I see this behavior every time I drive. Young, old, car, truck, even mini-vans… doesn’t matter.

Try this the next time you are driving. If you are a block away from a red light, let off the gas and start coasting up to it. You will make a nice easy stop. Most likely someone will whiz by you just to be sitting at the red light while you pull up next to them laughing. They’ll mash the gas and take off to the next red light.

What if life wasn’t moving that fast? Have you ever driven down a street 100 times and all of a sudden notice a house you’d never seen before? I know I have.

A few of the benefits of slowing down.

1. Less stress

2. Better appreciation of the world around you

3. Greater peace of mind.

Peace of mind may be the best reason of all. “But, doc, I relax.” Did you know that you can’t just go and relax? Try it, go relax right now. Come on, I’m waiting. Trying to go relax is like trying to force the sand to settle in the ocean. Now scoop up some sand and water in a jar and leave it alone. The sand will settle out without you doing anything. In fact, you have to do NOTHING for the sand to settle.

One of the best things I learned on vacation was to do nothing. Your mind can only be clear when it isn’t processing a million facts and projects and deadlines. There is a time and place for those things. Number crunching has to take place every once in awhile, but so does nothingness. I know it sounds very zen-like, and no, I am not wearing robes in the office now.

Here’s how it may help you. Many, many people are very stressed right now about money, their jobs, their future, and a host of other things. I understand. But trying to race around and solve problems can be counter-productive. Creativity and problem solving comes from within you, much like inspiration. Some of my best newsletters are written in one sitting, because I have this flood of instantaneous creativity that I have to write down immediately. Those inspiring moments are not while I’m watching a football game or making supper. My best inspiration comes from quiet time, in the shower, in church, and even in the middle of the night.

Your brain works on problems all the time, but when it is so preoccupied with task after task, the solutions stay behind the curtain.

Want to solve a problem?

Don’t think about it. Don’t make a list of pros and cons. Tell your brain you need an answer by a certain time and put all your issues in a pot and stir them up. Put them on the back burner of your brain and let them simmer. Don’t try look at them or the answers won’t happen. Like trying to watch a pot boil. It takes longer. Your brain will work on them while you carry on life. When the answers are done cooking, they will come out in a QUIET moment. All the ingredients will settle to the bottom.

Find a quite moment every day for 5 minutes and do NOTHING but listen to your breathing, and then be amazed at the thoughts that come flooding through your brain.

I can tell you from personal experience that a solution can exist right under your nose, and with the hustle and bustle of activity, it is easy to miss.

I was the clod who didn’t realize our adjusting table was slowly breaking down over 10 years. And yes, it was due to a misalignment, how funny is that? I was so busy adjusting people I missed any early warning signs. I actually had a patient point out how ironic it was that my table broke because of a misalignment. Luckily, the table is made of metal and it could be welded. I pulled the hydraulics apart, realigned them, and voila, it works smoothly again.

There were interesting lessons in this misadventure.

#1 Misalignments take years to show up. It took our table 10 years and thousands of up and down trips to wear through the metal enough to break. For those of you who took a ride on the table in the last month, you may remember how rough it was and sounded like metal scraping. And that was after I got it welded.

The spine acts the same way. It takes 10-20 years of wear and tear on misaligned bones before they start to show signs of stress on the joints. Some key things to watch for:

…Tingling in the hands. Nothing gets people’s attention

more than their hands falling asleep.

…Shooting pains-across the back or down the legs.

…Grinding noises anywhere- Your joints are just like our misaligned table. They are deteriorating and getting rough. Don’t wait until everything goes haywire. These are warning signs.

…Alas, the spine isn’t metal. You can’t weld it back together. It has to heal from the inside out. All health comes from the inside, so it can take time to heal. Our table got welded in a couple hours, but the spine may take a couple of months to heal.

I got adjusted yesterday, and I am still amazed at how good I feel afterwards. I didn’t feel bad before, but I feel even better now. 

I Almost Forgot…

The second lesson.

#2 Free weight workouts helped.

This was a full body, all muscles working effort to line the table up. It only moved a few millimeters at a time, so this took minutes of sustained effort. Rarely, do you ever use every muscle you have… It was kinda’ fun.  I was thankful that I exercise.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Inspiration, Living better. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.