The Pain/ Pleasure Principle : Why You Are Not Engaged

The Pain/Pleasure Principle

(Why you are not fully engaged)

It is human nature to do something in order to avoid pain or gain pleasure.   The problem is that neither is really a priority for you right now. In other words, you are not forced to stay on plan 100% to avoid a really painful situation.   For example, if you have joint pain on a literally crippling level, i.e., you could not hold a glass in your hand because when you did the pain was so bad it would make you cry and you would drop the glass. Another example is if you literally could not stand on your feet because it felt like being stabbed with a searing hot knife which caused you such agony that it made you cry. Then, if you learned that staying on plan 100% of the time would completely solve that and make you pain free so you could live a normal life, you would stay on plan 100% of the time to avoid the pain.

The other side of the coin is that the pleasure that could be gained is also not that magnified either. Pleasure or reward is different for different people.  For some it is financial gain, being out of debt, house paid off, being financially independent and never having to work to pay for not only what you need but what you want.  For others it is having leisure, or adventure or joy or.   It is hard for Americans to grasp this side of the coin because we have so much. We may have debt, stress, and challenges but we are not being physically beaten, forced into slave labor, or literally mal-nourished.  So, our drive for pleasure or reward is harder to leverage.

With those thoughts, I think we can put the two together, but we must magnify the consequences of not being on plan 100% and desire greatly the rewards of being on plan 100%. One way to do this is to look up pictures of people’s hands and feet with bad arthritis and try imagining that is you.  Actually, take time to visualize that. Feel the pain, feel the frustration of being so limited and in despair. You can do the same for the person who has had limbs amputated or vision lost due to diabetes, or perhaps the person who has had a stroke and is now unable to use the bathroom on their own or take care of their own personal hygiene. These are horrible thoughts, but they happen to people every day and they could happen to you! After you visualize and feel that, get up, move, shake your body and then visualize the opposite and the things that you want.

For example, feeling really good physically and emotionally, getting into the clothes you would like to wear and feeling really, really happy about that, looking in the mirror and being so ecstatic that you make a fist in the air and yell YES! being in you 80’s and in perfect health and enjoying activities with loved ones, etc.  The pain and the reward are the consequences and benefits of being off the plan or on the plan 100%

I hope that makes sense and I would really love your feedback on the idea above, both as to the concept and your willingness to actually visualize daily.

Yours in optimal health

Drs Sandra & Kirk Childers                  ihcweghtloss.com                   [email protected]

Published July 2022 IHC of Charlottesville, Dr. Kirk Childers , https://ihcweightloss.com/recipe/the-pain-pleasur…-are-not-engaged/