TNR Happenings, October 20, 2025

What happens when you get exposed? A recurring theme with any healing is What do you do when you find yourself in frigid, shark-infested waters 200 fathoms deep? If a person who has been to many doctors finds their way to your office, do you refer them to a real doctor, give it the college try, pretend the 4 Ds (death, divorce, disease, depression) don’t exist, stick to the low hanging fruit of ‘my back, my back’ cricks and sprains that a first year student could handle, or do you dig in?

Is the almighty dollar bill of unequal proportion to your ability to help people? When my oldest daughter, Christy, was 12, she got the bright idea to start playing hockey like her younger brother, Derrick. At her first tryout, she was a sight for sore eyes: her brand-new equipment was ill-fitting, she didn’t have hockey legs under her yet, and her hockey helmet sported an NSYNC sticker. Despite her talent that had yet to blossom, she was so excited each week to compete and see her progress. This is an overlooked critical ingredient to becoming ultra-successful in any container. She went from the bottom of talent to the top 1/3^rd in just one season. It was her and me in a car having debriefing sessions, improvement strategies, etc. Her sister Randi Jo had a similar experience, wanting to play tennis at 13 and aiming to make the JV in one year. She practiced a lot and read books, including the Inner Game of Tennis and others. I still look back fondly at these times. They developed lifetime skills starting behind others, and each week, they were getting better. So many people are stopped cold in their tracks if they aren’t the best when they start an endeavor. In the TikTok-influenced world, this is a form of entitlement, to be sure, with no plan B, as they believe someone will rescue them or they will have something to fall back on. 

They feel it’s not the doctor’s fault that they haven’t improved since they graduated. They think that if they learn to adjust well, then they are assured success. When I was in clinical practice, the first question I was asked at a gathering of DCs was what technique I used. Your ego has resisted this topic in 1/10,000 of a second by saying, Dr. Kevin, all of my clinical experience has made me a much better doctor. In reality, you get better from being completely naïve and green (recently graduated) to somewhat competent in the first couple of years. The same level of false assumptions endorsed by mediocrity is used when thinking that you will get better at golf by just playing, or you will get better at driving a car by just driving. You don’t get better by doing the thing, but by practicing and preparing for the thing.

Having an alphabet next to your name limits you big time by being intellectually and narcissistically arrogant and always looking to the past (research, rhetoric, dogma) to exonerate you from producing results and following the rules. What college professor would you confer with on a difficult case or anything beyond a crick or sprain of the neck/back? At the heart of any successful endeavor is the formation of a sacred relationship. Someone has to guide you, show you the ropes, and take a genuine interest in you. As a doctor/healer, are you standing in front of your people in truth, or is this a professional relationship only? When I see a loss of purpose in a doctor, it signifies that this sacred relationship has been lost or violated, and in its place is the bloodless dance of mediocrity.

Miracle Training