The Power of Faith
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, MAM, MBA
Professor of Exercise Physiology
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
-- Hebrews 11:1
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Faith is to believe what you do not yet see;the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.-- Saint Augustine
oah spent 120 years building an arkbecause he trusted God's promise to destroy everything on the Earth with a flood. During the building of the ark, Noah's neighbors laughed at him. But he never gave up, which raises the question: Would your faith have survived such a test of time and hardship? Well, the truth is that you can have that kind of conviction. It is a matter of believing in something for which there may be little tangible proof. For example, you can choose to believe in ASEP or you can turn a blind eye or a deaf ear and continue doing the same thing everyone else has done for decades. What are you going to do? Well, unfortunately, many exercise physiologists don't understand what faith is or how to put it into practice.
The power of faith is real. Believing that ASEP exercise physiologists can attain their goal of credibility and professionalism in exercise physiology is a demonstration of faith. With faith, there are no doubts that the ASEP leadership is doing what is right and necessary to promote professionalism in exercise physiology. The power of faith allows for achieving success. The ASEP exercise physiologists have achieved many of their goals, regardless of the challenges. They believe in their ability to achieve great things. Why, because they have faith in turning their thoughts and ideas into reality.
The credulous in awe whisper, "But, ASEP is so different from sports medicine!" Either they fail to think of ASEP or they feel confused and disappointed for not getting it. The fact is that our history of exercise physiology, while enabled by sports medicine (often, through the work of academic exercise physiologists) is still outside its inner forces and reasons for its existence. Thus, more often than not, the non-exercise physiologists deny the very existence of exercise physiology as a healthcare profession. They are blinded by their own pick of words and phrases to explain exercise physiology. Many of their ideas are understood, given their involvement with physical education and exercise science departments.
The intellect of many academic exercise physiologists says, “ASEP couldn’t possibly be the right way. Why? Because the idea is totally against everything they have experienced. You can hear them saying, “My teachers never talked about exercise physiology as a healthcare profession. All they ever said is that exercise physiology is a research discipline. Everyone knows that.”Ignore the naysayers.There are people in the world who suffer from what I call, “skepticismitis.” They have to see something before they’ll believe it. My advice is that you don’t allow them to influence your way of thinking.
-- Jay Platt
Okay, what does faith have to do with exercise physiology and related perspectives? In the simplest of thinking, in actuality it all comes down to faith in most things of life. Whether it is faith in God that states that "with faith all things are possible" or the idea that faith is linked to a person’s mindset that argues in favor of an outcome correlated to one’s thinking. While the religiously oriented person may laugh at the latter, the non-religious may argue for the power of positive thinking. Then, again, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. The act of faith is powerful. Regardless of whether it is a case of auto-suggestion or a person’s performance in accordance with a larger purpose, faith is the all powerful expression of believing in something before you can see or feel it. It is rooted both the mind and the heart.
Imagine, an exercise physiologist engaged in behavior so different from decades of the failed sports medicine rhetoric that one finds him- or herself behaving altogether differently. Could it be faith in his or her skill or knowledge or both? Could it be as simple as faith or self-confidence? The question really is this: Can exercise physiologists do something today that will have a huge impact on exercise physiology years from now? If not, then why not? Surely, each of us has within us the power to help others without being servants to a misguided majority. Each one of us can become the healthcare professional we believe is our right. All we need is faith that it can be done.
Key Point:Matthew XVII, 20, For verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, "Remove hence to yonder place," and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
Nothing shall be impossible for exercise physiologists who believe in their right to develop and promote a new exercise physiologist, one that is of the 21st century. This point is critical to the change process. It will produce the results consistent with the faith of ASEP members. The change in this instance is the result of the exercise physiologist’s own faith. Thus, one might ask “what is this invisible and imponderable force of faith?” For the aspirant exercise physiologists, acting in faith is akin to believing that you can make a difference.
Faith is following without knowing where, waiting without knowing when, believing without know how, trusting without knowing why.-- Rick Warren
As an example, consider this parable: Once a student came upon an old professor writing about the importance of professionalism in exercise physiology. He asked the professor why he was taking up so much of his time writing about exercise physiology as a healthcare profession. The professor said, “But, isn’t it obvious, I’m laying the ethical and professional foundation to help exercise physiologists think differently.” The student considered the professor’s remarks, walked away, and said, “It is a waste of time. Why not publish a research paper?” he thought. “You have great skills in research. It will be decades before exercise physiologists stop to read your work. You will be long gone by then.” Then, out of the blue, the student ran into the professor. He asked him the questions he had been thinking. “True enough,” the professor said. “But I’m not writing these books for me. I’m writing them for those who come after me, just as those before me inspired me to do the right thing for the right reason.”
Faith is critical to doing the right thing. It includes conviction and imagination, especially that of seeing the exercise physiologist of the 21st century. Indeed, it is faith that drives the vision. It is perception of something altogether different from present day exercise physiology under the rule of non-exercise physiologists. In fact, it is the ultimate of self-realization as exercise physiologists embrace their own self-growth and nurturing. After all, they are more than trainers or instructors. That is why the ASEP exercise physiologists think of themselves as healthcare professionals. Their thinking transcends the present-day tradition of defining exercise physiology as “the study of acute and chronic adaptations to exercise.”
Faith is taking the first step and every step thereafter even when your friends turn away. It provides courage and willingness to take risks and, if necessary, to go solo in unchartered territories.
The importance of faith in life should be apparent. Likewise, the importance of faith in exercise physiology should be apparent but it isn’t. While it takes faith to believe in Christ, it is doable, especially since it is a gift in the first place. But, to trust another human being that it is time to think about exercise physiology differently from yesterday’s rhetoric is altogether something different. In many ways, one would ask “why is it important?” Perhaps, one answer is as simple as saying, if you don’t have faith in your expectation to think differently, then, there is a good chance you will not look for anything other than what you have.
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”-- Mary Anne Radmacher
Think about the things you talk about. Is it your research? What about your last talk at a national meeting? Or, do you talk about your students? How about teaching and what you could do to be a better teacher? Do you think about your recent graduates? Were they successful in locating a financially stable job? Was their education helpful? Do the students think of themselves as trainers or healthcare professionals? Are the students aware of ASEP, its Code of Ethics for board-certified exercise physiologists? Are they aware of the ASEP Standards of Professional Practice?
People usually talk about what they think about. They understand that their thinking in critical to “who they are,” “what they believe in,” and what is important to them. More often than not, what a person says defines who that person is and what he or she cares about. If youare a college teacher and students are important to you, and you understand that your role as a teacher is more important than publishing another research manuscript, then, it is very likely that you are doing everything possible to help your students be successful.
In other words, it is important to think about exercise physiology as a credible healthcare career and not just as a research discipline that benefits only the doctorate prepared exercise physiologists. The American dream is a college degree and Roosevelt tells us an entirely different story about men fighting the big battles of life. It isn’t always about what is best for you, but what is right for others even if the idea is met with cynicism and aloof detachment. Roosevelt reminds us that honor comes to those “who spend themselves in a worthy cause.” Faith, persistence, and positive action are all necessary to do what it takes to help students even if they are not aware of your presence.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.--Theodore Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Roosevelt admonished us to step into the arena, and I might add that we should learn to dress the part. Exercise physiologists are professionals. They have a dream! They take delight in the fact that they have found their dream and they are living it. They are healthcare professionals. They understand that no one else can define exercise physiology but exercise physiologists. This fact alone gives the ASEP members a sense of delight. Yet, they get that misunderstanding, greed, and misdeeds will continue for years to come. Conflict among friends will happen and, in some cases, it will drive them apart. Conflict is inevitable during the change process. The conflict of who is in charge, that is, exercise science and/or sports medicine or exercise physiology, will continue? What in life doesn’t have conflicts, dilemmas, and/or temptations?
I have a dream, and the power of faith keeps the dream new and interesting. Being willing to dream is important to every change that is critical to success. Dreaming keeps the passion for change alive. It keeps it meaningful, and it is important for every student’s hope of becoming an exercise physiologist. Hence, however impossible it may appear to move exercise physiology out of the 20th century to the 21st century, it is possible if you are willing to endure people and colleagues who are imprisoned in the inertia of yesterday’s thinking. Fortunately, my dream (as an ASEP exercise physiologist) is also the dream of others who are working to make the ASEP experience available to everyone who is willing to dream the impossible dream.
As an old Latin proverb says, “Believe that you have it, and you have it.” Belief is as simple as unleashing the mental picture of exercise physiologists as healthcare professionals. It is a powerful force that can upset the old earlier teachings and dogmatic beliefs. Belief is akin to faith; both are a great source of power and will that is within each of us to build our self-confidence and to execute the ASEP ideas and vision of something better for our students and our profession.
Listen Up: Do you want a credible job after graduation? Do you want to be recognized as a credible healthcare professional? Then, start thinking as a healthcare professional. Join the ASEP organization. Develop the mental mindset of a professional with the scientific expertise to talk and apply exercise as medicine.
To become the person you want to be, you start with faith and a mental picture of a newly created self-image. Imagination is a powerful force. Think about your future as a healthcare professional. Imagine what it will be like. See mentally the picture of a board-certified exercise physiologist who is part of a credible healthcare profession. Imagine yourself successful and helping others to regain their health and well-being. Feel the power of closing the door on yesterday, and looking forward to the future of possibilities. Start now, today, to begin your new life of possibilities. Remember always: “Whatever you can conceive mentally, you can bring into materialization.” That is faith!
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