In a recent blog post titled “Don’t Cheer Up”, I told you about the importance of bringing more truth into your present experience.  If you’re happy be happy, if you’re sad be sad and allow your body to have the experience you are actually having rather than the one you are trying to create in your brain.

Now I’m going to tell you to do the exact opposite.  How’s that for confusion?  You might ask, “How does that even make sense?” Well, pay attention, you’re about to learn how…

Changing the way your mind works happens in two phases.  These phases happen over and over again in a constant cycle of progression.  At times one may be more dominant than the other but inevitably they will show up over and over.  These two stages are identifying and deconstructing old habits and stories and creating new ones.  In “Don’t Cheer Up”, I was describing part of the process of identifying an old story or energy.  The idea of someone trying to write a new story when they have old mental habits and processes running them is just crazy.  You need to empty out the cup before you can fill it up again.  The cup is likely filled with habits, thoughts, concepts, paradigms and behaviors that were formed unconsciously through your childhood.  These patterns served you in that time to mesh well with family and social groups, but if you are not experiencing what you want to experience in life now it is likely that they are NOT serving you anymore.

Okay. . . NOW be happy.  This is the title of this post right?  The idea here is that I want you to start creating more habits and behaviors that are moving you towards what you want to receive and experience, rather than those that are based on who you used to be.

Let’s suppose that you’ve done an expert job at recognizing the pattern and feeling the emotion.  Both of these things bring the pattern stored in our nervous system to the surface (our conscious awareness).  When the charge is enough we will make a new choice which will start to re-write this pattern in our nervous system.  This re-writing looks like new habits, new choices, new perspectives, and new perceptions.  This is the core of change.

Now, here are some tools to reinforce these new patterns:

1. Affirmations – these are statements made out loud to remind yourself of the new state you’re creating.
2. Goal setting – what are the new goals set by this person you are becoming?  If the old pattern is cleared, you will have an ability to set bigger goals.  Exciting!
3. Visualization – your brain / neurology doesn’t know the difference between the imaginary and reality.  Imagine what you want to be and feel it as real.
4. Structure – create a plan for doing these things for a definite amount of time.  30, 60, 90 days increments are nice.  Get an accountability partner if you need someone who is going to help you make sure you are on task.

Nice work!  I’m excited to see your upgraded state.

Well, what if we alter this belief slightly.  What if we knew that every single thing that comes into our lives had a purpose.  What is purpose of any pain, symptom, syndrome, illness or disease.  I’ll give you a hint.  It’s all the same purpose.   Got an answer? No? Give up?  The message is always “SOMETHING ISNT RIGHT HERE!”  Its our job to have the awareness and resources to figure it out and take appropriate steps to learn and grow from it.

If we take steps to mask and cover it, my experience is, 9 times out of 10 it will show up again or in another way later on down the road.   Let’s take headache for instance.  Headache can be caused by a number of things.  Physical tension, allergies that they body is not resolving on its own, chemical toxicity, food allergy, organic disease and a whole host of other causes.   My goal for all my patients is to make a headache useful.  Its useful when we know more about ourselves and how our body and life operates.

When we can learn what the message we have the ability to make a decision that fundamentally improves our health, wellness and can lead to personal growth.  All this takes is trust that your body knows what its doing and a commitment to do something about it.  So next time you think something is “wrong” ask yourself “what is my body trying to tell me here?”  I promise you this, if you ask that question enough, you’re going to learn something amazing about yourself.

It exploded.

This is the play by play this morning as I nudge the box of my collar stays off of my dresser.  For those of you who don’t know, collar stays are those little plastic “sticks” that men put in their collars to keep them straight and not turned up at the tips

Aside: you can buy them at any men’s store or department store, if you don’t have any, spend the $6 to get some, those wrinkled turned up collar points look ridiculous. . . .  Anyway. . .

Is this blog post about fashion advice? Or how to explode your box of collar stays? No of course not.  What I want to draw your focus to is the process that occurred in my mind as these events were unfolding over the course of a second and a half.  For those of you who have read my blog before you recognize that I am a strong believer in the philosophy that what you think about most often you become, or more simply, the power of manifestation.  This is a simple and beautiful example of how that manifestation worked in real time.  Here is the instant replay with commentary and highlights.

The event – I knocked my collar stays off the dresser they are falling through the air.  At this point the outcome is indeterminate.  I have no idea what could happen.  They could all stay in the box (the box has a loose fitting cap) or they could fly out all over the place.

My perception – I instantly recognize that there are 2 likely outcomes (although really infinite outcomes but that’s for a later lesson).  Behind door #1 the top comes off and collar stays spray across the floor necessitating my need to stop what I’m doing and pick them up which would be inconvenient.  Behind door #2 the box hits the carpet and the top stays on and no big mess.

My emotion – this is the real key to the whole game.  I put my emotion (energy) into “no, don’t explode all over the floor” more appropriately “no no No NO don’t explode all over the floor!”

Outcome – The top popped off and collar stays exploded all over the floor.

Analysis – I perfectly manifested my outcome!  In retrospect I’m so proud, even though the outcome wasn’t what I wanted at the time.  What is cool is that the time line was so short (1.5 seconds) that I was able to see the entire process occur instantly.  So an impetus or new event + a desired outcome + emotion + diligent feeding of focus and energy = manifestation.
Ok, so I hear the questions somewhere out there in the 12^th row.  “But you said that you didn’t want to pick up the collar stays, it was inconvenient”.  Great point!  It’s not what I wanted in my conscious mind but it was what I was telling the universe I wanted!  When I said “no don’t explode all over the floor” my emotion and energy was focused on the collar stays exploding all over the floor.  The universe doesn’t read affirmative/negative all it reads is what you are focusing on.  I got exactly what I told it I wanted.  So the big trick is to be conscious enough in each moment to give the universe the message you really want.  I’ve developed an ability to “watch” myself in the moment through the amazing Network Spinal Analysis care that I have received for the past 5 years and that I offer to my patients and also through my meditation practice.  NSA (Network Spinal Analysis) has shown in research to help you build more of an awareness of your body and your mind.  It neurologically trains you to become more aware of your everyday experience of your life.

Ok so all of that was a really cool experience. Here is what BLEW MY MIND!

I continued to get dressed and I went to reach for my belt that was also on top of my dresser and I knocked the box of collar stays off again! First of all, time to get a better place to put my collar stays I know.  As the box was falling I was aware of my mind moving in the same direction as the first time wanting to say “oh no!” but even louder than that voice was one that said “remember your lesson” so instead I just focused on seeing the box hit the floor and the top staying on and that’s exactly what it did.

My friends we are truly co-creators of our life experience.

The more I pondered the big questions on the purpose of life, why are we all here, you know those ones that keep you up at two in the morning right after you’ve stopped thinking about last night’s episode of Glee and if your sister is really going to like the first season box set of “Will and Grace” that you bought for her birthday, the more I realized a few things.

     What we think runs the show. 

Pure and simple. You can have any different number perspectives on any situation you encounter.  Its your past, your socialization, your cultural norms that steer us to our standard reaction.  All that being said. . . you have a choice.  I’m going to say that again and really hear this.  You have a choice.  Its your choice how you want to behave, view your life, view your situation, its all perception.

The neurological perspective on this is fascinating.  The way we’ve trained our brain to perceive these experiences helps to form how we are going to see present and future experiences.  If you are constantly negative we’ve built up “circuits” in our brain to see the world as negative.  The more you see the world as negative, the more expertly and efficiently the brain is programmed to interpret your experience this way.  But the same goes for optimism, joy, happiness and all other positive or negative emotions.  The brain is like a highly advanced learning computer.  It will rewrite its software and even rewire the hardware over time it just needs the user to tell it what it wants to have.  The same type of experience happens in the biochemistry as well.  Here’s the big take home message.

You can have any experience you want, you just need to train yourself to do it!

You want more happiness? Joy? Gratitude? Courage? Strength? Passion?  Ok, you can have it, you just have to install the right software in the brain and body and give the brain a chance to rewire itself to help you.

So why is a miserable guy telling you to be happy.  Well I said I WAS a miserable guy.  I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. I realized that I wanted more ease, enjoyment and abundance in my life.  There is work that came along with that and I’ll share that in a later blog post.  I have been working at this for quite a while and recently redoubled my efforts.  In the last 3 weeks I have noticed more positive changes in my mood than I can ever remember.

       I’ve even woke up happy! Never did that before, kinda love it, want to do it lots more.

As I mentioned, I’ll share more in a later post, but here are two things you can do to start.  1. Decide what you want.  When I ask people what they want they usually give me a list of what they’re unhappy about that they are currently experiencing, when I reframe the question, they have no idea what they’d actually like.  That is a rudderless ship.  2.  Get your nervous system clear.  The work I do utilizing Network Spinal Analysis helps to clear out old patterns in the brain and spine so it is more ready and able to receive new programs.

Go Ahead, change your life, I dare you.

“Doc, my back hurts and I was filling out your form and I didn’t answer any of that weird stuff about feelings, I just hurt my back”.

To which I reply… “ok, tell me more about it, when does it hurt?”

“At work and at home”

I ask “When does it hurt at work?”
pause… “I never really thought about it, maybe in the morning when I first get there”

“What happens in the morning when you get to work?”

“I look at my desk and think…it’s going to be a long day”

“mmm, interesting” I reply “how about at home”

“I guess when my wife and I are talking about money or plans for the future”

“mmm fascinating, so you’re telling me that your back hurts more when you’re stressed or overwhelmed?”

“Gee doc, never really thought about it that way… “

“Will you go back and fill out the rest of that form for me please”

So is the change we’re trying to make a physical, emotional, mental, social or spiritual. People like to categorize their life experience into one of these categories. Often times these perceptions of “boxes” may be keeping you from healing and experience a more optimal state of health.

Physical, Emotional, Mental, Social, Spiritual are ways that we like to categorize our life experience. While these can be beneficial labels in some circumstances they can hold you back in others. The most common scenario I see this show up is when people say “oh… I just hurt my back” but they are so incredibly stressed at work and every time they get burned out they’re back starts to hurt worse. Or the woman who has fibromyalgia who constantly goes for massage or gets adjusted by the Chiropractor and the pain doesn’t change. But they have some issues in their past or present that are really affecting them emotionally. When these situations show up in their lives their muscle pain comes back and they don’t see the association.

Your body is trying to tell you that there is something going on that you need to pay attention.

Saying something is physical, mental, emotional, social or spiritual only… is a way to hide from experiencing what is really going on in your life. People are generally comfortable in the physical and mental. They are willing to feel body pain and have cognitive thoughts about it. In many cases they are not willing to pay attention to emotions, social situations or spirituality. These last three categories are scary to people. If these things weren’t scary to us most people would be willing to spend some time and look at it. Because if its not scary what’s the big deal right? But if there is something we don’t want to look at we will avoid it and say “oh its just physical pain” or one of my favorites “that’s all in your head”. Listen to me say this “it’s not just your body, it’s your life”. Your body doesn’t know about these boxes, all it knows is something isn’t ok and it wants you to make a change.

In other parts of the world this has been an understanding of this concept for hundreds or thousands of years. As well as a Doctor of Chiropractic degree I have a Masters degree in acupuncture. In Traditional Chinese medicine we have a lens that lets us look at symptom manifestation from a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual lens. There is and understanding in that tradition that a dysfunction in one area can manifest symptoms in another.

It’s not psychosomatic and that makes you crazy. It’s not just all in your head, all of these areas of the life experience are important and valuable and if you want to be healthy and well you need to be aware in all of these areas.

So why is a Chiropractor talking about this? The technique I use called Network Spinal Analysis lets helps to unwind tension from the nervous system, the primary communication system in the body. People report changes in their emotional, mental, spiritual and social states based on the physical work I do. I’ve seen this in action, your life can change and be better.

So here’s the big idea.

BE WHERE YOU ARE. Be honest and truthful with yourself and be in the experience you’re having in this moment. The honesty is more important.

If you are happy be happy, if you’re sad, be sad. Your body is designed to experience an emotion and to manifest that experience through the body. When the body is given permission to have the experience of being where it is it results in a release of tension and energy that allows the body to relax which equates to less pain, stiffness and symptoms.

Think of it like working out your emotional muscles. Without having the experience your emotions are urging you to have, you atrophy these emotional muscles and become weak.

What happens so often in our culture is that an emotion comes up in us and we ignore it, dodge it, stifle it or push it way down deep inside where we think it won’t get to us and we’ll be safe because we’ve ignored it. Do this long enough and some people even forget HOW to experience emotion! (Know anyone like that?) But here is the problem, the body is made to experience emotion! Why else would we have these reactions? It helps us to dissipate the tension of an experience that falls outside the range of what we are used to experiencing. By having the experience and knowing that we feel better on the other side we expand what we are able to handle. We stretch, grow and become stronger. When we try to control or bottle these emotions the brain and the body are in conflict and tension is created. These emotions may be stored in the body as pain, tension, stiffness, muscle ache or inflexibility.

Haven’t you ever been really stressed and then they cry and feel so much better? Or known someone who was stressed and go to see a funny movie, they laugh and they relax? This is exactly what I’m talking about, allowing emotion is one way we dissipate tension in the body that can build up and cause problems in the body.

Why the heck is a Chiropractor talking about this? Well, I see people all the time who are in pain and unable or unwilling to experience their emotions. Plus the light touch technique I use, Network Spinal Analysis, unwinds tension from the central nervous system and often gives people enough space to experience their emotions where they didn’t feel comfortable enough doing before. In essence, people reduce enough tension to become aware of their emotions again.
If this sounds interesting to you and you’d like to learn more please check the website for information on when our next free introductory lecture is or call into the office for an initial consult.

“Ok… is this guy selling me a story here?” I sometimes see that look buried in the silence as people process what I’m saying. People are thinking “ok, he’s telling me that patients in his office are healing, growing and changing their lives, on the other hand he said the technique is based around a light touch….” wait for it….. and yes… there it is, the “does not compute” look.

Here the deal. Your nervous system is the most complex and sensitive evolutionary system known to man. More complex than the inside of this computer I’m typing on, more complex than the internet and the giant redwood forests. If you think about it, it must be. It is the only system we know of that actually seats consciousness. Simultaneously we live in a world full of stress and anxiety which is all processed by the nervous system. If you think about a system that is highly complex and sensitive and simultaneously processing all the stress you experience in your life it seems like it would be in danger of overwhelm right? In your life when you feel overwhelmed how would you like someone to help you create change in your state?

Would you prefer a calm quiet question that points out there is a way things could be more comfortable and easier or a loud abrupt shout telling you what to do?

The light contacts I make on your spine with this technique are a calm, quiet question to your nervous system asking “is it serving you to be holding on to this pain, tension, stress and anxiety anymore” “what if you let go of this stress”. These contacts are made on areas of the spine where the nervous system is the most ready to receive an input.

What we see happen when a body is able to receive this input is increased breath into an area of their body, or move around a little and the tension in the spine, muscles and nervous system will start to dissipate on its own. When the treatment is over they say they are more relaxed, feel more connected and often with less pain.

One of the things I love about this process is that working together we are teaching your body new skills so that it can learn to release tension and do what the body wants to do, remember how to heal on its own. This is like the old proverb of giving a man a fish vs. teaching a man to fish. Because the body is learning people start to become more aware of what is causing tension in their life and when they are holding tension during their day to day life. The awareness is a huge key here. When you are aware of what is causing tension you can make different choices. You become empowered and learn how to take control of your own healing. My patients become their own doctors.