Healing is a lot like learning to snowboard...

Atop Schweitzer Mountain
Photo by Kathleen Cricket Windsong, 2009



My tailbone hurts. Still.

Last Sunday, Cricket and I hit the slopes on Schweitzer Mountain. We had a great time, as always.

I just started snowboarding last year and I'm getting better and better the more I ride. That doesn't mean that each time is progressively better than the last.

A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday night, I felt like I took a quantum leap forward in my skill level. I was doing things I had never done and going places I had never gone. Then, just two days later, I felt like a raw beginner again. No matter how I hard I tried, I couldn't stay on my feet. Then, last Sunday, just a week ago, I did better than I had ever done prior. Even so, I took my most painful fall yet. Square on my sacrum, on solid ice, as I was getting into a lift line. Ouch! And I do mean OUCH!

As this past week has progressed, my symptoms have shifted. One morning I might feel relatively pain free and the next I may be awakened by throbbing pain. But I know that as long as I am doing what I need to do to facilitate the expression of life through Chiropractic, massage, yoga, more Chiropractic, more yoga, moderate physical activity, healthy nutrition, and plenty of clear water; I can trust the healing process.

Any human process -- snowboarding, educated learning, growing, and even healing a bruised bum -- entails ups and downs...ebs and flows.

Healing is change, growth and evolution. It is a dynamic, ever-changing cycle directed by an Innate Intelligence that is more brilliant and complex than your educated mind can even begin to comprehend.

Trust your Innate Intelligence!

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

PS:
My new book,Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Gude to Health and Well-being will soon be available in print! (I'm SO excited!)

Oby's Wisdom is curently available as an e-book in various different formats:
To read all about Oby's Wisdom, download a free excerpt and purchase a pdf download, visit www.ObysWisdom.com.

Oby is available in various other digital formats at:
Smashwords
Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader.

Oby is coming soon to Amazon's Kindle e-reader and the Sony e-reader.

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

The Key to Vibrant Health: Let Heaven and Nature Sing!

Happy holidays, everyone!

Chiropractic facilitates ALL healing.

Chiropractic has never healed anybody of anything.

Healing is a deep, complex process that includes your physical body, your emotions, your mind and your human spirit. All healing always includes all of these dimensions to some degree. Healing arts and practitioners can facilitate healing, but, ultimately, your healing is driven by the innate wisdom of your being. Chiropractic works with this wisdom at every level -- body, mind, emotions and spirit.

The people I serve in my practice fall across a broad spectrum of health. Most are perfectly healthy, many are in pain, some are on a journey with some sort of chronic disease. All are beautiful and perfect. And for each person, Chiropractic is integral to their healing and growth.

Healing Comes From Above, Down; Inside, Out

What do healing and skateboarding have in common...?

When I was a student at Palmer College of Chiropractic, I had a really cool decal on one of my notebooks. It said "ADIO" in large fancy letters. Lots of my friends and teachers thought it was great. I got the decal from my son, Matt. At the time, he was an avid skateboarder. ADIO happens to be the name of a company that makes skateboarding shoes. So, why on Earth would I walk around with a skateboarding decal on my notebook, and why would my Chiropractic friends and teachers think it was so great?

It just so happens that ADIO has been a central concept in Chiropractic from its earliest days. Healing, health and life come from Above, Down and Inside, Out.

It starts with the understanding that there is a power in the Universe greater than ourselves. In Chiropractic philosophy we call that power, "Universal Intelligence." The major premise of Chiropractic is, "There is a Universal Intelligence in all matter, constantly giving to it all of its properties and actions, and thus maintaining it in existence." Your body is a collection of many trillions of cells, thousands of chemicals and countless molecules and atoms. Universal Intelligence is what tells that collection of cells, chemicals, molecules and atoms to be your human body. (Above, Down)

Your have within you an Innate Intelligence or Life Force. Your life force is what causes all of your cells, chemicals, molecules and atoms to work together, in perfect harmony, to give you life. It is the core of your being. Everything you experience in life comes from this core. Life, health, healing, happiness, success--everything! (Inside, Out)

ADIO!

We’re forgetting something. In the food we eat…in healthcare…in exercise…in the way we live. We're forgetting life!

Last Thursday I got high on…breakfast!

Earlier in the day I attended my weekly yoga class where we practiced an especially powerful type of yoga known as Yoga Nidra. After that, I went for a four-mile run on a scenic, challenging trail. The type of running I do is called ChiRunning, which focuses my life force, and brings in the beauty and chi of my surroundings to carry me along the trail. My post-run stretch consisted of more yoga…in the sunshine…next to the lake. Needless to say, by the time I hopped in my car to head home, I felt fantastic!

At home, I made myself a breakfast that included a locally grown organic apple; an omelet of organic eggs, fresh spinach, organic locally grown sweet onion and some locally produced organic goat cheese. I washed it all down with some delicious whole, raw, locally produced organic goat’s milk. There was such a high vibe in that meal that, by the time I finished, I literally felt high!

Yoga Nidra – more life than a cup of coffee.
ChiRunning with Mother Nature – more enlivening than pounding a treadmill while watching TV. More fun, too.
More yoga – more life than not having enough time to stretch.
Fresh, organic, local, unadulterated, delicious food for breakfast – way, way, WAY more life than an egg McMuffin.

Get high on...life!

It’s “flu season.” Is the flu caused by “germs”?

The Germ Theory of Disease tells us that germs are the cause of disease. I have a different theory.

Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary defines “Germ Theory” as, “Theory that certain diseases are the result of the presence of pathologic microorganisms in the body.” The same dictionary defines “germ” as, “a microorganism, esp. one that causes disease.”

So, do germs cause disease? To answer that, let’s delve into another important and time honored theory, the Fly Theory of Garbage Dumps. The Fly Theory states: “Garbage dumps are due to the presence of the flies that buzz around them.” I hope you get a good chuckle from this tongue-in-cheek analogy. We all know that flies do not cause garbage dumps; on the contrary, the dumps provide the environment that allows the flies to proliferate. We find flies everywhere, but large concentrations tend to exist where the environment allows them to, like at your local sanitary landfill.

Tomorrow you may go to work, school or the store, and be sneezed on by someone who has the latest bug that is going around. You may catch it, or you may not. If germs caused disease, you would catch the bug every time you were exposed to it, and so would everybody else. Germs are ever present so if germs were the cause of disease we would all be sick all of the time. To quote Bartlett Joshua Palmer, D.C., known as the Developer of Chiropractic: “If the ‘germ theory of disease’ were correct, there’d be no one living to believe it.”

Like flies, germs are everywhere. I learned in a pathology class that the average person in one of our nation’s cities will inhale 10,000 different types of viruses, bacteria and fungi every day. Right now there are more bacteria in your mouth than the number of people sharing our cozy planet. We will never be able to avoid germs; they are an inescapable part of our everyday existence. Germophobes provide a comfortable home to as many germs as Charlie Brown’s hygienically challenged buddy, Pig Pen. No problem. Our immune system allows us to live in harmony with them. If you "catch the bug" it's because your internal environment is in a state that allows pathogens to proliferate. Your cold or flu symptoms are normal, healthy immune responses keeping you in harmony with your external environment.

Germs are present in disease, but they are also prominently present in perfect health.

Should you get a flu shot?
Check out this funny video first!

The best health insurance is a wellness lifestyle.

A simple blog post for a simple concept:

Enjoy a balanced diet of fresh, natural foods.
Engage in physical activity that you love.
Incorporate a spiritual practice in your life.
Have your spine adjusted regularly to make sure you are in alignment...
...with yourself
...with your external environment
Live!

Reduce Consumption -- Improve Your Health.

Reduce, reuse and recycle -- great advice for taking care of our Mother Earth. It's also great for your health!

Last Thursday at my yoga class, my teacher, Chris, asked us each to make a personal commitment to helping the planet by reducing our consumption of something. She asked us to think of at least one specific thing we could reduce in our lives. As we meditated and reflected on her request, nothing came to me. I'm already pretty conscientious a about conserving. Still, I knew that there are ways that even the most scrupulous conserver can improve, so I left myself open to discoverig new ways I can reduce my own consumption. I knew something would come up, and it didn't take long. After my yoga class and a great trail run, I ran some errands on the way home. One errand was to a music store to buy a CD I've been wanting. At the checkout stand, I spied some delicious-looking dark chocolate bars, and--on impulse--I bought one. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but after all, I rationalized, I had already burned a lot of calories that morning.

Impulse consumption. Something I've found myself doing a lot of lately, and not something that I need to do at all. Eliminating this impulse buying is a small but effective way for me to reduce my consumption and improve my health at the same time.

Symptoms are your body's way of telling you to make a change.

This time of year is many people's favorite, including mine. The fall colors here in North Idaho are resplendent!



Autumn is a season of important -- and beautiful -- transition. As the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop, Mother Earth prepares for her winter slumber. As we observe the most visibile of these changes -- the changing leaves -- we marvel at their beauty. Year in and year out, although we have seen it happen many times, we always treasure the fall for its vibrant colors. This is a change we are familiar with, and one whose beauty we recognize.



Soon the leaves will fall and the trees will appear to be lifeless. But we all know that they are still vibrant and alive; we just can't see it. Great potential lies latent in each tree...waiting. Come springtime, new leaves will bloom and we will marvel at their beauty just as we did six months earlier. With these changes comes new growth.



Our bodies go through cycles as well. They aren't as predictable as the seasons, but they always offer us the opportunity to rest, reflect and -- if we're willing -- change. In this change is where our lives expand and our breathtaking human potential unfolds.



Your symptoms are every bit as beautiful and perfect as the colorful leaves on the autumn trees. A new season is at hand -- an opportunity for breathtaking potential to be revealed.

Maximized Potential Evolves Through Continuous Refinement

I spent last Thursday examining colons.

Frankly, colons have never been of great interest to me so I never took the time to learn much about them. Now I realize that colons are important, even for a Chiropractor like me, so last Thursday was Colon Day for me. I devoted the day to learning as much as I could about colons, and scrutinizing as many as I could find.

I mentioned in a previous post that I am putting the finishing touches on my first book, Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Guide To Health and Well-being. I finished the first version of the book over a year ago but, as any writer will tell you, once you've "finished" a book, the work has only begun. Even with the first draft, I knew it was a special book. With every refinement, it is becoming better and better. By the time it is published, Oby's Wisdom! will be a truly remarkable book.

Over the past months, I have been focusing mostly on the content. One thing I've been putting off is checking my punctuation. I'm pretty good with periods, commas, dashes and the like, but I've never been all that great with colons. As I started scrutinizing my manuscript, it became glaringly obvious that I needed to tighten up my use of the colon. So I cracked open my Prentice-Hall Handbook for Writers and honed my colon skills. It took hours, but in the end, it has really improved my manuscript.

As always, there's a health tie-in here. Refinements are always useful. Regardless of how healthy you may be, scrutinizing the details of your wellness lifestyle and making small but meaningful improvements -- nutrition, exercise, Chiropractic adjustments, spiritual awakening -- will allow you to continue to grow, improve and evolve for the rest of your life.

The Furnace; continued...

Welcome! If you're just tuning in, this is Chapter Four of a serialized story. To read the story in sequence, scroll down September 28 and start there. Enjoy!

Chapter Four
The Nut…

Again the friends gathered in the morning to discuss matters of profound magnitude. The one with the malfunctioning furnace was weary and not of good disposition. He was cold and had not slept well.
“Isn’t your furnace better?”
“No,” was the forlorn and glassy eyed response. “It seems the strong chemicals have caused more problems.”
“Must you stop using them?”
“No, of course not. We again consulted the furnace specialist and he gave us more strong chemicals to counteract the bad effects of the first set of strong chemicals.”
“What if that doesn’t work?”
“Of course it will work! The furnace specialist has assured us of this. It’s all very scientific, you see.”
One began to speak. “You know…”
“Oh, I know,” came a most exasperated reply. “You’re going to tell me to have my circuit breakers checked. Utter nonsense! My furnace specialist said that checking circuit breakers couldn’t possibly help. It’s too unscientific. Besides, I simply don’t have time to have my circuit breakers checked. And my House Maintenance Organization won’t pay for it. You are a very strange fellow!”
And the others rolled their eyes and whispered to each other about how very strange this “circuit breaker” fellow was.
“What a strange fellow.”
“Yes, very strange indeed.”
“He’s not just strange, he’s a NUT!”

Will our friend's woes finally come to an end? Where will he turn next? Find out tomorrow in Chapter Five; The Slippery Slope...

The Furnace; continued

Welcome! If you're just tuning in, this is Chapter Three of a serialized story. To read the story in sequence, scroll down September 28 and start there. Enjoy!

Chapter Three
The Specialist…

The following morning the friends were once again gathered to discus matters of most pressing concern.
“How is your furnace?”
“Well, the furnace specialist came and looked at our furnace. Most impressive! He wears a white coat and an instrument around his neck that he uses to listen to the inside of the furnace.”
“Most impressive indeed! Tell us more.”
“First he used the instrument to listen to the inside of the furnace. Then he shined a very expensive flashlight into certain parts of the furnace. After that he poked his finger into various furnace openings, and then he took samples of various furnace fluids so he could perform some very expensive tests.
Most of those gathered were quite impressed.
“OOOH!”
“AAAH!”
“Very impressive!”
“Yes, most impressive,” said the man with the furnace. “It seems our furnace is suffering from a condition known as, ‘Malfunctioning Furnace Syndrome.” The furnace specialist gave us several strong chemicals which he said will make our furnace as good as new.”
And again, most were quite impressed.
“OOOH!”
“AAAH!”
“Where would the world be without modern furnace specialists?”
One, of course, did not share the others’ enthusiasm. “Aren’t you afraid these strong chemicals might harm your furnace or other parts of your house? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to just check your circuit breakers first?”
“Of course not!” was the indignant reply. “This furnace specialist is very wise. He would never give our furnace anything that could cause harm. Besides, checking circuit breakers couldn’t possibly help anything with such an important sounding name as, ‘Malfunctioning Furnace Syndrome.’”

Will the furnace specialist solve all of our friend's problems? And what of this strange "circuit breaker" fellow? Find out tomorrow in Chapter Four; The Nut...

I have a cure for the common cold!

It's true; I do. So far, it has never failed. It has worked 100% of the time.

The cure...? It's the innate healing wisdom of my body!

I seldom catch a cold, but when I do, I don't have to do anything to cure it. My body can do that all by itself. I simply make sure my body is fully expressing life so that my immune system can work as designed. (See last week's blog.) I maintain a positive attitude, keeping in mind that I am a being of beauty and perfection; I keep my body, mind, emotions and spirit in alignment with each other, and with my external environment; I eat whole, nutritious foods; I practice yoga and meditation, I keep well hydrated; and I remain as active as possible.

In sum -- I turn on life!

Pain is a gift – an opportunity to do something special for yourself.

What would you do if you were in serious pain and there were no drugs, surgery or other medical care available?

As a Chiropractor, I hear it every day: “I just want to get rid of the pain!” I can relate. Pain – chronic, debilitating pain – is something I experienced for years. For most of those years, all I did was fight the pain. Fight, fight, fight! With drugs…with herbs…with meditation…with yoga…with Chiropractic…fight, fight, FIGHT! The more I fought, the more pain I attracted into my life. What I didn’t realize was that the pain wasn’t an external thing; it was me. My pain was manifest in every aspect and at every level of my being. It wasn’t until I stopped fighting and started loving and honoring myself – including my pain – that I finally gave myself a chance to move past the pain. By making decisions based on love rather than fear and anger, I elevated my rate of vibration and brought myself into resonance with who I really am, and connected with my true calling in life. Eventually, my real, pain free self emerged.

Sometimes pain forces the issue.
At this point in history, there are drugs – lots of ‘em – for pretty much anything that may trouble you. But, as many people have discovered with dismay, often drugs provide little, if any, relief. Sometimes the side effects are even worse than the original problem. Yet the pain persists…

When that happens, the only way through it is to embrace a new perspective based on self love. This new perspective allows you to grow, thrive and evolve in life rather than remain locked into a cycle of pain, helplessness and despair.

Two important points:

1. The pain might never go away, or if it does, it might come back. So…adopt your new perspective for what it can add to your life, and not as just another way to fight. Then, if the pain does go away, cool. If not, you still become more than what you were before.

2. A change of perspective doesn’t mean that you have to give up everything you have been doing. You can still do things that you feel benefit you. For example, I still have my spine adjusted regularly and I still practice yoga and meditation. But now I do those things as an expression of love rather than loathing.

You are a gift. Your pain is you; therefore, your pain is a gift. Receive the gift with deep gratitude and enjoy all of the wonderful things that you will invite into your life as a result.

Health isn’t something you squeeze in. Health is the priority that you plan around.

Are you building your house upside down?

Everybody knows that if you want to build a house, the first thing you need to do is to lay the foundation. If you put up walls and a roof without a solid foundation, everything will crumble and fall before very long.

If you want a happy, successful, fulfilling life, you must build that life upon a foundation of vibrant health. Unfortunately, many people allow their health to take a back seat to other, less important aspects of their lives. Even though they know the importance of healthy activities, they prioritize their time, money and energy on everything else first, planning to squeeze health in when they can. They’re putting up walls without a foundation. All too often, health is squeezed out entirely.
(“I just can’t seem to find the time…”)

I can understand why. We’re busy. We have many competing priorities. Things that seem urgent in the moment can overshadow what is really important.
(“…just as soon as I…”)

Then, as health issues begin to show themselves, cracks begin to form in careers, relationships, dreams…
(“If only I had…”)

A few days ago, I planned to go out for a nice run, and then do a little bit of house cleaning afterwards. Before I walked out the door, I decided to move the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher. (…real quick…then I’ll go.) Then I washed the sink. Then – since I had the cleaning rag in my hand – I started wiping down the stove…then the counters…(just one more thing…real quick…then I’ll go.) Finally I said, “STOP!” I threw down my cleaning rag, dashed out of the house and went on a great run. After I got back, I didn’t have time to finish cleaning the kitchen. I had to stretch, take a shower, and then go see my Chiropractor for my weekly adjustment.

So, did I ever finish cleaning my kitchen? Yep. I managed to squeeze it in later.

Your health is the most important part of your life – the part that deserves the front seat – the part you plan around – your foundation.

Healing update.

My beautiful, perfect, self-healing body is awesome! Last weekend I participated in my first event since my injury. I swam in the 1.76 mile Long Bridge swim in Sandpoint, Idaho. I didn’t set any speed records, but I’m back out there, and having a great time. I have gone running several times in the last couple of weeks and there is no more pain around the injury site.

Do you want healthy children? Then let them get dirty!

When my son was in elementary school, I helped coach his baseball team, the Bulldogs. Our players were younger, smaller and less experienced than the players on the other teams so everyone expected us to finish in last place. But what these kids lacked in size and experience they more than made up for in spirit, determination and heart. They were scrappy, they played hard and they had a blast. After the first few practices a team motto emerged: “Get Dirty!” Parents used to joke that soon we wouldn’t have a field to practice on because the players wore most of the field home with them. To everybody’s amazement, except ours, we ended up being one of the best teams in the league. At the end of the season the players presented me with two autographed baseballs. On one were penned the words, “Coach Mark, Get Dirty!” It was signed by Maury Wills who used to play for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, and is considered one of the greatest base runners in the history of the game. In fact, he was the first player to steal more than 100 bases in a single season, breaking Ty Cobb’s record that was almost 50 years old. Maury Wills was a guy who liked to get dirty. The second – and most important – of the two autographed baseballs said, “To Coach Mark, Get Dirty!” and was signed by all of the Bulldogs.

Getting dirty on the baseball diamond, rolling around in the grass, and wet, sloppy puppy kisses help children build natural immunity. As kids are exposed to microbes from a variety of sources, their immune systems respond by developing a broad range of antibodies. These continuing challenges strengthen developing immune systems just as pumping iron builds six pack abs and rippling biceps on body builders.

In fact, keeping our kids too squeaky clean can actually lead to diminished immune capacity and poorer health. In the late 1990’s a hypothesis known as the Hygiene Hypothesis emerged which supports this point. A German health researcher named Dr. Erika von Mutius set out to show that children who grew up in the poorer, dirtier cities of East Germany developed more allergies than their counterparts in West Germany. When she compared the disease rates between the two countries she found just the opposite. Dr. Von Mutius concluded that children in East Germany had fewer allergies precisely because they were exposed more to other kids, animals…and dirt. Studies since then have shown that kids who live on farms, have pets, come from larger families or start day care at a younger age have a much lower incidence of asthma than other kids. Another report tells us that the more often kids catch colds during their early years, the less likely they are to develop asthma later on. When kids are exposed to common bacteria, their immune systems are able to mature the way Nature designed them to. Their immune systems are on the front lines maintaining their edge while the immune systems of kids in overly clean environments are kicking back all day and letting themselves get soft and weak.

Of course good hygiene is important; just try not to take it too far. Teach your kids to wash their hands before meals but resist the temptation to hustle them to the sink and slather them with antibacterial soap every time they pet the neighbor’s cat. Our well-intentioned attempts to shield our kids from every cootie in the neighborhood deprives them of essential opportunities to develop a robust immune system.

So, believe it or not, germs can be good for you! The next time your kids come in from playing outside, check their hands. If they are too clean, tell them, “Young lady, young man; you march right back outside and when you come back in I had better see some dirt under those fingernails.”

Your Potential is as Deep and Vast as the Ocean

"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work but rather, teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
(Thanks, Cricket!)

This quote is a perfect lead-in for a big announcement I'm ready to make. Many of you know that I've been working on publishing my first book. I just finished a major revision of the book and will soon publish it as an e-book. Then, as soon as I can, I will publish it as a hard copy. It will be published through a new publishing company that I helped found: Bitterroot Mountain Publishing. I will provide updates as this process unfolds.

The reason that the quote is so appropriate is that my book will provide a new perspective on health and well-being. It will take you beyond the idea that health is merely the treatment or avoidance of illness, end even beyond staying well and becoming healthier. In this blog, I have written of human potential -- your infinite human potential -- a lot. That's what I discuss in the book, too. In it, I hope to teach you to long for the endless immensity of your own sea of human potential.

Healing update: Big day on Thurdsday! I went running for the first time since "The Big Gash." I only ran two miles (well, a little more) just for a test drive. There were a couple of very brief periods when I felt some stinging but other than that, it felt pretty good to be running again. I think there may still be another small piece of glass in my leg, but I doubt it will cause me any limitations. It may come out or it may not. Whatever happens -- as we know -- will be perfect. I haven't mentioned this yet, but I have a small fragment of glass in my right ring finger that's been there since I was a sophomore in high school (1974). I tried to melt a cover slip over a bunsen burner in my biology class. Guess what? Cover slips don't melt; they shatter. (Don't tell Mr. Hamrick; he still doesn't know.)

Trying to get well quick is like trying to get rich quick. Commitment is critical!

We are a society obsessed with new “miracle cures.” Often, they are nothing but lottery tickets for health.

When it comes to your financial security, is it wiser to buy a lottery ticket each week, or invest regularly? Of course, investing it is much wiser. By being committed over the long term, your wealth will grow and grow and keep on growing.

The same is true when it comes to your health. If you commit yourself to eating fresh, whole foods, exercise, meditation or prayer, and regular Chiropractic wellness care, these shrewd investments will pay off in terms of vibrant health.

By staying committed to your health over the long term, you can be sure your health investments will grow and grow and keep on growing.

Trying to get well quick is the same as trying to get rich quick. But investing wisely pays off.

What you do makes things happen. Who you are decides what happens.

Do you want a mansion? Don't build it; reveal it!

Follow the wisdom of be-ing rather than do-ing. Any successful enterprise requires effort (doing), but your doing must be built upon a foundation of being. Where you end up in life and health is driven more by who you are than by what you do. Who you are is the foundation of all that you build in your life. Without a rock solid foundation, any mansion you build will topple.

All that you seek already exists inside of you, just as the great symphonies of the future are already contained within the matrix of the Universe. The composer, conductor and musician do not create symphonies; they serve only to reveal them. Your task is to reveal you.

Healing update:
Innate Intelligence is awesome! I've been wondering -- trusting but still wondering -- why my wound has been taking so long to heal. On Thursday morning I found out, and got yet another lesson on the human body's amazing ability to heal itself.

Before I tell you about Thursday morning, I need to fill you in on what has transpired since my last healing update. About a week and a half ago, there was no longer any question that my wound was infected. It was still very red and sore, warm to the touch, open, and draining more than it had so far. So I decided to intervene -- a little. For two days I applied hot a epsom salt compress three times per day. After that, even though it didn't appear to have changed much, my intuition told me I didn't need to apply any more compresses. Within a couple of days, it finally closed for good and stopped draining.

Fast forward one week to this past Thursday morning...

I was pulling on a pair of shorts and, in the process, knocked the scab off of my cut. When the scab fell off, a shard of glass, an inch long, fell out of my leg! (See photo below.)

The amazing thing is that, when I first gashed myself, the glass was not even visible in the wound. Obviously it was pretty deep inside. Had I rushed off to have it stitched up, chances are, the glass would have been stitched right into my leg with no way to get out. I don't even want to think about the complications that may have caused. As it turned out, by honoring my body's brilliant healing wisdom, I allowed the process to unfold naturally, and my skin was able to work the glass out on it's own, with no complications.

I have showed the shard to a number of people and many have commented, "so that's why it wasn't healing." Let me point out that it was healing all along. It simply took a bit longer because my body had to expel the glass. That was all part of this remarkable healing journey. As I have said before, healing involves many wondrous things that we are unable to see with our eyes.

So...will it scar? At this point it looks that way. But it probably won't be any worse than if I had had it stitched.

Innate Intelligence rocks!



This is the shard of glass
and coin that were in my leg
for almost 6 weeks!
(Just kidding about the coin.)