deliberate – Page 4 – We Only Get One Chance

I’M CONFUSED

A few weeks ago I was at a seminar in Toronto and there was a sign on the bathroom door of the convention center and I thought to myself “I’m confused.”

This is what the sign looked like.

Most of you know that I do not have a TV at home and mostly listen to music and read on my downtime. Because of that, I generally get most of my news from Facebook and all the hype about Target and their bathroom policy had many up in arms.

For a day and a half during the weekend, I walked by this bathroom in search of a “women’s” bathroom and all the while was wondering what it would be like to go into a bathroom that was marked as above.

Would there be urinals in there?

Would guys be required to go to the bathroom inside of a stall?

Will I be walking in on someone or something that I do not want to see?

So I passed by this bathroom option all weekend and pondered it over and over…what is going on behind that door? This is Canada after all and maybe they just do things differently here.

As I watched that particular bathroom door all weekend, I did notice that perfectly normal, and un-traumatized women were walking into and out from that door. Men too!

And then on Sunday afternoon I decided I would take a chance and head through that door.

Once I got to the other side of the door I started laughing. There was a set of stairs that went up with a sign for men’s bathroom and another set of stairs that we down for the women’s bathroom. The women’s bathrooms down that set of stairs had zero lines. The other set of women’s (marked as women only) bathrooms had long lines every single time, as many women’s bathrooms do in this life.

Once I crossed through that door and started laughing, I thought what a great metaphor for life: things are not always what they appear and are usually less scary than we think if we have the courage to cross the threshold.

As a culture, we really need to start paying a little closer attention to the sensationalism that is the news, and even the news on Facebook. We need to be conscious of all the things that slip by our filters and get lodged into our minds and beings. I am not exposed to news a whole lot, however even that whole Target thing, and I am sure that is not the only thing, got planted in my own mind without me even aware of what was happening.

Our subconscious runs most of our days for us without us even paying that close of attention. We need to guard ourselves from a lot of what the media is promoting and learn to originate our own ideas, decision, perceptions and actions.

“I’m confused” may be a theme when moving through the next door that is marked in an unfamiliar way. But I know and trust to drop my guard sooner and venture in just to see what is on the other side. Maybe you will want to try that too!!!

I SAID YES

Quite often I receive emails that sound like this “I see you are on an adventure out on a boat in the Lake Michigan. How did you get involved in that?” My simple answer, “I said yes.”

When I get invited somewhere, I figure out if it is at all possible to say yes and if it is, I do.

When I was 10 years old, I said yes and was given my first horse.

I said yes and ended up moving across the country for school when I was 19 years old.

I said yes and moved up to Anchorage, Alaska for an awesome 3 year adventure.

I said yes (to myself and my abilities) and opened my own chiropractic practice Cafe of LIFE that thrives still today.

I have said yes and ended up away from my family for the holidays but with great friends and that has led to some awesome trips over the years.

I said yes and purchased a condo, a building and a home.

I said yes and have a second business that has been running and successful for years.

I have said yes and got on planes to not one, but 5 different first dates over the years.

I said yes and ended up in some really incredible relationships (though none have gone the distance…just yet anyway).

I said yes and found myself jumping out of a plane.

I said yes and signed up for and ran the Chicago Marathon.

I said yes and ended up having some of the greatest times of my life.

And just last weekend I said yes and ended up on a boat along the shore of Chicago to watch the America’s Cup Qualifying Race.

I am sharing all of this because as I am sitting on a boat in the water and under the sunshine and with a beautiful view of the city of Chicago last weekend, I was so grateful. I have had many experiences and in that moment, I am proud of myself for having the courage to just say yes and get out there and live life.

In the past, I have also gotten email messages inquiring whether I had some sort of terminal diagnosis and why I was making so many different things happen all the time? “The tragedy in life is not death…but what we let die inside while we live.”

Brush fear aside, step up and have the courage to say YES to your life! I promise you will find great adventures along the way and open up to really living!!!!

Next time I see you, I want to hear from you that “I said yes and…” and then tell me all about your adventure.

I AM HONORED

I am honored.

Getting “written up” as a child was not such a good thing. Getting “written up” as an adult is quite a compliment. I am honored to be part of a Today’s Chiropractic Leadership online in a section called “Innovators and Entrepreneurs”

To read the article, click >>>THIS LINK<<<

I am honored to be acknowledged in the same section and on the same page as some of my greatest mentors.

I am honored to be considered worthy enough to grace the pages with some of the greatest and most influential world changers.

I am honored to be on the same page with some of my good friends and colleagues.

I am honored to be respected and acknowledged by LIFE University, the world’s largest and most influential college in the chiropractic profession.

I am honored to be able to serve Fenton, the community I grew up in.

If you are reading this, I am honored to be part of your life in some way big or small.

I am honored that you have allowed me to serve your family and check and adjust your babies.

I am honored I have been the one called to your bedside as your are delivering your babies or are within minutes of bringing them into this world because you understand how important that first adjustment is.

I am honored to be part of such an incredible profession, one that assists with core healing from deep within.

I am honored with every single referral you send and have sent my way.

I am honored to be chosen as an instrument to facilitate healing and be able to use my head, hands and heart as my tools.

I am honored to own and run my beautiful office Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic.

I am honored to have such an incredible team working with me on a daily basis.

I am honored that my own family visits me to get their spines checked on a regular basis.

I am honored to be your chiropractor.

HUMILIATED

I am absolutely humiliated!

A patient walked into the Cafe of LIFE last Wednesday afternoon and asked me where I was earlier that day and why I wasn’t here when my office hours said I would be here.

“What do you mean? I am always here for our office hours Wednesday morning is 7:30a-10a.”

“That is not what your business card says.”

When we looked closer, our business cards have our office hours as “7:30am-1pm”. For months.

Sometimes when reviewing a proof for those kinds of things, the brain will look at something, skim right over an error and make up something completely different. That is exactly what happened.

So in essence it has looked like we just high-tail it out of here whenever we feel like it on Wednesday during that time slot. And if you know me like most of you do by now, I would NEVER do that.

She continued, “Yeah I was talking to my mom and she said ‘well she must just come and go as she pleases.’ You really don’t seem like that kind of a person to me.”

Um…I am NOT that kind of a person and I am not that kind of professional! I feel a lot of responsibility to all of you and there are a lot of people that rely on us. I was born with punctuality and responsibility woven into my fabric, that is just how I am.

So needless to say we looked over all our thousands of card that I ordered just a couple months ago and realized they were all wrong. In the meantime, every person that has come into this office, we always tell them, “Make sure to grab a card at the front desk, our hours are on the back.”

OH. MY. GOODNESS. I am seriously humiliated.

Yes I am only human and there are humans involved in the making and printing process of these things and mistakes can happen.

And by now I am sure you can imagine just how very GRATEFUL I am to this lady who brought this mistake to my attention!!!

The last thing I want to do is look like a slacker, and especially when I am not.

To all of you out there reading this that we may have confused and misled, I apologize and am so humiliated. Live and learn, right? You can bet I will have many different sets of eyes on all future materials like that.

WHAT SHOULD I EAT?

“Hey Doc!!! What should I eat???” I have gotten this question so many times over the past few weeks at the Cafe of LIFE that I wanted to answer it in a much bigger way and really put some information out there for you.

There are so many concepts of this food is good, and that food is bad, and that and that is bad, and this is good. Where does one even start???????? And you might be thinking and asking that same question and maybe you have been asking these questions for a long time now.

Should I eat meat or be a vegetarian?
What about being a vegan? What about red meat? And eggs or just egg whites?
How about that gluten stuff?
What about corn? And soy? And sugar? Should I have dairy?

I do not have all the answers. I am not a nutritionist. I do however have A LOT of years of trial and error of my own, worked with patients and have done a TON of research, seminars and have been learning and learning and learning as I go.
Here are a few tips on how to determine what to eat:

EAT FOODS WITH ONE INGREDIENT: This is what my diet consists of and most of it is vegetables. What do I mean when I say ONE ingredient? Well when you look at a cucumber for instance, it is just a cucumber. I doesn’t have any additives, it hasn’t been processed and is just the thing that grew from the ground. Chicken and fish are just that, chicken and fish, just one simple ingredient, and baked or broiled, delicious. Sweet potato is just one ingredient. Lettuce, tomato, rice, oats, apple, orange…you get the picture. Cracker, for instance, is usually some sort of flour mixed with something else and baked and they added salt and probably high fructose corn syrup and all other kinds of things. So when you sit down at the table to eat your meal, how many ingredients are in the stuff on your plate? Eat more WHOLE FOODS, more items that are just the food itself, just ONE ingredient.

EAT LOTS OF PLANTS: Each time we look down at our plate and are about to eat a meal, I suggest more than half of your plate should be plants or the product of plants and is considered a PLANT BASED DIET. I am not recommending a vegan or vegetarian diet, although I do have my own good and bad experiences, that is completely up to you. You can decide if meat is right for you and which meats you choose to eat. When choosing meats, clean, organic, grass fed animals is what you want to choose. How do they grow and what do they eat when given their natural environment. So many of the meats have been mass produced at overcrowded farms. Not good. And if you are eating the meats, skip the sauces and figure out some herbs that you can use for flavor. When I say I recommend is a PLANT BASED DIET, that just means load your plate up with the vegetables and then a clean protein. In other words, consume lots of live things that grew from the ground.

PROTEIN, FAT and FIBER: One of my mentors has done away with the idea of PROTEIN, FAT and CARBOHYDRATES and has replaced the last part of that with FIBER. This goes back to getting our actual carbs from FIBER, mainly vegetables and some fruits. When we have the word “carbohydrate” on the back of a package and we know we need a certain amount of carbohydrate per day, we will give ourselves an excuse to eat some food that is not beneficial to us. This doesn’t mean that we can get our carb allowance for the day from some sort of processed food and call it the same as eating a sweet potato, oats or brown rice, it doesn’t work like that. Fiber keeps our digestive system clear and moving, keeps our blood sugar regulated and it should be the key ingredient when you go to choose your carbohydrates for the day. Let’s think about replacing the word “carbohydrate” with “FIBER” and make our choices be a lot more vegetables and a whole lot healthier.

EAT HEALTHY FATS: In this culture we have gotten to a point that we are primarily driven by sugars. Our body is breaking down sugars as an energy source and we really need to revert back to breaking down fats. If the body is constantly able to just use sugars and carbohydrates as energy source, we don’t get to the powerful energy source which is fat. When the body switches back over and starts burning fats for energy, it will start to burn more body fat and melt that right off the body as well.
How do we go about switching our bodies from sugar burners over to fat burners? Start adding super healthy fats into your diet when you need a little energy boost and at the same time
limit your sugar and carb intake. Some ideas for healthy fats are avocado, coconut and coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, whole eggs, fatty fish like salmon, fish oil or flax seed oil supplement or a little bit of dark chocolate.

DRINK MORE WATER: Water, water, water, water, water, water, water, water, water, water, water. Period.

In the end, our diet doesn’t need to be and probably should’t be exciting. Food is for nourishment and what I have noticed over the years, for myself and my patients, is that the cleaner and simpler it is, the more nourishing it is and the better the body feels.

The question, “What should I eat?”, I hear it a lot. There is no “one size fits all” recipe for life. In sharing this, I hope the simplicity helps a bit and helps you realize that the choices we make today effect us right away…but the long term cumulative effects of good choices really adds to our overall quality of life now and especially down the road. The name of this blog is “We Only Get One Chance” and we may as well treat our body in a way that our one time around is the healthiest it can possibly be.

TOUR OF THE SAILBOAT

Many of you know that I spent 10 days over the holidays on vacation on a sailboat, Yacht Emily Morgan. It was an incredible experience with amazing friends and even more amazing hosts and I will be writing a few blog posts about the week but I wanted to start with a tour of the sailboat so you have an idea, a foundation, from where I will be writing my posts from. I want to give you the visual of the entire scene and experience. Enjoy this clip!!!

Without a tour of the sailboat, your mind may try to make visions to fill in details of the what was happening. I would prefer you have more of a complete view of the ship and the scene as we go along here. Stay tuned for so much more!!!

LACE CURTAINS

I moved into my home over 4 years ago. If you have even been to my home or driven by, you may have noticed the lace curtains in the window at the front of the house (although more than likely you have not, they are unremarkable). I am not a fan of lace curtains.

I have a very different style to my home and my practice that doesn’t really fit with lace curtains.

So let me explain…this particular lace-covered window is above my 2-car garage. There is an unfinished bonus room above my garage currently being used for storage. It has 2 nice sized windows, one at the front by the driveway and one towards the back that faces house. The one on the driveway side is the one with the lace curtains, nothing on the other.

For the first few years I lived there, I hadn’t give those lace curtains a lot of attention. I would see them when I pulled in and out of my garage, however aside from that, they are not on my mind at all. They are just sort-of there.

Over the past couple years, I have noticed them as the last thing I see when I leave and the first thing when I pull back into my driveway. They are pretty, harmless and unremarkable.

But they are not me. Not at all.

For the past 2 years, I have tried to figure out what window coverings I should replace those with. What color should I put there? Should it have some sort of texture? Should it give you a hint to textures and colors used in the house? Should they just be plain white like the siding on that part of the house? Should they be loud and obnoxious? Should they be long or short? I am not a designer, but I have a feel that I always go for with my home and work spaces and these silly curtains had raised a lot of questions.

It is also one of those things that I need to be able to feel out, one of those things that I needed to try out a couple different colors and textures to know for sure. But who really wants to go to the store and buy a few different options and drive in and out of the driveway until I got it right??? Not me!

In the past 6 weeks I have started to do some research. There are a lot of homes with that same bonus room/window set-up above the garage (and maybe now that I mention it, you will notice it yourself). My research consisted of driving around and seeing what other people have done with said window.

My private research has shown that most leave that window uncovered. It isn’t a room that you would need to block the world out of. It also is a place that there is not enough light on a regular basis to make out anything but silhouettes of what is being stored, which is no big deal.

So I didn’t want to completely commit to uncovered windows after being covered for so many years, so I went up there and pulled the curtains all the way to the side so that they appeared uncovered from the outside. And I have now been driving in and out of my garage and have a huge smile on my face because of how many years I have pondered this silly decision.

It is funny to me because this entire time I had always wanted to just replace the covering and change the look of it all and had never once, prior to just 6 weeks ago, ever even considered that idea.

I think it is funny how the mind works like that sometimes…it wants to replace every little thing in life instead of just getting rid of it altogether. I have noticed this lately in my life as I am getting more minimalist (Mom, I never said I am a true minimalist, just better with less) with the things I have in my home all the way down to my wardrobe and shoes. I do not have to replace stuff with more stuff, and so many times it just feels better to dump it than to add more.

I am super grateful for this new perspective. I am also really grateful to have made a final decision and allowing full sunlight in that bonus room. It is the silliest place to learn a life lesson, I had no idea I could learn so much from those lace curtains.

TUESDAY MORNING

TUESDAY MORNING “COULD-DO” LIST:

Work out
Prepare food for the week
Read
Blog
Work on my book
Run errands for my personal life and the practice
Grocery shop
Practice piano
Rest
Laundry
Organize my home
Online courses
Marketing
Breakfast with my mom
Visit my nieces and nephews
Snowboard
Yoga
Walk and catch up with friends

Many people have asked me what I am going to do with my Tuesday mornings since I will not be adjusting and serving my patients at the Cafe of LIFE. The above is a list of normal things that I fall behind on during my regular week. I have not had the balance I need to sustain my lifestyle and all the things that I need to make happen every single week. I have been tired and if I really own up to what is happening for me, I am slowing down a little bit. I can own that. It truly is what’s happening.

6 months ago I began to have this hunch that life was getting out of balance. I could feel it in my body and mind that it was a challenge to keep my energy levels up all week long. I scoured my weekly activities trying to figure out what would be the very best, for both myself and the Cafe of LIFE, way to balance the week. All of the hours at the Cafe of LIFE are busy and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I then realized that Tuesday morning is really the only chance to take away from the Cafe without effecting anything happening there. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Tuesday Morning

It has been a challenging decision to actually step up and scratch those hours off our weekly schedule. It has been a lot of internal turmoil. Then, one day, I just decided I have to take a step forward into that new idea and present it to the practice. I was concerned that there would be a lot of disappointment.

What I found is that there is a lot of support in this decision. So many of you have stepped up and let me know how proud you are of me to take what time I need to keep it all balanced. “It’s truly a win-win because you get more “you-time” on a weekly basis and we will get you and your service for many, many more years to come.”

That is truly a win-win.

So I have just set my alarm for tomorrow morning at 8:30 and instead of getting up and showering and proceeding on with my morning preparation rituals to get ready to serve my patients at 10, I am going to put on workout clothes and go and take a step class at my favorite gym. Then I am going to come home and work on laundry and continuing education credits. Then I am going to do some food preparation for the week and then shower and be so ready to serve you at 3pm.

Tuesday morning is going to take on a whole other feeling and purpose for me. But because Tuesday morning will be redirected, Monday will be even more productive knowing I have a chance to catch up with myself on Tuesday morning. Then Wednesday will roll around and I will have far more energy to get up and rock the morning out at the Cafe of LIFE at our usual 7:30am. All of this with hopes that when I leave the office after a busy Thursday, I will have energy enough to go to the gym, bike or meet up with some friends.

My creative energy turns up high at night and so even though I do not have to work in the morning, I do need to finish this, shut the brain down and get in a good rhythm with my Monday nights so I can maximize the potential of Tuesday morning.

Good night! See you tomorrow at 3pm!

LIVING FULLY

To me, living fully is the most important concept in running my daily life.

If I get an invite somewhere, I take it.

If I get an opportunity to do something, I say yes and make it happen.

If I have an idea, I try it on and see if I can make it work.

To live fully is to take every opportunity to say “yes” and explore life!

When we got orders to go to Anchorage, Alaska, the decision was literally made on a “why not?” philosophy. Why would we go? Why not! I have to tell you it was one of the most incredible experiences that has shaped my entire life from that point forward. Going back to revisit was amazing.

Humans get involved in analysis paralysis, stuck in our thoughts and in our heads. We think too much and it stunts our movement forward. I want to challenge you when the next opportunity presents itself, see if you can answer it with a “YES!” instead of thinking too much (of course as long as it is safe and reasonable). Take the opportunities that help us live fully. We only get once chance to live this life. Let me know how it goes!

LUCKY

I was a lucky kid. I got my spine checked and adjusted by a chiropractor for as long as I can remember. I went to an office right here in town where CRUST is located right now. My mom took my brothers and I at least once per month to make sure we were growing and developing normally.

This morning I started a woman under care that is 82 years old. She was an absolute delight and she got talking about this “old chiropractor that used to be right downtown Fenton” that she used to go to and take her children when they were growing up.

It just so happens to be the same chiropractor that my family went to.

I have to share the story she shared with me. You all know we see a lot of children at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic however sometimes I don’t get a chance to really share much of the “WHY” we see children.

She started off with a story of her son, when he was 10 years old, decided to parachute off the neighbor’s roof using an open umbrella. Mary Poppins flew around with an umbrella and everyone can probably see exactly why a child might try to make that happen.

This young man came crashing down and fortunately wasn’t hurt too badly…or so they thought at the time.

The very next morning this young boy woke up and couldn’t talk. He could move his mouth but no voice or sound would come out. They immediately went to see their medical doctor. That doctor ran all kinds of test on this young boy, all tests were negative. They sent him home with breathing treatments and some sort of cough syrup. While he was on breathing treatments and syrup, he was able to do some talking but it had to be a constant daily regimen. It never resolved it, just kept symptoms at bay. After some time, the medical professionals recommended surgery to help this issue however they only gave them 50/50 chance of regaining his voice and the other half was losing his ability to vocalize completely.

Mom started wondering “how am I going to tell this 10 year old boy that he cannot talk much and cannot talk loudly and to save his voice?”

Her chiropractor at the time mentioned that maybe she should bring him in and see if he could help with this issue.

“Talking and voice issues and chiropractic care?” Ultimately she decided this has to be better than surgery and they would give it a try. Within just a few short months of starting regular chiropractic care, he healed. His voice and ability to vocalize returned to normal.

So how does this work? Children jump and fall and traumatize their bodies all the time. The nerve system is the master control center of the body and is housed within the spinal column. If there is interference in the connection wires of the nerve system, the body cannot heal and grow and develop as normal and all kinds of things can be a little bit “off”. Over time, that little bit “off” can build up leading to further stress and even further diminished communication within the body, and potentially symptoms. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Umbrella

The nerves in the neck supply all the things in the head, face, shoulders, arms and hands. Guess what? Vocal cords and ability to use your voice is controlled by nerves in the neck. If the nerves are off, thing can go a little haywire. This young man had interference in the nerves in the neck even though he did not fall and land on his head.

The bottom line is the body works better with a good nerve supply. Does chiropractic care fix voices? No, we help normalize the body and allow it to heal. Chiropractic care was discovered when an adjustment restored hearing to a man that had gone deaf. Does that mean chiropractic care cures deafness? No, not a chance. We are always assisting the body to do its job better…all of its jobs.

I feel so lucky to have been checked and adjusted since I was little. If you ask all of my brothers, they would say the same thing and are choosing the same for their children right now. Fortunately for me, I get to care for those precious littles since we all live close to each other.

If we take care of the spine in the younger stages of life, there is a higher potential of growing, healing and developing normally and that is why we see so many children at the Cafe of LIFE. I loved this woman’s story because I think we all know a child or were a child that thought we could fly or at least wanted to give it a try!! I also love this story because it reminded me of where my love for chiropractic first started.

I am opening up this conversation to everyone. If you have questions about your children and how chiropractic could help them, reach out and let me help you understand better. Email me at erica@cafeoflifefenton.com. I would love to hear from you!