Distractions and Illusions

There’s a great line from the movie, Jerry Maguire.  Renee Zellweger confirms her passion for Jerry from the very first moment when she states, ‘You had me from “hello”.  My, “hello”, professionally, came when I crossed paths with Joseph Campbell’s writings. When I heard, “follow your bliss”, I was taken aback with the profound simplicity that made total sense.  How simple could it be to align your everyday practices with what you love to do?  Well, 30 years later I am still refining what “bliss” really means but the journey has been easier than I anticipated.  John Demartini taught me to, “Love what you do and do what you love.”  I want to believe that he coined this aphorism because I recently saw the new ad campaign for Blackberry was using this line as their whole marketing statement.  How cool is it that a chiropractor’s voice of wisdom is driving one of the world’s great corporations. (Canadian I might add!!!)

Another “ah-ha” moment came when I was reading Stephenson’s early works where he casually and certainly states that the power and the reason for the adjustment is simply to “arouse Innate”. Imagine if we were not distracted by the babble of the symptoms and the intrusion of the money and time games that we let into our daily practice lives and could keep focused on “arousing Innate”.  I’ll bet that bliss would reveal itself sooner than later.

I’ve been reading and re-reading a couple of interesting books this past week.  An absolutely beautiful boy came into the practice 4 weeks ago.  He was a 1.75 lb preemie 5 months ago and the Mom and dad are amazing with their desire and commitment to see this baby boy move ahead.  He’s challenged but bright as a whip.  A week ago they went for a follow up with Sick Kids hospital that shook their reality. In a transformative moment the docs and the medical team labeled the little boy as having a profile that resembles Cerebral Palsy.  They were shaken to their core with the label and although it did nothing to alter the care model that was already in place, all of a sudden the hope was swapped out with a named disorder.  Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish existentialist philosopher stated it best with; “Once you label me you negate me.” How chiropractic could you get!  Our philosophy of vitalism talks to the whole person regardless of their symptom state.  Whether its back pain or CP, our role is to identify where the intelligence of the cosmos is being interrupted as it works its way through the tissues of the body. An adjusted human stands a much greater chance to adapt to the moment and to achieve the destiny that is somehow trapped in their DNA and mind.

The little boy and his parents are rebounding and regrouping.  The fear of the unknown future that the label CP presents is shocking.  As a parent, I can feel the pain that kind of fear creates and I can also reconnect to the gratitude for all things in my life that are near-perfect. What this little soul has done for me is to raise my intention from merely being one of his care providers.  He has helped me discover a passion for helping and healing that I needed and wanted to get to for many years.  I know that as I adjust him I will envision the future without the label of CP and attempt to arouse his Innate.

Kierkegaard also wrote, “I must find a truth that is true for me.”  The time must come when we confront our distractions and illusions and create a daily experience that reflects who and what we stand for. My little angel has pushed me to remember that the numbers in practice, insurance co-pays or any other number of minutias are my tests to see if I can deliver the truth with each adjustment. Wish me luck.