Feelings ...

Feelings ... for some the words conjures thoughts of love and happiness, for other it's fear because we do NOT want to talk about them.

Feelings have become somewhat of a dirty word in my opinion. Americans talk about every ache and pain they have from stubbed toes to brain tumors, but when somebody actually asks how you really feel, what do you say?

It seems simple. But when Doug Newburg, who holds a doctorate in sports psychology and is involved with cutting edge technology for patient care, asked me, "How do you feel today?" I suddenly had no idea. I stuttered "good" out and hoped he would move on to someone else, but he didn't. Instead he asked, "Why do you feel good?" Once again, I was at a loss for words.

For the duration of our lecture, Newburg explained his philosophy on feel and feelings and explained how important the way a person feels affects how a person performs.

Feel is a skill, he said. It's not just a state of being.

"Happiness is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel it."

Well put.

Any number of things affect how you feel: what you eat, who you're around, what you're doing, etc. But what it really comes down to, in my understanding of the lecture, is finding that one thing that gets you going.

Newburg interviews tons and tons of people to find out what gets them going. He said he can talk to someone for hours and mention one subject and watch the person light up. They sit up in their chair and tell you all about that subject for a few minutes and then sit back as the conversation progresses to the next topic. Newburg likes to go back to the topic later in the conversation and ask more, and most of the time the person doesn't realize how much they enjoy the subject.

Newburg and his partner, Dr. Curt Tribble, are using the feel technique to help with patient care. They have developed a system, where a patient comes in with pictures of things they love and people they love before surgery. Newburg and Tribble put the pictures together and put the patient's music with it. In addition, they want to put doctor's recommendations and procedures with it so the patient has all the information necessary. Once it's all together they make it an AppleTV production and make sure it is in the patient's hospital room when they come out of surgery.

The patient emerges from anestassia to the sights of the family and favorite things and the sounds of their favorite music.

It makes a big difference, Tribble said. Patients seem to be very happy about it.

If feeling good is a skill, Newburg and Tribble are working to train patients to feel good and recover better and happier.

The technology is still new, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this type of service offered in hospitals throughout the nation in the next decade.

Check out Esquire's "A theory of high performance" for an inciteful look at Newburg.