Have you ever found yourself in the middle of an extremely chaotic situation where you knew the people around you needed help, but you had no idea where to start? When things around you seem to be spiraling completely out of control, sometimes the very best thing you can do is go back to the basics. In this inspirational new video from #IPEtv, Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, takes us on a hilarious and moving journey deep into the woods of West Virginia, where he learned a major lesson about how to be a true healer from a very unlikely source.
Like any good Hollywood story, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll feel your heart opening right up! sublogpdfoptin infusionsoftversion=”1.46.0.37″ infformname=”.05 Opt-In For IPE Blog&#a;A Big Life Lesson From &#a;Patch Adams Video” infformxid=”5e43cd7ace5f05033ce757e0234f70dd” In the comments below, please let us know your thoughts. We love hearing from you and we read and respond to every comment!Here is a transcript of this week’s video:Greetings friends, this is Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. Today’s Topic: A Big Life Lesson from Patch AdamsBack in 1998, a Hollywood movie came out called Patch Adams. The actor Robin Williams played the lead role. Patch Adams is a medical doctor, and has long been a sort of folk hero in the medical community.
He’s unlike most any doctor one would ever encounter, which is why the movie industry jumped on the opportunity to immortalize him on the silver screen.At the time, I had no idea who Patch Adams was, let alone that he was about to become famous. But the moment I saw the movie was the moment I realized that I had known this man personally, worked with him for a week in the hills of West Virginia, and that he had forever changed my life. This is my Patch Adams story.My guess is that you’d never heard of a Rainbow Gathering. This was an event that was essentially the forerunner and the predecessor of Burning Man gatherings. Starting sometime in the 1960s and perhaps into the 1980s, hippies, seekers, students, old folks, families, healers, artists, and a vast assortment of likely and unlikely characters would descend once a year in large numbers in a state park somewhere in the US. Upwards of 15 to 20,000 people would camp for a week, share food, barter, get naked, play music, hold workshops, eat vegetarian food, make art, frolic, and form an instant community based on love and goodwill.
No money was exchanged. People would donate all kinds of resources necessary to make this mini-city in the woods a safe and efficient one.Of course, back in 1978, I was an unlikely participant. I was a Brooklyn boy raised on meat, basketball, and a deep suspicion of my fellow man. Plus I didn’t like tie-dye. Needless to say, my eyes were opened. At that point in my life, I’d probably seen the sum total of about 12 naked people, including babies. There are no naked people in Brooklyn.
Here at the Rainbow Gathering, there were thousands of men, women, and children without clothes. My head almost exploded.Because of my deep interest in health and medicine, I enthusiastically signed up when the word was circulated that smart volunteers were needed in the medical tent. I was amazed at what I saw. The medical tent was the size of a small outdoor circus tent.
Patch Adams Transcript Template
It was divided up into an entranceway, a big waiting room, one very large treatment room with all kinds of beds and supplies, and a number of small private rooms for those who needed separate care.What really surprised me was that there were real live actual medical doctors manning this makeshift hospital, but they were disguised as hippies. I later learned that they actually were hippies AND they were medical doctors at the same time – a combination I would have thought impossible.
I was in heaven, and soon realize I’d found my calling.Because of my eagerness to volunteer and do anything asked of me, I was quickly made to be the assistant to the head doctor. This meant I was responsible for doing anything and everything that he asked. I was told that this was a very important position, and I was a pretty lucky young dude. The name of the young doctor who assigned me to the head doctor was Mushroom.
I thought he was joking. He didn’t find my laughing at his name funny. And he didn’t want me to call him Dr. Mushroom, it was just, Mushroom.I finally met the head doctor.
He was pretty tall, barefoot, had a tie dye T-shirt, and was wearing a big red clown nose. Once again, I thought my head would explode.
I could not imagine the kind of medicine that would be practiced under such bizarre conditions. I felt like I was in an insane asylum.The doctor with the big red clown nose asked me my name.
He told me his name. It was Patch. He said that my job was to escort all patients that the head nurse first checked in, directly over to him. He introduced me to the head nurse.
She was very pretty, had a clipboard, and was completely naked. I completely lost my focus.Now watching Dr. Patch Adams was like watching a virtuoso of the heart.
He had everything exquisitely organized. He was kind, funny, irreverent, commanding, and was probably managing a caseload of a few hundred people a day coming in with coughs, colds, splinters, cuts, diarrhea, cramps, breathing difficulties, and the occasional broken bone or two.He laughed with each one of his patients. He made them smile. He asked them important questions, and then he asked them completely ridiculous ones. He prescribed antibiotics, homeopathics, herbal compresses, diets for this and that, sleep, laughter, and who knows what else.My fourth day at the Rainbow Gathering working in the medical tent, things got extreme. A young man was carried in, and he was in pretty bad shape. The naked nurse responsible for doing intakes had stepped away for a break and was nowhere to be found.
The young man was bleeding from his head, he was covered in blood, he was vomiting blood, his leg was broken and his friends left him there and ran.I panicked. I burst into the main staging area where Patch was attending to other patients. I started yelling to him, and described what was going on. He heard every word I said, and seemingly didn’t react. I waited a moment. I yelled at him.
I said, “Patch, what are you doing? This isn’t a joke. This guy’s bleeding like crazy and probably dying, do something!”Patch slowly walked over to me, held me by my shoulders as if to calm me down, asked me to look in his eyes, and then said to me, “What’s his name?” I said, “What do you mean what’s his name?” And he said, “Go back into the other room, ask him what his name is, come back to me, and tell me what his name is.” I couldn’t imagine a more insane request.
And as if to read my thoughts exactly, he said, “I’m not being crazy. How can I possibly help him if I don’t know his name?
Take a deep breath, compose yourself, and ask him his name.”I composed myself. I did as I was asked. The young man was still bleeding, still moaning in pain, and he told me his name was Richard. As if he was colluding with Patch Adams, he said, “Thanks, man.” I said, “Thanks for what?” And he said, “Thanks for asking my name.”I calmly walked into the main tent area, I approached Patch, and he once again grabbed my shoulders and looked in my eyes before I could say anything. The doctor with the big red clown nose held my gaze for what seemed like way too long. He finally broke the silence and said, “Did you ask him his name?” I replied, “Yes, it’s Richard.”He said slowly and deliberately, “Good job, Marc.
Now we know his name. Now we can help him.”Well, Richard had a hard time of it, but in the end he was okay.
He was eventually taken to a local hospital.I learned some powerful life lessons that day that have stayed with me since. I learned that it’s a good idea to be calm and at peace in the center of the cyclone.
I learned to stay in my center no matter how much blood is being spilled. I learned that no matter how serious our job is, a sense of humor and delight can only help us.
I learned that to be a good healer, it’s best to know who the person is that you’re trying to help. I learned that there’s an invisible level of healing that comes from a kind of spiritual understanding.
And I learned that even though I thought that a bleeding young man was the one who needed assistance first, someone else was wise enough to see the bigger picture that would make everything right and well and good.Thanks, Dr. Patch.I hope this was helpful my friends.To learn more about us please go to.The Institute for the Psychology of Eating offers the most innovative and inspiring professional trainings, public programs, conferences, online events and lots more in the exciting fields of Dynamic Eating Psychology and Mind Body Nutrition! In our premier professional offering – the Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training – you can grow a new career and help your clients in a powerful way with food, body and health.
You’ll learn cutting edge skills and have the confidence to work with the most compelling eating challenges of our times: weight, body image, overeating, binge eating, digestion, fatigue, immunity, mood and much more. If you’re focused on your own eating and health, the Institute offers a great selection of one-of-a-kind opportunities to take a big leap forward in your relationship with food.
We’re proud to be international leaders in online and live educational events designed to create the breakthroughs you want most. Our public programs are powerful, results oriented, and embrace all of who we are as eaters – body, mind, heart and soul.Please email us at if you have specific questions and we will be sure to get back to you.Again that is.This is Marc David, Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating.Thanks so much for your time and interest.To learn more about the breakthrough body of work we teach here at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, please sign up for our free video training series at. You’ll learn about the cutting-edge principles of Dynamic Eating Psychology and Mind Body Nutrition that have helped millions forever transform their relationship with food, body, and health.
Lastly, we want to make sure you’re aware of our two premier offerings. Our is an 8 month distance learning program that you can take from anywhere in the world to launch a new career or to augment an already existing health practice. And is our 8 week online program for anyone looking to take a big leap forward with food and body. Emily Rosen DIRECTOREach of us can use our own personal journey and transformation to serve others and do rewarding work in the world that makes a real difference. Lasting change and breakthrough happens when we work on both the nutritional and personal dimensions of life.
The two have a magical way of synergizing to create transformation that neither could do alone. Marc David DIRECTORNutrition alone is no longer adequate enough in addressing the compelling challenges we face with food, weight, body image, overeating and all of our metabolic concerns.
Instead, we must fully embrace the psychology of the eater – the heart, mind and soul dimensions of what it means to truly nourish one’s body and being. From there, true healing is possible.
Chad Littlefield, M.Ed., is the co-founder and CEO of We!™ ( ). He has spoken at and is the author of the Pocket Guide to Facilitating Human Connections. As a speaker and professional facilitator, Chad designs fun, challenging, and engaging experiences and tools that break down communication barriers, and increase connection and engagement.
He has worked as an instructor at Penn State University and led the design team who created We! Connect Cards™ which are now being used to create conversations that matter within companies and campuses in over 50 countries around the world. Chad has the privilege of consulting, coaching, and facilitating within organizations like JetBlue, Starbucks, Penn State, Cigna, Typeform, United Way, Goodwill, TEDx and dozens more. Resources.The Weekly Challenge. In the next week, talk with three strangers. They could be people in your daily interactions, like a cashier, and ask them an open-ended question that starts with “what” or “how.” The questions need to come from a place of genuine curiosity.
In the comments below share what questions you asked and what happened. TranscriptFeel like reading instead of listening? Download the or read it below. Enjoy! Transcript for Episode #070: How to Ask Questions With Chad LittlefieldAmy Climer: Welcome to The Deliberate Creative Podcast Episode 70. In today’s episode, we are going to talk about how to ask useful and valuable questions.
But before we get into that, I want to share with you a brand new iTunes review that came all the way from Australia. This is not the first international review this show has gotten, but it is the first one from Australia, which is very exciting. This is a review by Mark Collard and it is titled “Inspiring and Authentic,” five stars. Mark says:“I’ve dived into Amy’s podcast on a few occasions and it always strikes me as inspiring and particularly authentic.
She walks her talk. As an author and entrepreneur, I’ve picked up useful tips for creativity which would not have popped into my head if not for listening. Keep up the good work.”Thank you, Mark.
I really appreciate you taking the time to write the review. It means a lot to me. If you want to write a review, you can go to. That is the shortcut that will take you directly to the iTunes page. You can write a review there and I try to read every review on a show so you might just hear your review on a future episode. It also helps other listeners find the podcast and it is a great way to give back. You can also share the podcast on social media, it’s another way to spread the love or tell your friends about it.
In this particular episode, my guest Chad is going to share a number of resources and you can get all of those on the shownotes page which can be found at. Go there, you can get all the links to the resources that Chad mentions.Today’s guest is Chad Littlefield. Chad is creator of and co-founder of the company and he is focused in on helping teams make connections with each other. He does that by helping people understand how to ask good questions and asking good questions himself. It is pretty fun to get together with Chad because he always has these unusual questions that make you really think and it is great. He is going to talk about how to formulate questions and then how to use those to be more creative. Here is Chad.Chad, welcome to The Deliberate Creative Podcast.
Thanks for being on the show.Chad Littlefield: Thanks for having me. I am feeling deliberately creative just being here.Amy Climer: Awesome! Start off and tell us a little bit about yourself, about who you are, and what you do.Chad Littlefield: Yeah, sure. Maybe I will start by sharing the movie that I watched that shifted the way that I saw the world and thought my world was going, if anybody has seen the movie before. When I saw the movie, I was in middle school. Robin Williams essentially throws on a clown nose and heads out into hospitals with the goal of improving the quality of people’s life rather than the quantity. He does so through human connections.
He just has this really magical ability to connect with people. When I saw that movie, I had my whole life figured that I was going to be. I was going to med school. It was happening. After a chemistry class or two, I took a very hard right and said, “Oh my goodness! I am never ever, ever, ever going to be a doctor, but I am still really obsessed with this human connection thing.” That has very much, believe it or not, shaped the way that I see the world and what I do now and where I spend all of my time.Amy Climer: That is awesome.
It is always chemistry that gets everybody.Chad Littlefield: Yeah.Amy Climer: I actually met the real. Sorry, I did not meet him, I saw him speak once a number of years ago in Wisconsin. He is amazing.Chad Littlefield: Really? I have heard mixed reviews. I have heard like he is really crazy and he is really awesome and maybe the two coincide.Amy Climer: Yeah, absolutely. I thought he was both and incredible.
I was like, “Wow! I want to hang out with you.” Tell us a little bit about what is your work? What do you do on a daily basis?Chad Littlefield: I started a company called, like a group of people. Our mission and passion is to create conversations that matter. In anything that we are doing, whether it be training or coaching or designing the next card deck that we are coming up with, the aim is always and the question is always are we creating conversations that matter?
Because what we noticed is that there seems to be this national and international deficit of curiosity and questions and conversations that are really good and there’s an abundance of acquaintances and passing connections that serve more like sips of connection rather than gulps of connection.Amy Climer: When you are doing that work of creating connections that matter, one of the things you do is you are in-person like working with teams, right?Chad Littlefield: Yeah. Actually flying out like doing a keynote at a conference or I am in the headquarters of JetBlue facilitating a training, working with a group of JetBlue’s facilitators, training them how to create more connection and weave that into their work. Lots of times in-person and a little bit of virtual coaching with clients that are far away.Amy Climer: Awesome! One of the things that you are basically an expert in is asking questions. Can you talk a little bit about that?Chad Littlefield: Man, once I am put in the expert box there’s so much pressure.Amy Climer: Sort of an expert. Is that better?Chad Littlefield: Thank you. Very humbling.
I feel like the rest of the podcast I should just be asking you questions. Question to question to question. A big factor of creativity is trust. This idea of when I share an idea, are you going to build on it and uphold me and my idea or tear it and me down.