Is there something you want to do, but believe is impossible. You CAN do it. Time to get started!

This past Thursday afternoon, I pulled on my running shoes and Yaktrax, and crunched down a slippery, snowy trail, elevating my heart rate -- and my spirits -- on a grand trail run. As I ran, I reflected that, lately, I've been having a lot of fun doing the impossible.


One of the gretest inventions of all time!

Just a few years ago, the idea of me going for a challenging trail run would have been preposterous. Anyone who knew me would have laughed at such a notion -- and I would have laughed loudest of all.


Steep, slippery trail

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know my story. For much of my adult life, chronic arthritis pain made it difficult for me to even walk, much less run or do anything else physically strenuous. Now, I enjoy running regularly. In years past...impossible!


Happy runner!

A couple of weeks ago, I went snowboarding for the first time ever. It's one of the most fun things I've ever done!!! When we first moved back here to North Idaho, my son took up snowboarding. It looked so fun that I wished I could try it, too. But, alas, my pain made it ...impossible!

Although I've only been snowboarding once, I can harday wait to go again...and again...and again! On that first day, my instructor said he was impressed with how well I took to it. (Yeah, I know, he probably says that to all of his students. But I'm sure he really meant it for me.) Before the day was done, I was doing flips, spins, cartwheels quadruple axles, and stuff they haven't even named yet. None of those fancy stunts were actually intentional, but, hey, I was having a great time!


This is me. (Maybe...someday...who knows? It's possible!)

Is there something you'd like to do, but feel is impossible due to your health? It's possible. It might take awhile but IT IS possible. Give it a shot!

I'll close with this quote from an Adidas ad campaign that ran a couple of years ago:

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.
Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion.
Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare.
Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing."

Have a vibrant week!
Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint, Idaho

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!

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!

Wellness is a way. It is not a goal, an end or even a means to an end.

Your health -- are you going to tank...or win?

Wellness is a way of living—a way of being. Wellness is a popular buzz word today, but unfortunately most people have a fuzzy understanding of what wellness really is. I once heard a prominent physician define wellness as, “the prevention and management of disease.” Doc, I respectfully disagree. Wellness is about health and vitality; it has no relation to disease.

Most people believe prevention and wellness to be the same. On he contrary, they are fundamentally different from each other. Let me illustrate the difference by using business as an analogy. Two new business school graduates, Winifred and Tanicus (Win and Tank to their friends) have just earned their MBAs and are charging out into the world of big business to make their fortunes. Tank’s strategy is to steer clear of the pitfalls of the business world so that he can avoid failure. His outlook and approach are based on fear. Tank has a failure consciousness.

Win, on the other hand, chooses to achieve success. She understands what it will take to succeed, and she devotes her time, energy and resources to move in that direction. Win has a success consciousness.

So, time to place your bets. Who will win and who will tank? My money is on Win to win.

The Law of Attraction tells us that what we concentrate on, we invite into our lives. Many “wellness” programs have nothing to do with wellness because ultimately, they seek to prevent disease. They approach health from the same fear based failure consciousness that Tank carries with him into the business world. This does not mean that prevention is bad; it certainly has its place. If it is our main focus, though, it can keep us rooted in the world of disease. A wellness lifestyle, on the other hand, opens the door to success, health, and maximum potential. Which would you prefer to invite into 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...

The Furnace; continued...

Welcome! If you're just tuning in, this is Chapter Two of a serialized story. To read the story in sequence, scroll down to yesterday's post and start there. Enjoy!

Chapter Two
The Plan…

The next morning the friends were gathered again to discuss matters of great importance.
“How is your furnace?” asked one.
“It still isn’t working. We are very, very cold. I have decided to consult with a furnace specialist.”
And one asked again, “Have you had your circuit breakers checked?”
“No, no,” was the answer, delivered with an air of confidence. “This is most definitely a furnace problem, not a circuit breaker problem. This furnace specialist is one of the most respected in his field and he has a very large ad in the yellow pages. We are confident that he will be able to fix our furnace.”

Will our friend's furnace soon be back to normal? Or...? Find out tomorrow in Chapter Three; The Specialist...

Your body is your home. Have you had your circuit breakers checked recently?

The Furnace

This is an amusing story I first wrote when I was a Chiropractic student. It uses your home electrical system as a metaphor for your health. I decided it would be fun to serialize it all week in this blog

Chapter One
The Problem…

Several friends had gathered one morning, as they did every morning, and were discussing matters of great importance. One had a very annoying problem: “The furnace in my home is not working and it is causing my family great discomfort.”
“What are you going to do about it?” asked one friend.
“I’m sure it is nothing,” was the reply. “We will just ignore it and it will probably go away on its own.”
All of the friends nodded and agreed that this was wise.
All, that is, except one. “Have you thought of having your circuit breakers checked?” he said. “If one of your circuit breakers has tripped, it might be causing interference with the electrical supply to the furnace. It you put the circuit breaker back into place, it will restore the electrical supply, and your furnace will once again work properly. Your family will be warm again!”
Incredulously, the man with the furnace problem replied, “Circuit breakers? How foolish! The circuit breakers are in the garage and the furnace is in the basement. A problem in the garage could never cause a problem with something in the basement.”
And the other friends shook their heads and snickered.
“Circuit breakers? What a strange fellow.”
“Yes, very strange indeed.”

What will become of our friend's furnace? Find out tomorrow in Chapter Two; The Plan...

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!

Health is more than the absence of pain, disease or symptoms. Health is balance. Health is harmony.

Vibrant health is like playing on a teeter totter.

When two kids (or young-at-heart grownups) are playing on a see saw, the fun is in going up and down…up and down. What fun would it be if the see saw remained motionless – in a perfect state of balance – with both kids hovering at an equal height above the ground. That might be a fun challenge for a moment or two, but it would get boring pretty fast and they would go right back to teeter tottering. You might say that their enjoyment comes from existing in a constant state of imbalance.

Or you could look at it a different way: that their ebb and flow – their cyclic exchange of energy – is really a state of harmonious, dynamic balance.

That is the way health works. For example, you may believe that if you catch a cold, you are out of balance. This is the conventional view of what a cold represents. This view holds that if factors in your life get out of balance, you are more susceptible to disease because of suppressed immune functioning, and that the purpose of the immune system is to fight germs and disease.

Under Dr. Mark’s teeter totter theory of health, a cold isn’t an illness. Colds are cool! When you are experiencing the fever, coughing, sneezing and runny nose of a cold, that shows that your immune system is working perfectly – just as Nature designed – to keep you in a state of harmonious, dynamic balance with your environment.

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.)

How can we really know the power and beauty of Nature if we always "assist?"

Could I be (gasp!)wrong?

People have asked me some interesting – and valid – questions in the weeks since my little scratch.

Why not just put…
…aloe
…vitamin E
…ice
…a dressing
…this remedy
…that cure
…on it?

What’s wrong with helping it along a bit?

Aren’t you worried about…
…scarring
…infection
…tearing it open?

What if you’re wrong?

All of those questions come from our standard western way of viewing our body and healing. I’m opting to look at the world differently this time, let Nature take her course, and see where that journey takes me. Maybe assisting would really only be interfering. How are we to know if we always assist? I can’t be “wrong” (or “right”) because I am not trying to prejudge the final outcome, and I’m not attached to any particular result.
I’m simply exploring…
…and sharing…
…so we can all learn.

This will be my last healing update for awhile. Visually, the wound looks pretty much the same as last week...and the week before. Miraculous healng is happening beneath the surface; it's just not visible to the eye. No picture this week -- the pictures are looking pretty much the same from week to week, so I won’t post any more until there is a visible difference.

Make health decisions from self love, not ego or fear.

I had to make a very difficult health decision during the last week.

The decision I was faced with was whether or not to let go of a dream…a two year quest…and not participate in Ironman this weekend due to my leg injury. It was a tough decision. I had actually decided more than a week ago not to run. But this week, as the athlete village started going up in City Park, and as the Ironman vibe began to permeate Coeur d'Alene, I began to have second thoughts.
“Well, I know it’s not the smartest thing in the world, but I’ll bet I can gut it out. It’ll probably set my healing back a bit...but I’ll be an Ironman!”
I went for a short run on Tuesday to test drive my bad wheel, and it actually didn’t hurt very much. But…it didn’t feel right. I’m not healed nearly enough to swim, bike and run 140.6 miles, and in my heart and mind, I knew that.

Had I been thinking rationally, I wouldn’t have even considered starting the race. But after two years of eating, sleeping and breathing Ironman, I had allowed it to become my identity. I had grown attached to winning a medal that I could show off, and being able to tell everyone I was an Ironman finisher. I had my story: “Arthritic to Ironman! What a hero! Hooray for Mark!”
Tough to let go of. Pure ego!

I also feared that I would be letting people down. The Ironman community is a close knit one. We train together, we party together, and we support and cheer each other on through good times and bad. I had set a goal and made a commitment…and told everyone about it.
“What will people think if I don’t come through?”
Fear!

Had I made my decision from a place of ego and fear, I most certainly would have failed to finish the race, and quite likely would have turned a relatively minor injury – and one that is healing beautifully – into a serious one. Luckily, I listened to the quiet, rational voice within me and stayed out of the race.

But I’m still a part of it. If you’re reading this on Sunday morning, I’m out on the course as you read. I’m cheering my fellow triathletes on with as much energy, heart and spirit as if I were running the race myself.

Good luck, my friends!!!

Healing update: I'm healing more and more every day. The wound may not look much better -- in fact, some people have said it looks worse -- but I can innately tell my healing process is continuing to unfold perfectly. Visually, we can only see what is on the surface. Healing takes place at many different levels. And, as I said before, healing is not a smooth, linear process. It's not always easy for us to understand, because it is far more sophisticated, complex and high tech than any technology we humans will ever invent. It is orchestrated by a wisdom that our intellect will never match. So...I am willing to trust...this is perfect!

Healing is like a roller coaster – you may not know what’s over the next hill, but you can be sure it will be pretty exciting!

Healing does not follow a linear path. It is a journey with peaks and valleys…twists and turns. And the healing of my wound is unfolding as quite the journey indeed!

Shortly after my last post, the redness around the wound began to increase in size and became very tender to the touch. I was showing signs of a possible infection. Again, this led me to feel some fear, and I considered resorting to intervening in the healing process. Had I decided upon intervening, it would have been some sort of conservative self care – probably a hot compress – rather than falling back on the conventional medical paradigm.

At this point I suspect that I do have a minor infection but I’m not worried about it because I also have an immune system – standard equipment! The redness is receding significantly and the pain is almost gone. And it’s starting to itch like crazy...a sure sign of healing. What all of this means is that my immune system is keeping me in harmony with my internal and external environment. Is that cool or what!?

This wound is a gift! It’s yet another chapter in a healing saga of many years that has taught me valuable lessons about myself and Spirit. Our bodies are classrooms – universities – vehicles for deeper healing, evolution, transformation, and even ascension.

As my fears surfaced this past week, I turned to my loving partner, Cricket Windsong, who is a practitioner in the Shamanic Arts. Her patient wisdom and guidance allowed me to rediscover some important things that I already knew, but were being obscured by my fears:

• I am a being of beauty and perfection!
• Don’t try to judge what beauty and perfection should look like.
• Sometimes intervention can be appropriate, but the decision to intervene must come from a place of love, not fear.
• The wisdom of Nature is brilliant in its simplicity.
• That same breathtaking wisdom is found within my own physical body.
• My healing proceeds in its own perfect time, and not according to what happens to be on my weekly planner.

Oh yeah!

Mother Nature packed us a lunch.

(Note: for this week's healing update, scroll down to the bottom of this post.)

There is one nutrient that is more important than any other. It also happens to be the nutrient that is most lacking in the typical American diet.

That key nutrient is life!

Most of the food that Americans eat is processed and lifeless. Processing robs food of its life essence and adds unnecessary -- and often toxic -- man made stuff. This is true not only of junk food but also of packaged “health food” and nutritional supplements.

The simplest and healthiest nutritional plan is to eat what Nature provides -- a balance of fresh, whole, natural foods. That way you don’t need to keep up with the latest ever-changing diet trends, scrutinize complex lists of unpronounceable ingredients or analyze confusing nutritional information.

Include as many organic foods as possible. Most people understand that organic foods are superior to non-organic ones. Organic foods are free of the toxic fertilizers, pesticides, hormones and other chemicals that non-organic foods contain. More importantly, organic foods do not need to rely on artificial means to become delicious and healthful. They grow and develop by maximizing their own life potential, and by expressing their own natural beauty and perfection. Organic foods are more alive.

Another way to maximize the life in your diet is to enjoy foods that are in season and locally grown. The foods that Mother Nature has to offer right now in your own area are in resonance with you—they are tuned to the same frequency. The fruits and vegetables that you bought from your local farmer’s market this morning are playing clear and beautiful music. But the genetically modified produce that was harvested and frozen months ago half way across the continent is coming in fuzzy and dissonant.

The subject of genetically modified foods brings up another a contentions debate. Like so many other discussions, there is voluminous scientific evidence to support either side of the argument. So who should we believe?

Consider this: We know that everything in Nature constantly evolves. Our food supply, both animal and vegetable, has evolved right along with us. Genetically modified foods took a different road and are just another example of a processed food. Just because they poked up out of the soil does not automatically make them healthy. Even the basic ingredients in Twinkies had their start in a fertile field at some point in time.

So keep it simple…eat the lunch that Mother Nature packed!

Healing update: My wound from last week is healing nicely. In fact, I'm healing
beautifully and perfectly! After just one week, you can see a remarkable difference. I still haven't used any external intervention at all -- no antiseptic, antibiotic, ointment, medical attention, bandage, dressing, soap or anything beyond my body's own maginficent innate intelligence. I'll admit that a week ago, about 12 hours after the injury, after the wound reopened and bled more profusely than when the injury happened, I felt fear. I was tempted to seek medical care. It took discipline for me to stick to my plan. It also took a great deal of trust and confidence in my body's ability to self heal. As you can see, my body is worthy of that trust. It's amazing what our bodies can do when allowed to follow Nature's design.