Facilitated

10| The Ripple Effect: How One Small Change Transforms Your World

• The Facility Denver • Episode 10

Share episode

We explore the ripple effect of health changes – how small adjustments create waves of transformation that extend beyond ourselves and positively impact those around us.

• The internal ripple effect occurs when one small change creates unexpected improvements throughout your body's systems
• In functional medicine, we focus on systems rather than symptoms because everything is connected
• The external ripple happens when your improved health changes how you show up in relationships and how others perceive you
• Patients often come to us because they notice the positive changes in friends who've worked with us, creating a "social gravity"
• The human heart emits an electromagnetic field felt 3-6 feet away – scientific evidence for what Eastern medicine calls aura or chi
• Your energy literally influences how others feel when they're around you
• Health isn't just personal – it's deeply relational and impacts everyone in your life
• Even when progress feels small or slow, your efforts create ripples reaching further than you may realize


Want to take the next step with functional medicine? Learn more about our new patient process and lab testing at www.thefacilitydenver.com

For more insights, tips, and behind-the-scenes content, follow us on Instagram @thefacilitydenver

Stay curious, stay proactive, and we’ll catch you next time!

Mitchell:

Welcome to Facilitated, where we bring you real stories, strategies and science from the world of functional medicine. I'm Dr Mitchell Rasmussen, a functional medicine practitioner.

Kate:

And I'm Kate Daugherty, a certified nutritionist. We are the owners of the Facility, a functional medicine clinic here in Denver, Colorado.

Mitchell:

We help people improve their biology and get out of their own way. We help people improve their biology and get out of their own way. In my view, our work is about getting to know the person with the condition much more than it's about understanding which condition the person has. As I always say, diagnose the biology, not the disease.

Kate:

On this podcast we break down complex health topics, share real patient cases anonymized, of course and explore cutting-edge wellness strategies so you can make informed decisions about your health. Quick heads up before we dive in this podcast is for education and general information only. We're here to share insights, not to diagnose or treat. So if you're dealing with a health issue, chat with a qualified healthcare provider before making any changes. All right, let's get into it. You looked at me and, like you, were ready for me to start.

Mitchell:

Well, you have all these notes there, so I figured after the clap you were going to get right into, whatever your message was that's not how it works. No okay, what's happening today?

Kate:

oh, stressful day a little bit yeah we moved into kiln around labor day. We've been here not quite a year and we've just seen so much growth in the busyness here so it's kind of a struggle to get into the studio today yeah, we were hoping to record earlier.

Mitchell:

Now we're sneaking into a small window to be able to share the good messages. I uh, I have a gripe to get off my chest.

Kate:

Okay.

Mitchell:

There's this stoplight by my apartment and, okay, technically it says no, turn right on red. But you know the speed limit technically says 40. Who goes 40,? Right? You go 43, 45, whatever. 90% of people in our neighborhood never stop or they stop, they wait and they go. Because the red light takes forever and because I was spending 20 minutes this morning looking for my wallet that I did end up finding in the refrigerator here at kiln. I'd left it in the fridge overnight in my lunchbox.

Mitchell:

Oh, my god I was. I ended up behind a lady who waited for like four minutes at this no, turn right on red sign, when I'm I never sit behind people because everyone always stops, checks and goes and then I proceeded to hit like five other just turning red lights. And it was so irritating because I was thinking if I hadn't left my wallet in the refrigerator last night at work, I wouldn't have spent 10 minutes this morning looking for my wallet, and then I never would have ended up behind this person, who was the one person in the neighborhood that stops there.

Kate:

That was following the law. You mean You're upset because one person was following the law.

Mitchell:

Well, okay, and this was the part that annoyed me. That was fine, I waited. And then this person proceeded. When they did finally turn right, broke the law by turning a wide right turn into the left lane. You know, if you have two lanes, you keep your lane, the inside lane. I had a good driver's education back in Wisconsin, thank you very much, and we learned you stay in your lane so that if someone from the oncoming traffic is taking a left turn, they get their inside lane, and I just found it so irritating. Fine, I'll wait behind you, but then stay consistent. And you might argue well, wait, you're going to turn red, turn right on red and then keep your lane. Are you not doing the same thing? Maybe, but it was just funny to me. This person was so cautious, waiting their turn until the green light, and then the first thing they did next was they broke the law by taking a wide right turn, and I just had to shake my head.

Kate:

Okay, well, believe it or not, traffic laws is not what we came in the studio to talk about today.

Mitchell:

It's not no, okay, no. If I had just known where my wallet was, I could have gotten here about 11 minutes earlier today.

Kate:

And you're trying to use that as a segue into the ripple effect.

Mitchell:

Well, it's just funny, the ripple effect.

Kate:

Yeah, yeah.

Mitchell:

Right. That whole set of events led me to almost being late.

Kate:

I have a different idea about the ripple effect.

Mitchell:

Yeah.

Kate:

Yeah, but here's how we got into it.

Kate:

So a few months ago I think it's been a few months now we were chatting with our marketing advisor, business advisor jack of all, trades advisor Kurt, and he had challenged us in improving our elevator pitch, improving how we talk about what we do, because it's a struggle, it's so hard to define and even on our website, somewhere I have it written.

Kate:

You may have heard about us from somebody and they couldn't really tell you what we do. They just told you go see us because I've just struggled with defining it. So, anyway, he helped me with giving some prompts to better outline this language, our brand language, and this is where I love using chat GPT. So I gave it a lot of questions to ask me, responded in my voice and then had it, helped me synthesize it down into paragraphs and further, further, further down. His goal was for us to get it down to seven words, plus or minus three to five. Anyway, in doing all of that, chatgpt came up with this definition for us that what we do is the ripple effect, and it is. It's such a core value in our business. I just never had a term to define it.

Mitchell:

And without ever having defined it, I know.

Mitchell:

For years I have made the comment to people that if I can help you improve your life I've written about this a lot, I've been saying it for years if I can help you improve your life and better share your gifts with the world because you have more energy, more mental clarity, less aches and pains, your body is working better, then you can go on to impact your community.

Mitchell:

And what I tell them is there are not enough hours in the day for me or for us to help every single person that needs help that we can provide. So I fully believe that one of my missions on this earth is to improve enough people's lives to where they can then turn around and improve the lives of those around them, and I guess I maybe call it the butterfly effect yeah, but I think that's more like relationship based and it was interesting, though, when you came up with these taglines, I was like, well, well, that's, that's the, that's giving a language to exactly what I've been feeling and explaining, but in such a more clear way, and I do believe that that is our mission.

Mitchell:

Help as many people as we can for them to go change the world in their own way. Right Impact your community first.

Kate:

So let's, let's back up in the definitions. So the ripple effect you make one small change, maybe it's. You start eating breakfast again, you start being mindful of chewing your food or turning your phone off before bed, and then all of a sudden, your bloating calms down, your mood evens out, you have more energy and you start noticing all these unexpected wins. You have more energy and you start noticing all these unexpected wins. That's the internal ripple, and we get this because we know that everything is connected. In functional medicine we work with systems, not just symptoms. So when one piece shifts, the others move with it. But we're really interested in the part that no one talks about enough, and that's this external ripple. Kurt says extrospective, which is a real word. I looked it up.

Mitchell:

You did. You're just firing on all cylinders this week, so many new words.

Kate:

Okay. So the external ripple when your health improves, it changes everything or everyone around you. It changes how you show up in relationships, how you parent, how you lead, how you're perceived by others. And one of the most powerful things about getting healthy is it creates like a social gravity. People see you, they notice the change and then they want in. And that's what the ripple effect is all about. One small shift isn't just about an improved lab marker. It's about your life and the lives you influence, just by living it well.

Mitchell:

I like the way you put that. We just had that happen last week. I've started to ask because we're probably 100% referral based. It's been a slow six year build because we don't have, like you said, a fancy elevator pitch. We're not willing to spend a bunch of money on ads because that's not us. I would much rather do the work and have a genuine build that's sustainable than have a big marketing ploy that gets a bunch of people in the door and you grow that way. Whether that's right or wrong, it feels much more real and genuine to me. But anyway, last week I asked a gal who came in on a referral, as per usual.

Mitchell:

Why do you think the person who sent you sent you to us and this was probably about half an hour into our first visit and what did she say? She said she noticed the change in her friend and she wanted in. And she said I knew, with everything that my friend had going on in a complicated health picture. If she was able to not say it with her words, but the way she showed up, she was able to not say it with her words, but the way she showed up, the way her skin and her color, her energy, her disposition toward the world was. That was what the shift was. It wasn't about hey, I feel so much better, go see them. It was literally the person who got referred in was what are you doing? You look amazing, you look healthy. Now you're ready to try to have a baby and all these things, and it was the most powerful thing. I love that You're not telling about it, you're literally being about it and it comes out of you so bad. That's that social pull that, hey, I want in on that.

Kate:

Yeah, I've noticed you've started asking that question or phrasing the question in that way, and the answers are always similar to that. It's great.

Mitchell:

And it feels so good for us, right? Sometimes we forget the impact that we're making on people and we just get. We get lost in the day to day of the hard work, work, the creating thoughtful testing plans and lifestyle interventions and all this that I think sometimes we forget the impact we have.

Kate:

I think we're so close to the patient's experience too. So even in that example you just gave so often when we ask that patient the same question. She doesn't recognize it in herself.

Mitchell:

Well, that's why I frequently, a few months in, will go back to the initial intake. When someone says you know, this is what's going wrong, this is what's going wrong, I will open up the 75 symptoms that you had when we met you. You know how's the bloating? Oh, actually, actually. No, I'm not noticing it. You know how's your sleep? Oh, I'm sleeping through the night. I'm not waking up sweating anymore.

Mitchell:

All of these things start to unwind and the person has this reflection point, like that was me three months ago, like my problems have shifted. I have new issues because I'm doing more and I'm thinking beyond these crippling things that were keeping me small and keeping me in a place to not really explore what my body is capable of. And now these new problems are happening because I'm exercising too much and I'm over committing socially, so I'm getting my energy bar drained. But these are all only possible because of getting rid of what we actually started with, and I guess in health care, we kind of, in a sucky way, it is kind of focused on well, what's not going well. So I actually think both of us do a good job beyond that, though, of reinforcing what is going well, and I think that that's powerful too yeah, I want to go back to the internal ripple effect for a second.

Kate:

often we hear how overwhelming our direction is. We just heard it an hour ago. I get it. But what's really cool about the ripple effect is you can zoom in so much so I will send you this very overwhelming, drinking from a fire hose summary after our first appointment. But if you choose one of those points to focus on and make the change, often it's just chew your food better. That is the start of the ripple effect. That's where you throw the stone in the water and start the ripples going. That's a good analogy.

Mitchell:

Well, and like today, with this man that's going through a really, you know, a really tough time in his life, going through a novel cancer treatments, and there's just a lot of inputs. You know what did he say? He has six doctor's appointments this week and it was fun for us because he just wanted a little bit of clarity and we were able then and what he did say, that is, there was just so much information given to me right away, so then I picked out one at a time and what did?

Mitchell:

he say he goes. Actually, you're right. That's helping me understand why I'm doing this. And hey, I'll send you a peer-reviewed article from the journal Nutrients that will talk about tocotrienols and their benefit for liver cancer and, specifically, even with your type, that you have. And it was fun because he had, like he said, all that data right away and then okay, we're past that. That you have. And it was fun because he had, like you said, all that data right away and then, okay, we're past that. The shock and awe of kate's email follow-up. Now let's dive into each individual thing, and I think what he noticed was holy crap, there is so much thought behind each and every one of these interventions. That was probably overwhelming on the outset, but then it was highly relevant and now I'd say he's recommitted to why we're asking what we're asking.

Kate:

So another aspect that we see with this is this idea of aura or energy that you're emitting. I recently was in a seminar with a good friend and she reintroduced the idea of heart coherence and biofields to me and I've learned about it before, but it was a good refresher for me. The human heart emits an electromagnetic field that can be felt three to six feet away. So that's the Western medicine explanation for it. But this has been around forever, where Eastern medicine defines it as aura or chi field, where you feel a person's energy when you walk in the room, when you're around them, and it can be positive, it can be negative. You know how cool is it to think that you can influence how people feel around you just by improving your health, just by making any of these small changes, any of these small steps.

Mitchell:

That's wow, I don't know what to say. You do feel it. I like that it's now being defined a little more so that because for me, as someone who's more like analytical numbers based, that kind of in a way, quantifies the importance of how I show up. You know, and I and we've talked about that for a long time, because I had been practicing for a while before you were, you know, you were in a completely different field, you know, monitoring spine and brain surgeries, and it was very western and almost maybe cold definitely very technical get the tumor out, place the hardware.

Mitchell:

There's not really a connection with the person, and I remember I had to remind you a couple times when we first started hey, we do not bring our personal shit to this room because life is hard outside of these walls, but in here it's all about practicing humility, which to me is, you know, not thinking less of myself, but just thinking of myself less, and I'd say that's part of why I like what we do so much, because it allows me to focus on you as the person.

Kate:

Yeah, but I'm going to challenge that a little bit, Because recently I didn't share this with you. But recently we had a patient visit and a few hours after the visit the patient emailed me directly and he said hey, Kate, I just wanted to check in with you because I felt like you were a little down today and just wanted to make sure you're doing okay. And my initial reaction was wow, I can't believe I let that come across. And, yes, I was feeling down. Yes, I was feeling stressed out. I had other things going on. And I know I was feeling down. Yes, I was feeling stressed out. I had other things going on, and I know I was conveying that and I was embarrassed a little bit at first. I took the weekend to reflect on it and here I am a month, a few weeks, later. I don't mind that. I want us to show up authentically and we aren't robots, we are real humans and I expect our patients to understand that too okay, I, yeah, I think there can be a balance with that.

Mitchell:

I think, knowing that my aura extends three to six feet, I need to show up the best I can. Um, but you're right, I mean, we're people, so it's not going to be perfect. But I will double down and say that is what I love most about caring for other humans is I can place my energy outside of myself, and but it is a mix. I, you know, I recently had a guy. He told me, mitchell, you live with your heart on the outside of your chest and for some reason it almost made me cry, because what he was saying was I can tell sometimes that you're down, but what I mostly get from you is how excited you are for me to make these changes, and you're like it's intoxicating. How excited you're getting makes me want to do it, because I see the technical skills you have, but then it's the. The energy you bring to this makes it almost impossible to not do it.

Mitchell:

So I think, it's a mix okay, and I just needed to brag a little bit, that my heart is on the outside of my chest and it's like the coolest compliment, especially because the guy is a really smart therapist and he sees me that feels so good for you it does.

Kate:

Okay, as we wrap up, remember this yes, when you make changes to your health, you feel the difference in your gut, your energy, your mood, but the ripple doesn't stop at your skin. When you feel better, you show up differently. You're more patient, more present, more you, and even if no one says it out loud, they feel it. Maybe you're more patient with your kids because your nervous system is regulated. Maybe you finally said yes to going out with friends because you're not crashing at 6 pm. Maybe your partner booked an overdue visit because watching you take charge sparked something in them. Health isn't just personal, it's deeply relational. So if it feels like your efforts are small or slow or only matter to you, they're not. Like your efforts are small or slow or only matter to you, they're not. You're creating a ripple that may reach further than you'll know and maybe, just maybe, you're becoming the person that someone else looks at and says I want that too.