Healthy Living DIY

How would you like to be able to predict the future? I can. Better yet, I can teach you -- in just one article -- a sneaky trick you can use to predict the future, too.

You can use this trick to predict a certain type of result in life - like how well your child will do in school this year, or how enthusiastic your spouse might be toward helping you with a project around the house, or the type of service you're likely to receive from the waitstaff at your favorite dining establishment.

These types of results become easy to predict, because you can easily influence them to go the way you want. With just a little effort. Through the use of what we'll call "The 4 a's."

It's all in how you look at it. United States Post Office version. Another example of the unusual way in which messages are delivered. [Ok, I know it's not exactly news that the post office might deliver a message, but this one's different!]

My mom's birthday was last week and, in an effort to wish her the best, I sent her a gift. So I thought.

See, by the time I got to the post office on the Saturday before, the customer service area was closed. Now I'm pretty resourceful when it comes to this sort of thing, so I weighed the package, affixed the required postage, and stuck it in the bin.

End of story. So I thought.

Earlier today, one of my bodywork clients arrived a little early for his appointment. As he waited, he amused himself by browsing through a book from my shelf. An acupuncture textbook. During his session, an interesting discussion ensued.

The gentleman is my client because he'd like to resolve some back pain. [A fairly common problem.]

We discussed his body structure, which is improving. He's also noticed some improvement in his symptoms.

"But how did I get like this?" he asked. "Have I always been this way?"

"I inherited this back pain from my mother."

Remember the gentleman we spoke about in yesterday's article? The insightful bodywork client who thought to inquire about why his body had come to have the particular postural pattern it had?

Well, there's more. We spoke about learned and inherited traits. You can see how it came about. He was curious about the role heredity plays in body structure. Like I said, he was quite insightful.

Anyway, it was not he who blamed his back pain on his mother, but a young woman. Interesting idea, though. Think about it. Is it reasonable to conclude that you inherited pain from anyone?

Healthy living. It's not just about you, is it? Nope. It's a family affair.

Two headlines today caught my attention - both having to do with family health. That is, depending on who happens to make up your family! ;-)

As you read, consider this basic question. If it's true that each of us models healthy living with our day-to-day behavior, how are we doing? Not you personally. [You're reading this article, right? And other things like it? If so, you're ahead of the pack already!]

Not you, but the culture around us. How are we doing?

Awareness. Deep.

We certainly must agree that awareness is part of good health. After all, if you don't notice challenges and compromises to your system, you're not going to take the necessary steps to rectify them. And that could be very, very bad.

So while awareness isn't everything (what you do with the awareness is important, too!), it sure makes the Top 10 list.

Funny thing is ... it's so easy to just shut it off!

Awareness, remember? We've been talking about it the last couple of days. This is an awareness question that relates to health:

"I didn't change anything. How did this happen?"

The inspiration for today's article comes from a comment I overheard about a favorite plant that had died. And I acknowledge that you might "pick a bone" with me about distinguishing between plant health (which might be considered off-topic to some) and human health.

Never fear. The same comment comes up over and over in my treatment room. Not to mention that the principles behind plant health and human health, holistically speaking, are quite similar.

So whether it's your back or that purple-leaf sand cherry out back, this type of awareness matters.

We've been talking about awareness. Specifically, about increasing it with the goal of enhanced health.

Of course, there are certain things that get in the way of awareness. We've already talked about focus versus distraction. And about how the human quality of adaptability can backfire. And about how easy it is to get in a rut without realizing it.

Well, how about this one? Denial.

Surely you're not in denial, are you?

Something really interesting happens when I start talking body structure with a pain patient. Well, several things actually.

1. Sometimes they jump into denial. We covered that yesterday. "I don't think my shoulders are tilted at all. I just can't see it."
2. Sometimes they conclude that since they've "always" been like this, it must be fine. We covered that the day before.
3. But the next thing is what I'd like to cover today. They look at the mirror and say, "Wow. Now that you point it out, I can see it is off. How come I never noticed that?"

Over the course of this week, if you've been following along, we've laid out the basics of a health-promoting awareness practice. If you're ready to take your health to the next level, you might want to consider creating a space for an awareness practice in your regular schedule.

One of the simplest things you can do is take a body journey. Fasten your seatbelt and let's go!

So here I am, after having written a week's worth of short articles on the value of awareness in maintaining health here on the Healthy Living DIY blog ...

And having written a somewhat longer article about a specific type of lapsed awareness that leaves individuals vulnerable to illness and our nation open to international resentment (read Commitment, Charity, and America-Bashing.)

And I'm listening to a CD set (The Bulletproof Mind) by LtCol Dave Grossman. He's addressing a group of law enforcement officers about how the body responds to extreme stress. And Grossman says, ...