The human experience centres on change, and how we deal with it.
The human experience centres on change, and how we deal with it. A man who has been called the “father of motivation,” Dr. Wayne Dyer, presented this wisdom at Parker Las Vegas in January: “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
The desert convergence of chiropractors, graciously hosted by Parker President Dr. Fabrizio Mancini and his staff, took up 3,200 of the 3,500 hotel rooms in the Las Vegas Hilton alone. The 2006 Parker theme is about looking for leadership opportunities.
Leadership initiatives from the Canadian profession appear in this issue. One example: Dr. Kyle Grice tossed his hat into the political arena, under the banner of a party that he feels would present a real alternative. The Oakville Beaver, reporting on a January 18 riding debate, noted that Grice’s “passionate regular-guy persona, new ideas and humour stole the show.”
Also inside, Dr. Wanda Lee MacPhee discusses the exhaustive four-year process, representing a huge effort on the part of many individuals, which has resulted in the first of a series of clinical practice guidelines. In Manitoba, chiropractic clinics and their patients once again have raised thousands of pounds of food for those in need. The Student Canadian Chiropractic Association (SCCA) blazes the way forward in the development of interprofessional ties between health-care disciplines at the student level. The conception, birth, and growth of the chiropractic program at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) is outlined by Dr. André-Marie Gonthier, who takes pride in the youthful vigour that UQTR’s alumni is now injecting into the profession in that province.
In adapting to the times, the health-care system faces the challenge of altering people’s behaviour, if they are not doing so themselves. A May 2005 Fast Company article by Alan Deutschman entitled “Change or Die” considers those California heart patients who volunteered for a holistic study. Their regimen consisted of a vegetarian diet, meditation, relaxation, yoga, aerobic exercise, support sessions with a psychologist, and the cessation of destructive lifestyle choices. Consequently, after three years, the necessity for major surgery may have been averted in some of the cases. The article posits that a “joy of living” approach – the prospect of living better instead of just living longer – is a more powerful motivator for change than fear.
Sometimes, even small corrections count for a lot. Another of Parker’s keynote speakers, Les Brown, said: “A slight adjustment can make all the difference in the world.” Who better to know the truth of that statement than the chiropractors seated in front of him? “Your stuff works,” Brown told his audience. “You have a lot to be proud of.”•
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