Death and Courage

This morning, I attended the funeral of a fourteen year old girl who died from a horrible disease.

As her family talked about this remarkable daughter of God in fond remembrance, I learned just how brave she was during the final weeks of her young life.

I reflected on what exactly it means to have courage when facing death right in the face.

To have grace, kindness, hope, faith and great love... even when facing death right in the face.

On the way home from the service, I thought about the difference between what it means to die with great courage and what it means to live with great courage.

And I realize, now, that there is no difference.

They are one and the same.

The sharp knife of a short life, well,
I've had just enough time

So put on your best boys and I'll wear my pearls
What I never did is done

A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner
And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singin'
Funny when you're dead how people start listenin'

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket
Save 'em for a time when you're really gonna need 'em, oh

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I've had just enough time

So put on your best boys and I'll wear my pearls

--The Band Perry

Shiraki Dreams of Adjustments

Last night, my wife and I watched this great documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

For most of his life, Jiro has been mastering the art of making sushi, but even at his age he sees himself still striving for perfection, working from sunrise to well beyond sunset to taste every piece of fish; meticulously train his employees; and carefully mold and finesse the impeccable presentation of each sushi creation.

Jiro is a master and his quest for perfection is centered on his belief that "ultimate simplicity leads to purity."  This path requires crazy devotion and a superhuman work ethic.

I want to adjust spines the way Jiro makes sushi.

However, I am not willing to make the same sacrifices.  In order to achieve his dreams of sushi, Jiro was never at home with his family.  He failed as a husband and father in order to succeed as a shokunin.

So while I may dream of the perfect adjustment, I will not sacrifice away my family and faith to achieve it. But just perhaps, despite my reluctance to have that Jiro-like monomaniacal focus, perhaps, I may someday come close.

Can what I lack in that unrelenting, laser focus be compensated and justified through alignment, balance, flexibility and love?

We shall see, I guess, in the next four decades, how it all turns out.

Numbness Does Not Equal Healing

Pain, whether it be physical or emotional, is usually handled in one of two ways.  The most common approach to controlling pain involves finding something to numb the pain out-- something that stops the brain from receiving and processing all the hurt.

The numbing agent can take on a variety of manifestations: a morphine shot, Tylenol, hard liquor, even ilicit street drugs.  People take these things into their system to block out the pain.  Even if for a little while, magical pharmaceuticals can stop the suffering.

There are times when the pain can be temporarily numbed away by other, less tangible distractions.  A McDonald's drive-through binge can, at times, effectively block out the stress of the workday.  Marathon Facebooking or all-night video game sessions can easily distract us from the irritating pains of life.

The major problem with trying to numb away our pain is that, first off, it's almost always temporary and after the numbness fades away, the pain always comes back, sometimes coming back much, much worse.

The second way to deal with pain (a better, more effective way) is to first identify the cause of the pain, whatever it may be and then with great courage begin taking steps to correct that problem source.

We must not be satisfied with merely finding those quick, easy fixes to get rid of our agony, especially if those quick fixes do nothing to eliminate the cause of the pain.

Healing can only happen when the origin of the pain is properly diagnosed and a plan is made to correct that problem.  Then, with faith and wisdom that plan is executed-- weaknesses are turned into strengths, and with the ensiung rejuvenation, that soothing relief, once sought through outside, temporary means, emerges at levels beyond imagination!

Keep Going Forever

"I heard that when you see a chiropractor, you can never stop.  You have to keep going forever."

Many people use this rationalization to avoid receiving chiropractic adjustments.

But these same chiropractic naysers fail to realize:

• There is no point when brushing teeth becomes unnecessary
• There is no point when exercise becomes unnecessary
• There is no point when taking a shower becomes unnecessary

Healthy habits need to keep going forever.  When we stop doing those things that keep us strong, clean, and happy, no matter how long we've previously done these things faithfully, things will begin to fall apart.

Spinal alignment is no different.  Unless we make the effort to maintain, we will lose what we have gained.

Pass on the Antibiotics

Joanna Broder of WebMD Health News writes:

Patients may want to pause before asking for antibiotics to treat a sinus infection.

A new study involving more than 150 patients ages 18 to 70 suggests that the antibiotic amoxicillin may be no better than a placebo in improving symptoms for those with sinusitis -- a common inflammation of the nasal passages and sinuses.

Click here to read complete article.

Sinus infections are most often caused by viruses or bacteria. Antibiotics can be used to treat bacterial infections, but they do not treat viruses.

Garbutt writes that 1 in 5 of all adult antibiotic prescriptions in the U.S. is for the treatment of sinusitis, “and we’re suggesting that might not be the best plan,” she says, adding that 80% of patients with sinusitis get better on their own within 10 days.

The bottom line is that we don't need mousetraps when we have a roach problem.

Antibiotics do nothing to fight against a virus infection.  Nothing!

Insane Patience

If we wish to accomplish our goals, patience is essential.  We progress step by step.  Most worthy objectives require a step-by-step process that takes time.  And many times there is no clear evidence that what we are doing is actually moving us forward.  Many times as we work towards our goals, it seems as if our efforts are pointless and nothing good is happening despite our work and sacrifice.

Which is why patience is so important.  Remember the stonecutter?

There is a flip side, however.

We've all heard the saying (commonly thought to be first stated by Einstein), "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results."

So when positive results are not readily evident, how can we know whether we are being patient or if we're being insane?

I've experienced in my life both sides of this coin.  So have you, probably.

It comes down to, perhaps, the amount of hope, faith, and love we can hold in our minds and our hearts.  And maybe, patience requires a measure of insanity.

Knowing when to quit honorably and when to persist courageously is the key to not only a succesful life, but a happy one as well.

The Single Best Thing We Can Do for Our Health

The following 9 minutes and 19 seconds just might help you avoid an early death.

A Cook, a Chef, and a Chiropractor

The future belongs to chefs, not to cooks… A cook is not an artist. A cook follows a recipe, and he's a good cook if he follows the recipe correctly. --Seth Godin

When doctors graduate from chiropractic college, all emerge, diploma in hand, as cooks.  Spinal technicians.  The hours spent in the classroom and student clinic are all geared to develop detailed, precise skills to diagnose and adjust a vertebral subluxation.  In school, creativity and originality are frowned upon.  We are taught that there is only one right way to utilize an adjustment technique.  We are graded by how precisely we can practically reproduce all the standards of an adjustment technique.

There is absolutely no art.

Despite the fact that from day one, we are taught in chiropractic school that chiropractic is a science, a philosophy... and an art.

The most unfortunate thing is that years after attaining their degree, many if not most doctors of chiropractic will still prefer being a cook over being a chef.

Being a cook is safe.  Being a chiropractic cook takes away some of the stress of accountability; the technique is the recipe.  Just follow the recipe and if the outcome fails, it's the recipe's fault not the cook's.

It can even get to the point where a chiropractor may begin to seek after additional recipes to follow-- even outside the realms of adjusting technique.  For the desperate chiropractic cooks, certain practice management experts are more than happy to sell them specific "proven" scripts on what to say when you meet a patient for the first time, do a report of findings, and close a treatment plan sale.

Word for word.  Just follow the script (recipe) and get paid.

What our chiropractic profession desperately needs are more doctors who are willing to step up and be chefs. Doctors who claim their adjustments to be works of art.  Doctors who realize that the words which come out of their mouth must not only educate, but inspire patients.

Chiropractic artists who create and share freely.  From the heart.

The Three Medical Options

When a patient sees a medical doctor because of pain-- whether it be migraines, neck pain, back pain, sciatica, etc., there are three courses of care 99.9% of the time.

1. The doctor will prescribe a drug.  The problem with drug therapy is that it does nothing to correct the cause of the pain.  Medications only attack the effect.  At best, the relief is temporary.  At worst, chronic use of drugs can cause damage to the kidneys and liver.
2. If the pain is severe enough and actual damage has been done to the tendons, spinal discs, ligaments and/or bones, the medical recommendation will probably be surgery. These invasive procedures are designed to fix damaged structures that could have remained healthy if they were properly cared for and maintained.
3. The third option is a referral to a physical therapist.  Physical therapy can be a great approach to rehabilitating muscles and other soft tissues after an injury.  However, many times a physical therapist will focus only on stretching and strengthening exercises to the injured area before sufficient healing has occured.

So when you see a medical doctor in search of relief, expect one of the three: drugs, surgery or PT.  The focus will be on the symptom, not the cause of the symptom.  A chiropractor, on the other hand, will assess the problem with the intent to uncover the cause.  And if, in fact, the pain is either directly caused by or exacerbated by a spinal subluxation, the one and only option will be to correct the misaligned backbone with a chiropractic adjustment.

When a Doctor Scolds You

I hate it when I hear of a doctor, whether it be a he or a she, a medical physician, dentist or chiropractor, who has the audacity to harshly scold and belittle a patient.

It's just not right.

When a doctor comes down harshly on a patient-- to lose weight, to take pills, to floss, to get adjusted more regularly, whatever-- it is easy for the professional to rationalize the beratement by thinking, I'm only being a jerk to help this person.  I need to be tough to get through to him.

It's for his own good!

I've written in a previous post what I think about doctors who say, "I'm doing this for your own good."

When a doctor scolds you, please remember it's never ever, never because you deserve it.  Or need it.  It's about that doctor's ego.  That doctor's inability to control frustration.  It's about that doctor's need to vent because of a lack of patience (and, most likely, a lack of patients).

You are not a kid at school.  The doctor is not your mom or dad.

If a doctor starts to scold you, walk out.