The Internet is a Stick

That's right; the internet is a stick!

A very wise and good friend of mine named Grover told me that a few days ago, and I was struck by the simplicity and depth of that wisdom. What Grover said was that, if you sit with stick for awhile, you can access all of the wisdom of Creation. Think about everything a stick is synergistically connected with. The Sun, the Earth, the Animal World, Humanity, the Universe...

A simple stick represents the Mother of all internets.

A simple stick represents you and your critical part of that vast and wondrous internet!

Think about it...



Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, lightworker, energy healer, writer, speaker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

PS: The most important update yet on the Oby Phenomenon:
The Oby Phenomenon is much more than selling books. The Oby Phenomenon is about spreading a new, empowering perspective -- in health and in life. Here is a great example of how the Oby Phenomenon is doing that:

A couple of weeks ago, I gave my "Wellness 101" seminar to a group of employees at a particular organization. This seminar is built around the lessons in Oby's Wisdom. As always, I emphasized "The Basic Truth" that I present in Oby's Wisdom. The Basic Truth, of course, is: "You are beautiful and perfect!" About a week after the seminar, I ran into the person who had invited me to speak. She told me that they have a new office motto: "You are beautiful and perfect!" They tell it to each other regularly, especially during stressful times.

Just imagine if everyone in the world responded to a stressful moment by reminding everyone else that they are beautiful and perfect. Just imagine...

Incorporate the Oby Phenomenon into your own life! If you live in the Inland Northwest, you can buy your copy of Oby's Wisdom at these locations:
Spokane: Auntie's Bookstore, downtown
Coeur d'Alene: Hastings
Sandpoint: Inquire Within, Winter Ridge Natural Foods Market, Zero Point and Vanderford's Books & Office Products

Upcoming book signings:
April 10 - Hastings, Coeur d'Alene, 2-4 PM
April 17 - Borders in Coeur d'Alene, 1-3 PM
April 29 - Auntie's Book Store, Downtown Spokane, 7-9 PM. A reading, Q&A will precede the book signing.

You can also visit the official Oby's Wisdom website to purchase a copy. www.ObysWisdom.com

Oby is also available through Amazon and your favorite local bookstore.

Empowering outlook or limiting outlook? Your choice...

What do you choose to focus on?
In this photo...?
In your life...?



Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, energy healer, lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

PS: Remember to check out my new e-book, Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Guide to Health and Well-being.

Oby is available as an instant pdf download as well as other electronic formats. Coming soon, Kindle, Nook and Sony! Stay tuned!

Visit www.ObysWisdom.com to learn more about the book, download a free excerpt, and read about the incredible bonuses available if you buy by Dec 26th.

The Secret to Healthy Nutrition: Never Go On a Diet Again!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I sure did. It is such a wonderful holiday, celebrating one of the most beautiful and empowering states of consciousness there is: gratitude.

Thanksgiving is a day of feasting and it ushers in the winter holiday season. The holidays are fun and joyous time of celebration and fellowship, but they can also be a time of great challenge. The challenge I am talking about is, of course…

Food!

For many, food is a battle. Almost all of us have been on a diet at some point in time. Some people always seem to be on a diet—and usually not a consistent one. Opinions as to what comprises healthy nutrition change from time to time, and our eating habits usually follow the latest theory or fad. (How many people have stayed on their 1970’s low cal diet through the low fat and low carb eras?)

So here is a simple solution:

Never go on a diet again!

When I say, “don’t go on a diet,” I am referring to the intention, not to the behavior. Anybody can benefit from healthier eating habits. The important thing is the intention—to incorporate better nutrition into your life for the health benefits, and not to fight yourself.

So many diet plans, diet books and weight loss programs exist that it would be pretty much impossible to count them all. Low cal, low fat, low carb, slow carb, raw food, beer and cookies—the list continues to expand.

And they all work…

But none of them work…

That is, they all work if you stick to them, but virtually no one sticks to them over a lifetime. I’m not joking about the beer and cookies diet. When I was a college student, I had a good friend who was famous for his beer and cookies diet. He wanted to maintain a healthy weight, but he knew that beer and cookies, on top of everything else he ate and drank, would probably cause him to gain weight. He decided to do away with the unnecessary foods and just stick with the important stuff: beer and cookies! He stuck with it religiously for a good two months. His cookies of choice were home-baked oatmeal raisin cookies or, in a pinch, the occasional box of vanilla wafers. Whichever cookies he had on his plate, he washed them down with his favorite beer: “whatever’s cheap and cold.”

I would never suggest a strict regimen of beer and cookies as a healthy approach to maintaining your ideal weight. My friend never tried to pass his diet off as serious; it was just a fun college guy thing. But he did follow his diet for two months, and he met his objective. It supports the point I am trying to get across. In terms of weight management, lots of diet plans will work, no matter how kooky or unhealthy. The challenge is sticking to a regimen…for the rest of your life.

So often, a diet is process of doing something you don’t like, to fix something you don’t like. What are the odds of that succeeding?

It will be much more self affirming for you to remember The Basic Truth:

You are beautiful and perfect!

This is a more empowering way of thinking than the dieting mindset. Feel love and gratitude for yourself as a beautiful and perfect being, and live your life from that perspective. Then imagine what your life and health will be like in 5…10…25…50 years from now, compared to what it will be like if you keep loathing yourself. Just love yourself and do everything you do—including eating—from that place of self love.

Until next time,
Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, energy healer, lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

PS: Remember to check out my new e-book, Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Guide to Health and Well-being. Visit www.ObysWisdom.com to learn more about the book, download a free excerpt, and read about the incredible bonuses available if you buy soon.

Your immune system does not fight anything. Health is not about fighting; health is harmony!

Pause for a moment to contemplate the peaceful beauty in this photo. It's a photo I took several years ago from atop Maiden Rock overlooking Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho. The scene is tranquil. Everything you see exists in harmony and synergy with everything else.

If you wanted to, you could look at all of this as a product of an endless succession of fights. Wind and rain have "lashed" the rocks, the forests have "succumbed" to fire, glaciers "gouged" the landscape and created the lake.

Of course there have been forces in opposition with each other. But opposition does not automatically mean combat. Opposition of forces also exists when a child (or an adult) swings on a swingset. No one would ever think of swinging on a swingset as a fight. Swinging is a state of harmony that brings joy!

It's the same with immune functioning and all other processes inherent in life. We exist in a dynamic state of balance and harmony.

Take a look at the photo below. This photo is one I took about a year and a half ago, looking up at Maiden Rock from the beach. Notice how the wind and rain have revealed magnificent rock formations, how the plant life is flourishing because of how fires have cleansed the land and enriched the soil, and how masterfully the glaciers sculpted beautiful Lake Pend Oreille.



Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, energy healer, lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

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

Each moment, you are in the process of becoming.

As I was flying back from Australia a few days ago, I had a profound realization. It was one of those moments that shifts the way you look at everything. Forever.

The flight between Sydney and LAX is a long one. I was taking some time to read a classic spiritual novel, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. If you consider yourself spiritually conscious and have never read it, I highly recommend it. If you have read it, I recommend it even more. This was my second time through. The first time was in 1979.

Anyway, one passage in the book refers to the sound of the river as, "not just water, but the voice of life, of Being, of perpetual Becoming." For me, that was an illuminating thought. It became clear to me: I'm not just who I am; I'm who I've become. And, in the future, I won't just be who I'll be, but what I become.

As I go through each day, I am not just doing or being; I'm becoming.

All that I say, think, plan, eat, drink, do (or don't get around to), feel, choose, react to -- everything -- contributes to what I am becoming. Kinda makes the mundane more important.

How about you? Take a look at the past week, month, year...
Think about your habits, your relationships, your plans.
What are you becoming...?

When the light is just right, you will discover beauty within you that you never knew existed.

A couple of weeks ago, while landing at the Las Vegas airport, I was capitvated by one of the most dazzling, breathtaking light shows I've ever seen. But it wasn't The Strip. Not New York, Paris, dancing waters, shiny hotel towers or extravagently illuminated casinos. The light show that took my breath away played out on the streets, cars and parking lots of Las Vegas.

Cricket and I were on our way back to North Idaho after spending four fun filled days with her family in Silicon Valley. The trip included a short layover in Las Vegas. As we landed, The Strip happened to be on the side of the plane where Cricket and I happened not to be. Of course, the passengers on that side of the plane were ooh-ing and aah-ing at the shiny human made terrain of The Strip. As far as I'm concerned, they got the boring show.

As our airplane was making it's descent, the sun happened to be precisely at the right angle to illuminate every reflective surface facing us. The sun is so far away that, even as we descended, the relative angle between the sun and the ground didn't really change. So this light show unfolded from when the outskirts of the sprawling city first came into view, until we were on the ground. Thousands upon thousands of car reflectors, and hundreds of street signs glinted brilliantly as we passed. As we flew past each street, the 20 to 50 or more street signs of every cross street flashed a simultaneous brilliant green. Every parking lot was a wave of shining red and amber. Every street was a flowing procession of brightly colored reflection. I have been to Las Vegas several times, and this was by far the most breathtaking light show I have ever seen there. The inherent beauty of the cars, streets and parking lots was revealed by a new light.

Are you seeing the beauty that surrounds you? More importantly, are you recognizing the beauty inside of you?

Below is a great story with a powerful and thought provoking message. It left me doing a bit of deep introspection. Am I appreciating all the beauty that surrounds me? Are you...?

Recently, a friend of mine shared this story at our Toastmasters meeting. It really impacted me so I asked her to forward it to me. (Thanks, Kate!) I knew I wanted to shae it with all of you. It will take a couple of minutes to read -- well worth the time. And, the busier you are, the more important it is for you to pause and take this in...

I personally confirmed that this is legit; not an email hoax. Here's a link to the Washington Post article that tells the whole story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

The article will take a lot longer to read, but I encourage you to take the time to read it through to the end and watch the very brief videos that are included. The whole thing took me about 30-40 minutes. I can assure you, it's well worth giving up one of the sitcoms you may be planning to watch. As great as the short version below is, it doesn't come close to capturing the whole story. I was riveted from beginning to end!

And, please take note of my "PS" at the end of this post.

Enjoy the story, the article and the beauty that surrounds you!

Cheers!
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Subject: The Violinist In The Metro
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

PS: Here are a couple of illuminating quotes from the Washington Post article that we will all be well served to ponder...

First, a vivid illustration of the wisdom of our children, and how we can learn from them:
"But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away."

And, from a passage about a young man who walked within 4 feet of Joshua but didn't notice him because he was listening to his iPod:
"For many of us, the explosion in technology has perversely limited, not expanded, our exposure to new experiences."

You are a collection of the finest gems imaginable.

I had an epiphany the other day when I was doing yoga in the snow. (That’s right…I like to do yoga in the snow. I don’t even bundle up. I wear no more than if I were practicing inside my warm house.) The day was clear, bright and sunny. As I moved through my yoga postures, the sun would catch individual snowflakes at just the right angle, and the glint reminded me of diamonds. My mind formed a picture of me practicing yoga in a field covered with brilliant, sparkling diamonds. I was reminded that the beauty of Nature that surrounded me was a precious gift. This is true every moment of our lives, wherever we may be.

“Ha,” you may be saying, “What if I’m in the middle of a big smoggy city, surrounded by skyscrapers and snarled traffic, and can’t even see Nature? Where’s the beauty there?”

“Well,” I reply, “you are surrounded by your own body, a beautiful and perfect creation of Nature."

Every part of your body – every molecule, chemical, cell, structure, blemish, germ, feeling, thought and dream – is a precious, sparkling jewel. Each individual gem brings you a gift, as does the synergistic whole of your being. Think about it for but a moment you will be able to find the gifts in every part of you.

To illustrate the point, go back and look at the picture at the top of this post. It's a picture of a dead tree on a gray, cloudy, freezing, muddy, slushy day. And it's beautiful!

Yours in beauty and perfection,
Doctor Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint, Idaho