What most don’t know about me is that I am a SpongeBob fan and even have a tattoo on my arm saying, “We rise by lifting up others”.
We all must aim to help others see the best in themselves by raising them.
The concept that I really appreciate in the psychology world is referred to as expectation violation.
I use this concept to change my patients’ perspectives of their condition and their physical abilities.
For instance, if a patient tells me that they are unable to walk for more than 10 minutes due to their knee, hip or low back pain, I have them jog on the spot for 30-60 seconds, and then I stop and ask them how they feel?
Most often they are pleasantly surprised when the light jog on the spot does not aggravate their symptoms as they expected. That is “expectation violation”.
That’s pretty much all I do at the clinic; I attempt to prove my patients expectation of themselves wrong, by lifting things, bending, twisting, etc.
Why? Because I live by the SpongeBob motto of “We rise by lifting up others” as we all strive to lift up our patients in order to make them feel good about themselves. Sadly too many who already feel vulnerable, consult some “healthcare” providers who only make them feel awful about themselves by telling them about all their physical flaws… e.g. out of alignment, out of shape, over-weight, severe arthritis, tight, weak, DDD, flat feet, etc.