Fenton chiropractor – Page 14 – We Only Get One Chance

A SMILE

Never underestimate the power of a smile.

Did you wake up smiling today? Have you smiled yet? Why? How many times? At who? In what setting?

I am realizing as time ticks by, and the wrinkles start to set into my face, the most noticeable ones are my smile lines and I am pretty alright with that.

“A smile is the shortest distance between two people.”

Fenton Chiropractor Smile — Scott and Danielle 2012

A smile stands for connection, joy, hope, happiness, love, compassion, peace and understanding. However, it can also portray nervousness, anxiety and uncertainty. The default expression that crosses my face for any and all of the above is a smile, hence by deep smile lines, often accompanied by giggles or uncontrollable laughter. That is just my style.

I see a lot of pregnant mothers in my chiropractic practice and I get to watch as they spend their first weeks together with their new babies. I think the first time the baby smiles is one of a new parent’s proudest moments. But once they start doing it, they usually do a lot of smiling. That is what we do as humans and it gets to a point that the initial excitement wears off a bit and smiles become a normal part of life, we begin to take that expression for granted.

The last blog post I wrote was about My First Best Friend and how my cousin’s husband suffered a brain bleed and we almost lost him. I shared a bit of their story and I wanted to do a quick update so that you know that he is alive and slowly recovering.

His recovery is being facilitated by his beautiful wife and today marks their 3rd wedding anniversary. They will spend the day in the hospital, as all the days of the past 6 weeks have been spent there. He is nowhere ready to move or be transported yet…and so he is there in his bed and sometimes in a chair…and she sits. She spends endless hours talking to him, encouraging him, doing small movement exercises with him, cheering him on as he responds to commands and just loving him. It is the essence of true love and is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

My life does not allow me to visit daily but I keep in touch and let her know I am supporting from a distance. Yesterday I got the following message from her:

“I finally got him to smile. It was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen…”

This message made me realize how much we take smiles from our loved ones for granted. We walk on by and maybe smile back, maybe even hold back a smile out of resentment or disdain. I never realized how important a smile was until that message yesterday.

There are so many hours of silence in that hospital room. In 6 weeks time, there are only so many one-sided conversations to be had, but that doesn’t stop her. She plays music for him and reads to him while he wakes up a bit and falls back to sleep.

Many people have sent cards, well-wishes and inspiration and one wall has a small collection that they review on a regular basis. It is one of the things that really stimulates him so I would like to make a simple request. If you are reading this, please take a blank piece of paper and write them a little encouragement and put it in an envelope and send it in the mail to:

Danielle and Scott Hawkins
C/O Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic
521 N. Leroy St.
Fenton, MI 48430

For the cost of a stamp (of course greeting cards are always welcome as well), we can hopefully collectively encourage these smiles and healing moments inside of him.

As I wrote in my Facebook status last week, to most of you, Danielle and Scott are perfect strangers. I promise, promise, promise that if you knew them, you would love them too.

Please send a smile to them, a little encouragement, a little love…and then spend a little more time in your smile mode today and in the future. The great thing about smiles is you will never run out. Spread them around!!! We only get one chance…

MY FIRST BEST FRIEND

I had no idea when I was born, that my first best friend was already here waiting for me.

My cousin, Danielle, is 6 weeks older than i am and we pretty much grew up attached at the hip any chance we got. Neither of us had sisters so we became that to each other.

My house was right next door to my grandparent’s home and so every time she visited them, which was quite often, I got to see her. We did everything together, from barbies to cabbage patch kids, from building sand castles to playing in tree forts, from blazing trails through the woods and carving trees to making

Fenton Chiropractor Best Friend up stories as we spent hours out playing in the apple orchard.

We talked about our hopes and dreams and made plans for our lives. I was always so jealous she got to go to Girl Scout Camp every summer…but she made up for it by teaching me all the songs she learned when she returned. In fact, that radio in my head that plays music non-stop sometimes gets locked on that channel and as a 30-something…those songs stuck on repeat are more annoying than cool.

To this day, we make time for each other. She is one of my biggest cheerleaders, and although she doesn’t allow many to cheer for her, I am one of hers. There seems to be a length of time, that if we go past too many days without having time to sit down and catch up with each other, we both go a little crazy and make time in our schedules right away.

I sent her a text message on Friday morning about how excited I was about going to the Water Hill Music Festival in Ann Arbor next weekend, and although I knew it was still another week away, I was stoked to have some time to hang out. I had just seen her 5 days prior as her and her husband, Scott, along with a group of my nearest and dearest, spent the evening celebrating my birthday at my home.

On Friday, she didn’t respond back to that text message right away and after a few minutes she called. She doesn’t ever call, we don’t need to talk on the phone, we already know what each other is usually thinking so text and email are our norm.

Her voice was cracking. She was seriously shakin’ up. Then she proceeded to tell me that Scott, her husband, had a brain hemorrhage and is in the hospital and asked if I could come up. I had a couple obligations that day and headed up as soon as i could.

I have spent the past 2 days with my heart breaking right along side her, and I feel like these days are just the beginning of a long road. She is one of the strongest and bravest that i know. She has had her share, plus some, of adversity and challenge in her life. She keeps her head up through all of it. She plugs away and she always comes out on top. She is one incredible woman and I know those who really know her feel lucky.

Her and her husband have the most beautiful love story, reconnecting after so many years and blending their family, his 2 kids and her 2 kids. They have a really sweet love that is palpable when you are around them. They perfectly compliment each other.

Right now she spends her moments sitting at his bedside, and only leaves to close her eyes and sleep on an uncomfortable pull-out/fold down chair thing a couple rooms away. She talks to him, dodges all the tubes and medical apparatus to kiss him, loves on him, plays music for him (he is a music man) and holds his hand for hours on end.

He has shown signs of improving. Will he come out of the state he is in? We don’t know. Will he return to the Scott we are used to? We don’t know that either. How long will it take? We all wish we knew that answer but we don’t know anything at this point.

What I do know, what I am sure of is that she will be ok. There are going to be moment to moment, hour to hour, and day to day ups and downs. She is the strongest and bravest that I know of. I will not be able to stand with her all the time during this process as I have obligations in my life I need to tend to, but I leave my heart with her when I am not there.

I am writing this blog from the rawest place in my being. My heart has been ripped out of my chest these past 2 days and i want to share this story because my family needs all the praying, meditating, affirmation-saying people we can get. I am sending out a request to all the troops to please help lift up my first best friend and her husband. They could really use your help right now. Peace.

ADDICTION

I have uncovered an intense addiction I had no idea about.

Ten months ago, I began a new and different journey with my health. Many of the “healthy” things I was doing, especially where my diet was concerned, weren’t the most complete choices I could be making. Unbeknownst to me, I was chronically depleting my body of a few key nutrients that eventually led to disfunction of certain organ systems. Good news, it was all fixable and 70% of that has been taken care of by diet change and a tailored plan of supplementation.

There still remains a few nagging small concerns and 2 of them fall on the “autoimmune” spectrum.

I have been working closely with a nutritionist on this path and have come to the conclusion that going “gluten-free” was a necessity and so 10 weeks ago, I began my gluten-free journey.

I knew it was going to be a little challenging, however I have succeeded in completing harder tasks in my life, or at least that is what I thought when I got started.

Living in a small town is a challenge in and of itself due to the simple fact that there aren’t many resources. Fortunately for Fenton, there are 2 really great health food stores right in town and one of them tailors their entire store to the gluten-free popluation.

Day 1 of my new life was simple. I was highly aware of the shift I was making and so there was a lot on my mind, lets just say I was obsessing about food.

Day 2 started and ended pretty easily and the change appeared to be progressing smoothly.

Day 3…not so much. It turns out that I fall into a category of people that are “addicted” to gluten. When I sat back and watched what was coming up for me as well as discussions with my nutritionist, I became keenly aware that about every 3 days, I need a “gluten fix”. I needed something to spike my sugars and give me that endorphin kick.

So I pressed on and for the next 4-5 days, it was an hour by hour choice to not eat anything containing gluten. Of course, because I was so focused on getting over the hump with this process, all I could think about was eating gluten. As the days ticked by, I watched as my body’s cravings decreased little by little.

Three weeks into this process, a mourning phase set in. I remember driving home from the gym and passing by Uncle Ray’s Dairyland and becoming overwhelmingly sad because I was never going to be able to eat cookie dough ice cream ever again in my life. Do you know how much cookie dough ice cream I have eaten in the past decade? Maybe one serving. It is not something that I have on a regular basis, however in that moment, that was really sad to me.

Over the next couple weeks I came to terms with WHAT I EAT and WHAT I DO NO’T EAT and it is as simple as that. I stay strict and do not allow for little slip-ups. With gluten, and especially when dealing with gluten addiction, it is not something you can have “here and there” or “once in a while”. For me, I have to remain clean and clear of it altogether.

Today it has officially been 10 full weeks. When I first started, I thought it would be a bit challenging. In retrospect, I have to say it has been one of the hardest things I have done, but now that I am here on the other side, I am happy, healthier and will keep my life free and clear of gluten.

I have never dealt with an addiction before in my life and though this is to a mildly noxious substance, I have a bit more compassion to those who deal with addiction of any sort on a daily basis. It seems as I go through life, I am presented with lessons that do exactly that, build more compassion. I also believe that being compassionate is one of the keys to living a happy, healthy and well-rounded life…or at least I hope so. Thank you for this lesson, Universe!!

THE RULES OF IMPROVISATION

I recently finished a light-hearted book by Tina Fey called “Bossypants”. She is hilarious and her book was a nice break from the “heavy” reading I usually do. Tina really struck me with her section on “The Rules of Improvisation” and as I was reading one evening in the sauna, I thought how applicable these rules are to living an extraordinary life. I wanted to share.

RULE #1: AGREE. SAY “YES!” In improv, when someone starts off on a topic, the next person has to start by agreeing with them. If they say their fingers are a gun, the next person has to agree otherwise the scene is dead in the water. How often do you find yourself saying “no”, whether it be to an invitation, an idea or just finding yourself disagreeing with a concept and shutting everything down?

Just recently, I had an invite to situation that was completely unknown. If I would have tapped into my logical mind, I could have come up with loads of reasons why I shouldn’t go. A friend once said, “I am willing to try just about anything as long as it doesn’t end me in jail, I don’t end up with a permanent scar and it doesn’t hurt my credit score.” I have adopted this within reason and choose to say ‘YES” whenever I can and often find myself experiencing some really incredible things.

RULE #2: Say “YES and…” meaning agree and say “YES” first, but then offer something as a contribution. An example in improv that she uses is, “Man, it is hot in here!!!” “Well what did you expect it would be like inside a dog’s mouth?!?!” and then scene continues.

Get involved in making the plans in life. Get involved in the conversations you are having on a daily basis. What you have to contribute is worthwhile. Sometimes even if you disagree with what is presented, using the word “and” is a great transition to something that may open up the doors for all parties involved. “Yes, and….” feels very different and more inviting than “Yes, but…”

RULE #3: MAKE STATEMENTS. Questions are good in certain scenarios, however when you make bold, confident statements in life, things start shifting. “Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.”

“Everything in life is figureoutable” -Marie Forleo

Start offering options and ideas instead of allowing someone else to always lead the pack towards a solution. I absolutely love hanging out with some of my good friends and having brainstorming sessions. I have my fair share of challenges that come up in everyday life. I will present it to a couple friends and then the conversation is sparked allowing for all kinds of different solutions to surface and life takes a step forward.

RULE #4: THERE ARE NO MISTAKES – ONLY OPPORTUNITIES. In improv, if a scene starts one way but is interpreted another, it is an opportunity to go in a different direction and everyone involved needs to pick up the ball and start running.

Life is the same way. We can plan, forecast and predict what will happen in life, however we have all been thrown a curveball as soon as we think we have something figured out. For me, I do not know one thing that could describe life better than finding myself in “beautiful happy accidents” that have led me down some really great paths in directions I couldn’t have even fathomed. Along the course of my life, I have learned that I better quit pushing and I better start surrendering to the path I am on and letting go of where I think I should be. When I do more of that, life is easier.

The rules of improvisation are 4 very simple rules that, when put together, can lead to a seriously fun life! I want to challenge you to start every morning with a “Yes, and” attitude, contribute to what is happening around you, be part of the solution and trust that there really are no mistakes. Those “beautiful happy accidents” that Tina talks about are where the juice of life is!! Make the best of it…we only get one chance.

CELEBRATE

It was right around this time in 1996, while attending Michigan State University, that I woke up at 2AM and decided I was going to be a chiropractor and went right back to sleep. I never turned back and now we will celebrate because of that.

Fast forward through 6 years of undergraduate school and I finally enter Life University College of Chiropractic. Four intense years later I graduate with my doctorate and find my way back to Fenton.

My original plan was to open my office in Ann Arbor which changed when I realized how difficult parking is in the downtown area. My second plan was to open the Café of LIFE in Birmingham, where my family is originally from and still stands Peabody’s Restaurant.

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I was living in Fenton with my mom and step-dad so I was driving around this area a lot. I always had my eyes open and one day a really cute little place came up for sale that got me thinking of potentially opening my doors here instead.

I brought the idea to my mom and she said “If the names French Laundry and Fenton Hotel can make it as restaurants, a Café of LIFE can make it as a chiropractic office.”

I wasn’t set on Fenton as being my landing place and so my HIGHEST priority when searching for office space was a 1 year lease (most commercial spaces require at least 3 years).

I settled on a space on Trealout Dr. and opened my doors 9 years ago on March 12th…and the rest truly is history.

I had no idea when I moved home that I would still be here 9 years later. I had no idea how much fun I was going to have being a chiropractor. I had no idea how many families I would become part of. I had no idea I would get to serve so many babies and chldren. I had no idea I would enjoy giving back to the community I grew up in so much. I had no idea I would find such amazing support here in this small town. I had no idea I loved Fenton so much.

But I do, and so here I am.

If you are reading this blog post, I am very grateful that our paths have crossed. I am so grateful you have allowed me to be part of your family, your life and your healthcare team. Thank you for spreading the word about chiropractic and about the Café of LIFE. I get choked up when I have a moment to think about how blessed I am to be part of your life. It is my pleasure to be your chiropractor.

I also have to say thank you to my amazing staff. We have seen some faces come and go, and even when they go, they don’t go far. A HUGE THANK YOU to the beautiful Alyssa that is currently manning this ship and keeping us all in line. Also THANK YOU to Teri who is our little engine that just keeps giving and loving and serving after all these years. THANK YOU to Rachael and Kel Leigh as they round out my incredible team. We wouldn’t be the Café of LIFE you all know today without these amazing ladies.

One last THANK YOU to all of you for sending your friends and loved ones our way! We are looking forward to serving all of you for many years to come!

Truly, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for allowing me to serve you.

NOW LET’S EAT CAKE!!! Join us for your adjustments and stay and celebrate with a piece of cake 7:30a-10a & 3p-6p on Wednesday, March 12th!!!

I PLANNED ON HEALING

I am calling my newest snowboard trick “double back-flip to face plant”. Sounds a little like something that Shaun White would do in the Olympic Men’s Half-Pipe competition, however probably without the “face plant” part of it. Actually it is not a trick at all…and don’t worry, all along I planned on healing.

It was the second run of the day at Georgian Peaks, a private ski club in Northern Ontario. I drove over and met a friend there and we hit the slopes for the weekend. It has been a while since I have actually snowboarded with skiers, I usually snowboard with other snowboarders, and we definitely attack the slopes a little differently.

I have said over the years that snowboarding is meditative for me, and is one of the reasons I love it so much. You have to be 100% present-time consciousness otherwise you will find yourself in trouble in a hurry. This time maybe, just maybe I was a little bit distracted. Maybe.

Fenton Chiropractor Georgian Peaks

I was cruising along to keep up with the two-planker, and I caught my back edge on some ice. I am not exactly sure what happened from there. I know I hit my head twice (thank goodness for helmets, do yourself a favor and do not go out there without one) so I am convinced I flipped twice. I also know how I landed, so the face plant definitely happened. No one was there to witness it but I am positive 5’10” red jacket and loud plaid pants flipping down the hill was quite a show.

When I gathered my thoughts and got back up on my feet, I became acutely aware that I had jarred my right ankle and knee. I am not sure what movie this line comes from, but my mind went right to “That’s gonna leave a mark.”

When injuries occur, I go into a mode that I like to call “let me just pretend that didn’t happen”. “Where thoughts go, energy flows and manifests in physical form.” Over the years it has served me to distract my mind from what just happened, and it usually leads to quick healing.

I snowboarded the rest of the day and met up with some of my friend’s friends at the lodge afterwards.

I noticed that my ankle was a little bit uncomfortable when we were sitting and chatting with friends. After a half hour went by, it became impossible to ignore. Another half hour and the pain is nearing a 7 out of 10. By the end of 2 hours of chit chat, I was in so much pain, I was nauseous. Even through all that, in my mind I was still planning on healing.

Our original plans to head out for dinner and drinks changed in a hurry as my body required that I succumb to RICE mode: Rest, Ice, Elevation, Compression. The friend I was traveling with is a Naturopathic Doctor and we were able to add some homeopathic remedies and do some manipulation of the ankle joint to add to the RICE efforts.

After a few hours, it became apparent that I was probably not going to be able to walk the next day, much less spend any time on my snowboard. As the evening progressed, it was increasingly difficult to ignore what was happening with my body, however I still planned on healing and the RICE efforts continued well into the night.

The real test came the following morning, when I took my first step on to the floor from the bed.

I have to admit, I was groggy, needed to use the restroom and my mind wasn’t focused on our evening spent in RICE mode when I took my first steps.

Half way to the restroom, it dawned on me that I was not only able to walk normally on that foot, it also felt 90% better. Good thing I planned on healing all along.

The next question was “do I dare snowboard today or just spend my time resting?”

If you know me at all, you know the answer to that one is always, “Let me just give it a try and see what happens.” And so I did. But remember, my mindset was always that I planned on healing.

Turns out I was able to comfortably ride harder that day than I did the day before. It felt good to be out there in my happy place strapped to my board. I also know when one experiences joy and happiness, healing energy is turned up a notch as well.

I was happy. I planned on healing all along and my body did exactly that.

We were both astonished at the fact that I felt as good as I did the very next day. We both witness incredible healing on a regular basis in our different professions, however we were still amazed by how quickly this process happened for me.

When situations like this come up in my life, it just leads to the building of a stronger and stronger faith in the body’s innate recuperative powers and it’s incredible ability to heal. We, as a society, have not given it enough credit for what it can do.

It is important to listen to the body’s warning signals and stop when it says stop. We also need to be living a healthy lifestyle so the body has the building blocks it needs to heal, grow and repair. But one of the most important factors is plan on healing.

In retrospect, I know that my mindset of “I planned on healing” took my healing energy up a level. I am not at all recommending that you test the limits of your body, but when you do happen to get injured…do yourself a favor and plan on healing. I guarantee you will be astonished at how quickly your body follows those orders.

A HUG

Never underestimate the power of a hug. I get my fair share of hugs but I want to share about one that recently shifted my entire life.

Some of you may be thinking…”Oh, she finally met Mr. Right!”. Not so fast.

As I stated in some of my recent posts, I spent the end of 2013 in Costa Rica with some great friends. 4 years ago, this same group of friends and I vacationed in the same exact location. We all had a strong desire to go back since the day we left there in 2009. So, we made that happen.

We wanted to return to that spot for a number of reasons; the location was absolutely beautiful, our time there was peaceful, we were off the grid and we felt well taken care of. That “taken care of” feeling is so necessary for humans, we all have a strong desire to be looked after, tended to and assisted.

Fenton Chiropractor hug

My friends and I shared a little bit of anxiety going back after 4 years wondering if it would be as good as we remembered. It was, it is and we had a blast!

One of the things you will notice when you travel to Costa Rica is the exceptional service. Tourism is a large industry in that country and it is nice to feel a sense of pride coming from those who serve you. The locals work long, hard hours but they have beaming smiles and are some of the friendliest people I have been around.

Staying at one location for the entire week allows us to really get to know some of the servers, the ones at the restaurant in particular, and some of them remembered us from our initial trip 4 years ago.

They take time to get to know a little about their guests and, in turn, we get a chance to learn about them. We learn about their personal lives, their families, their homes and some of their life experiences.

As we were having lunch and winding down our visit on our final day there, our table was being waited on by a man named Christian. He happened to one of the servers that remembered us from our previous visit and so we caught up about his family and kids during the week.

We finished one final delicious meal at the restaurant and got up to pay our bills. As we were hanging out and waiting for the credit cards to process, the hugs begin. I hug a few of the group and then I get a chance to give Christian a hug. He is a bigger guy with a really powerful hug, he kind of engulfs you…and he holds on. Its longer than a cordial hug and I can energetically feel a deep meaning. Not anything like he has an attraction for me, but just the deepest, purest heart felt gratitude for another human being.

The experience was two-fold; first, it was a most beautiful, sincere expression of connection and gratitude, and second, it was unexpected in that moment because it was coming from someone who waiting on our table.

It was profound. It shocked my heart space and I had to choke back my tears.

A hug, an embrace, a gesture in a moment with another human being,..you just do not know how far reaching it can go. Add a smile, a high five or even simply making eye contact to the list of ways to acknowledge another human being for their presence.

Let’s not forget the health benefits of hugging; lowering stress, balancing out the nerve system, boost self-esteem among so many others.

I posted on my Facebook timeline about a “hug that shocked me into tears”. There were many people writing me behind the scenes about how excited they were that I “met someone” and hoped it stemmed into an amazing relationship. I regret to disappoint, however it was completely platonic, a simple gesture between 2 human beings, from a married man, with children at home, who lives in Costa Rica…so I am still looking.

BJ Palmer said it best with his quote, “We never know how far reaching something we think, say or do today may effect the lives of millions tomorrow.” Step out there. Give someone a hug. Hang on a little longer. If you see someone who isn’t smiling…give them one of yours. Be the change…we only get one chance in this life.

MESSAGE FROM YOUR CHIROPRACTOR

I have many people connect with me over email, facebook, text message, all kinds of media, all day long. Some of them come to the Cafe of LIFE for chiropractic care and some go other places. Some people have been connecting with me for years about coming in for care but have not been in yet. Some people write me from other cities and states and ask me for advice. This next message stems from something I wrote to someone who I do not get to adjust in my own practice…but I was moved in my heart by the struggle they posted on facebook. She lives a distance from me and doesn’t get to see me in my practice, but this is a message from your chiropractor.

“I see you are struggling with so much pain.

Let me say this, when you are in the middle of it and it is the first time you have ever experience pain like that before, it feels like your life is doomed. It is hard to see to the other side of any of it. It creates so much additional stress to the already stressful lives we lead. When you are then unable to pick up your children, and unable to workout, it makes it exponentially worse. It is so tough to deal with the day to day.

Please realize that pain is an incredible teacher. It tells us to slow down, stop or take a new path. It grabs our attention for a reason.

In saying that, the body is an incredible healer, much more powerful than anyone has every allowed you to believe. It can heal from almost anything. Truly it can and I see it every single day and bare witness to some super incredible stuff.

Right now, your body is in a splinting/protection mode so you don’t make it worse. It is stopping you in your tracks to slow you down for a reason. Let it do that.

Remember to breathe. Breathe deeply and often. Drink water and go for a walk. See your chiropractor, do your physical therapy exercises you were given and know you will recover.

Society has taught us that things should happen instantly. Healing doesn’t happen instantaneously on the subjective level but is happening. It is always happening and getting chiropractic care helps to maximize its potential to do that.

Breathe. Drink water. Get adjusted and walk. This too shall pass. Place some faith in your body’s incredible ability to heal. If you witnessed as much healing as I do on a regular basis, that would be easier for you to believe. Because you don’t get to see that, I am doing my best to express it in written word.

Fenton Chiropractor 5

Take it however you feel is right for you. Be well. Erica.”

This message rolled right off my fingertips in a couple of minutes and when I went back and read it, I thought everyone might benefit to hear this message. I truly, truly, and in every sense of the word, bare witness to MIRACLES, the body’s incredible innate ability to heal itself every single day I step foot into my office.

Old, young, infants, big, little, pregnant, disabled, happy, sad, all kinds of physical ailments, birth trauma, car accidents, injured from over-prescribed medications, vaccine injuries, people wanting to heal, people that feel well and want to stay that way, massive falls from many story buildings, broken bones, physical abuse, sports injuries, veterans…you name it, I have seen most of it in my 9 years of private practice. I have seen some really cool stuff that the body is capable of doing. We need to give it the right tools that allow it to do its greatest work. It takes time…nothing in this life doesn’t take time. We need patience. We need a good, healthy lifestyle. We need water. We need movement. We need rest. We need chiropractic care.

I just wanted to share with all of you a message from your chiropractor.

DETOUR

Just when life seems like it is heading in one direction, something happens and we are off on a detour.

I absolutely love to travel…love, love, love to see new places. I love having a change of scenery and switching things up on a regular basis. I love taking the detour…that is as long as I have time for said detour.

I was sitting on a bench in a parking lot with some friends last weekend while we waited for our planes to pull up on the other side of a chain link fence…and as I describe this, I pulled a picture off the internet below so that you can get the visual.

The scene…two 20 foot long park benches back to back underneath a rickety metal awning, a small white portable podium with “Sansa” and “Nature Air” written on the front, a chain link fence with a ragged gate that wouldn’t hold up against any kind of force, a small refrigerator with a padlock on it labeled “Snack Bar” and on the other side of the fence are a couple 12 seater planes.

When we pull into the parking lot, it resembles more of a bus station than an airport. The funniest thing is when you walk up to the small white podium, they ask you which airline you are flying with and then depending on which, one of 2 men step up to the podium to assist.

The luggage is tagged and the kind man hands me a laminated “Sansa” brochure that he calls my “boarding pass” and I am prepared to get on the plane.

As I am waiting, I realize that my luggage is still sitting off to the side of the runway and doesn’t appear to be heading with the rest of the group to the luggage compartment in the belly of the plane. The kind man then mentions to me that “Your bag no fit on plane due to balance. I send to your home.”

Ideally it is not good to ever travel separate from my luggage, but if you are telling me you are going to have it delivered directly to my doorstep, then it will be alright to let my ocean-scented, sand-filled bag of beach clothes show up to my home instead of being checked onto my plane.

So I jump on my plane and am off while my luggage is taking a detour.

In San Jose I reconnect with my friends for dinner and a little more time together as my flight will be departing at 2am.

A few hours later, I arrive to the airport only to I discover said flight is now delayed to 3am. The woman at the Spirit Airlines desk checks me through to Detroit and hands me 2 boarding passes, one for now and one for my connecting flight in Fort Lauderdale.

I arrive in Lauderdale realizing I have limited time to get though customs and make my connection. At this particular moment I am grateful to be traveling separate from my large suitcase which I would have to wait for and recheck after customs…this expedites my transition onto America soil and I have potential to make up some time.

I sprint through the airport and make it to my gate with a few minutes to spare. I walk up to the Spirit Airlines counter and the woman takes one look at my boarding pass, tells me I do not have a seat on that flight…AND THEN proceeds to board 4 “stand-by” passengers onto the flight while I am standing right there.

You know the level of disappointment when you order the most delicious food at a restaurant that you have been craving since the last time you were there 3 months ago…and when you get right down to the last bite, your best friend reaches their fork over and takes that last morsel of goodness? That is what it felt like in that moment, MULTIPLIED BY 1,000!!!!

“Ma’am we have you booked on tomorrow’s flight out”.

“Are you going to compensate me for hotel stay for the night?”

“Well no.”

Hearing this news after being up for 28 straight hours, did not go over well. Having her board 4 “stand-by” passengers while I stood right in front of her also didn’t go over well…MULTIPLIED BY 1,000!!!

This time, not so gracefully, I detour…

I find a cab and take a ride up to Lauderdale by the Sea and check-in to a hotel. Serious false advertising and I make quick of a lesson that I should check a room out before checking-in.

So I detour…

I find a nice Sheraton about 20 minutes away that has rooms available and get checked-in. As I am heading up to my room, I spot a cool little bar inside the hotel that has windows into water tanks of some sort. It is eye-catching and then I read “Mermaid Show 6:30 Friday and Saturday Evenings”. Today is Saturday, WHAT LUCK!!! My original plan to nap for the next 6 hour will have a small detour in the middle to the Mermaid show.

I arrive early and pull up a seat next to an incredible couple that had just gotten off one of the cruise ships. We talk about our vacations and then we detour into some really amazing conversation about life and living, things you usually discuss with long time friends. Because my luggage was on a detour, my plan was to wear the clothes I had on my back until I got home…whenever that may be. By the end of a 4 hour conversation with this couple, they pay for my meal and she offers me clean clothes.

As I lay down in my bed to sleep fast, I travel through my memory of the events of that day. Every possible thing that could go wrong with travel, did. It was truly challenging. In the end, I was so grateful for the opportunity to see my very first Mermaid Show and spend time with these magnificent people.

My flight in the morning turns out to be simple. It is an entire day later however I buckle into my seat, we take off on time, we land on time and off I go…easy since I don’t have to stop and collect my luggage (which finally showed up to a local airport a week later…enough material for its own blog post).

On my drive home from the airport, I take a detour to Whole Foods…because I am hungry and I need food in my house when I get home. In retrospect, I am grateful I made that stop as the streets filled with close to 2 feet of snow over the next 24 hours.

This trip seems to go on and on and on and there is one final detour…my best friend of almost 20 years opened her dream yoga studio, Bent Yoga, in Brighton on that very day. It required that I truck through all the snow to give her a congratulatory hug, but it was all absolutely perfect timing.

Sometimes we are presented with a huge bright orange sign in front of our face that says “DETOUR” but often the sign is a faint whisper, a small calling in our heart. If we can have a little bit of trust in the fact that there is a much larger plan, we can listen to those signs and settle in gracefully.

I am grateful for that trip, I am grateful for that time and I am grateful for the people that I met along the way. I am one that seeks out adventure and enjoys taking the long way home. Though that was a little too much detouring for my likings, I am grateful to have had that experience if for no other reason than it seems there isn’t a possible way for a day of travel to get more complicated than that.

In the midst of it all, the moments of sweetness serve as a reminder to do my best to be a little more accepting of life when it takes its next detour.

RIDING WAVES

I wrapped up 2013 on vacation with great friends in Costa Rica. As some of you know, Costa Rica has become a popular surfing destination and there are opportunities for riding waves all over.

If you have followed me at all, you also know that I am an avid snowboarder and one of my happiest places is strapped to my snowboard in Colorado.

While in Costa Rica, my Colorado friends and I took quite a few opportunities to surf. The ocean is really warm in that area so it is simple to throw a rash guard on, grab a board and paddle out.

I have done quite a bit of surfing over the years in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Belize, California and New Jersey. One of my greatest challenges of surfing is getting the board and myself safely out past the break. It is a game of finesse, timing and strength. When one is a little on the tall and lanky side and riding a 9 foot board, it can be quite challenging as sets roll in.

The particular beach that we surf at in this spot in Costa Rica, the water is soft, the waves are gentle and there is a beautiful rhythm to the ebb and flow. It also makes getting out past the break just a little bit easier.

While I am out waiting for the next wave, I am thinking about all the snow that is piling up at home. Though I am grateful beyond what words can describe to be sitting on that board in that moment, I also have a moment I am considering how much I am excited about getting on my snowboard when I get home.

The two sports are similar in some ways. They way you stand on the board is the same, though snowboarding you are strapped in. There is a meditative sense to both sports…in other words, you need to be present and in the moment or you can quickly find yourself in trouble. There is a sense of working with nature, snowboarding-snow conditions, surfing-the powerful ocean.

My dearest love for snowboarding stems from many reasons that I will not go into due to the length of the list. One of the key reasons I love it is because I get a chance to explore a mountain. There is a chance to check out this run over here, that run over there, this restaurant for breakfast, that one for lunch, this group of Aspen trees, that group of pine trees, this trail, that chairlift. You get the idea.

Surfing is different. It is paddle out, catch a wave, come back to where you started, paddle out, catch a wave, end up back where you started, paddle out, catch a wave…and it goes on. There isn’t necessarily an area of water you are covering and not one area of that water is ever the same.

…but for me I realize how much it is about internal exploration. It looks a little like this…This water is so beautiful. The view from my board is amazing. Its really awesome I have some good friends joining me. I see a set in the distance. I wonder if I am in the right spot. I can see that wave building. Is it going to be big enough to ride? Will it break right or left? it it going to be too big for me? Oh $#1t, here it comes! I am in the right spot? I need to turn around and paddle. Where is all that anxiety coming from? Will I catch this one? Will I get rocked by it?…and honestly, none of this internal dialogue and analysis is helpful.

The only thing that is helpful is learning which wave to catch and then letting go.

When mental resistance and fear come up and the mind shifts to and through all of that diologue, it is very difficult to go with the flow of the wave. If you have the skill set, then paddle when you know you should paddle, pop-up when you know you are on it and then simple ENJOY THE RIDE!!!

It is such a beautiful dance with such a powerful force. There is not one thing you can do to change the wave you are on. The only thing in that moment is to turn the mind off, get to that feeling place, relax, let go and trust. It is more of an internal exploration experience with a sense of adventure, thrill and flow.

Usually surf sessions last an hour to a few hours. This gives time to rest and regroup inside and find more and more peace, grace and flow.

When you snowboard, you have a little bit of say in what the snow is going to do underneath your board. When surfing, you have absolutely no say in what the ocean is going to do.

Surfing is about life and life is about riding the waves. We have a choice what wave choose to get on, we do not have a choice about where that wave is going. We have the ability to turn or get off that wave…but if we learn to trust ourselves, we transition into the flow of the powerful Universe gracefully.

(The following link is not my video but it is taken at the surf spot we spent most of our time so you can get a feel of the waves)

I am grateful for my life and the opportunities to explore and go on many adventures. After this past visit to Costa Rica, the ebb and flow of life is forefront in my consciousness. There is an ebb and flow to the days, the nights, work, family, friends, driving, eating…absolutely all of it. The troughs make the peaks sweeter. The peaks make traveling back down to the troughs exhilarating. The most important part of all is finding internal peace so that wether at the top or the bottom while riding your waves, you remain graceful.

Peace to you as you start 2014.