Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Well, on second thought…
I scoffed at SARS and the bird flu, and they both turned out to be about as dramatic as Comet Kohoutek. (You probably don’t even remember Comet Kohoutek, which made a pass through our solar system in the early 70’s. After months of hype about how it would light the night sky for months, it fizzled. By the time it got here, it was hardly visible at all. Comet Kohoutek was entirely UN-dramatic.)
I’ve done a lot of scoffing at the swine flu, too. After SARS and the bird flu, I’ve come to regard this latest threat to humanity as nothing more than another cry of “wolf.” Despite all of the screaming, fear based headlines, I don’t personally know one single person who has come down with the swine flu. I am a healthcare practitioner, and none of my clients has come in sick or called to cancel because of the swine flu. None of my friends, family, acquaintances or colleagues have gotten the swine flu. Within my sphere, which is considerable in size, the swine flu has yet to show up.
So, I was a bit surprised by a conversation I had just a few days ago with one of my clients who is a nurse at the large medical center in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Before I go on, let me say that she is one of my very favorite clients and, even though our philosophies differ on some health issues, I have the utmost respect for her professional knowledge, experience and insight. She told me that her hospital is inundated with swine flu cases. The emergency room is overflowing and doctor’s offices are full. She also told me it’s the most virulent flu she has ever seen. She is scared of it.
She went on to tell me that, earlier on, she advised her family not to get the swine flu vaccine and she had not planned to get it herself. Now, after dealing with the disease first hand, she plans to get the vaccine when it becomes available, and she is advising her family to get it, too. I told her that if my son ever says he is going to get the vaccine, I’ll handcuff him to his bed and guard the door so he can’t leave the house.
I pointed out that the vaccine is largely untested and contains some very toxic components. No one has any inkling of what adverse long term effects may show up, and it’s likely not to work anyway.
Her response: “Yeah, I know. It’s a crapshoot.”
That was a real eyebrow-raiser for me. Her decision was based on fear. She’s more afraid of the disease than she is of the vaccine. Not a very empowered position is it?
After our conversation, it occurred to me that I used the same tactic as the fear mongers of the flu. Fear. Toxicity…questionable efficacy…long term risks…
Fear!
Another thing occurred to me. My client’s experience shows that the swine flu virus is among us. That means that, by now, we have ALL been exposed to it. Yet, I still don’t personally know one single person who has come down with the swine flu. I am a healthcare practitioner, and none of my clients have come in sick or called to cancel because of the swine flu. None of my friends, family, acquaintances or colleagues have gotten the swine flu. Within my sphere, which is considerable in size, the swine flu has yet to show up, even in my client, who is surrounded by it every day at work.
That’s because we all have an immune system—part of our innate healing wisdom—the most powerful healing force available.
I’ve decided to move away from fear-based arguments and stick with MY message, in its various forms. That’s what I left my client with the other day and it’s what I’ll leave you with today…
You are beautiful and perfect.
Empower your potential, not your problems.
You are inherently healthy.
Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, energy healer, lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
You can't change. You can only hide or emerge.
This photo of a gorgeous wilderness sunrise on a smokey summer morning tells the tale of your life...
The darkness of night and the smoke from a distant forest fire made the towering pines, sparkling river and majestic mountains invisible to me only an hour before I took this photo. Still, although shrouded in darkness, they were there in all their splendor and it took only the light of dawn to reveal their beauty.
Vibrant health, joy, inner peace, abundance, wisdom, success and everything you could ever want are already a part of you. Perhaps they are veiled -- even hidden -- but they will always be there. Beauty and perfection are the real you. That can never change. You just need to decide whether you want to keep hiding, or emerge into the light.
(Photo taken in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness area about 6 years ago.)
Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, energy healer, lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Prevention is not the answer. Wellness is.
Continued from last week...
When we last heard from our friends, Bright Dwight and Silly Willy, Willy had given up on ever swimming across the river and making it to the market to sell his heavy load of apples. He sat upon the bank, despondent, wondering what could be done to solve this river problem. His brother, Dwight, on the other hand, had devoted his thought, time, energy and resources to building a boat. His boat was strong and swift, and he glided across the river to the market with his load of apples and returned with a tidy profit.
Silly Willy knew that the river had been a threat in previous years. He had heard tell of the swift and rapid stream (SARS) a few years earlier. And only the previous year, waterfowl had been seen swimming in the river, giving rise to great fears of bird flow. And this very year, wild boars had been seen frolicking upon the banks of the river upstream of the village. “Certainly, with hogs in the river,” Willy thought aloud, “we must protect ourselves against swine flow.” Silly Willy thought and thought, and soon formulated a brilliant plan. “This river is a menace to all our land,” thought Willy. We must prevent this dangerous and life-threatening flow.”
Willy rose early the next morning and swam across the river to meet with the Village Executive Council. He swam with fear gripping his heart for he knew that the river threatened his very existence.
“First there was SARS, then Bird Flow, and now Swine Flow,” admonished Silly Willy to the council. “This river is a grave threat to the people of our fine village. Something must be done!”
“Yes, but what?” Asked the Chief of the Executive Council.
“We must stop the flow before it can reach us,” answered Silly Willy. “We need only build a dam, far upstream, and that will prevent the water from ever reaching us.”
“Brilliant!” exhorted the Chief Executive.
“Yes, brilliant indeed!” echoed the council.
“From now on, you will be known as Wise Willy,” proclaimed the Chief Executive.
“Wise Willy…Wise Willy…Wise Willy!” chanted the council with great adulation.
Soon after, the wisest of the land’s Magnificent Dambuilders (MD’s) teamed up with the Committees for Drainage and Canals (CDC) and before you could say, “belly flop,” they had a plan approved by the Fence and Dam Authority (FDA).
The people of the land rejoiced at the wisdom of the plan, knowing that their lives would be safer and more pleasant as soon as they were dammed.
Most people rejoiced, but not all…
Some warned that damming the river was dangerous, and a dam would never work anyway. Among these voices of reason was Bright Dwight. “We need the river,” he said. “If the river stops flowing, everybody’s well will go dry. Dry wells are a much greater threat to our health than a flowing river. We must preserve our wells. Well-ness is far better for us than trying to prevent the flow.”
“Preposterous!” replied the MD’s and the CDC in unison. “Don’t you know that 36,000 people die each year from the flow?”
“Um…who?” asked Dwight.
“Well…(ahem)…uh…we don’t know exactly who. Everybody just knows that 36,000 people die from the flow every year. This is an incontrovertible truth because we say it every year.”
One villager chuckled to a friend, “These ‘well-ness’ people are strange ones, to be sure.”
“Strange indeed,” agreed the friend. “And this Dwight fellow is the strangest among them. Too bad he isn’t brilliant like his brother, Wise Willy. Obviously one brother got most of the brains in the family.”
With that, this story—from a time long ago and a land far away—comes to a close. I don’t need to tell you the outcome. It’s easy to figure out…
Author’s note: Please forgive the unsophisticated humor in this tale. You may even consider it pun-demic! (Oh, that one even makes me groan!)
Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, Energy Healer, Lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
When we last heard from our friends, Bright Dwight and Silly Willy, Willy had given up on ever swimming across the river and making it to the market to sell his heavy load of apples. He sat upon the bank, despondent, wondering what could be done to solve this river problem. His brother, Dwight, on the other hand, had devoted his thought, time, energy and resources to building a boat. His boat was strong and swift, and he glided across the river to the market with his load of apples and returned with a tidy profit.
Silly Willy knew that the river had been a threat in previous years. He had heard tell of the swift and rapid stream (SARS) a few years earlier. And only the previous year, waterfowl had been seen swimming in the river, giving rise to great fears of bird flow. And this very year, wild boars had been seen frolicking upon the banks of the river upstream of the village. “Certainly, with hogs in the river,” Willy thought aloud, “we must protect ourselves against swine flow.” Silly Willy thought and thought, and soon formulated a brilliant plan. “This river is a menace to all our land,” thought Willy. We must prevent this dangerous and life-threatening flow.”
Willy rose early the next morning and swam across the river to meet with the Village Executive Council. He swam with fear gripping his heart for he knew that the river threatened his very existence.
“First there was SARS, then Bird Flow, and now Swine Flow,” admonished Silly Willy to the council. “This river is a grave threat to the people of our fine village. Something must be done!”
“Yes, but what?” Asked the Chief of the Executive Council.
“We must stop the flow before it can reach us,” answered Silly Willy. “We need only build a dam, far upstream, and that will prevent the water from ever reaching us.”
“Brilliant!” exhorted the Chief Executive.
“Yes, brilliant indeed!” echoed the council.
“From now on, you will be known as Wise Willy,” proclaimed the Chief Executive.
“Wise Willy…Wise Willy…Wise Willy!” chanted the council with great adulation.
Soon after, the wisest of the land’s Magnificent Dambuilders (MD’s) teamed up with the Committees for Drainage and Canals (CDC) and before you could say, “belly flop,” they had a plan approved by the Fence and Dam Authority (FDA).
The people of the land rejoiced at the wisdom of the plan, knowing that their lives would be safer and more pleasant as soon as they were dammed.
Most people rejoiced, but not all…
Some warned that damming the river was dangerous, and a dam would never work anyway. Among these voices of reason was Bright Dwight. “We need the river,” he said. “If the river stops flowing, everybody’s well will go dry. Dry wells are a much greater threat to our health than a flowing river. We must preserve our wells. Well-ness is far better for us than trying to prevent the flow.”
“Preposterous!” replied the MD’s and the CDC in unison. “Don’t you know that 36,000 people die each year from the flow?”
“Um…who?” asked Dwight.
“Well…(ahem)…uh…we don’t know exactly who. Everybody just knows that 36,000 people die from the flow every year. This is an incontrovertible truth because we say it every year.”
One villager chuckled to a friend, “These ‘well-ness’ people are strange ones, to be sure.”
“Strange indeed,” agreed the friend. “And this Dwight fellow is the strangest among them. Too bad he isn’t brilliant like his brother, Wise Willy. Obviously one brother got most of the brains in the family.”
With that, this story—from a time long ago and a land far away—comes to a close. I don’t need to tell you the outcome. It’s easy to figure out…
Author’s note: Please forgive the unsophisticated humor in this tale. You may even consider it pun-demic! (Oh, that one even makes me groan!)
Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, Energy Healer, Lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Empower your potential, not your problems!
Two brothers— Bright Dwight and Silly Willy—had grown up together and decided it was time to leave the cozy hearth of their mother's and father's home, and make their own way in the world. They set out on an early spring morning and spent the days walking the byways and marveling at the beautiful mountains, forests and rivers of the surrounding countryside. As they traveled, Dwight and Willy shared their dreams, excited about the many possibilities that lay before them.
By and by, they came upon an old apple farmer who wanted to spend the rest of his days in leisure and offered to sell them his apple orchard. After a lively discussion and a good bit of friendly haggling, they struck a fair bargain, with each brother buying one half of the orchard.
Growing up, they had learned much about farming. Now, as the months passed, they tended their apple trees with skill and nurtured them with love. When the cool breezes of autumn arrived, both Dwight and Willy enjoyed abundant harvests and each expected to reap a handsome profit when they sold their delicious, juicy apples at the market.
The bustling village market was nearby, just on the other side of a deep, wide river that ran past the brothers’ orchards.
Willy viewed the river with great consternation, worrying about how he would ever be able carry his heavy load of apples across such a great obstacle. He loaded all of his fruit into large sacks and stepped into the flowing river, intent on swimming to the other side. Although he was a strong swimmer, his heavy load caused him to sink beneath the surface when he was still but a short distance from the bank. It took all of his strength to struggle, sputtering, back to the bank from which he had come. He tried time and again, always achieving the same result. Eventually, he used up all of his energy and fell, exhausted onto the ground.
“I give up,” he moaned. Willy cast a forlorn glance at the bustling market on the other side of the river. “This river is much too great an obstacle for me to cross with such a heavy load of apples. I guess I have no choice but to give up apple farming.It's not my fault and there's nothing I can do about it.”
Dwight had not even noticed his brother’s struggles. He had been busy building a boat.
To be continued next week...
By and by, they came upon an old apple farmer who wanted to spend the rest of his days in leisure and offered to sell them his apple orchard. After a lively discussion and a good bit of friendly haggling, they struck a fair bargain, with each brother buying one half of the orchard.
Growing up, they had learned much about farming. Now, as the months passed, they tended their apple trees with skill and nurtured them with love. When the cool breezes of autumn arrived, both Dwight and Willy enjoyed abundant harvests and each expected to reap a handsome profit when they sold their delicious, juicy apples at the market.
The bustling village market was nearby, just on the other side of a deep, wide river that ran past the brothers’ orchards.
Willy viewed the river with great consternation, worrying about how he would ever be able carry his heavy load of apples across such a great obstacle. He loaded all of his fruit into large sacks and stepped into the flowing river, intent on swimming to the other side. Although he was a strong swimmer, his heavy load caused him to sink beneath the surface when he was still but a short distance from the bank. It took all of his strength to struggle, sputtering, back to the bank from which he had come. He tried time and again, always achieving the same result. Eventually, he used up all of his energy and fell, exhausted onto the ground.
“I give up,” he moaned. Willy cast a forlorn glance at the bustling market on the other side of the river. “This river is much too great an obstacle for me to cross with such a heavy load of apples. I guess I have no choice but to give up apple farming.It's not my fault and there's nothing I can do about it.”
Dwight had not even noticed his brother’s struggles. He had been busy building a boat.
To be continued next week...
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