Hi everyone! I hope the Natural Health Family is doing well. Over the weekend I went to Palmer (the chiropractic college that I graduated from) and took classes which helped me see things a bit differently. One class in particular talked about how different brands such as the ones you see on tv can affect the way we go about buying certain products.
We all know the many popular brand names out there. That could be Nike, Adidas, Starbucks, Reebok, McDonald’s, Campbells, the north face, etc. All these we know because they have been promoted well on television. However, everyone reacts differently when they are exposed to any of these brands. That is because we all have a different experience with them. It is mainly due to the meaning we give the names. Some people will like certain brands and some will not. This could be from various reasons due to what we have experienced in the past. For instance it could be that when you see a Campbells can such as tomato soup then you have this warm feeling of eating cheese sandwiches on a cold winter day. Or it could be that you bought a Starbucks coffee but the barista wasn’t having the greatest of days and let you know about it. Those different experiences cause our relationship with those products to be different.
So how can this information help us out in our lives? For one, this can help us realize why we may be buying certain products in different stores. Secondly, and perhaps more beneficially, it can help us see how we relate to different things in our life. Many times we may get overwhelmed, frustrated, scared about various aspects in life. However, it can be because our brain is attaching meaning to it from some other experience it may have had. If you have been reading my past posts you would know that a function of the brain is survival. So those feelings we may get come from the brain trying to survive. This can be adaptive when in states of danger, but it can be maladaptive when the threat is not really there. It is helpful when we become aware of this and are able to regulate ourselves such as taking a breath.
The world may seem to be going fast. As if there is so much chaos in the world (and maybe that is true). However, it is up to us to be able to adapt to it and change our meaning of it. For we don’t see the world as it is but rather we see it based on the meaning we give it. You can turn a curse into a blessing if you can see it through a different lens.
Have a good week!
Dr. Chip
