One day not so long ago, a practice member named Craig walked into our center with a slight limp. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that he had been wrestling with his son A.J. and had hurt his knee. When I told him we’d take a look at it he replied, “Oh that’s OK, it will be fine by the end of the week.” Just then, a woman walked in and I heard Amy at the front desk greet her and ask her how she was doing. She replied to Amy, “Oh I’m fine today, but I just know I’m going to be in bad shape by the end of the week with the storm that’s on its way!”
Albert Einstein once said, “The most important question you will ever ask yourself is whether this is or is not a friendly universe.” Dr. Einstein believed that your answer to this question would in fact be the most important decision you would ever make. The reason it would be so important is summed up in another of his famous quotations; “You cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that existed when it was created.”
In our center for wholeness, we can see your answer to this question demonstrated in your attitude. You see, you either go through life with what we call a wellness mentality, or an illness mentality. People with an illness mentality expect that mainly unpleasant things will happen to them because they believe that the world is hostile, unpredictable and out of their control. On the other hand, those with a wellness mentality expect that mainly good things will happen in their lives because they believe that the world is friendly, and that they control and attract to themselves what happens to them through each of their thoughts, words and actions. In the story above, Craig was in a state of dis-ease, and yet he had a wellness mentality—a positive expectation that things would be good. The other woman was actually in a state of ease, and yet had an illness mentality– a certainty that things would go downhill for her.
How do we develop, maintain and even expand a wellness mentality? Three things are necessary.
- A deliberate focus on moving toward what you want, as opposed to trying to move away from what you don’t want.
- A healthy lifestyle that allows your body to function properly, heal and continue growing.
- A clear neurological connection.
Where does chiropractic fit into this equation? Interference in your nerve system causes your body to use energy at a much greater than normal rate. This rapid depletion of energy sends your body into survival mode and causes the highest thinking centers of your brain to shut down. With these parts of your brain shut down, do you think it is possible to see the world as friendly, or do you suppose that coming from a state of survival that you might interpret many (if not all) things as threatening?
The chiropractic adjustment process restores the free flow of energy at a normal and natural rate; a rate that allows for ease of function in every cell, tissue, organ and organ system—including your brain! Your body goes out of survival mode and back into ease, allowing you to once again see the world as friendly.
This is an excerpt from Ease Into Wellness by Kevin Donka, DC which first appeared in Pathways to Family Wellness Magazine.
