Many of you reading this are Americans, and as such, are not necessarily soccer fans, but before it ended last Sunday, the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer championship offered a wider-than-usual range of behaviors from athletes, trainers, coaches and national ministers of sport. I'm thinking in particular of the crisis in interpersonal relations on France's 2010 World Cup soccer team. It's not typical for a team to more or less self-destruct before viewers' eyes, but France's team came as close as you can to doing that. Should details interest you, there are plenty of articles archived on Yahoo Sport's FIFA World Cup coverage.
What struck me while watching the analysis on ESPN was an insight from German soccer great Jürgen Klinsman regarding the, shall we say, unconstructive words and actions from athletes on the French team:.
by Dr. Jeffrey T. Litchford July 9, 2010
The "Who" rock and roll group made famous the observation, "No matter where you go, there you are"! Many of us live a life of frustration, stress and worry because we are not living in the moment We have this deep inner feeling that we could do what we do so much better but don't know why we seem to be blocked or held back.. We are not "where we are"! I would like to revisit the Tyranny of Time in a series of blogs that will assist you in obtaining what successful business owmers, athletes, world leaders and people of wisdom call "living in the zone" or living in a state of 'Flow'.
by Beau Chatham June 26, 2010
If you've been following me over the last few weeks, you know that I introduced the idea of incorporating the Principles of War as a means of dealing with PTSD. In doing this, my hope is to help you achieve a deeper level of thought about how you might go about choosing methods for your healing. By introducing a single Principle of War, in a series of posts over the next several weeks, I am giving you a new set of criteria that you can use to evaluate the possible courses of action that you choose for your healing journey.
by Beau Chatham June 12, 2010
If you've been following me over the last few weeks, you know that I introduced the idea of incorporating the Principles of War as a means of dealing with PTSD. In doing this, my hope is to help you achieve a deeper level of thought about how you might go about choosing methods for your healing. By introducing a single Principle of War, in a series of posts over the next several weeks, I am giving you a new set of criteria that you can use to evaluate the possible courses of action that you choose for your healing journey.
by Beau Chatham June 4, 2010
If you've been following me over the last few weeks, you know that I introduced the idea of incorporating the Principles of War as a means of dealing with PTSD. In doing this, my hope is to help you achieve a deeper level of thought about how you might go about choosing methods for your healing. By introducing a single Principle of War, in a series of posts over the next several weeks, I am giving you a new set of criteria that you can use to evaluate the possible courses of action that you choose for your healing journey.
by Beau Chatham May 17, 2010
In my last blog , I introduced the idea of incorporating the Principles of War as a means of dealing with PTSD. In doing this, my hope is to help you achieve a deeper level of thought about how you might go about choosing a method for your healing. By introducing a single Principle of War, in a series of posts over the next several weeks, I am giving you a new set of criteria that you can use to evaluate the possible courses of action that you choose for your healing journey.
by Beau Chatham May 16, 2010
I started this blog with the intent of creating dialogue around Warriors and how they might heal themselves. Having a strong background in military planning, I always took an opportunity to communicate in a manner that my sisters and brothers-in-arms might appreciate. Well, in this edition of The Warrior Nation: SITREP, I thought I might just take a real big bite out of post-traumatic stress disorder by applying a little "fight fire with fire" methodology. In other words, I think it is time for us to apply the Principles of War to Healing PTSD.
Outside the Box
by Beau Chatham April 25, 2010
I love football! Plain and simple! I grew up playing the sport in grade school, high school, and continued playing right into college at Ole Miss. I played linebacker and I really liked to "hit!" Not in a mean, sadistic way, but in a manner that I deemed as "doing the very best I could do." Some of you reading this are probably wondering what that means and I'd have to add that it's kinda like riding a Harley...If I have to explain it, you'll never understand. Just know it's about being good at what you do. Anyway, the game taught me many things, like; "you practice like you play", the value of teamwork, and the sense of belonging to something bigger than myself. Without a doubt, it was an incredibly positive force in my life and I loved it. Knowing this, you can probably understand how it feels when you have to stop doing something that you love so much. The end came for me in the form of my third concussion.
by Beau Chatham April 13, 2010
In a previous blog from my website, we focused on the importance of setting an Objective. An Objective, as you may recall, is a Principle of War that states we should “direct every military operation toward a clearly definable, attainable, and decisive objective." Setting an Objective in our civilian lives allows us to focus on the end-state, it creates personal ownership of what we seek to accomplish, and even allows us to begin to understand how we might break a large project down into smaller, more manageable tasks. From a logistical standpoint, it guides us in task organization and the collection of essential supplies we will need to accomplish the mission. This holds true for all of us, not just our uniformed warriors. An Objective gives us a positive direction, it redirects us when we get
by Beau Chatham April 10, 2010
I have been working recently with America Helping Heroes, a non-profit organization aimed at successfully reintegrating our service members back into the civilian ranks. AHH’s founder and brainchild is author and musician Angela Alegna. Angela is out to change the mindset of America, so that we welcome our brave men and women gladly back into the civilian world, upon their return from combat. She calls it prevention. She beli
by Beau Chatham March 26, 2010
In my last blog post, we touched on how hypervigilance, a symptom of PTSD, is manifested in the brain. From our original metaphor, it is easy to see how a frog becomes comfortable in a pot of water set to boil. Ultimately, the frog succumbs to the heat and is not able to “get away” from the cause of its ultimate demise. Likewise, a warrior exposed to continuous combat begins to adapt to his or her hostile environment and ultimately becomes forever on-guard. As I mentioned at the end of the last post, “in the final piece of this 3 piece blog post, I hoped to impress upon you how large the issue of combat related stress currently is and how rampant the destructive emotional states associated with it are going to be in the not so distant future.” Ladies and gentlemen, submitted for your consideration,
by Tara Shadowen March 22, 2010
As a recently Certified Subconscious Restructuring® Coach/Counselor, I find myself noticing when people spontaneously program the subconscious mind to get much-needed answers. One such example came across my desk today in a 1985 Texas Monthly article on aging gracefully by Liz Carpenter, the journalist, speechwriter, and activist in the women's movement in the 70s. I know, 1985 was a long time ago, already! But Mrs. Carpenter passed away this Saturday and a friend forwarded the article.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/1985-03-01/feature2-1.php
by Beau Chatham March 19, 2010
In my last blog, I highlighted the symptom and emotional state of PTSD known as hypervigilance. To go a step deeper into understanding this emotional state, I’d like to present some recent science that helps us understand how the brain works and to present some recent discoveries that may shed some light on future and promising non-drug related solutions. I believe that non-drug solutions and processes are even more important in treating stress related emotional states than drug therapies, as these modalities focus on the problem and not on the symptoms. To put it another way, think about our Boiling Frog analogy from our last post. If we were treating a frog in boiling water, we would use drugs to help the frog fight fever he is feeling, the blisters he would be developing, and the pain he would be experiencing from being in the boiling water. Non-drug therapy would equate to “turning off the gas” to the flame that boils the water. So ask yourself this question: If you were t
by Dr. Jeffrey T. Litchford March 12, 2010
I grew up in an area of the country rich with Native American culture. As a young boy I once heard a story from the father of one of my Native American friends I would like to share with you...
by Beau Chatham March 8, 2010
We’ve all heard the analogy of how to boil a frog, right?
by Beau Chatham February 18, 2010
If you are a consistent reader of The Warrior Nation: SITREP, you are probably wondering, “Where is The First Step?” In the last two weeks, the time I’ve spent with my clients and researching social media outlets, I’ve either heard or read a lot about creating balance. Creating Balance is the mantra of today’s holistic practitioners and coaches. This statement is usually used in phrases like: “you seem to be out of balance” or “I help you create balance in your life.” First, let me say, I am guilty of doing this too. It is with this in mind that today’s post is designed to create a moment of discovery for my reade
by Beau Chatham February 8, 2010
If you watched the big game yesterday, you are quite aware of the excitement that fills the city of New Orleans. Even as I type this blog out on Monday morning, I am sure the French Quarter is still full of celebration and joy. As promised last week, I would devote this week's blog to a dominant thought focusing on that game. Actually, I think yesterday's game can be summed up in one word: improbable.
Words mean things
by George February 8, 2010
Perception and understanding in a rational sense are conditioned by experience and teachings. Nothing is as it is perceived and everything is more complex than it appears. All events are connected with individual perceptions in a literal sense, and each person’s decisions or reactions influence the nature of the events on some level. All play a part in creating the whole. There is no separation. There are only levels of perception and awareness of connection.
by George January 30, 2010
EpiGenetics
We are not the body. We are a community of approximately 50 trillion cells. They are independent. But, they are also coordinating their function harmoniously as if they were part of a philharmonic orchestra, just as in Bach''s 7-part fugue except this is a fugue which is infinite.
It is about infinite possibilities seeking manifestation
by Beau Chatham January 21, 2010
Last week, I began a discussion on your personal Operational System. The exact part of the post I am referring to goes like this: "Being able to consistently produce a specific behavior at a high level of effectiveness is made possible through information, muscle memory, and most importantly a functional transfer of chemicals and electricity within our brains." Since it is the most important part of the Operational System, this week I wanted to dive into the subject of brain chemistry; specifically how it functions and effects your behavior. This may seem a bit boring to some readers, but if you get through it, you can begin to understand how you can produce the ideal brain environment.