Q & A with David and Sonya Cameron Authors of The Rest of Health
“In both of our practices, we constantly see people who view health too narrowly. Many people think of health as dropping pounds, lowering blood pressure, etc. These are all good, healthy things, but when the underlying motive is simply to look better physically, that is evidence that a patient doesn’t really understand the meaning of ‘health.’ After working with so many patients, we have seen that before a patient can make lasting changes in any area of life—and this includes physical health—they must take a step back and look at the bigger picture of their life.”
Q: In The Rest of Health, readers will discover seven steps for recovering health and wellness—but those steps are woven into the fictional story of Mike, a man in need of serious life change. This is certainly an unexpected format for a health book. Why did you choose this unique approach?
A: We had been presenting the non-fiction material for The Rest of Health as a seven week course for some time before our students began suggesting that we adapt it for publication. As we thought about what that book would look like, it was very important to both of us that we capture a male audience as well as a female audience. During the early stages of writing, we came across some research that claimed that 90 percent of what men read is fiction. We were also inspired by the example of Jesus, who was the Master Storyteller, communicating eternal truths in parable form. We both like a good story, and we felt the material, with its focus on the many facets of health and wellness (social/behavior, spiritual, biological/physical, thoughts and emotions/feelings) gave us opportunities to explore various relationships between the main character and other key people/activities in his life. We wanted our readers to enjoy the learning process, and an engaging story is an ideal means for making that happen.
Q: Can you give us an overview of the seven steps? How did you discover these principles?
A: In our medical and counseling practices, we see the common issues that people face. More than anything, our experience has taught us that lives are not compartmentalized. People are not one-dimensional. There is a complex interplay between what is going on in everyone’s physical, psychological, social, and spiritual lives.
Based on our training and clinical experience, we developed seven skills that we consistently see as the most influential for maintaining or recovering health and well-being. They have been field-tested in our practices with great results, and individually these concepts have been validated in medical and psychological literature. They are:
· Looking to learn
· Transforming your thinking
· Establishing healthy boundaries
· Caring for your body
· Raising your emotional I.Q.
· Cultivating your spiritual life
· Fine-tuning relationships
To find out more about The Rest of Health and the Camerons’ organization, The True Foundation, visit www.TrueFoundation.com and www.TheRestofHealth.com.
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