Energy Medicine
Things that we give little thought to when we are young often have a way of creeping into focus later in life. For instance, there is a certain age (you must fill in the number yourself) when healthcare all of a sudden become a valid topic of discussion.
There is the joke about the organ recital at the local nursing home. “My stomach hurts so much I…blah blah, blah”, “Oh I should be so lucky. My heart….blah blah, blah.” and on and on….
A friend of mine, (Let’s just say he listened to Winston Churchill’s radio addresses during WWII) sent me an email asking my opinion on energy medicine.  It was a good question.
Here was my response:
As for energy medicine, that all depends. Our bodies and actually the entire universe is energy (ie. atoms are not exactly solid stuff), MRI’s read energy, drugs effect change through energy and chiropractic restores energy flow to and from the nerves. That said “energy medicine” has become a “code word” for some occult practices that really are no more energy related than more traditional therapies.
Please avoid things like New Age Healing, Reiki and Pendulums as any power they have to heal is not universal (at best it’s psychological and at worse it’s demonic).
On the other hand, there are subtle healing techniques that could be classified as energy medicine that should not be discounted. Some interesting and legitimate examples are cold laser, infrared (and other light energies) some massage therapy, some acupuncture, and some magnetic devices (beware of some multilevel vendors).
I hope this will help you. I might write a post on this. It’s a good topic and we are always learning the value of energy in healthcare practice. But if our minds are too open our brain falls out…something to avoid.”
Two Times One Half
This is a setup. In this post I’ll explain something that I use in the clinical nature of my practice that will help you understand where I’m coming from in a future post. I’ve been meaning to write about a certain current event, but my thesis would be difficult to understand without this post as a reference. Two Times One Half (AKA; 2X1/2) is that foundation.
Many of my patients become friends. I know this is not considered to be good professional behavior, but we live in a small, tight knit community and frankly life’s too short to squelch friendships in lieu of perceived professionalism.
Ian had been a long term patient. A tall, tough, wiry guy. He was a Marine in Vietnam and transitioned out of the service poorly as so many did. Life had been hard on him and judging from his later day constitution plus relationships and personal propensities, he was equally hard on his life. Still he maintained a gentle spirit and a deeply caring attitude for those he loved, if not always for himself. That’s why when his family encouraged him to quit smoking he took up the challenge.
At first, I missed the subtle signs that something was wrong. Sure for years he’d come in reeking of tobacco and I’d sometimes notice him bolt out of the office after an adjustment and light up a cigarette. I’d marvel at the lasting behavior patterns that date back to military service. He had probably been in his early twenties the last time he had to worry about a Vietcong sniper catching a bead on the glow of his cigarette, yet his brain still insisted his hand protectively cup the burning embers to prevent detection.
Subtle signs would have been: the frequency of his visits increasing; that he stopped smelling smoky; and no longer raced out of the office. Now he lingered as if wanting me to perform some further miracle that might be within my realm.
A few days later he came in very agitated, not at me or my staff, but just generally. The subtle signs were long gone and his body was broadcasting loud and clear that something was desperately wrong.
“Ian, what’s going on with you today?” I asked.
“I wanted to tear the cupboards off the walls, so I got in the car and came here.”
Again I asked, “What’s going on?”
“Doc, I’ve not had a cigarette for ten and a half days and I’m going crazy.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and encouraged, “Ian, that’s great.” Then I blew it by adding that the worst part of the physical addiction to nicotine was over.
“Maybe so, but I feel worse now than ever.”
Then one of the strangest dialogs followed that will remain stuck in my memory forever. “You know Ian, I’ve read that cigarettes are one of the toughest habits to break. They say nicotine is even more addictive than heroin.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. Heroin is nothing, I’ve broken that habit twice and have been clean for years, but I’m a monster trying to quit this. Even my family’s encouraging me to smoke again!”
I just stood there pulling my jaw off the floor, wondering what to say next when he asked, “Doc, isn’t there like a treatment place… like a rehab center for smokers?”
Again my time of usefulness ended when he easily confirmed my insights about heroin addiction. He walked out of my office with a straighter spine, but with little more. The next time I saw him was a few weeks later. He was calm and happy and reeked of tobacco smoke. Nothing was said. Months later, I casually broached the cigarette habit again. “So Ian, whatever happened with your attempt to quit smoking?”
“It just wasn’t worth it. I had massive headaches, was always uptight and couldn’t sleep. Finally my wife threw a pack of cigarettes at me and said, ‘If you don’t smoke, one of us is going to die.’ So I lit up and it was one of the best days of my life.”
Normally, I wouldn’t have said much, but I was prepared. “You know Ian, sometimes it’s not good to quit something cold turkey. Most people can cut their bad habits in half pretty easily.”
He went on to tell me about how his best buddy quit drinking and died of a heart attack within a month. And how another acquaintance had quit “everything bad” and even started to eat right, only to end up dieing of cancer. There was no indication that anything I said sunk in and he left quickly and lit up before he hit the sidewalk.
Months past before I saw him again. For the first time he greeted me using my first mane. “You really helped me, Ray. I did what you said.”
Frantically my mind searched for what I had “said.” Then he laid down on my adjusting table, took a deep breath and relaxed. Not wanting to admit that I wasn’t sure what I’d said that helped him, I began searching for a bone (pun intended) and asked, “So Ian, what’s been going on, it’s been a while since you were here last.”
“Things are great.”
Realizing I was not getting anywhere, I asked. “What did you mean that I helped you with what I said?”
“Yeah, that really worked, I went from three packs a day to half a pack. It was no problem and I feel great. It only took a week. I cut how much I smoked in half until I got to half a pack and decided that I’d call it good…don’t want to tempt fate…knock on wood.”
That was about five years ago. Ian still smokes, but not more than half a pack a day and he feels life is very good.
Since that experience I encourage this formula. With a little devotion it always works flawlessly. I call it 2×1/2. We tend to lose an important perspective when we deal with changing things about our life. For instance, we decide to lose weight and we go on a diet regime that is as impossible and unsustainable as Ian’s attempt to quit smoking cold turkey. Then we fall off the plan and wonder what went wrong, or we decide to exercise and jump into a program only to find our body is too prone to injury to continue.
That’s where the 2×1/2 concept comes in. When you desire to improve some positive aspect of your life, you can easily double it (2x) and if you have a vice of some type you can cut your exposure to it in half (½) without too much effort and little risk.
For example, say I decide that reading is better for me than TV. I’d simply double my time spent reading and cut my time wasted in front of the TV by one half. The concept is so simple that anybody can figure it out, yet there is so much room for creativity that every possibility and any problem can be fitted into the reasonableness of this formula.
There, I hope you have fun with Two Times One Half and see where it will take you. As for me I’ll revisit the concept in the near future, in another post, in a totally unexpected way.
Broken Bodies
When I write articles about health and wellness, I think about my patients and how best to share the “BIG IDEA” with them. Years later, when I re-visit what I’ve written, I realize It is the author who needed to learn from the message. Here is the original text, of Broken Bodies before I included it in The Power of 90
In the early eighties criminologists George Kelling and James Q. Wilson published an article in The Atlantic that has revolutionized our understanding of the relationship between the condition of property and crime. Their argument was that rampant crime is the inevitable result of disorder.
Imagine an urban neighborhood where the homes and apartments are well cared for. No pealing paint, carefully tended planter boxes, an absence of litter. In this neighborhood if a ball happens through a window it is quickly fixed and if someone sprays graffiti on a wall it is dealt with immediately. All who enter this neighborhood are aware that there are standards. Quality-of-life is important to the people who live there and it is clear that people have dignity and care about their environment.
Unfortunately for every neighborhood that seeks to maintain order there are many that do little or nothing to keep up a standard of expectations. This is the communities where Kelling and Wilson make their point. As soon as disorder becomes apparent people naturally conclude that no one cares. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, it becomes an invitation to break more windows. Soon lawlessness spreads. Graffiti becomes a permanent part of the landscape and filth begins to infect the neighborhood. Since nobody is in charge, thugs begin to rule the streets and soon the neighborhood is in disorder, safety is diminished and crime and violence become rampant.
Many may argue that it is a long leap of reason to go from a single broken window to a seriously decayed community. On paper it is a stretch, but in countless neighborhoods throughout the world a reproducible “experiment” has saved not only windows, but quality-of-life. When the responsible people of a neighborhood rally together and claim ownership of the streets, allies and sidewalks wonderful things happen. The most obvious sign of change, is that someone cares. Repairing streetlights and broken windows, new paint and cleaning up trash sends a clear message that someone is in control.
Chances are, you live in a neighborhood that sends a clear message to all who pass through. A message that says we care, a message that relays to others that someone is in control, so why would I bother telling you about a groundbreaking study on criminology? The answer is obvious if you are willing to take another leap of reason. One warning though, this probably will hurt.
If someone were to “pass through” your life and examine your lifestyle, your level of health and commitment to wellness, would they see someone who cared? Would they see evidence that someone was in control?
Getting up everyday and sweeping off the front steps, taking each weekend and painting over graffiti and spending the money to fix broken property is not easy. However, if reclaiming a neighborhood is important, it is something that must be done. Likewise, eating right, exercising regularly, and spending money to correct and maintain our mind and body is not easy, but if reclaiming our health is important, it too, must be done.
Graham Kerr is alive and well
Photo circa 1994, long before HIPAA
Graham and his lovely wife Treena moved away from our community a number of years ago. Yet, I’m still asked about him from time to time. Often the question is, “I don’t hear about him anymore. Is he still alive?”
Trust me, when he does go to be with Jesus (which is where he is going) everybody will know. Graham has made a tremendous impact on this world. He continues to lead a life that is committed to helping others and he will be honored for that and remembered fondly.
I’d rather speak fondly of him now and honor him for helping others while he is alive and well. Graham has been a personal friend and mentor for years. We met exactly fifteen years ago. So, in recognition of that anniversary, I want to share with you a story I wrote, which was published in Today’s Chiropractic.
While first published in the March/April 1994 issue, this article is not out of date. Even today it touches the essence of Graham’s zest for life and interest in living fully for others — timeless.
Legal Note: See comments
Bon Appétit: Graham Kerr: Health and Food
by Ray Pope D.C.
While in chiropractic college, I heard a professor once say, “Treat regular folk as if they are famous people and famous people like they’re regular folk.” The first half of that advice swerved me well for years, but it was not until June 1992 that I had the opportunity to implement the latter half of that wise saying.
It was then I met Graham Kerr.
His wife, Treena, called to make an appointment. I recognized a pleasant English accent, but the name Graham Kerr made no impact at all. Later that day, a Chrysler LeBaron convertible drove up to my office. As an active middle-aged couple got out of the car, my wife asked, “Do you know who that is?”
Before I could recall the name I had been given over the telephone, she swooned, exclaiming “That’s the Galloping Gourmet!”
As a youngster, I remember sitting before the television set, totally entertained by this culinary giant. Perhaps it was my mother who tuned in, but I was captivated as this witty young man chopped, diced and sautéed his way into our living room. Never could I have imagined that someday he would literally walk into my adjusting room! page 60 || page 61
Recovery Through Chiropractic
It is hard to imagine Kerr as anything but a gourmet chef buzzing about an immaculate studio kitchen, creating dishes to please both the eye and the palate. Yet, when asked what first led him to a chiropractor, he surprisingly related a story of an injury sustained while he was a commissioned officer in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
The year was 1960. Strong winds make the Wellington Straights a favorite site for sailing in New Zealand, however, the Straights are also known for sudden southerly storms with terrifying gale winds.
A small sailboat, transporting a couple and their young child, could not make it to safety as the winds picked up one day. Large waves began to crash the boat against the rocks of the shore.
Squadron Leader Kerr was there for the rescue, helping the family ashore without incident. However, in the process, he slipped on a rock, which was slick with sea spray, and fell.
The injuries that resulted from the fall caused him excruciating back pain. All the doctors on the military base eventually tried to correct the young officer’s problem. Their treatment consisted of recommending bed rest, prescribing painkillers and even having him lie down on boards. No course of care eased Kerr’s discomfort. Finally, a doctor who specialized in the care of injuries sustained by downed pilots during World War II visited his bedside. The specialist utilized adjustments of the vertebrae to restore proper function to the spine. Within a short period, Kerr’s ailments began to subside. Eventually, his recovery was complete, and he has been a fan of chiropractic ever since.
A Hit on Television
In the early days of New Zealand’s television industry, the Air Force conducted a daily physical fitness program. One day, the drill sergeant who led the program didn’t show up on time. Since the program was a live broadcast, a senior officer ordered Kerr to appear on television in the drill sergeant’s place.
As the chief catering advisor to the Air Force, Kerr did not feel qualified to lead the viewers in exercise. So that day, there was no vigorous workout. Instead, he treated the audience to his spontaneity and humor while preparing a delicious omelet. His TV debut was in uniform, with no apron – which is still a trademark.
It was after a successful national cooking show in Australia that Kerr moved to Canada to film The Galloping Gourmet, a show that caught the world’s attention and quickly became the most successful cooking show on television. His success was largely due to his outrageous, clever and charming manner.
However, it has been said that behind every great man is a great woman. Treena Kerr received two Emmy nominations as Producer of the Year for daytime television.
Overcoming Adversity
Then tragedy struck.
In 1971, a vegetable truck crashed into Kerr’s on-location production vehicle near San Francisco, Calif. Graham became paralyzed on his left side, and Treena suffered complications that resulted in major surgery.
They devoted the next two years to rehabilitation and reordering their lives. After returning to their native country, England, they stayed at the Forest Mere Health Hydro, a world-famous health spa that was featured in the James Bond film Thunderball. From a chiropractic perspective, the most interesting scene in the movie is when the undercover spy Bond (Sean Connery) is given a brief massage by a beautiful female therapist who proceeds to manipulate every bone in his spine.
Fortunately, Graham Kerr’s care was a bit more mild than that given to the secret agent. In a short time, his paralysis abated. However, he still had a problem with dizziness. Literally, he would fall down after eating meals.
A Scottish doctor prescribed a sea voyage for him. The motion of the boat would challenge his sense of balance, and the rigors of life aboard a sailboat was sure to help him regain his strength.
For two years, the Kerrs sailed with their three children 24,000 miles across the Atlantic and throughout the Caribbean. Fully recovered and fit once again, the family returned to the United States.
Helping the Needy
In 1974, a conversion to Christianity led the Kerrs to focus their talents toward helping the less fortunate. They co-founded Creative Lifestyles International, Inc., an organization dedicated to showing people how to live better with less money. The basic principles are simple yet effective: Convert habits that hurt into provisions that heal, and pass the benefits on to the world’s disadvantaged.
Author Ronald Sider, in his book Rich Christians in a Hungry World, cites the Kerrs efforts and loving generosity as exemplary. Due to their ongoing concern for the needy, the Kerrs have improved the lives of many individuals throughout the world.
Although Graham Kerr is not well known for his work in putting food on the tables of the poor, he is widely recognized for his influence on what Americans serve on their dinner table. Page 62
The Joy of Cooking
In his early television programs and popular cookbooks, he led his fans in fabulous creations loaded with saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium and a lot of calories. He even incurred the wrath of Weight Watchers, with the dubious Broken Spoon Award, a distinction he is not proud to have. His work in Creative Lifestyles International began a fundamental change in his approach to food preparation. He saw the need to reduce the dangerous properties of traditional cooking without reducing its enjoyment or creativity.
It was Treena’s heart attack in 1986 that motivated Graham to put his new lifestyle and cooking technique on television. Together, with the American Heart Association, he produced, A Bite With Kerr, a series of 130 spots with tips to encourage healthy eating. He did not stop there. Intensive nutrition research, combined with a lifetime of cooking experience, culminated in the development of the Minimax cooking style – minimum risk with maximum creativity.
Public broadcasting stations across the United States air his highly acclaimed program, Graham Kerr’s Kitchen, a weekly series that illustrates the basic techniques of Minimax cooking. An earlier series, called Graham Kerr, is broadcast twice daily on the Discovery Network. In addition, he continues to enjoy an international audience through The Graham Kerr Show, which is currently aired in the United Kingdom, Europe and New Zealand.
Kerr’s determination to encourage people to eat better can also be found in bookstores across the country. He is a bestselling author, with more than four million books sold. Smart Cooking, published by Doubleday in October 1991, sold 100,000 copies in the first eight weeks. Enthusiasm was so great that Doubleday published the sequel, Graham Kerr’s Minimax Cookbook, just one year later. Putnam Press is currently publishing and impressive third cookbook, Creative Choices.
A Winning Personality
Besides the television series and writing, Kerr keeps busy by producing instructional videos, teaching restaurant chefs and developing kitchen equipment. He is an award-winning member of the distinguished International Association of Culinary Professionals, and he is also a consultant to several private and public groups.
University Synergy, in Cleveland, Ohio, is rapidly gaining national attention with its holistic approach to health and rehabilitation. The center utilizes lifestyle modification and other preventive approaches to maintain and improve health. University Synergy is working with Kerr to develop a comprehensive cooking school which will help patients and others learn how to attack coronary diseases and other conditions through nutrition.
Reflecting in each of Kerr’s endeavors is one thing that always stands out: He loves people and has an interest and compassion for others. He is naturally at ease with other patients in my waiting area. Often, I see him chatting and laughing candidly with other patients. Food may be his business, but it is clear that people are his true delight. I must smile and wonder if he had that same professor. It is obvious that, in Graham Kerr’s mind, everybody is a famous person.
I’m not certain whether it is his past injuries, his healthy lifestyle or his busy schedule that has made him appreciate the value of chiropractic most. No mater the reason, the man who shows the world how to create “great food for great years” knows that regular chiropractic adjustments are essential. Page 63
Insiders Secrets to Health and Wellness
Sorry about the inconsistency of the video found in my last post. I’ll try to fix it, but have found if you play with the post loading options it will work eventually.
Here’s something I’ve been working on for a June talk I’m giving. I’m calling it Insiders Secrets to Health and Wellness. It’s very condensed and rough, but here are the major aspects for you to check out. Enjoy!
Our world is full of harmful influences leading to dis-ease, dysfunctional aging and early death.
It’s up to you and every other person to learn about and deal with these problems. This is called orthobiosis (Literally, “proper living”) which means living in accordance with the truths of health and wellness in order to lead a more full and abundant life. Once you discover these secrets you will understand how to optimize wellness and revolutionize your life.
There are three realms which demand our attention Internal, External and Universal. If any of these are underdeveloped or unduly stressed our health is threaten and our ability to benefit from orthobiosis vanishes, therefore our ability to live a full and abundant life is diminished.
Wellness is within reach if we know the secrets which can create a state of orthobiosis.
Internal wellness principles will propel you into a state of optimal function
Solutions:
Optimize Spinal Health
Maintain Adequate RestExternal wellness principles will allow you to control your form which serves as the foundation for life expression.
Solutions:
Enhance Physical Fitness
Create Exceptional NutritionUniversal wellness principles add enjoyment and significance to our life experience.
Solutions:
Promote Proper Mental Attitude
Gain Spiritual Certainty
If I Were King…
Mood: Contrary
Book Just finished The Making of Modern Economics:
The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers by Mark Skousen A very incredible work. A bit quirky, but fascinating!
Music: The hum of my computer
Yesterday I had one of those conversations with a patient. You know the kind. “If I were King I would solve the problem by…”
So what’s the problem I’d solve if I were King? Text books; they’d be banished from my kingdom.
No I’m not against learning, far from it. There is, however a huge problem which exists in our schools today. It is a sort of educational crisis and one that is not being addressed effectively.
For many reasons most schools no longer have student lockers. If I remember correctly it’s mostly because of a series of successful law suits brought against schools that had the silly idea that they could actually expel and/or prosecute a student who put things like mirrors, lipstick, drugs and bombs into their school issued locker.
That’s not really important. What is important is the outcome. Now public school students of all ages are subjected to hauling text books with them all day to each class. I’ve seen first hand the sad results of this in my practice.
One 80 pound girl was loading her backpack with well over 30 pounds of “necessary” items. It was no wonder she was suffering from back pain. Imagine my amazement when her mom added, “Oh and she carries her French Horn from home to the bus and then on to the music room three days a week. Do you think that could have anything to do with it?”
So as King, what’s the answer? Easy, text books should be band from the backs of our children. They are foolish remnant of a bygone era. Stop cutting down trees and stop printing new editions and stop over pricing educational materials and stop greasing the palms of entrenched administrators and national educators (what is a national educator anyway?). Instead, provide age appropriate book readers and personal laptop technology like One Laptop Per Child loaded with easily updatable text and files.
Sure we would need to free the stranglehold government schools have on education and allow for a freely competitive educational market place, but aren’t the children worth it?
Good for Business — Bad for Baby
Finally, I’m at a career high. First, I should thank the parents and children who have provided me with over twenty years of research data. Thank You! Your child rearing decisions; successful or not, now can provide improved health and comfort to countless others.
As for the “career high,” what I’m about to share will not help my business, but it will help a new generation of mom’s and dad’s avoid tremendous grief as they raise their children.
It’s the simple cries in the wilderness which often make the biggest difference. So here it goes: Infant Car Seats are a scourge on the very fabric of humanity!
Admittedly, that is a very strong accusation, but one founded on a huge amount of facts, anecdotal evidence, conjecture, observation and of course facts (Notice the double mention of “facts”…. I think it gives a little more credibility. What do you think?)
Perhaps I’m on shaky ground here; after all I’m a devotee of all things safe: Infant car seats among them. Just like seatbelts, shoulder harnesses and air bags, infant seats have saved countless, precious lives. But the car seat part is not my beef. It is the detachable aspect that I detest. Once the infant car seat is released from the base and removed from the car, it becomes dangerous for the baby, parents and society.
Transporting children has always been a problem, to some degree, in every age and in all cultures. Mostly, a mother walks where she needs to go and carries her baby slung against her body. Usually, some “improvement” comes along and baby transportation becomes easier. It’s not difficult to imagine early Americans trekking across the Great Plains. It probably didn’t take long to fashion a rustic infant carrier by strapping the papoose onto the travois.
Today, safe transportation goes beyond, wondering if the horse will bolt. In this country’s car dominant culture, parents are hugely mobile and activities are excessively abundant. The advent of the modern infant car seat – with detachable base, at first blush seems like a godsend. And it has been an important advancement in child safety; however, there is a plethora of unexpected, negative consequences from this “advancement.”
- Bad for Rest: “Baby’s nap time” now means eyes-closed-in-car-seat, anytime, anywhere. You try sleeping in a moving grocery cart and tell me how restful it is.
- Bad for Backs: An 18 pound baby now weighs in at over thirty pounds (seat, bedding toys, bottle….and baby) Just to put things in perspective, If OSHA ever got jurisdiction over the back seat “workplace,” cars would require modifications which would easily cost hundreds of dollars (each child), not including the mandatory back support belt for the parent.
- Bad for Muscles & Joints: Biomechanically, there is no acceptable way to actually walk while carrying a fully loaded child seat. All the weight is piled on one side (unless you have twins) and the center of gravity is extended far away from the carriers’ body…not at all ideal!
- Bad for Posture: Children are ment to be active even while floating in the mothers womb. When awake, preborn babies are quite active and seldom maintain a single position for any extended period of time. So why would we expect that an infant should stay in “the car seat position” for any extended time? (If you say to yourself, “they seem so content”…read Plato’s “Cave”).
- Bad for Relationships: Natural human contact is substituted for convenience. For whatever reason, God made baby-eyes able to focus better up close and personal (not transitioning fully until about eight months). Their sense of smell is acute and their need for close physical contact is well known. Parking a child on the floor, strapped into a plastic chair may seem convenient, but is it right?
Just to be fair, I should mention that as a chiropractor the detachable infant car seat trend has helped business. In part, my colleagues and I are inadvertently supported financially by the continued abuse these devises inflict. However, in the future, my wife and I intend to buy baby slings for each of our grandchildren. That way their safety seats can stay in the car where they belong.
Happy and worry-free is the only way to be
The Stanwood/Camano News did me the honor of publishing the following article last Tuesday. My title was Don’t Worry, but I like the liberties they took. They did a nice job with the rhyme and it will certainly fare far better in search engines. HAPPY and WORRY are great, but FREE…that was a stroke of genius. Wish I could think *SEO like that.
You will find this article is as much about chiropractic wellness as it is worry, but then, in my life most things are.
A Fun Passing Note: Over the last few years this local news paper has published just about everything I’ve sent them, but my favorite was to see one of my health and wellness articles in there. That might not seem too amazing, since everything I’ve sent them is on health and wellness. What was amazing is that this particular article was published sans the last third of its text and placed in the Auto and Motor section! If anybody is curious, I might be tempted to post it in this blog, but I’d need to know what version you’d like; the one for you, or your car?
Happy and worry-free is the only way to be
In my quest for fitness I do this thing about twice a week where I strap on a pair of running shoes and set out on foot determined to make it around a four mile loop. There was a time when I’d sprint four miles, but speed doesn’t seem so important anymore. That’s why I normally jog were its flat, chug up the hills and walk down the other side.
The house was quiet one morning, so I decided to “run around the block.” There is plenty of woods along the route and when it’s dark, it’s really dark and I always forget a flashlight, but I know the way and the road is straight and fairly smooth. Just shy of the half way point the dawn broke free of the mountains and I was glad to see the subtle hues of red spill across the sky. There was nobody to share the eerie glow with, in fact I’d not seen another person or a car since I began. Probably the early birds were already gone for the day and the sleepyheads remained snug in their beds. The lack of activity was a little unsettling as I walked alone down a small hill and reflected.
The moment didn’t last long as the dim light and all of the red disappeared. Clouds pushed tight against the Cascades. I could still see; my eyes had become accustomed to the low light, but still I wished I’d waited another fifteen minutes as I plunged through another canopy of trees. Hills mean – chug!, so I put my thoughts behind me and raced up the incline, heart pounding and lungs straining for air. Breaking out of the shadows, I reached the top of the hill and was relieved to slow my pace as I started my decent. Then I froze in my tracks.
A chill ran down my spine as the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. There was no way to get out of this. It was right behind me. It’s growl was breathy and resonated loud against the quiet. My guess was coyote, but in the back of my mind I thought cougar – rabid dog? Slowly I turned, knowing I couldn’t outrun any beast with twice the legs.
Nothing was there! But there was that awful noise again. Heart still pounding, I laughed out loud when I looked down at my feet to see a wildly panting French Bulldog barely a foot tall. “Arthur, you scared me.” Reaching down I petted my little friend. When I run I usually see Arthur at the bottom of the hill and give him a pat on the head and a scratch under the chin. This day his short legs worked hard running up the hill to get my attention. Genetics is not on the little dogs side for running and the pug nose combined with exertion led to his terrible growling sound. “Go home now. No sneaking up on me next time.”
Over the next couple miles I chuckled to myself about my silly concern, about my physical response to worry, about the unfounded fear. It got me thinking. How often are we concerned about things that never come to pass. How often in life is our worry unfounded? Do we furrow our brow, loose sleep and pine away over silly concerns?
I know many people are concerned over aging. It seems normal in our culture to worry about growing old. Isn’t it ironic that the stress from worry actually contributes to dysfunctional aging? The best way to approach the aging process is to focus on health and well-being. Life is not meant to be consumed with worries and concerns about sickness and disease. So when we strive to achieve wellness, we not only avoid many problems that go along with dysfunctional aging, but enjoy the collateral benefit of an active, fulfilling life.
Chiropractic wellness care is vital in our pursuit of a quality life experience. Freeing interference to the delicate spinal nerves in order to created harmony throughout the body is the goal of chiropractic. Exercise, eating right, rest and a positive mental and spiritual attitude are also important. Work diligently for wellness now and in the future and remember these famous words. “Don’t worry. Be happy.”
*Search Engine Optimization
