In life, where our attention goes, energy flows. If we want to find the positive, we must focus on precisely that.
Several years ago, after an existential crisis that made me question my purpose and place in this world, I came through this period with a personal mission to live vulnerably and highlight the greatness or the 'gold' in every person I met.
If you look at my landing page you'll notice the words 'Highlight Greatness' - this is as much of a reminder to myself as it is a slogan to inspire you.
Dale Carnegie, the author of How To Win Friends and Influence People, once likened the development of positive, successful people to mining for gold, saying, "Several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold. But you don't go into the mine looking for dirt. You go in looking for the gold."
We see the search for dirt all the time in the physical rehab world where clients who are suffering from chronic symptoms visit a clinician or coach and leave with a list of 'dysfunctions' and things not to do—no guesses for where their attention goes and how their physical experience pans out after this.
The screens, assessments, tests, and re-tests are administered mainly with the goal of finding the dirt - the dysfunctions to protect clients from further harm.
As a side note, dysfunctions such as a rib cage that is too flared, or a foot that is 'too' flat are not dysfunctions at all, but rather strategies that can be based on a myriad of factors spanning far beyond the musculoskeletal system.
You Become Who You Believe You Are
Every client who walks through a coach's door has their own story that highlights their unique capability, resilience, and previous successes that can be brought to the forefront to aid their development on a physical and personal level.
It is almost a given that the client is already their own worst critic, focusing on the dirt and running an internal narrative constantly telling them that they are broken, not enough, and guiding them to focus on self-sabotaging behaviours.
Thus, putting a client who already tells themselves a story that they are broken into a system that looks for the dirt, and then debriefing the client as to why their body is dysfunctional can lead to further strengthening of the belief that they are broken, and potentially leading to kinesiophobia; a fear of movement due to previous pain.
Set Your Focus On What You Want To Create
Clients with chronic problems desperately need a coach, environment, and process that helps them focus on their capability and find the gold.
Let's take back pain as an example. Back pain can remove any pleasure someone has in life. Not only do people get exhausted from being in pain, but they also become consumed with worry about being in pain, which leads to more pain. They want to return to their active self and move beyond the pain.
You'll notice within this example just how much of their focus will be on pain. Even though their thoughts are for the pain to disappear.
A client with this experience requires a coach who brings attention to what they can do well and what they are doing well whether pain is present or not.
Further, rather than asking after a set of core exercises, 'How does your back feel?' the coach says, 'You did those well, I am particularly impressed with how you did X, and you're even smiling; that's great.'
Now we're setting their attention on what they are doing well; we're helping them find the gold and holding their attention on the capability they have.
Now they're more likely, over time, to see themselves as a capable, healthy individual rather than broken, and this is a significant step to setting them up for success and living their greatest life away from the fear of pain and toward the joy of movement.
The Significant Shift
The most significant shift I have seen in clients is how the mindset to find the gold in any situation filters into other areas of their physical and mental health and broader life, inspiring others around them to lead with optimism.
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