Last week I talked about The Artist’s Way, morning pages, and how regular journaling can be very beneficial for personal and spiritual development. I must be in some kind of Artist’s Way kick because I am going to talk about another idea I got from Julia Cameron — the Artist Date.

What the heck is an Artist Date? Basically, it’s taking time to do something fun for or with yourself — alone. They are meant to help inspire your creative juices, remove energetic blocks, and increase overall happiness. Take yourself somewhere you enjoy, such as the beach, the spa, the bookstore, or out to the park for a nice walk. Cameron encourages people involved in the Artist’s Way to step outside of their usual paradigm and do things that they’ve always wanted to do but have never gotten around to it — skydiving, learning to surf, or taking up crochet. Enjoy yourself.

The importance of taking yourself on a date is this: Too often we ignore our selves and sacrifice our happiness and needs for the sake of all those around us: our bosses, our spouses, our children, our parents, our friends, etc. I will agree that these things are important and I do not wish to attach any negativity to having friends, jobs, or a social life. However, the cultural trend is to have only these and nothing for ourselves. We have distraction after distraction from ourselves and being alone becomes a great fear for many of us. We are not in human form so that we can be slaves to what we perceive to be our familial, social, and career obligations. We must have balance. Living our lives for ourselves is equally as important as being and living with others. We are here to experience and partake of our experiences and our enjoyments, and these do not need to be sacrificed for the sake of another person or entity.

The simple act of taking regular time out for ourselves by going on little adventures enlivens us. It brings passion and lightness back to our daily lives and connects us to our spirit. Sacrificing all of our time for everyone else deadens us to our purpose, passions, and being. Life is a journey and an experience for us to have in its many facets– from interactions with others to experience of our self. Unfortunately, many of us forget that we even have a self.

Take some time out each week to practice some altruistic selfishness. Give to yourself and to the world by getting to know you.  It doesn’t have to be anything too big if you don’t want it to be, but stretch yourself, and most importantly, give to yourself, love yourself, and grow your happiness!

Two and a half years ago I read the book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron. This is a wonderful self course in getting in touch with your creative self. I never really considered myself an artist in the conventional sense. I mean, I couldn’t even draw a stick figure. However, I’d always been musically inclined and had always enjoyed literature and writing. As I had never though of myself as remotely creative, I probably never would have considered The Artist’s Way. That is, until Sam started raving about it. He had been taking the course for several weeks and was quite excited by all the growth emerging in so many areas of his life. I thought that I would give it a try. I considered it may even help me with my PhD program. It certainly did. To be honest, I truly believe The Artist’s Way is probably one of the best things I have ever done. Even after several years I regularly practice one of the foundational tools of the course — Morning Pages.

Morning pages are basically journaling, except Cameron insists that while in her course, you write them first thing in the morning. At this point, I don’t usually do them first thing in the morning, or in the morning at all. Consequently, I’ve stopped referring to them as morning pages and started calling it what it is — journaling. I don’t feel as though anything has been compromised by changing the time of day I do them, as long as I do them.

What did I find so powerful in journaling that made me stick with regularly for two and a half years? In many ways, journaling has become my compass. It’s an active meditation that keeps me focused. My journal is also my confidant with whom I can discuss anything and everything. Journaling boosts my creativity. It allows me to unblock whatever it is or was holding me back from creating. It does this my just getting things out, moving them out of our way and into out conscious,  whether it is a bunch of rambling, beautiful prose, poetry, or angry, petty tirades. It’s a way to release the tensions and stresses of life while making room for creation, art, growth, and fun. I feel more balanced when I journal than when I don’t. It’s a great way for me to get unstuck out of situations I find myself in and work out ideas and solutions to multitudes of problems. It’s a refuge for guidance, direction, and balance.

I highly recommend that everyone try it at least for a couple weeks.  See how it works for you. Make a routine for yourself and stick to it religiously. Write for 35-45 minutes everyday, no matter what. If you’re feeling grumpy, write. If you’re sick, write. If you’re elated, write. Chances are that that grumpiness, illness, and happiness want to come out on paper. Don’t fret and stress about having perfect or brilliant writing. Perfection is the death to all creativity. Let your journal be the refuge that sees your sloppiest moments. Don’t be afraid of judgment, just get it out. No one but you is ever going to read it, and even you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Make it something you look forward to and enjoy. Write with things that inspire you. Personally, I use a moleskine, a fountain pen, and write in parks or in cafes after I get home from the gym. I find that journaling after yoga or the gym is a great mental clean out that compliments the physical gym-induced euphoria. Find some medium for writing that works for you — notebook, computer, whatever — and do it. Do it regularly. You might just find that you’ve found a tool that imbues your life with greatness and joy.

“Loyalty demands that you should always, in life or in death, be devoted to the person whether your heart is willing for it or not. It is a psychological way of enslavement.”
-Osho, from Intimacy: Trusting Oneself and Other People

I have been doing a lot of thinking about loyalty and love recently, and this quote from Osho has been galvanizing a lot of my thoughts. On the one hand, I consider myself a very loyal person; committed to my friends, my family, my partner through thick and thin, no matter what. On the other hand, I prize the freedom to live precisely what’s in my heart at any moment, to act on unencumbered desire, and to live my life on the hairy boundaries of fear, because the liberation of my spirit (call it attaining enlightenment, Nirvikalpa Samadhi, atonement, bliss, whatever) from the conditioning of my mind and body so that I can help others achieve the same is precisely why I understand myself to be here.

What strikes me as most disturbing about this quote is how directly it flies in the face of a lifetime of training in the virtues of loyalty. Suddenly I’m questioning some of my most deeply-held beliefs: that if I’m not loyal to the people with whom I’m in relationship, I’m a bad friend, lover, son, sibling, and that I’ve failed in my civic duties to help to maintain the cohesive structure of the society I participate in. I feel like this is a fairly common and pervasive social belief that most of us are trained in in some way or another. I also recognize within myself that this belief is at odds with another of my beliefs: that if I express anything other than what I most desire and wish to express, I am undermining the fabric of the society I’m trying to help to create. Namely, one of greater personal freedom, love, and kindness than the one that I grew up in.

“Love is a dangerous experience because you are possessed by something bigger than you. And it is not controllable; you cannot produce it on order. Once it is gone, there is no way to bring it back. All that you can do is to pretend, be a hypocrite.”

I’m disquieted by the answers I come up with when I think about the implications of these ideas as they apply to my life, right here, right now. Am I undermining my own search for freedom and the transformative power of love by trying to deconstruct and define the love in my life, and keep it familiar and safe? When I listen quietly to the sounds my heart makes, I have to confess that I am.

Oddly, this answer brings with it a kind of joy. It tells me that more freedom is on its way, more wild love, a greater expression of bliss and tranquility and illumination. It also brings with it enormous fear. What do I have to give up that I don’t want to let go of in order to feel this freedom? My friendships? Closeness with my family? My relationship with my romantic partner? The joy in me whispers that perhaps there’s a way to surrender utterly what those things are now, and not have it be a loss, but a win. How that unfolds is ultimately out of my hands. All I can do is let go and watch.

Living on those hairy boundaries is hard, but worthwhile. With each victory over fear, another opportunity to resist fear instead of embrace it will present itself as a challenge. Remembering to rise to my highest sense of honor, and acting from what I know to be right fills me with a sense of accomplishment that the feeling of achieving a material goal can ever touch. That doesn’t make it especially easier to do, however!

I live in California, home of sun-bronzed Gods and Goddesses of Hollywood, Gym Culture, and the Surf, Epicenter of the Cult of Thin. In California (and, I’ll wager, in all of the USA), we are trained to hate our imperfect bodies. I could make an argument that this is all the result of the Puritans abnegation of the flesh, blah blah blah, but that’s neither here nor there. What’s telling for me is the degree to which people hurt themselves, doing lasting harm to their bodies, in order to change them from what they are into something else. This isn’t just the diet industry that I’m talking about. Whether you’re overweight or fit, active or a couch-surfer, we are living in an environment that trains us to want our bodies to be other than what they are.

So enough with the negativity and cultural condemnation. What can each of us do about it? If what I’ve said thus far resonates with you personally, try this meditation on body forgiveness. It may sound a little corny, but it helps and works to release internalized Somaphobia (body hatred and fear):

Get naked and sit comfortably. Ease your breathing, and notice how deeply you’re breathing. Notice how slowly and easily you’re breathing. Place both hands on one of your feet. Don’t try to do anything to it just yet (ie, don’t massage or squeeze or stretch it), just feel how it feels between your hands, and feel how your foot feels when it’s being held. Say “I forgive you, foot, for ever not meeting my expectations. I accept and love you just as you are”. If it feels like it wants to be squeezed, give your foot a couple of gentle squeezes, almost like you would reassure a child or small animal, and release it. Repeat this on the other foot. Be loving! Be kind! Be silly! You’re talking to your foot like it’s a person; if that doesn’t make you feel a little silly, I’m not sure what will. Do it anyway. Name your body parts as you go, if it helps!

Place your hands on your ankle. Tell your ankle that you forgive it for not meeting your expectations, and that you love it and accept it just as it is. Take your time. You’re not doing yourself any favors by rushing through showing yourself how much you love and care for yourself. Repeat on the other side.

Now the calves, the knees, the thighs, the hips. Place your hands on your genitals. Forgive them. Tell them you love them. No, seriously. If you feel ridiculous, you’re probably on to something really worthwhile. Touch your bottom. Touch your anus. Forgive them for disappointing you, for not being what you wanted.

Forgive your belly, your love-handles, your low-back. Forgive and love your breasts, your ribcage, your sternum. Accept and be grateful and loving toward your shoulders, arms, armpits, forearms, hands, fingers. Accept and forgive and love your throat, neck, chin, jaw, skull (spend a little extra time on that place where your skull joins your neck - as a predominantly seated culture, we tend to carry more tension and see more problems here than other people).

Touch your face, bit by bit: lips, teeth, eyes, cheeks, nose, forehead, eyebrows, ears. Don’t leave anything or anyplace out. Forgive all the pieces of you that have disappointed and let you down. Accept them and love them as they are.

Now go look at yourself in the mirror (ideally, full-length). Tell your naked body that you forgive it for ever failing to meet your expectations of it. Finally, look yourself in the eyes in the mirror and forgive yourself for having expectations that your body be other than what it is, was, has been. Say “I love you, ______” [your name here]. “I forgive you and I love you.”

If you get stuck anywhere in this process, derailed or unable to continue, stop and reflect on where you got stuck and why. If you just can’t look yourself in the eyes and tell yourself that you love yourself, strive toward being able to - you deserve your own love first and foremost.

I’m a big believer in and user of affirmations - positive present-tense statements that are repeated for self-development. They offer a form of neurological re-education that is completely self-paced and directed, and they can be extremely effective for reprogramming patterns of thought to make thoughts more empowering and uplifting. I have heard nay-sayers claim that affirmations are just a new age palliative or placebo, they only make you feel better temporarily, or they don’t do anything but make you feel good about being a messed up jerk. To these people, I offer the observation that the assumption that you’re a messed-up jerk is probably not a very useful one, especially if you’re looking to become a more loving and compassionate person. Messed-up jerks don’t become warm and caring people; sincerely dedicated people become warmer and more caring people. The best a messed-up jerk can hope for is to stop being messed-up, or stop being a jerk.

From my own experience, affirmations are not magic, they’re not an instant cure-all. They take a level of dedication, especially when they’re first employed, and a level of commitment that you must rise to, especially if you really need to be doing the affirmations you’re doing. They start out feeling awkward, bizarre, weird, disingenuous, and like you’re saying something you don’t really mean. I’ll even go so far as to say that if your affirmations don’t make you a little uncomfortable at first, you’re probably not using the right affirmations.

Some of the affirmations I use (in the car on my way to school, in the bathroom in the morning, in my bedroom when during my meditation time, whenever I can!) are:

• I trust myself completely.
• I embody wisdom.
• I embody compassion.
• I embody gentleness.

Why am I using these affirmations out of all of the possible ones I could be using? Why not “I have more than enough money to meet my needs”? I’m not using that one because attempting to manifest specific material goals seems useless to me; my material success will come in  the exact measure that I need. As I keep myself clear, growing, and open to life, I’ll have all of my needs met. I already believe all of that very deeply, so reminding myself that I have enough money strikes me almost like pointing out that John F. Kennedy was not a homosexual. Pointing it out raises the notion that there might be reason to believe he was a homosexual. Reminding myself that I have plenty of money reinforces for me the option of doubting that I do, when I already deeply believe it.

I’m using the affirmations that I’m using because I don’t believe them yet. Once I can say them with absolute conviction consistently and regularly, and it doesn’t feel like a big surprise that I believe what I’m saying, I’m done with that affirmation. It’s time for a new one. Otherwise, instead of reinforcing the new neurological pattern that the affirmation represents, it reinforces the possibility that what I’m saying is not really true, and I’m only telling myself to convince myself. Tricky tricky mind!

Of course, I periodically come back to my older affirmations and check to see how I feel about them now. It’s like a way of checking if the newer neurological pathways are still firing more powerfully than the older belief patterns that the affirmations were meant to replace. If I feel myself resisting or doubting what I’m saying, I’ll put that affirmation back on the list until the new belief really does dominate over the older, dysfunctional beliefs.

All of this is to say: if you’re doing affirmations regularly, and you’re doing the same ones you were doing 3 months ago, check in to these questions:

1. Do I believe this yet?
2. If so, why am I still repeating it to myself? What is the next step after this?
3. If not, why am I still repeating it to myself? What can I replace this affirmation with that I can believe in the next 3 months?
4. What am I really reinforcing with this affirmation? My belief that it’s true, or my doubt that it really can be?

It’s the end of the academic year. Papers are due, final exams are being given, and students are stressed out with the sudden influx of work. However, it’s not as though any of the assignments and papers were unexpected. They knew what was coming at them and could have been adequately prepared in advance. Unfortunately, nothing is done about these assignments until the deadline becomes pressing. As a post-grad student, my colleagues and I are all too familiar with this cycle and very well versed in the fine arts of procrastination. I also know that procrastination can be a huge problem for anyone from students to CEOs. I’m going to share with you six tips that I have found to be helpful in giving me the necessary motivation and confidence to manage my projects and tasks.

1. Assess your values. Clearly identify what the task or project is you are working on and why you are doing it. What are you working towards? What will you get out of it? How is this connected to your passions and governing values? What’s driving you?

Perhaps you’re working on a report for a course. You may initially tell yourself that you are are doing it only because it was assigned by the teacher or professor. But why are you in school or college? Is it because you believe it will lead you to a better life? Is it because you genuinely enjoy your course of study but this once class is just not your forte? Instead of focusing on doing the report because your professor assigned it, you can look at it in ways of supporting your higher value of staying in school or college. Finishing the report will allow you to continue studying those courses you genuinely enjoy.

2. Reframe Should/Must/Have/Need to Want/Get. Telling yourself the you should/must/have to/need to do something takes the task out of your hands. It does not leave you in a place of choice or power. If you tell yourself that you want to or get to do this project because you’re excited about it or because it is in alignment with your passions and values, then you will be much more motivated.

3. Set Boundaries with Others and Yourself. Tell people that you are busy and can not be social until you have the goal completed. Turn off your phone. Make sure your workspace is clear, comfortable and as free of distraction as possible. Set up regular times to do your work and stick to them.

The computer can be our most useful tool and our worst enemy. Set boundaries for yourself with it as well. Disable things like instant messaging, new email notifications, and the web browser. Use these only during break times.

4. Actions/Tasks vs Projects. The lack of clarity between actions and projects can be one of the biggest causes of procrastination. If you don’t narrow your projects down into action steps, then your tasks remain amorphous and overpowering. I explained more about actions and projects in my article Basic GTD.

5. Work with Positive Associations. Surround yourself with things you find pleasing but aren’t distracting. Incorporate your 5 senses and use things that you positively associate with your work.

6. Breaks. Be sure to take regular breaks. This will keep you from getting tired or burnt out, and give you time to clear your mind to think of fresh ideas and new approaches.

I’d like to start by defining how I’ll be using the word “posture,” because my use will elaborate on the vernacular use somewhat. In every day use, “posture” is the degree to which a person is standing upright. Posture can be markedly “good” or noticeably “bad.” It goes beyond just upright-ness, and for the purpose of this article in particular will be used to refer to the entirety of how every part of a body is oriented in relation to the space around it, everything in that space, and in relation to every other part of the body. That means that when I’m talking about posture, I’m including the tilt of the hands as well as the tilt of the shoulders. Perhaps “embodiment” or “characterization” are more accurate terms, but they’re also less-widely used and understood outside of theatrical contexts.

We all rely on postural cues to tell us what’s happening with the people around us; from a sagging chin telling us someone may be tired or sad to  a  tilted head signifying curiosity, we read the emotions of the people around us constantly through the way their bodies move - and don’t move.

Try this: look in a mirror. Notice where your shoulders are, your head, your hips. Close your eyes for a breath or two, and recall a time when you felt a powerful sense of sadness or loss. See what you saw, feel what you felt, hear in your mind what you were hearing when you were feeling this sadness or loss, and then open your eyes and look in the mirror again. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to note that your posture has shifted to one that reflects sadness; slumped shoulders, collapsed ribcage, downward-facing eyes and chin. The change in your posture may have been pronounced, or it may have been subtle.

Now, try closing your eyes and imagining yourself in a time or place where you were having the most fun you can remember having, or even the most fun you can imagine anyone having. Wait until you can really feel, see, and hear what you’re doing in your mind’s eye, then open your eyes. When you look in the mirror again, note how your chest has probably risen, your abdomen may have widened. Your neck is probably longer.

Now, try this: standing in front of a mirror, softly widen your chest, let your arms hang gently from your shoulders, square your hips softly, raise your head. Did you happen to notice, as you were doing this, that you felt more powerful? Proud? Aloof? Centered? Or perhaps you felt like you were standing more the way someone who was feeling one of those things might stand?

Many people in the healing arts, from massage to energy work to chiropractic, refer to emotions being stored in the body. Three models we might use to describe this idea are:

1. Since postures reflect emotions (as seen above!), if subtle postural features get “stuck” in our physiology, our bodies store the emotional content of that posture. When we receive some form of healing work that releases the structural holding pattern (which was brought about by excessive force entering the body), then we “re-experience” the emotional content of whatever trauma caused the posture to get stuck in the first place.
2. Since emotions are reflected by postural sets, if emotional habits become entrenched in our psyches, our posture will unconsciously express the emotional state that we’re habitually in. Thus, when we receive effective psycho-emotional work (therapy, coaching, energy work, whatever!) that allows us to break old emotional habits, our posture will change (i.e., the formerly anxious person who, upon making a significant breakthrough in therapy, walks taller, moves more easily, and feels less worn out).
3. Emotions are really just the way the conscious mind perceives the status of the physical body. If we’re standing upright with ease and soft focus, the conscious mind interprets that as “I feel content.” If we’re feeling sad, slow, depressed, and melancholy, that’s just the conscious mind’s interpretation of literal physical discomfort brought on postural habits, which may in turn reflect nutritional deficiencies, reactions to consumed drugs, or a host of other stimuli that trigger a response in the body that the conscious mind interprets as “I am sad.”

A combination of the three, emphasizing the third model, is what I’ve been working with most recently. Here is the best way I’ve found so far to explain what I mean:

Imagine someone with chronically misaligned vertebrae in their neck (perhaps they were in a car accident years ago). The nerves there are constantly sending low-level pain signals to the brain about their predicament. The brain has, for whatever reason, been unable to do anything about the misalignment and pain so far, and so has relegated those pain signals to “background noise.” We filter out almost any repetitive stimulus after a while. Now imagine that person standing in front of a group of people and do a speaking engagement. Doesn’t it stand to reason that bringing that extra bit of attention to their vocal apparatus would very subtly heighten the awareness they would have of the pain signals coming from their neck? Then of course, lacking conscious awareness of the pain in the first place, all they would consciously be aware of is “I really don’t want to be doing this!” This physical avoidance response could well be interpreted as anxiety about speaking to groups, when in reality it is literal physical pain that the mind has sublimated but is brought to the fore situationally.

I recognize that this model is somewhat simplistic. I’m still revising and expanding it, and wish to construct the most elegant and functional model I can, so keeping it as simple as the data I get will support seems reasonable.

I also realize that it may strike some people as dishonoring to the validity of their emotional experiences. I suppose all I really have to say to that is:

Most of us in industrial cultures have lost a sense of connection to the planet. Instead, we have preoccupied ourselves with social constructions such as economies, borders, money, banks, cities, buildings, jobs, etc. All of these are important to us because we say they’re important. We give them our power and therefore their meaning. We have relegated nature to small plots of land within urban environments. With this exception, nature is not a part of our lives. This very essence on which everything on this planet depends has been marginalized and devalued. Our religions have taught us that we, as rational beings, as humans, have dominion over what God created. Unfortunately, we seem to have equated dominion with irresponsibility.

Now, slowly, we as a human culture, are realizing that we can’t keep doing this. If we do, we’ll all be gone along with those social construction which we have given so much meaning and power. If we continue on our destructive trajectory, nature will destroy us, our economies, cities, buildings, banks, jobs, and slowly, over thousands of years, evidence of our existence. This has brought us face to face with our own societal mortality and is making us realize that we are not, in fact, above nature and we can not continue to exploit it.

Thousands of years ago we lived in nature and coexisted with the various plants and animals. We depended on the earth, its creatures, and its life. We were very well aware of that, and it seems that we had a lot of respect for that system that was sustaining us and everything which we were surrounded by. This is evidenced in the cultures and religions of indigenous and agrarian people. Their paradigm tends to be one in which they view themselves as an integral part of the ecosystem in which they live, as opposed to something separate and above the natural order of the planet. Religions of these people tend to focus on a profound reverence for the earth. These are religious systems in which the divinity and the devotee are both a part of the same system. The devotee is well aware of his or her dependence on this greater system. This is still evidenced in many earth-based religions such as Hinduism, Shinto, and various shamanic traditions. The connection between the earth, the foundation and sustainer of everything on this planet, was and is so much more real to these people. Its a part of every day life to be respected rather than exploited. I find it interesting that these people tend to also have a ubiquitous expression of spirituality; god and goddess are everywhere. Spirit and nature are extremely real. They’re present in every facet of life and not something relegated to certain buildings or to be revered on certain days of the week.

Now, I’m not going to go all hippy on you and say that we should all be leaving our cities and living in communes in the forests. I’m not going to go into what we are all already aware of by preaching about how we all need to recycle, drive less, and conserve our resources. Besides, I’m writing on spirituality and how it can have a stronger and more present influence in our lives. Clearly, I believe that building a stronger foundation on nature is a vital part of this practice.

In my experience, having a connection to nature makes me feel more whole and grounded. It can also inspire a sense of awe, and a deeper connection to humanity. My mind is clearer, and I am much more centered. I love to grow plants and watch hummingbirds flutter from flower to flower. I love to experience the vastness of the mountains and to be reminded of the universe and of myself. I suggest taking some time each day to be outside and experience nature. Take a moment to go for a walk in a park and marvel at nature’s beauty. Notice how quiet it can be and still so very busy in its constant cycle of life, death, and transformation. Take regular time to meditate in a park or garden. Be conscious of how this makes you feel like a whole, more connected, and less stressed individual. Spending time to experience and relate to nature will surely bring us more peace, healing, and contentment, for ourselves and the planet itself.

As a Chiropractic student, I have found one of the greatest challenges I face is overcoming a popular misconception of Chiropractic as bone-crunchers and back-crackers. I addressed some of these misconceptions in my 3-part series called “What is Chiropractic?” (part 1, part 2, part 3). I have also, because I’m a student, been asked on numerous occasions how to find a good Chiropractor. It’s a tricky question to answer, in part because everyone has different ideas about what they want a Chiropractor for.

If you’re looking for a Chiropractor, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What am I looking for?
  • Symptom relief?
  • Ongoing health care?
  • Wellness support?
• What specific goals am I hoping to achieve working with this Chiropractor?
  • Greater flexibility and ease of movement?
  • Increased feelings of centered tranquility?
  • Higher athletic performance?
• How important to me is a personal connection and relationship with my Chiropractor?

Here are some ideas for things to talk to your prospective Chiropractor about before beginning care:

• Make sure your they talk about the nerves or the nervous system. The bones are levers for keeping the nervous system functioning well - obstructions in bony movement imply disruptions, impingements, and interference to the nervous system, but aren’t the targets in and of themselves.
  • If what you need is just a stuck bone to be rehabilitated and mobilized, a Chiropractor is trained to help, but that’s not the real Art or heart of the work.
  • Listen for signs that the bony fixation is the most important thing to the doctor you’re talking to, they may have gotten distracted by the medical model of symptom relief and forgotten the big picture!
• Ask your potential Chiropractor what about the work really excites them. If they don’t speak with passion and enthusiasm about something that gets your attention and makes you excited too, then they’re probably not a good doctor for you.
• Ask if they do regular health talks or patient education programs. These programs should be free, occur regularly, and should be focused on explaining the how and why of Chiropractic to new patients. If they do offer health talks, try to attend one before beginning care. If they don’t, ask them what they do for patient education. If they look at you blankly, smile and find someone else!
• Trust your instincts! If you don’t feel like you want to spend more than 20 minutes with this person if you don’t have to, don’t work with them - you need to feel fully safe, supported, and secure with your Chiropractor in order to grow, heal, and progress.

While no set of recommendations like this could ever be complete or speak to everyone, I hope this article can give you someplace to start when looking for a Chiropractor.

Limiting Beliefs Are So Last Year!

Changes in one’s train of thought produce corresponding changes in one’s conception of the external world….
As a thing is viewed, so it appears.
To see things as a multiplicity, and so to cleave unto separateness, is to err.
–Padmasambhava

We could have just about anything we want if something wasn’t blocking us. Many of us often face obstacles that keep us from achieving our goals and living our ideal life. The bulk of these obstacles are without foundation, substance, and lack any real existence. They are mental constructs that you impose upon yourself with your imagination and cultural agreements. Many of these obstacles are known as limiting beliefs.

All behavior stems from belief. A limiting belief is behavior that limits our empowerment and prevents us from achieving our goals. Some examples of limiting beliefs are: “I can’t make enough money”, “I’m not good enough to do X”, “I’m not smart enough”, “I don’t deserve to be successful”, or “I must/have to do Y”.

Limiting beliefs do not come from a state of choice, they’re restrictive, often unconscious and as such don’t encourage mindfulness or personal growth. They keep us stuck, unhappy, and burdened. They’re just ugly.

Here are 3 simple steps to change limiting beliefs:

Consciousness: The first step in changing a belief is knowing it’s there. Recognize it for what it is. Look into and at it. See why it’s there. What is it getting you and do you still want what you’re getting from it? Where did it come from? Do you still want to hold on to it?

Language: Changing your language will change the structure of the belief. Instead of saying “I can’t make enough money” say “I can make enough money. I AM making enough money. I am so dang successful I don’t know what to do with myself!” Rather than saying, “I must/have to/should/need to do X or Y”, say “I want to/it would be fun to do X or Y.” This brings choicefulness back into the picture. There’s ultimately nothing we have to or must do. It’s always a choice. What would happen if you didn’t do X? Often, nothing at all and sometimes, something with a negative consequence. Reframe it all in a way so it speaks to your choicefulness and passions. Instead of saying “I have to go running today,” say, “I want to go running today because I enjoy the feelings of health and vitality it brings.” Instead of focusing on the negative consequences you would get from doing something that needs done, focus on the positive. “I have to pay may taxes” becomes “I made a lot of money this year so I get to pay taxes and help the country out, woohoo!” (Yeah, maybe that’s being just a little too idealistic, but you get the point).

Internal Representations: Changing internal representations, or how we mentally see ourselves, also has a powerful effect. Limiting beliefs invoke negative internal representations. Negative internal representation fuel limiting beliefs. Change them from unresourceful to resourceful. Give yourself representations that are powerful and positive. Put yourself in those states. See and feel yourself making money, being choiceful, healthy, more conscious or whatever you want to change and you will change your actions accordingly. I went into more detail about this in my article on NLP.

Remember that whatever is in our mind influences your reality. Stop believing you’re a limited person with limited choices and you’ll become freer, more successful, and more powerful.