Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

- Helen Keller

You're never too big or small or old or young

For what? For love, of course. Love makes life worth living. The more love in your life, the happier and healthier you are, and the longer you live. The science of psycho-neuro-immunology is devoted to exploring how love and other emotions affect your health. The studies so impressed Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles, that he once commented, "It's scientific to love." And you thought science was dry?

So on this Valentine's Day, drop by for a great big hug and an adjustment. If you're the shy kind, just an adjustment will do nicely.

In modern times researchers have developed the habit of describing the human body in terms of the latest scientific discoveries.

When electricity was discovered and harnessed we began to describe the body as filled with this amazing "vital" life energy that animates all the "mechanical" parts.

After computers were invented, we likened the body to a vast computer that is able to run thousands of programs simultaneously.

The list goes on and on: holograms, artificial intelligence, atomic and quantum physics (and more).

For example, research reveals that people who have a history of infectious diseases, including colds and flu, suffer from less cancer and heart disease. Childhood diseases are associated with a lower cancer risk in adulthood. (1-2)

A sick person should be comforted and cared for as the body does its job of healing, cleansing and repair. Natural health providers recommend cleansing diets, herbs, enemas, homeopathic remedies and other means to keep the body comfortable and promote natural discharge and elimination. Chiropractic care is essential to ensure the body is free of subluxations so it will function more efficiently to expel poisons and heal.

No human doctor can match the wisdom of the body. We can only hope to work with the body as best as we can. Sickness and disease should be seen as opportunities to create deeper, more lasting health.

Ritalin may hinder growth

According to Stephen R. Hinshaw, Ph.D., professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, children taking Ritalin grow one inch less in a two-year period than children not taking the drug. (5)

Remember: everyone, no matter what condition they may have, needs chiropractic care to ensure their body is working without subluxations. If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact us.

Hyperactivity. This is the case of an 8-year-old child with many learning and behavioral disorders associated with ADHD. Symptoms began shortly after the child experienced a fall (18 months earlier). Physical examination revealed the child to have cervical (neck) subluxations. Following two months of care, his mother noted positive changes in behavior and reduction in his complaints of headaches and neck pain symptoms...reports from his teachers at school remarked on the positive changes in his behavior and improvements in academic performance. (6)

Angina pectoris. Angina pectoris, commonly known as chest pain, affects more than 6 million Americans every year. The painful and sometimes suffocating attacks can be brought on by a lack of oxygen in the blood due to the heart working overtime. In this study positive results were shown for weekly chiropractic adjustments in patients with a specific type of angina.

Fifty patients diagnosed with cervicothoracic angina (CTA), chest discomfort originating from the cervical spine and the thorax, were given chiropractic care. There were 225 patients in the control group. Approximately 75% of the chiropractic group reported an improvement in pain and general health. The control group recorded a 22 to 25% improvement. (7)

Chirothots
By Kevin Donka, D.C.

Pain Happens, Suffering is Optional

In order to understand the meaning of the title above, it is first necessary to define the words pain and suffering, as well as to ask if either or both of them may ultimately serve a purpose in helping us heal (i.e., move toward wholeness). Pain is defined most often as physical discomfort of some kind. Suffering is defined as the PROCESS of EXPERIENCING physical pain, and the EMOTIONAL MEANING and ATTACHMENTS we GIVE to that experience.

If you think about these words and their meanings as presented here, you will see that physical pain is something that happens to us, whereas suffering is in reality a choice we make in how to respond to that pain. I realize the idea that we actually CHOOSE to suffer will not sit well with some people, but everyone reading this article can think of examples of how experiencing pain may have caused one person or group of people to suffer terribly, while others enduring nearly identical circumstances turned the pain into incredible growth experiences for themselves and for others.

I am reminded of the story about twin brothers who grew up in the ghettos of Detroit, Michigan. Their father was a drug addict, a thief, he was never around for them, he was constantly in and out of jail and he caused terrible stress and physical pain in their household while they were young. These boys were interviewed as adults on a television news show. One brother was in jail and had turned out just like his father while the other had become a world-famous heart surgeon. They were both asked the following question separately, "How do you believe you turned out the way you did?" Amazingly, they both answered the same exact way. They said, "With a father like I had, how else could I have turned out?"

You see, one brother used the pain he experienced (as well as the suffering as a young man) to propel himself into better circumstances. He CHOSE to remember the PAIN, but he gave up the SUFFERING and created the life he wanted. The other CHOSE to continue SUFFERING and use the PAIN simply as an excuse to not achieve anything in his life.

It is never fun to go through pain. In fact, it has been called the gift nobody wants. But, I believe that pain can in fact be the greatest gift we can receive, if we CHOOSE to use it for our growth. What is your pain trying to tell you? Do you need to change some aspect of your lifestyle? Do you need to add something to your healthcare regiment? Do you need to make a decision in some area of your life you have been putting off or take an action you have been avoiding?

One of my absolute favorite quotes is from A Course In Miracles and says, "Your soul would rather fail at its own life than succeed at someone else's." USE YOUR PAIN! Ask yourself what your soul is trying to tell you. LISTEN carefully and take whatever steps are needed to use every experience for growth. And then, help others to do the same, and you will find that the title of this article is true -

Pain Happens, Suffering is Optional!

HUMOR!

A little boy was overheard praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time like I am."

After the baby naming of his sister in synagogue, Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, "That Rabbi said he wanted us brought up in a Jewish home, and I wanted to stay with you guys."

One particular four-year-old prayed, "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."

A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they were on the way to services, "And why is it necessary to be quiet?
One bright little girl replied, "Because people are sleeping."

Six-year-old Angie and her four-year-old brother, Joel, were sitting together in synagogue. Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud.
Finally, his big sister had had enough, "You're not supposed to talk out loud in synagogue."

"Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.
Angie pointed to the back of the synagogue and said, "See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers."

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 3, and Ryan 4. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If God were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'
Ryan turned to his younger brother and said,
"Kevin, you be God!"

A father was at the beach with his children when his four-year-old son ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked.
"He died and went to Heaven," the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
"Did God throw him back down?"

A wife invited some people to dinner.
At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,
"Would you like to say the blessing?"
"I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied.
"Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"