.  It means to employ a device to gain some sort of advantage.  As depicted above, one can use a lever that pivots about a point to help move a heavy object with considerably less force.  In other words, it's a principle one can employ to get something unstuck.

Digression alert:  Stuck is another good word.  Babies are the master of maximizing the few words they know.  A friend's daughter, when learning to speak taught me this.  If she wants out of the car, "stuck".  If she can't yet get her own feet out of her shoes, "stuck".  Having a hard time on the toilet?  Stuck again.

Many of us feel stuck in some way, and often it's our beliefs that are keeping us there.  We tell ourselves things like "I'm too old" or "I can't do ______ because I'm not ______ enough."  Just fill it in with whatever your dysfunctional tendencies tell you.  Regardless, the best way to leverage yourself unstuck is to spend some time reflecting on all the pain and loss that belief has caused in the past, is causing you today, and how miserable your life will be in the future if you keep holding onto that belief.  THEN you get to replace that belief with one one that is empowering.  

Personally, one of beliefs I held that was limiting me was that if something I'm creating isn't perfect, then it's not worth presenting to the world.  This belief was keeping me from progressing in different areas of my life.  A friend of mine who works in production also shared perfectionistic tendencies.  He recently told me three words that changed all that: Just ship it.  Or in the case of a blog post, just hit publish.

Warmly,

Bryn

Benthams Moving to Victoria!

Jude, Chelsi, and Bryn at Kits Beach

The time has come for the Bentham's to come home.  Today marks the two month countdown to our move to Victoria, BC.


Born in Victoria, I spent much of my childhood there and completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Victoria.  From there I moved to Toronto, New York, London, Seattle, and most recently Vancouver.  These all-world cities provided me with some great experiences but alas, they just weren't home.

Neil looking sharp

I'll be practicing at Vital Victoria Naturopathic Clinic with renowned Naturopath Dr. Neil. McKinney.  Neil has 26 years of experience in medicine and is an accomplished author, lecturer, teacher, and overall great guy.  He's best known for his work in the cancer field, but he's by no means a one trick pony.  Look for him on the cover of the upcoming October edition of Integrative Health Practitioners Magazine.  

I'm available to patients from November 3rd.  If you've been thinking of consulting a naturopath, I'm your man.  

Clinic Information:

phone: (250) 386 3534

toll free: 1 888 722 6401

fax: (250) 386 3500

#125 - 1555 McKenzie Ave

Victoria, BC

V8N 1A4

With excitement,

Bryn

How I'm Spending The Weekend

I've made my way down to San Francisco to take a weekend seminar from this man.  I've heard great things about his technique, but what finally swayed me was the look in his eye.  The first step in eliminating pain, so it seems, is to intimidate it.  


I'll post more as I go.  It should be a fun weekend.


More soon,


B

http://www.myofascialrelease.com

Why Is a Cheeseburger Cheaper Than a Green Pepper?

Ever wondered why a cheeseburger is cheaper than a green pepper?  Does that seem odd to you?  On one hand you have to grow wheat, make buns, grow corn, use that corn to raise beef, turn that beef into hamburger, milk cows and make cheese out of it, not to mention the ketchup, mustard, pickles..etc.  On the other you have to plant a seed and water it.  


I just came across an article that lists the 9 foods that the american government spends the most money subsidising.  By pumping money into these foods, it keeps the cost down.  While there can be some good reasons for governments to do so (there haven't really been any domestic famines), it also helps explain why the poorest of them can still manage to be chubby.


Here's a list of the foods the government is paying for their people to eat and how much of these the average american will consume in 1 year.  I wonder how far off we are up here in Canada?


Soy bean and sunflower are on the list, but no estimate as to how much people are chowing down.


Sunflower: consumption not listed.
Barley: 203 beers.
Peanuts: 13 lbs of peanut butter.
Cow: 66 lbs of beef (28 of it was ground beef).
Dairy: 106 litres of milk.
Rice: 21 lbs of rice.
Soy: amount consumed not listed.
Wheat: 150 lbs of flour.
Corn: 33 lbs of corn products, of which 20 lbs is high fructose corn syrup consumed in soft drinks.


I'll allow you to draw your own conclusions here.


B

What does ice cream and heroine have in common?

If there's one thing that's become clear to me in the short time I've been a parent, it's how intimately linked food is with comforting.  From the minute we're born, the act of nursing simultaneously feeds us and eases our pain.  In light of this it's no surprise then most of are to some degree emotional eaters.


I hear you ask "why is this so, Dr. Bentham?", well I'm glad you asked.  It turns out that the act of nursing causes both mother and baby to release endorphins.  If you want to know what endorphins do, they are our body's natural version of morphine, codeine, heroine, and oxycontin.  These drugs are known to ease pain and infamously for their addictive properties.  The reason they work is because they mimic our natural endorphins, only much more intensely.

As an aside, the reason these can become addictive is that when prescribed for physical pain, they also ease emotional pain.  As with any other drug, when withdrawn, people experience the opposite effect as the drug - ie pain.  So even after the physical pain is gone, when the drug wears off, the emotional pain floods back stronger than before, and the addiction cycle begins.


As I work with patients who are in the process of re-shaping themselves (read lose weight), it can be helpful to talk about why we feel compelled to eat.  Dopamine is a part of it, and so are the endorphins we get from certain foods.  Fortunately there are other ways to give the body its' fix of endorphins.  For example, a good run will do the same thing.


Until next time,


Bryn

Dopawhat?

Continuing on from some of my other posts about motivation, I figure it's only right that I introduce you to a dear friend of yours you may not know about - the neurotransmitter Dopamine.  If it's helpful, you can picture him as one of the little beings that like Homer, we carry around on our shoulders.  

Dopamine's a sweetheart and means well, but he's also a bit gullible and easily manipulated.  Despite his best intentions, he sometimes ends up causing more harm than good.  One of his main jobs is to ensure our survival and he does so by positively re-inforcing (or rewarding) behaviours that favour getting our genes into the next generation.  Consider for example what happens in your brain when you tub out on brownies. Brownies are high in calories so not only do they taste good, but when we eat them Dopamine makes us feel really good about it, so that we do it again.  Then in instances when we're hungry and little-D is feeling low he rears his head and says "give me more brownies!" and we experience the rush of thinking about brownies, and engage in the compulsive act of seeking them out.  Come on, you know you've done it.  

This same pleasure/incentive/reward system is also at play in any behaviour that can become addicting.  Activities ranging from sex, to work-a-holism, to surfing the internet.  If you've ever found yourself meaning to go to bed at 10 but you ended up clicking your way to 3:30 am on your computer, you've experienced the same reward system.  That impulse you get when you see a link, and then the reward you experience when you do provides an instant mini hit of dopamine.  

So why am I writing about it?  As you can imagine, dopamine plays a major role in addiction, and for those who tend to be a little lower in dopamine, they theoretically are more susceptible to behaviours and substances that give them the dopamine hit.  As you can likely tell by now I'm fascinated by the things that drive our behaviour.  Harnessing the reward system can be a powerful tool in making changes that favour health and living in accordance with our values.  


Best,


Bryn

Why We Do What We Do

There are two fundamental principles that drive pretty much every action we take.  One is the need to avoid pain, and the other is the desire to gain pleasure.  While both are important, if you had to guess which one is the stronger motivator, which would you choose?  Watch this clip and guess why I'm not a pole-vaulter.

As cool as it would be to be able to launch myself over tall stuff with a stick, the potential drawbacks outweigh the positives for me.  This is generally true for most of us - our desire to avoid pain is the strongest motivator that dictates our behaviour.  

Are you having trouble making progress in an area of your life?  Perhaps it's losing weight.  Perhaps it's changing a job or a relationship.  If you're feeling stuck it's because you probably associate more pain with taking action than you do from doing nothing. 

In order to facilitate change, we need to link pleasure with taking action, and pain with not taking action.  Why not try the following?  Pick an action that you've been meaning to do but have been putting off.  List the pain that you associate with doing it that has kept you stagnant, and list the pleasure you've gotten by not not doing it.  Then think of what it will cost you (emotionally, financially, relationally.. etc) if you don't follow through, and write down what you will gain by taking action and doing it right now.   Get emotional about it - it's not what we know that pushes us, but how we feel.

More soon,

B