Posts Tagged ‘Vancouver Life Coach’

Another confession:  After I graduated from Chiropractic School, I went through a huge depressive and anxious period.  I discovered something that helped pull me out and bring me to where I am today.  Now, I share it with the world.

In dealing with stress, it’s important to exercise, eat healthy, count your blessings, remove nerve interference from the body with regular adjustments…. But what about the stuff from your past– your “story” of suffering?  What about the constant day to day stuff that you go through that you just can’t seem to get away from– at work and at home?

I never had any intention of being a speaker or teacher, or Life Coach, or consultant– whatever you want to call it.  Over 6 years ago, I attended a seminar that absolutely changed my life.  I was introduced to a method that basically took all the challenges, emotional charges, and ingratitudes I was going through and brought them all into a perfect state of order.  I was worried that I was going to be introduced to a religion or cult– far from it!  The Demartini Method is a tool with a thousand practical applications– from understanding your relationship with money to your relationships, to finding your life’s purpose.  Whatever your religion or belief system is, the Method is a series of questions/exercises that takes any stressful event in your past or present and completely gets you liberated from it emotionally– so that it doesn’t run you, so you can be clear on the direction of your “inner voice” rather than worry about outside voices that seem to criticize, challenge, or hold you back.  It basically erases your story and brings you to a present state of love and gratitude.  The Demartini method can’t be explained in words– it can only be experienced.  People who’ve suffered tremendous trauma, abuse, neglect, worry, fear, guilt, remorse, shame, blame, anger, depression, conflict– all the amazing things that make life interesting can dissolve those feelings in a matter of minutes to hours.  Yes, it’s that simple (yet difficult).

After that amazing experience, I dedicated my life to mastering it in my own life, and I found myself in situations with my patients who were telling me about the challenges at home or work– so I started giving them advice using the tools I had just learned.

All the questions do, is to shift your perceptions about an event– and suddenly the event that’s so miserable turns into something you can be grateful about.  My patients would come back with such amazing stories of emotional freedom from using the technique, that I naturally progressed in creating classes and setting aside “coaching” and consulting times to help more people with it.  It’s become the most fulfilling part of my career as of late.  This last Stressbuster’s video is all about our monthly Stressbuster’s classes that allow people to bring their stresses each month and learn tools on how to dissolve them– and move on to bigger and better things.  Find out when the next Stressbusters Class is by clicking here.  This video is done at the office and taken from a recent Stressbusters class.  They’ve only just begun and are getting more and more popular as time goes on– and we’re now needing a new home as my office is too small, and we’re outgrowing the community college classrooms I’ve been renting out.  You’ll also notice some salsa steps being taught– every Stressbusters class is unique in that we do a small salsa break to keep our brains and bodies active.  It’s a helluva lotta fun!

Many thanks to Nina for being such a genius videographer.  Thanks for the feedback! You can find out more about her at Oh Just Peachy Studios.

This is me every day. If I didn't have powerful tools at my disposal, I wouldn't survive.

Do you ever feel that instead of life getting easier, it seems to get more complicated?   Do you ever catch yourself thinking “remember when things used to be simple?”

This year, I made a commitment to step outside my comfort zone and expand my reach.  As I did, I noticed the challenges seemed to pile up.  Trying to juggle running one of the Greater Vancouver’s largest Multi-Disciplinary Healing Centres, while having a busy patient load,  all the while speaking, writing, and coaching—and trying to balance all that with my married life (Happy wife- happy life)—let me tell you it isn’t easy.  I know you are busy too–going through your own specific challenges… if you have kids you’re probably thinking “Nima, you think you’re stressed now….wait until you have children!”

Breakthrough moment

I remember a time back this summer where I felt like my back was up against a wall.  That the world was caving in.  I remember feeling overwhelmed with the stresses of life… it was affecting my sleep and my relationships and overall enjoyment of life.  I then had an “aha” moment.

In every moment, you are either in crisis/survival mode or you are in a growth/repair/creation state.  You can’t be in both at the same time.  I had been bogged down so much that I stopped practicing what I preach.  So as the saying goes… “those that can’t do… TEACH”… I decided to turn my “mess” into my “Message”.

I started writing about the stress I was going through.  I started researching what these uninspiring, repetitive, destructive thoughts were doing to my mind and body.  What I discovered changed my life.   I poured my thoughts onto paper.  I realized that I could turn all the knowledge I had in my brain, organize it into a simple format—and then teach it to others and help save some lives.  But first I had to practice what I preached.  Let me explain to you what I mean.

What is stress?

In an ever-changing environment, you’re either adapting to the changes, or you are resisting them.  Stress comes from an inability to ADAPT to a changing environment.  It’s really that simple.  Yet so difficult.

Stress can come from being married to a woman for 10 years and then one day discovering that her work as a grocery store attendant was really a cover up for the CIA.  Stress can come from discovering that a relative you have been on bad terms with has suddenly died, and you are now faced with the guilt of not mending things in a life that’s way too short.  Stress comes from all of a sudden being faced with a change in your life.  But pre-historically, we didn’t have to worry about work, marital issues, financial problems.  Our main challenges were about finding food, and avoiding becoming food, or attack by another tribe.  Either you adapt to the changes in the environment, or you die.  Period.

As a Chiropractor in Maple Ridge, I have to be keenly aware of this reality when a patient shows up in my office.  I can see it in their eyes, I can feel it in the tension in their spine on palpation… Most people are in a chronic fight or flight state.  For months to years at a time.  You don’t have to look to hard—if you examine the overall state of health in our society, we’re on a progressive downward spiral.  I can remember a few weeks this year where I layed in my bed in a state of fear and panic about the challenges I had to face every single day.  It got so overwhelming that I had to step back into the basics.

What’s in store for you in 2011

It was exactly what I needed.  In this 5-part series called “Stressbusters”, I show you specifically what tools and strategies I used.  It was so fulfilling, I had to share it with the world.  My goal is that you will participate with me over the next several weeks as each episode is launched, and give me feedback on how you’ve been progressing.

My mission is to share with the planet the truth—that chemical imbalances in the mind and body that produce illness are mostly under our control.  This can only happen if we first realize the power that lies in the choices we make in how we eat, move, and think—and the state of connection between our brain and the 70-100 trillion cells of our body.  Since Dr. means “teacher” it’s my intention to teach the world this truth.  I want to teach you to become a better adapter to the inevitable changes of your life.

I’m also going to be starting a new series of workshops at the end of each month at the Westgate Wellness Centre called “Stressbuster Workshops” where I will teach powerful tools that I’ve learned to help me overcome the adversities of life.  And I never run out of opportunities to use the tools with the setbacks I perceive every day.  Every great teacher I know has one thing in common: They are students—and so as I learn more tools, I expand my reach and teach more.  It’s been a fun ride so far, and I’m ready to help people take it to the next level in these fun and dynamic workshops.  January 29^th we begin with “Getting excited about your depression”.  We’ll be adding more workshops as the year unfolds, but some more topics will include

Overcoming grief, heartbreak and loss,

The dynamics of anxiety and depression and how to transcend it,

Finding your values and understanding the values of your loved ones,

Overcome relationship conflicts

Letting go of Past Trauma

How to not take things so personally

Stress, Food Addictions, and Weight Loss

I can’t wait to teach this stuff.  To be honest everything I teach is really for me.  I guess it’s true—those that can’t do—teach.  And selfishly, as I teach you to become a better adapter to the inevitable challenges of life– I heal and adapt to my challenges too.  Enjoy the first episode.  Many thanks to Nina from Oh Just Peachy Studios for her great work and guidance.

Confession:  I had my first slip-up since starting this challenge.  This is probably one of the most difficult things for me to admit.   I’m not that comfortable with failure.  Just ask anyone who knows me well.

I went to Los Angeles to visit with friends and have a getaway, as well as speak to the students at the Los Angeles Chiropractic College to give them some words of wisdom in the transition they are about to face between student and health care practitioner.  More on this later….  This trip was business and pleasure.

Why it’s so difficult for you to stick to your food plan on your trips

Your success in your day and often depends on routine and rhythm.  When I’m at home, I have all my fruits and veggies ready for the next day.  Meals are planned in advance, and everyone who’s made a lifestyle change knows that healthy eating is all about planning.  If you don’t plan your meals, you are at the mercy of your cravings and there’s an over-abundance of fast food options to screw you all up.  For me, it’s all about starting strong—I usually make myself a green smoothie with a table spoon of almond butter.  Yummy, filling, nutritious.  It controls my cravings, and the day goes a lot smoother with it.

When you’re on holidays, you don’t have a kitchen, you don’t have your VitaMix blender, and especially if you’re in the good ol’ US and A…(As Borat likes to say), there aren’t too many easy-to-find raw food options.  I admit, California is good that way—lots of Raw food restaurant choices, one which we went to—we were good the first night—but in retrospect, we didn’t think this through enough and plan accordingly.

In a nutshell, we ate too much.  One of my favorite Persian restaurants is in L.A—called Darya… I promised myself I wouldn’t, but I had rice with my meal.  And a bite of dessert.

That night, it felt like I had rocks in my stomach.  Amazing how much carbs weigh you down.  Do you know what I mean?  It immediately gives your tummy that “beer belly” look.  Waking up with a tummy ache and heartburn I knew too well, but hadn’t experienced in a couple weeks. If you haven’t seen it before, on my last trip to New York, I documented what happens to me when I have a world famous Frozen Hot Chocolate.  850 calories!  Too much Sugar! (for those that didn’t see it)

The next day, I was with my friends in Beverly Hills at Jack and Jill Café and Bakery, and this was placed in front of me.  Banana cream pudding.  Would you be able to resist taking a bite?  I just had a bite of this one, that’s all…. I promise.

Louisiana Banana cream pudding.

Quickly I felt the carb cravings that were subsiding start to come back.  I finished the trip off with a visit to PinkBerry, a frozen yogurt joint where you can get all the toppings you need to give your Pancreas a crazy workout.  My diabetic buddy gave himself a shot of insulin just before we went in.  He bragged about how great his blood sugar levels were.  He’s had diabetes for over 20 years, so he’s gotten good at knowing how much insulin he’s got to shoot himself with.  He made me so grateful to have a properly working pancreas, and I made a vow to be a better man to it.

So I had a few moments I gave to myself to beat myself up for re-gaining about 5 pounds back over the weekend.  Wow.  Almost 2 weeks of work almost blown to smithereens in one weekend.  Easy go, easy come back.

The Pleasure/Pain Cycle

The funny thing is that there is just as much pain in gaining the weight back as there is in losing it.  Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re avoiding pain by stuffing your face.  It’s painful—the guilt, and then the physical suffering after the fact.  Your stomach feels distended, heartburn starts to kick in, indigestion, tired, lethargic, then the worst part—you get fat.  Very quickly.  That’s painful.  It’s unhealthy, and it’s unsightly.  Extreme pain.

The pain of self control and discipline is much better than the pain of regret.  One evolves you, the other keeps you miserable.  One pain could set you free and increase self esteem, the other keeps you in bondage and lowers your self esteem.

I’m pleased to say I had a great time, but I’m back to my routine and eating healthy again.  I’m not too worried—I appreciate I’m human too, and gave myself permission to learn from the experience.

Why diets don’t work, and who’s really going to capitalize on it

Capitalizing on the fact that you aren't going to want to get to the root cause of your obesity

On my way to LAX airport, I must have seen 75 billboards on the side of the road and bus stops that looked exactly like this one.

This billboard is wrong on so many levels:

Level #1

The fact that it’s offering a quick fix for a problem that is possible for anyone to change if their “why” is big enough.  This is a surgery that has a long list of side effects and complications.  Plus, if you don’t change your lifestyle, the surgery doesn’t work!  I know people who’ve had the surgery and after losing the weight, are slowly starting to gain it back because the lifestyle (food addictions) DIDN’T CHANGE.

Level #2

The affirmation that you are going to fail in your diet.  They’re capitalizing on the fact that most people try to change their food intake without changing who they are, how they think, and their environment and deal with the root cause of their food addiction.

Level #3

The American Flag in front of the photo is a priceless illustration that this is what America has become.  Overspending, overindulging, overdrugging, over-the-top surgeries.   This gluttonous approach to life is what is causing the fall of the United states—in their economy and their health.

It’s my mission to take people, one and many–whoever wants to learn– to where they deserve to be… living their God-given right to a healthy and fulfilling life.  I intend on doing this FIRST by living one myself.

Today, I had an official body scan done in downtown Vancouver with a machine that provides almost pinpoint accuracy what your body fat % is.  It was bad news.  It seems that my scale that uses bioelectrical impedance is grossly incorrect, and it’s not good.  Will post about it later.

I wanted to end off sharing what I was telling the students at LACC.  The principle applies to you as well.  Everyone has their insecurities, their anxieties, their depressions, their challenges, their pain.  Just remember that the more you can appreciate that people will be counting on you to be the solution to all of those issues for them, the more successful you become.  And my job as a Chiropractor in Maple Ridge and a Life Coach and Teacher throughout the world is the same.  And the only way I can be a solution to the challenges of others is to start by clearing up my own challenges, blazing the path, learning from those giants who have gone before me, and teaching with an open heart to those who wish to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

For those of you who are struggling with your weight—just remember one thing for you to draw strength in the moment you are craving that is helping me tonight:

The pain of regret is far worse than the pain of discipline.  You can’t avoid pain, either way.  Just make your choice where you want to feel it.  Is your “why” big enough to make the healthier choice?  Why not?

When was the last time you thought “wouldn’t it be great if I made more, if I just got my degree, if I just got that job, if I could only find a relationship,” and then you got it… only to realize that it wasn’t as glamorous as you thought it was going to be?

This is the entire story:  Even when you get THERE, there will be other factors, consequences, frustrations, challenges, drawbacks you might not have thought about.  That’s why the expression exists.  Because, as Anaxagoras said in 500BC “Nature never experiences one-sided events.”   Nothing is one-sided.  When my intentions came to pass and I experienced the “other” side, I used to think “oh, it’s not what I thought it was– I’m still not happy,”  and then I graduated to something else to desire and my never-ending pursuit of happiness continued.

When we put our dreams into perspective, we would be wise to foresee the downsides of making our dreams a reality.  You may think this is “negative thinking”, but deep down inside, you know there is truth to it.  Think of what your dreams would cost you—what area of your life needs to suffer to make your dreams a reality—and go for it anyway, if it’s TRULY a high priority for you.

Nobody ever accomplished anything magnificent without it costing something.  Remember, if it doesn’t cost you, it’s not valuable.

So you want to be wealthy?  Make it a priority and decide where you would pay the price to be wealthy.  Is your financial health worth the pain of saving?  For most people it’s not—that’s why they live paycheck to paycheck.  The cost of building wealth and saving money is much too high for a great number of people.

So you want to be healthy and vibrant?  Is your health worth the pain of exercising, eating right, making healthier choices (should I eat the watermelon, or the chocolate-chip banana bread my wife just baked for me?)  Is it worth the money for organic foods, the gym pass, the Chiropractic care, The colonics, the massages?  For most people, it’s not worth it—that’s why so few are healthy and chronic illness is on the rise.  The cost of living a healthy lifestyle is much too high for a great number of people.

So you want to be enthusiastic, hopeful, and fulfilled in your life?  Is your mental and emotional fulfillment worth the time and expense it takes to learn life-skills to deal with adversity and stress, to attend seminars that ask some difficult questions that might challenge your beliefs about who you are?  For most people, it’s not worth it—they just can’t seem to make the time to learn and study these tools– that’s why there are so many depressed and anxious people on medications, who aren’t aware of their purpose, who are deteriorating emotionally, who are victims to their environment rather than co-creators of their world.  The cost of emotional magnificence is much too high for a great number of people.

So you want a dream relationship?  Is having a fulfilling relationship worth the effort it takes to nurture, to spend time with your loved one, to plan “date nights”, to learn the priorities and “love language” of your partner, to study and learn communication and consultation skills?  Is it worth the pain of being truthful and authentic with yourself, with your shadow and sharing it with your partner so they understand the real you?  For most, it’s not worth it—that’s why there are so many unfulfilling relationships.  The cost of relationship magnificence is much too high for a great number of people.

If you want it bad enough, you will think about it and see and feel yourself as though you were in the present-time ownership of your dream. There are only a certain number of hours in a day, but you will manifest what’s a high priority for you—whether it’s health, money, or relationship/career fulfillment…. But be careful what you wish for, because you will get it, and it will still present it’s challenges.

Watch this video.  I just came across it from Esther Hicks, who believes that the prophet Abraham speaks through her.  I still think she’s a bit nutty, but again, her explanation here has wisdom, humor, and depth.  And her answer to the question the guy asks about why he’s not rich yet is so bang on.  I would add something to “Abraham’s” answer:

-Acknowledge that the reason why you haven’t made a lot of money yet is because it’s not a priority—you are not prepared to pay the price of becoming wealthy. (Believe me when I say there is a price to pay for it—this is not a limiting belief).

- Change your beliefs and values—and your life changes.

Would you agree or disagree?

Just an FYI—if you want to discover your values and learn how to take control of your emotions and your life—or you are already in the know but want to kick it up a notch or 3, check out my upcoming Stress and Life Skills events and join us if you are in the Greater Vancouver or Maple Ridge Area.  I get a kick out of teaching people how to get what they want and deal with the consequences of actually getting it.

Looking forward to your comments…

I sit here in the Emergency room waiting for a doctor for my wife.  It appears that she’s having a severe bout of appendicitis or an ovarian cyst rupture.  Persistent, worsening pain in her right, lower quadrant, pain that comes in waves.  Touching her abdomen sends her through the roof.  She’s cursing at me like a sailor.

How ironic is this?  Me, one who is extremely critical of the medical system is knee deep in it—and turning to it for help.

Medicine’s genius is in FIRST Aid.  Emergency care to prevent impending doom is where the magic of the profession is.

People come from all walks of life in to see me, and a lot of them are in acute care… sometimes even emergency situations… A great majority of them, we as chiropractors help them along, make them feel better, teach them to live in better ways, and sometimes miraculously after an adjustment, or a series of adjustments, they feel like a new person.

But in this case, I feel powerless. My wife, now resting, was screaming, writhing in pain, so I have no choice but to turn to the First Aid experts to do what their major strength is—help prevent impending doom.  And I humbly step aside for them to work their magic.  This is likely going to be a surgical case.  Ironic that I make my living provide the means for my patients to avoid drugs surgery at all costs.

As I sit here in the Emergency unit, I’m surrounded by people who are at their worst.  As my wife is now high on morphine, she’s fast asleep, and I’m constantly interrupted by beeps and coughs and sounds of vomiting and moaning patients.  The staff here appear to be miserable.  I don’t blame them.  The long hours, the suffering they are surrounded with.  Our environment does have a great deal to do with our pain.

From my research, I know statistically that 75-90% of all problems that people are in here for are lifestyle related.  These are conditions related to how we eat, how we move, and how we think.  The major killers?  Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer, and Adverse Reactions to Medications.

I can’t help but think of how that means that about 8 out of every 10 people who are in here could have prevented their need for being here. What’s worse is that the majority of people who are around me are already on copious amounts of medication—I overhear them listing all the medications they are on.

Our doctor’s offices are jam packed every day because people aren’t taught the why’s and how’s of what keeps them healthy and what makes them sick.   That’s because the system isn’t equipped for that.  While there are many places to go to get a diagnosis and a treatment, there aren’t too many places that will teach you why you got there in the first place and what role YOU have to play in getting yourself out.  That is too time consuming, and it’s not very profitable for the drug industry.

Doing research, attending health conferences, changing my own lifestyle habits… I was made aware that the only way our healthcare system can survive is to have LESS SICK PEOPLE.

This, fortunately, is not in the hands of the sickness care “health care” system.  It is entirely in your hands.  It is in the choices that we make every single day in how we eat, move, and think that will determine if you will be dependent on the system (drugs and surgery) or you will leave the system to what it is really there for:  First Aid.

My focus has now changed from “treating symptoms” to “teaching and helping the individual create health.” Using the logic of turning on light to remove darkness instead of focusing on the dark, I teach classes now in my office about lifestyle—how to eat, how to move, and how to even think– because people still live under the illusion that their genes control their health.  Even though it’s now been proven in science that your genes are not your destiny (as was the “Central Dogma” of Medicine).  It’s now undisputable in the literature.   Your environment, (how you eat, move, and think), not your genes, determine how your body expresses health or disease.

Let me give you an example:  When you are under any stressor, from family, to work, to even dietary stressors like too much processed foods; your body goes through a “fight or flight” response, liberating a great deal of energy triggered by the lower brain into an emergency protective mode.  Like a tiger chasing a gazelle, the only thing on the mind is survival for both lion and gazelle for that temporary time—just until the chase is over, and the gazelle returns to safety.

The gazelle, 20 minutes later, returns to grazing, and the tiger returns and rests shortly after, but we humans are so intelligent that we have the ability to re-live that lion attack

over and over again, day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade.

Now, we don’t have to worry too often about being chased down by a tiger here these days—unless you’re on a safari… But we are programmed to react exactly the same for our own version of tiger attacks—Family stress, work stress, lack of feeling of control of our environment, insecurity, divorce, financial pressures, low self esteem, resentment, anger, victimhood.

We re-live these emotions and repetitively wire our nervous systems with this damaging biochemistry, year after year, and our health falls apart—and we run to the doctor for an answer.  We line up in hospitals and in doctor’s offices.  And we end up spending more and more money, year after year. We’re reaching a breaking point, and simply can not sustain what we’ve created.   We call them chronic “medical conditions”, it’s but I can show you beyond the shadow of a doubt that 75-90% are simply the body making a

normal response to our lifestyle and thoughts.   And the system is designed in such a way that the only solution is in the form of a test, a pill or a knife, which has been proven to do a little to deal with the symptoms, and NOTHING to deal with the cause.

So what’s the solution to our long hospital waits (it’s now been 6 hours already and we haven’t seen a doctor—let’s hope her Appendix doesn’t rupture in the meantime–if it’s appendicitis)?  Simple:  LESS SICK PEOPLE.  And that, my friends, is not in the hands of a doctor.  It’s in your hands.  Everyone knows they should drink less alcohol, stop smoking, exercise more, eat more veggies, control our stress, etc.  But the problem with our system is that it doesn’t teach us the why or the how.

When you realize that you simply can’t express your health potential without exercise, and you are taught how to slowly incorporate it in your sedentary life, change becomes easy.

When you realize the processed foods we are eating are toxic, and how our cells respond to the deficiency of proper nutrients in our fast-food diets, and then we are shown how to overcome our food cravings, change becomes easy and the pounds start to fall off.

When you realize that just as your thoughts have the capacity to make you sick, your thoughts also have the capacity to help make you well—once you’re shown how to get out of survival mode and into creating the life you want, change becomes easy.

Sitting and talking endlessly about our problems re-creates the emotions, biochemistry, and physical illness patterns.  When we are taught how to overcome our fears, guilts, anxieties, and depressive patterns of thinking with some simple tools, we can heal the mind (and then the body) from all sorts of dis-eases.   Instead of blaming our current misery on what happened weeks to decades ago, we can learn to be grateful for what we have NOW.  And our biochemistry begins to change.

Far less costly on the system and far more effective than anything the system could offer, If these lifestyle changes could be bottled and sold in pill form, it would be the next blockbuster drug.   These changes have been shown to cure diabetes, reverse heart disease, and heal cancer.

But they’re not available in pill form.  They’re choices that require empowering yourself rather than being a victim to your environment or heredity.  A difficult choice for most of us, but without taking action personally on this STARTING TODAY, our collective physical, mental, and financial health has ZERO chance of survival.  It’s that serious.

It’s the reason why I’m dedicating my life to teaching how to create wellness and avoid the use of drugs or surgery, rather than treat disease.   The biggest challenge my patients face is not how to change–  It’s making the time to do it.  The hopeless cases are all the ones who “never seem to have the time”.  Even though they have all the resources I may offer at their disposal, from wellness chiropractic spinal care, to exercises, to attending classes on posture and stress:  “I’m just too busy.”  And then eventually their body seems to force them to make the time.  And I watch them deteriorate year after year.  So it fuels my passion to teach.  “Doctor” in Latin doesn’t mean “pill pusher.” It means “Teacher”.

Side note:  It’s now 2 in the morning, and the doctor has just come in and narrowed it down to 3 possibilities:  Kidney stone, or Appendicitis, or Ovarian Cyst Rupture.  Since CT scans have high levels of radiation, we’ve elected to do an Ultrasound in the morning.  Took us 8 hours to get to this conclusion—and now we have to wait another 7 hours for another test to determine the next course of action.  I’m staying with her in the hospital and I write this amidst the moans and screams of other suffering people.  My heart goes out to them because I know many of their problems are preventable if they only took the time to learn how. Here’s a list of how most of them could have avoided being here in the first place:

1)   If you want to be more alive than dead, eat foods that are more alive than dead.  Find resources to teach you strategies how to overcome your food addictions.

2)   When you wake up in the morning, don’t get out of bed without first thinking about all the things that you are grateful for, and what you would love to create in your day.  If you don’t take time to do this, your day will be filled with things you will be ungrateful for.  Guaranteed.  Re-program healthy brain/body biochemistry by THINKING WELL—Think better than how you feel.  Learn strategies to deal with the inevitable adversities of relationships and of life.  Everything begins with a thought.

3)   Keep your spine moving with exercise.  50% of all body movement nerve pathways are in the spinal joints and if it doesn’t move sufficiently, or it gets stuck, you could be in a great deal of trouble.  See your chiropractor regularly to keep it moving properly.

4)   Balance your movement and rest.  If you don’t get enough movement and exercise in your day, or you don’t get enough sleep—your cells become resistant to insulin—which has been shown to be the underlying root cause of all chronic degenerative illness—diabetes, cancer, heart disease, aging, osteoporosis, even mental disorders like Alzheimer’s and depression.

The hospital is a horrible place to be, but thank God it’s there in emergency cases like the one Maria finds herself in right now.  Doctors and nurses can be heroes.  But when we turn to doctors and nurses to treat diseases caused by poor lifestyle choices—we are playing with fire, and it’s a game we can’t win.  I’ve dedicated my life to teaching strategies on how to dramatically reduce our need to ever play.

P.S.  Turned out to be a ruptured ovarian cyst, and Maria is home recovering beautifully.  We elected for no surgery, and it turned out to be the right decision.  Many thanks to the doctors and nurses and Paramedics at Burnaby Hospital, and to our friends and family for their support.

Do so many things that fall onto your lap each day seem like hurdles, or am I the only person who sometimes feels that it’s an upstream battle?

Upstream or Downstream?

When you are the owner of one of Greater Vancouver’s Largest Alternative Healing Centres, there are many opportunities thrown your way to divert you from your high-priority activities.

My favorite, high priority things to do:  To adjust and consult my patients, to teach educational classes, workshops, and courses, to research natural thought and lifestyle strategies on getting and staying well in the mind and body, to exercise and to spend time with my wife, my dog Lucy, family and friends.

For the most part, I try to do ONLY those things.  I run a busy chiropractic practice seeing patients, I sign around 20 paychecks, I have coaching clients, I teach classes every month in posture, Exercise, Nutrition, Stress, Law of Attraction, and teach a course 3 times a year on Personal Transformation.   I research, write,  dance (not as much anymore ), and on top of all those responsibilities, I’m renovating my office.  These are all things I love to do–but each day, I have more lower priority stuff I gotta take care of to make sure all that stuff above gets done.  Luckily, my amazing staff takes care of most of it, but there are always decisions to be made and fires to be put out.  I could easily get stressed every moment of every day– somedays I even do– you can’t help it sometimes, with computer crashes, phone lines down, equipment issues, etc…

Luckily, I have learned some amazing tools that enable me to step back from my life and take account of my thoughts each day for the type of day I’m having.  With these tools, I can make mid-course corrections and end my day the way I am inspired to live…

But I can see how not having this awareness can cause some serious trouble.  You can turn a temporary sad situation worse, and allow it to escalate into weeks, months, sometimes years of hopelessness and self-neglect.  Anger, frustration, anxiety, and depression could result from not coming to terms with the accumulation of these stresses and upstream battles.

When these repressions compound and overlap one another, it’s easy to see how we can get illnesses of the mind leading to the body, and vice versa.  Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, to name a few, can be reversed if the desire is there.  You can only do so by first turning downstream.  It can be the result of the study of healthy thinking, healthy eating, healthy balance of movement and rest.  And it helps to have a clear neurological connection between your brain and the 100 trillion cells of your body.  Without that, successful, happy living is impossible.  And you’re at the mercy of a pill to make you calm, content, and peaceful.

Here’s a little something to try today.  Watch this video and just try to keep in mind the simple analogy.  It’s by Esther Hicks.  You may have a problem with how she refers to herself as “We” in the third person, or how she believes that the Prophet Abraham speaks through her.  I agree with you—it’s a pretty weird and tough one to put aside.  Just give it a chance… This chick is right on the money with this analogy.  This stuff actually works.

Enjoy.