COMMIT AND GO

Early on I was fortunate enough to have a mentor that drilled this into me: success = decisiveness.  The only wrong decision is simply not making one.  What you can do is be prepared and informed, knowing that either choice will have things you are thankful for and things you regret, things that are hard and things that are easy.  But the key is committing and not looking back - No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God – Luke 9:62.

By moving forward – even if you are failing forward (cue Michael Jordan) – you are succeeding, you are growing, you are changing.  Need help making a decision?  Consult Ben Franklin’s method.  Don’t have time to deliberate?  Then go with your gut, knowing that the trial lies more in making the decision than the outcome.

Personal Experience:  As I was finishing up grad school, I spent the last 6 months agonizing over what to do when I finished.  I could take a job and return to my hometown in Illinois, or I could move to North Carolina where I didn’t know anyone and open up a business.  I made list upon list (and lists for my lists!), analyzing, deliberating, and ultimately worrying about what would happen.  I didn’t trust myself to make the right decision, so I asked everyone I knew (not a helpful exercise).  What did I accomplish with all this focused thought?  Wasting a chunk of life by standing still.  I returned to Illinois for a year, and then moved out here to NC and have not looked back since (which provided me with another lesson – there are times you do put all your eggs in one basket, because you will try harder.  Don’t hedge against yourself).

IT IS LESS ABOUT YOU THAN YOU THINK

As part of human nature, we tend to make our decisions and our lives about how things affect us.  Without a purpose we default to selfishness, which is myopic as it is hard to see outside of our own circumstance.  Those who are truly successful devote themselves to a calling, a purpose, and make decisions that transcend themselves and support that purpose.

Example: The book of 1 Peter says that we are called to purpose, and tells us of Jesus’ purpose (He died for our sins so that we die to the power of sin’s deceit which tries to persuade us that a better future can be had through sin than through righteousness) and devotion to that purpose until the end.  That kind of faithfulness changes the world.

When you remove yourself from the equation, it also serves to strip away conflicting emotions that you feel associated with the outcome.  Your purpose and values can quickly determine what is congruent for you to do, eliminating the “tyranny of choice” that can be felt from having too many options.  This has proven true for me time and time again, as I am prone to getting too wrapped in up my own head projecting what may happen with each possible choice.  It is not until I remove my own attachment and emotional investment that my purpose shows me the way.  Ironically, it seems like an epiphany every time this happens…you think I would have learned to get out of my own way by now!

MOVING FORWARD

What keeps you standing still in the face of change?  What strategies do you use in decision making?  Have a good story about failing forward?  Continue the discussion in the comments below.

Live Abundantly,

Causation? No.

Correlation? Yes.

Why Motion is Crucial

When you look at the human body, you can see that it is expertly designed for motion. Motion is nutrition not only for your joints, but for your brain (through the firing of proprioceptor afferents). Motion changes your internal brain and body chemistry, aiding in the healing process.

Image Credit: Red Sky Photography

Think about it… motion is life.

A heartbeat.

Drawing a breath.

Holding a hand.

Digesting a great meal.

All involve movement in order for you to express life. Why would the rest of your body be any different? Our lives are linked to our ability to move, right down to the cellular level.

So it makes sense that global body movement affects even your individual cells, making them healthier.

It makes sense that motion affects your brain, making you smarter.

It makes sense that motion helps you begin to heal yourself.

Even if you haven’t been moving regularly for years, start today. It’s not too late as your body will strive to do the best it can with what you give it. Give it good things and it will improve. Health will return – it’s our natural state.

And then don’t stop moving. Remember what it means to be alive. Chase after it with all you have.

Then, as Spock would say, you will live long and prosper.

What can you do?

Start by walking (get a dog or make a playlist if you need to)
Switch to a standing desk (or go pro with a treadmill desk) for work and gaming.
Bodyweight strength training
Begin working on proper posture
Yoga
Breathe deeply with your belly
Consult with a chiropractor
Take up a sport

Find what works for you and share below so we can all move forward together.

If I had 1000 sentences like this, I’d have a book.

Moving from project to project, post to post, day to day, and diaper to diaper…

Visions, goals and dreams leading the charge, yet stealing the day.

Not today.  Today I drew breath and soaked in the moment.  Consequently I laughed, I played, I loved.  All it took was a willingness to be still and enjoy my family.  Because I was laughing, playing and loving, so was my son.

His laughter seems like magic.

You would think this was the first time I’ve had this epiphany.  It’s not.

It happens about every week.  I try to be very intentional about my time at work, with family, with God, and with writing.  But by being so intentional I’m trying to make every moment matter.  I’m finding this forced importance can rob life of what makes it special.  It takes reckless abandon for me to just simply “be.” To breathe.  To let go.

In a few hours a new week begins.  I’m going to start by breathing.

You?

Thoughts, dreams, beliefs, principles… irrelevant as long as you can perform.

How can growth occur as you’re moving in these circles?  Condemned to repeating the same dog and pony show with slight variation day after day.

This is why you need a tribe. A place to grow with those of like mind or goals who are there to push you, to pick you up, to help you create your best art.

You’re not going to do it alone. You need community.

It’s not about performance, it’s about having the freedom to do what gets your heart beating out of your chest. It’s about having people to keep you on course so your best work gets finished.

It should be scary.

It should involve faith.

It will be memorable.

It will change things.

Do you have a tribe?

The comfort once felt is now shrouded in fear,
disguised as ambiguity to the watchful as
darkness envelops the passage.
I have lost the directions I once knew by heart
and blindly follow latent recollections,
desperate for an ending that is never in sight.

For starters, let’s again establish the Why.  Why should I take my newborn, even if they are symptom free, to get checked by a chiropractor?

Birth Trauma

The trauma from the birth process remains an under-publicized and therefore significantly under-treated problem – Gutmann¹

Birth in it’s many different forms can be quite traumatic.  While each birth is unique, there is always a chance that the baby suffers some sort of strain due to a variety of reasons.  Even the most natural births can result in trauma that goes undetected.

What can cause birth trauma?

• Very short labor
• Very long labor
• Failure of the cervix to dilate
• Use of pitocin to strengthen / induce uterine contractions
• Use of forceps or vacuum extraction
• Cord around baby’s neck
• Cesarean delivery (due to lack of progress)
• Pulling or twisting on the head to deliver the infants body.

Evidence

An American doctor of osteopathy, Viola Frymann, studied 1500 babies during the first five days of birth and found that 90% of the babies involved had suffered birth trauma and strain through the neck and cranial areas, with 10% suffering severe trauma.²

Harvard University pathologist, Dr. Abraham Towbin, found evidence of spinal injury common as a result of the birthing process.  He also found evidence of spinal injury in many cases of SIDS and infant respiratory conditions.³

Birth trauma often causes neurological dysfunction.  In fact, a study by Gutmann examining more than 1000 infants concluded that approximately 80% had some form of nerve dysfunction.¹  This is of utmost importance since 65% of neurological development (brain and nervous system) occurs in your child’s first year.  During this crucial time it is vital that the nerve system be healthy so the child can grow and develop to their potential.

What can nerve dysfunction from birth trauma look like?

• trouble breathing
• reflux / frequent spitting up
• irritability / colic
• difficulty nursing (impaired sucking / swallowing or head positioning)
• balance issues
• sleeping difficulty
• delayed developmental milestones

Chiropractic care is focused solely on removing nerve dysfunction (which improves brain-body communication) so a new baby can grow, develop and function at it’s highest potential.  We as humans were born with an innate ability to heal, all a chiropractor does is minimize the obstructions to that ability.

Evidence

Chiropractic adjustments in the early stages of neurologic imprinting appear to safely and effectively address the craniocervical dysfunction and help restore natural, efficient suckling patterns for infants who are unable to successfully latch.” – Dr. S Vallone⁴

Two major studies on chiropractic and infantile colic have shown that over a period of two weeks (usually three visits) 94% of babies adjusted by chiropractors showed a successful rating, with 25% showing improvement after the first adjustment.⁵

Better immunity through a healthy spine and nervous system

A leader in psychoneuroimmunology, Dr. Candice Pert, credits chiropractic as having a significant effect on maximizing immunity via maintenance of a healthy nervous system.⁶

A pilot study examined the relationship between intensity of chiropractic care and incidence of childhood diseases.  The results showed that children who went to the chiropractor more than seven times per year had an increased resistance (immunity) to common childhood diseases.⁷

Parting Thoughts

Many parents, myself included, have their children checked regularly by chiropractors as part of a healthy lifestyle to help them develop to their potential.  Chiropractic is a safe, gentle and effective way to address nerve dysfunction and promote overall wellness in the newborn and growing child.

Once again, I’ll point you to Dr. Jen’s 10 Reasons Parents Take Healthy Children to Chiropractors.

References:

1) Gutmann G. Blocked Atlantal Nerve Syndrome in Babies and Infants.  Manuelle Medizin. 1987;25:5-10.

2) Frymann VM. Springall P. Effect of Osteopathic Medical Management on Neurologic Development in Children. JAOA. 1992;92:729.

3) Towbin A.  Latent Spinal Cord and Brain Stem Injury in Newborn Infants.  Dev Med Child Neurol. 1969;11:54-68

4) Vallone SA. The Role of Subluxation and Chiropractic Care in Hypolactation. JCCP. 2007;8(1&2)

5) Jesper. et al. The Short Term Effect of Spinal Manipulation in the Treatment of Infantile Colic: A Randomized Controlled Trial with a Blinded Observer. JMPT. 1999;22;517-522

6) Pert C PhD. Molecules of Emotion. New York: Schribner; 1997.

7) Aymon M. Moss R. Rebne R. Neilsen K. The Relationship between Intensity of Chiropractic Care and the Incidence of Childhood Diseases. J Chiro Research. 1989;70-77

These cars were once young, fresh, and new.

They were sought after, desired, status symbols.

Now they are an eye-sore, waste, litter.

DeSoto by Teresa Moore

The artist found a purpose for them, but no one else could. Most of us are too busy in the race for the next best status symbol that we give up on what we have – we throw it away – and we refuse to see the beauty in it until someone with the right lens prints a big enough, high enough quality picture of it to slap us in the face and say “look at the beauty that still exists in me.”

Psychedelic Rust by Scott Mais

Growing with my Son

A child changes a man.

Making him older and younger all at once.

It reminds him of his heritage and legacy

while rediscovering play and his inner child.

It’a a unique time, to grow in both directions.

A time to be savored, cherished, loved.

Embraced.

A child shifts a man’s perspective

From changing the world to raising a family.

It puts what is truly important into focus

Maybe for the first time…

And every time you see a smile, a look of wonder.

It’s wonderful.

A child completes a man

It makes him whole by

Uniting his life across time.

The boy with the man,

The adventurer with the provider,

The magical with reason.

A child makes him a Dad.