"What we Manifest Lies Before Us"

This quote comes from a great book called, “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” by Garth Stein.
In it, the author describes how a race car driver is forced to live in the present moment. There is no time for memory or remembering, or for thinking of what lies in the distant future, because the next challenge is already upon you and it DEMANDS your intense present moment concentration and focus. In thinking too far ahead in anticipation, or in remembering/“thinking back” you are wasting precious PRESENT MOMENT time DEMANDING your attention which could jeopardize your “race.”
If you made a mistake, it was already over with, there is no time to ponder it, worry about it, wallow in self-pity – you have got to move on and keep striving to always do better – push the limits.
It was neat as the author used these analogies to parallel life. When we catch ourselves daydreaming, thinking of some past event, worrying about the future, we are exhausting our current life, the only thing we have, which is in fact, the present moment.
What if we lived with the intense present moment concentration and awareness in our lives? What would that look like while you were in fact listening to somebody – taking everything in – their expression, tone of voice, body language. What would that look like behind the wheel of your vehicle – radio up, talking on the cell phone, one hand on the wheel, all while reading the next billboard? What would happen to the quality of your relationships with your kids/ family/ spouse? Challenge yourself to experience it!

SMART INVESTING

Wal-Mart just got listed as the #1 Fortune 500 Company with the largest amount of “sales” nationwide. Congratulations, you probably helped them achieve that! Exxon-Mobile was #2. Congratulations, chances are if you drive a vehicle, you helped them achieve that on your way to Wal-Mart! The sales and profit figures were MASSIVELY HUGE! We are talking about thousands of BILLIONS of $$$$.
So, what am I getting at here???
The great thing about a “recession” is it allows us to stop and re-evaluate our expenditures. It’s wonderful to see that kind of money being spent by Americans and that tells me – we don’t necessarily have money problems, we may just ever-so-slightly have VALUE issues (we won’t call it a problem). All of us can find money to buy what we Value. Even in this economy. Arguably we could say there are necessities at Wal-Mart (most have grocery stores in them), and yes we need gas for our cars, however, imagine a small fraction of those thousands of billions of dollars going toward a productive, fruitful life, full of health.
We can invest in our health. We really all can afford the best organic food. We really can all afford gym memberships and personal trainers, or yoga classes, or meditation classes. We can afford the best health we can possibly imagine. And it doesn’t come from drug or insurance companies. All it takes is an ever-so-slight shift of Values and shift of the budget from things that may detract from your families’ health, to things that will ENHANCE your families’ health. Enjoy the process of the challenge!

"IMPACT"

“You never know how far reaching something you may say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow.”
-BJ Palmer (developer of chiropractic)
On mornings when I take my daughter to school, I usually attend the Morning Prayer, and pledge of allegiance. The principal also greets the entire student body daily and shares a passage. She mentioned a story that made me realize the power of the above quote: (in her paraphrased words :)…
“…one early morning last year, I arrived at school to find a camper in the parking lot. I knocked on the door and a nice gentleman answered. He stated he got extremely tired driving and pulled off I-70 on his way to California to find a place to sleep. He found the school parking lot. I invited him for a tour of the school and he was so impressed with our campus, he also decided to stay for church. I gave him a school calendar and he went on his way. I received a phone call from him this morning. He said he would like a new calendar for the next school year and he wanted to let me know that not a day goes by that he doesn’t pray for our school.”
It is so easy to assume and judge isn’t it? What would you think of seeing a camper parked at your child’s school? I know my initial reaction wouldn’t have been to invite them into the school for a tour! – I would invite them to the nearest entrance to the highway! But it is stories like this that help me realize that we live in a world full of nice people. It is oftentimes our incorrect perception that leads to us fearing what isn’t even real.

ONE SIMPLE CHALLENGE

HERE IT IS…!
READY?

LISTEN TO THE LYRICS OF THE MUSIC YOU LISTEN TO.

THEN REALIZE THIS: YOU ARE THAT AND BECOME THAT WHICH YOU SATURATE YOUR ENVIRONMENT WITH.
(Song lyrics are just one small example)
It’s your choice….

Chronological versus Biological Aging

Aging is certainly a hot-topic. With all the “anti-aging” claims being made in the health care industry, one wonders, “how is this really possible, or is it just a creative marketing play on words?” Are you Ready for the Truth? Here it is!
There are two types of Aging: Chronological and Biological. Every year we become another number greater ~ we cannot escape this! (Unless we were born February 29th). This is Chronological
Aging. Now Biological Aging we absolutely have an effect on! Your physiology and your bodies’ biological processes are under your control. You determine how quick you biologically age based on these things: How well you think and perceive your world (do you see everything as hopeless and stressful?), how well you fuel your body with good nutrition, enough water, clean fresh air, and lastly how well you move and ambulate (your TV/ remote/ and recliner are your enemies!). If you live a chronically stressed out, fearful life and fuel yourself with foods lacking in sufficiency and purity, as well as remain sedentary ~ you get to age faster! You get to be 40 and look like you’re 60! How about that! On the other hand, if you eat better, move more and live a hopeful more positive life, you get to be 60 and look like you’re 40! Biological aging is under your control!
So use us as a Resource to begin making small gradual beneficial changes to your lifestyle. Then we’ll work on what to limit, and avoid later. Watch the years add up and your vitality/energy add up as well!

PATHOLOGY = MYTHOLOGY

This may be a tough concept to swallow and digest! A colleague of mine known for his scientific background and research studies has stated that pathology (study of the nature of disease, its causes and development) is nothing more than mythology (study of a collection of stories serving to explain a culture’s worldview).
In really delving into this and pondering it – I have to come to the conclusion that he is absolutely correct. HERE IS WHY:
-our body is always doing the best it can to adapt us to our environment.
-there is no signal in your brain that will cause destruction/ dis-ease in your body.
Disease is nothing more than NORMAL PHYSIOLOGIC ADAPTATIONS TO A STRESSFUL ENVIRONMENT!
So this obviously changes our PARADIGM! If we cannot adapt to a chronically stressed environment (poor nutrition, poor physical mobility or the lack thereof, poor thoughts, etc…) then all we have to do to turn ourselves around is to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY and strive for better thoughts, better motion, and better nutrition!
Then and only then will the myths of disease dissolve!

"Dr. Nick, Who's Your Chiropractor?"

I get asked this question a lot!
And No, I cannot unfortunately adjust myself!
The truth is I have several chiropractors! Not a week goes by that I don’t get my spine and nerve system checked for subluxations – sometimes twice in one week! I adjust anywhere between 1-4 chiropractors per week and we usually exchange services! It works out great!
One important note here too: if you had an audience of hundreds of chiropractors and asked them how often they get checked, not a one of them would go without 4 weeks passing before getting checked. Most get checked on a weekly basis, some every other week, and very few monthly. They all want to be functioning at their best!
We completely align our practice with vital truths! We practice what we preach. I always base my recommendations to someone as if they were a member of my own family.
If you want a better, longer life: ask yourself, “how much am I worth?” The answer is: “That you are invaluable, in fact, you could drain all the resources and financial resources in this world, and you would still not accomplish creating a “new you.”
So know you are worth investing in! And know your chiropractor stays Well Adjusted too!

A Parable

A young man is walking the riverbank with a wise teacher. They are contemplating the nature of things. Suddenly, the young man is interrupted by the cries of a person, thrashing about in the river! Naturally, the young man dives in and brings the person to shore. Not 50 paces later, another person comes down the river, screaming for help! Again, the young man saves this person as well. Again it happens! And again!
By this time the young man is exhausted by saving all of these people. He is also very confused by this so-called teacher of his as he is in the river saving yet another person, while he looks to see his teacher, with his back turned walking up the river embankment. He yells out, “Why aren’t you helping me save all of these people?”
The wise teacher calmly reply’s back to his young student, “I am going to see why they are all falling in the river in the first place.”

This parable is shared in most medical schools – and is has to do with treating the cause, rather than the effects. It is a story that transformed a cardiothoracic surgeon’s life. He grew tired of saving people after living lives where they failed to take care of themselves. He realized that instead of their bodies malfunctioning, their body was just doing the best it could to adapt to accumulated decades of stress and the environment it was subjected to. He now is committed to spreading the message of wellness: eating better, exercising, and thinking better. He deals with the CAUSE rather than the EFFECTS!

That’s the WHY behind what we do at Elevation Now, PC . . .
– to serve YOU in living the best life you can live!!

Self-Responsibility

According to the World Health Organization, the United States ranks 72nd among industrialized nations in overall health. Which leads us to the question: do we really even have a health care system OR do we have a SICK CARE system? Nearly 50% of our population can claim they have a chronic dis-ease/condition! What does that mean? It means that most Americans wait until they have a full-blown crisis to do anything about their health.
A colleague who is now a college President surveyed all of his patients on their first visit to his office. He asked: “What is your number one priority in your life?” 99% of people responded with one of the following: family, career, or faith. He would then ask them, “If you didn’t have your health, what then would be your number one priority?”
If health is our number one priority when we don’t have it, then why not make it our number one priority when we DO have it? Why wait until we are in a full-blown crisis? The top 3 killers WORLDWIDE (heart disease, cancer, diabetes) are ALL preventable and in most cases reversible with LIFESTYLE MODIFICATIONS!!!
So what’s our plea? TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, AND WORK WITH US OVER TIME TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFESTYLE TO LIVE THE GREATEST, BEST, LONGEST LIFE YOU CAN IMAGINE!!! How do you achieve this? Ask questions about your; chiropractic care, nutrition, fitness, and mind-body Wellness, and everything will fall into place!

Zone of Comfort/ Zone of Growth

It has been said that intelligence grows by moving from the known to the unknown referring back to the known. We in other words like to eek out of our comfort zones ever so slightly to gain a glimpse as to what lies on the other side, while keeping one foot within our “zone of comfort.”
Nothing new will ever come from our “zone of comfort.” We must consistently take small steps outside our “zone of comfort,” into our “zone of growth” for our intelligence to grow and love of life to perpetuate!
Most of us love to think that somewhere inside of us we’re adventurous, but our “adventure” consists of living it vicariously through other means – TV/ Movies, etc… all in the comfort of our chair/ sofa.
Wow, so what’s the lesson here? If you want something to change – you must do something differently. If you want your health to improve, your relationships to improve, your finances to improve, your knowledge to improve, your societal network to improve, you must be the one that makes the change. Sitting in your “zone of comfort” and complaining will only lead to finding more reasons to complain and more reasons to find blame. You can’t expect the world to change while you sit back and observe!
So suit up ladies and gentlemen and live the REAL adventure – outside of your “zone of comfort.” Your health, your ideal relationships, your ideal finances, your ideal Life awaits you just a step outside your comfort zone.
We are here to help give you a little nudge!
“Come to the edge. We might fall. Come to the edge. It’s too high! COME TO THE EDGE! And they came, and he pushed, and they flew.” –Christopher Logue

LDL Cholesterol & You

Nearly 50% of patients with Coronary Artery Disease were found to have LDL Cholesterol readings in the normal range.

Re-read that statement & Think about that for a minute.

Here’s the Drug Companies response:
WE NEED TO LOWER THE LDL CHOLESTEROL RANGE SO MORE PEOPLE CAN BE ON PREVENTATIVE DRUGS!!

Another statistic: 40% of Americans on LDL lowering drugs quit after approximately one year of use wondering why they’re on these drugs.

Do you think there might be another way??

IT’S ALL ABOUT LIFESTYLE! & IT’S ABOUT A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN JUST ONE NUMBER (LDL cholesterol). What about stress, lack of exercise, and poor dietary choices!
Let’s wake up our fellow Americans with the FACTS!

Eustress & Distress

Do you think Stress is a bad thing? Stress actually helps us learn, grow, heal, evolve, and adapt! Stress is absolutely necessary in our life, as a means of not only surviving, but thriving!
Stress that allows us to grow positively as individuals is termed “Eustress.”
Now we all can relate to feelings of overwhelment, anxiety, fear, worry, doubt, and absolute rotten pain! This type of stress can be termed “Distress.”
Here is what is amazing. We as humans with the Power of our own Minds have the capacity and ability to turn ANY Distress into Eustress! What does that mean exactly? That means you can take a perceived negative stressor and with the Power of your thought and emotion, you can turn it into a positive stressor ~ something that will allow you to grow, learn, heal, evolve and adapt!
Look at stress in a new light ~ look at it as something that can support you gain ultimately more fulfillment in Life. Even those aches and pains for instance can be perceived as an opportunity for you to learn about your body and what it requires from you to live with more vibrancy, so those aches and pains dissolve.
This takes courage, self-discipline, and self-responsibility. We are here to help you on your journey!

Light Bulb Moments

My 6 year old daughter has this peculiar desire to learn how to play chess. Despite my lack of superb chess playing skill, I knew I could teach her the basics. So we sat down this past Saturday morning and fought it out on the chess board. I’m not one to “let my kids win,” yet I point out the good, bad, and downright ugly catastrophic moves. Along the way I absolutely relished watching her mind THINK. I could see her eyes look at a piece and play out the next couple sequential moves in her head. Occasionally her eyes would “light up,” with excitement and her mouth would drop open wide with a smile as she would swipe one of my pieces off the board.
Watching her learn this game of chess made me realize we are never supposed to stop learning. Life is made so much more rich and fulfilling when we are ever expanding our Minds and accumulating those “light bulb,” moments.
Those “light bulb,” moments is where experience imprints itself upon us. Those “light bulb” moments become ingrained so we never forget them. That is where experience creates Wisdom.
We can choose to go about our lives content and satisfied, or worse, cynical and judgmental ~ assuming we know it all about our world OR we can search out and discover what that unconscious desire for growth and expansion is all about in this thing we call LIFE.
Our challenge to you is to engage LIFE to the fullest!

Back Pain/ Neck Pain/ Headaches/ Emotional Well-Being?

Chiropractic was founded on 4 principles:
1. The body is a self-healing organism (you cut your finger versus a corpse’s finger – who’s going to heal?).
2. The nerve system is the master and director of all bodily activity. Everything we experience is processed through our nerve system.
3. Interference can take place to the communication flow from our nerve system to the rest of our body. That interference results in physical, bio-chemical, and emotional symptoms and can lead not only to a sick individual, but a sick society.
4. The chiropractor’s Purpose is to remove the interference taking place over the nerve system (the master communication system) which allows your body to heal and maintain itself from the inside-out. This leads to a healthy, happy individual and multiply that by thousands and you have a healthy, happy society!
So yes, chiropractic is well-known for and can help back pain, neck pain, headaches, etc… BUT chiropractic was never intended for that. It was intended to allow an individual to express and experience 100% LIFE and begin to reach their individual potential!
A greater quality of LIFE, a greater sense of confidence and Well-Being – these are the effects of consistent chiropractic care!

Saving Lives

Your body is either right now this very moment dying or growing. Every moment you truly have the opportunity to save your life, and the lives of others. Every smile, every kind gesture, every act of hope and love saves lives. It is the accumulation of these events that causes life to perpetuate.
Whenever we engage in behavior that is destructive to life – consuming food and beverages that aren’t meant to be consumed; downward spiraling into negative thought patterns of fear, worry, grief, and depression; causing our physical structure to break down because of overuse repetitive motion, lack of exercise, etc…,etc…. we create for ourselves a slow death.
What do you choose? More life expressed in every moment or a slow death?
The chiropractic adjustment you receive restores LIFE! It absolutely removes interference from the communication flow from your brain to your body – increasing your healing, and increasing your performance in every realm of your life!
Who is the real hero? The one who at the end of someone’s life of a slow death – defers death for moments, minutes, days, months, maybe years longer OR the people who choose moment by moment to be on a mission of SAVING LIVES almost INTANGIBLY through sharing more hope, love, optimism and inspiration?