volunteer – We Only Get One Chance

I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU

I’ve been meaning to tell you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Wait!!! It is past the middle of January, isn’t it too late to say that? Yes, you are probably right however I do hope your New Year is off to a great start!!!

I am writing to let you know that I spent all the money I was going to use to send out holiday greeting cards. I went to order them but when I ran the numbers of how many thousands of cards we would have to send out here at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic as well as my personal life and how many hours it would take to personalize all of that, I decided to do something different.

Over the past 13 years, Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic has grown and served so many people in and around this area that our address list consists of thousands of people. Back in the early days when the Cafe was in its infancy, it was pretty simple to order 500 cards and take the time to sign them all, address the envelopes and send them out.

After a few years, and our office filled up, I realized how much time that was taking from my staff and myself as well as just how much money was spent to make all that happen.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love receiving Christmas cards and and holiday greetings and love to see how your families are growing. THANK YOU SO MUCH for including us in your Christmas card list! In fact, we have kept all of those beautiful cards with your gorgeous families here at the office and have wallpapered the back side of a door here at

the Cafe. Want to see it? —>>>

I decided about 5 years ago, since it was a substantial amount of money to make that all happen and I also know that there are many people going without food in our area, more than we even know, I would donate all that money to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.

The Food Bank can take $1 and get six meals out of it. I don’t know what kind of food they can get their hands on but it has to be better than no food at all, especially during this time of year.

If one single dollar provides SIX MEALS to those in need, with the money we donated we provided THOUSANDS OF MEALS. That makes us feel good about what happened to your Christmas greetings this year and for the past few years…someone is eating your Christmas card.

I realize that sending Christmas cards and greetings is an important part of the year to many people. In fact, I am certain in the coming years I will get back to sending personal holiday cards again with a regular update as life progresses. In the meantime, I will be supporting places that support our community and make the world a better place. I think feeding people instead of sending cards was a great choice for us as I know our money was spread far and wide.

I trust the year is off to a great start and I’ve been meaning to tell you all that I am thinking about you, Merry Christmas and Happy 2018!! May this be your best year yet!!! …and something to think about for the future, maybe you will send some money to them as well knowing how much need there is and how far your dollar can go.

SERVING OTHERS

The concept of “serving others” lives at the core of my being.

I remember 2 years into private practice at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic I called my mom and said “So I wake up, eat, go to work, come home and eat lunch, go back to work, exercise, home for dinner and then to bed to get up and do it all over again. Is this all there is?”

I had jobs along the way however being a chiropractor was my first true career and I opened my own practice right out of school. I busted my behind (and still do) to get this thing up and running and 2 years into it I made a realization that this is what I would be spending my years doing and it blew my mind to think that was all there is.

When I say that, I am not ignorant to the fact that many are married with children and running families and doing the same thing, however, our lives are truly filled quite full with time spent at work.

My very next thought was…”THANK GOD I am in a profession serving others.”

Service is my highest heart calling and my life has revolved around that for over 12 years in private practice and a few years beyond that during my internship at school.

It was dinnertime our second day on Mt. Kilimanjaro, we sat down and one of the first comments I heard was “Man, I really wish there was a chiropractor here.”

When I am out and about in my personal life, I do not always offer up front that I am a chiropractor and since it hadn’t some up in conversation yet, not many in that particular crowd knew I was. …well until that very moment anyway.

Day 2 of the trek I still felt yucky, sore, tired and out of it. That is not a place to “serve others” from since my own tank was on empty but it was now sitting in the back of my mind.

I could probably adjust this entire group.

It would do every single person some good in making the trek a success.

It only takes my hands.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHBLWKCPLwU[/youtube]

This thought sat in the back of my mind the following day as we made our way to the next campsite. As we hiked along that next day, or porters would pass us on the trail. As they cruised by us, they all carried about 30 pounds of stuff on top of their heads and I know one carried 30 pounds of my own stuff. This is their job and many had been doing it for years.

From a chiropractor’s eyes, it is so clear to see just how much stress has been placed on their spines and it dawned on me that I should spend any extra energy I have serving them. The 31 women on this trek live good lives and have access to all the care they need at home. This is not to discount their need in that moment but many of our team of porters and guides had never heard of chiropractic and had no concept of what a chiropractic adjustment could do…much less how beneficial it would be to their spines, nervous systems, health and well-being and multiply that by the fact they carry so much weight on their heads on a regular basis.

Our day 3 hike was long and tough. I stopped part way down the trail and adjusted Kelly (my patient/friend that invited me on this trip in the first place) and that led to a couple staff members lining up to get checked. That led to me offering my services to all staff and I opened up a make-shift office outside of the dinner tent, which pretty much just consisted of a chair that the staff could sit in so I could check and adjust their spines.

Many stood back and watched, but some jumped right in with full trust. By serving them, my own energy lifted. This is a usual thing that happens, even at my office here in town. By helping others, I am helped. By helping others to heal, I am healed. By helping others to increase the energy inside their bodies, my energy increases. It is the COOLEST thing about this work I do. Serving others helps me.

It also fills my heart and nothing is more satisfying than what happened the very next day. I was stopped and standing on the side of the trail. One of the guides, that was really reluctant to sit down in my chair the evening before but decided he would in the end, walked up to me and sort of whispered “That ‘thing’ you did to me yesterday, I have been so calm ever since. Do you think you could do that again before you leave?”

Then the following day he stops me as says “That ‘thing’…do you think you could teach me how to do that so I could help my team?”

“Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.” -Marianne Williamson

There is serious power in those adjustments, every chiropractic adjustment is powerful and I often wish you all could feel what I feel in my hands. Being able to release healing energy inside of the body to allow people to be stronger, healthier and adapt to the internal and external stresses in their lives better, I would argue it is one of the greatest things in life.

Serving others truly is one of the greatest things in life.

I am blessed and lucky to be spending my days waking up, eating, going to work at the Cafe, coming home and eating lunch, going back to work, exercising, then home for dinner and then to bed to get up and do it all over again the next day serving others.

60 EXTRA HANDS

Most of you know that I grew up with 3 brothers. If I could possibly explain to you my childhood in 3 simple words, I would call it “three against one”. Always…and I was on the losing side of that scenario.

I am not used to being around women for extended periods of time. Of course I have a lot of incredible women in my life, I have personal time with them in doses. The thought of spending and entire 8 days together with 30 other women was an intimidating factor of my trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. However, in retrospect, those 30 women changed my life forever for the good.

I would say probably around a third of the women on this trip had children at home. Women, in general, are naturally helpful and the “mom” energy of the crowd ran strong and deep. If ANYONE, and i mean ANYONE, needed ANYTHING, someone was stepping up to help out, assist others and offer additional supplies. And when I use the word “someone” I am actually talking about 3-5 “someones” because the generosity of this particular group of women was palpable.

We were in this trek together. And when I look out at the broader picture of life, we are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

I am not one to ask for assistance, I have been able to accomplish a lot in my life on my own. When I am exposed to 8 solid days of really intense activity with such an incredible group of women willing to literally give you the shirt off their backs, it changed me. The consistency of having those 60 extra hands willing to share, give and serve me in the time of need with anything they have to spare…I am forever grateful. I learned from them it is okay to ask for help as I stand shoulder to shoulder with such willing souls to offer help. Of course the culmination of this I wrote about already (click here–>>) “Don’t Die With Your Daypack On”. Such a POWERFUL lesson!!!

I returned to my normal life back in Fenton with a different perspective about asking for assistance.

I know that my willingness to accept help from others has also taken me to a different place as well. I have some amazing friends, a couple specifically I am referring to, that stand shoulder to shoulder with me as I progress through my days. When I ask for help or need assistance with something, their consistent support has continued to help me evolve to a new version of myself.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” -African Proverb

The picture I have added to the post is not a picture I took, however it is a really good representation of how I view this helpful world now. To have 60 extra hands ready to assist in making this life and world a little bit easier for me, what a gift. I love you Kili Dadas!! Thank you for everything!!!

WELL ADJUSTED SCHOOL

I was on my way up to the top of a mountain with 2 other doctors when I was pulled from the car

to go serve in a school with 720 children. I am here to serve and will go where I am needed and

WOW!!! what awesome opportunities!!! Can you imagine a well adjusted school, much less a well

adjusted elementary school? What a concept, huh?

When the children see us with our tables, they do not know exactly what is going to happen,

but they can tell they are in for a treat. We were given the room above and the children

piled in and filled up the seats and each took their turn.

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan 10
I adjust a lot of children at the Cafe of LIFE and one of the things it really helps

with is when children are stuck on the “gas pedal” in their bodies. They run and

run and run and run, and are just being children. Some can become sometimes

difficult to manage and often times that is when they are stuck in “gas pedal” mode. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan 13

Chiropractic care helps get off the “gas pedal” and apply some brakes. Getting adjustments helps them to find a better balance in their entire body thus improving their quality of life, as well as those around them. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan 15

This morning at the school, Dr. Austin and I were going to go it together. We adjusted non-stop for a couple hours and then as Dr. Haley was finishing with her community in the upper elevations, the driver dropped her off with us. I have to say we were relieved to have another set of hands willing to serve.

I would be interested to know how the afternoon at the school went after everyone got checked this morning…including the teachers!!! The concept of a well adjusted school seems like it would be a dream come true for the education system. Anywhere.

RAW

As I laid “boca abajo” or face down on the table to get my own spine checked this afternoon, my heart, which had swelled to triple its normal size today, burst wide open. My teammate noticed my tears and asked “are you alright?” The best I could describe to him was “I am just raw”.

I am not sure which was more significant to me today:
1) Being invited to set up an “office” on someone’s lawn and share space with their chickens.

2) The little boy who was being dragged by the arm to get adjusted, who refused but hung out for 3 hours and watched, and then finally got on the table completely open and ready to have his spine checked.
3) The Quechua village women who all got adjusted and then sat as the rest of the village showed up and helped them understand how to go about the process of getting their spines checked.
4) Checking and adjusting an infant dressed in layers of beautiful wool as he breastfed in his mother’s lap.
5) Serving side by side with one of the most incredible women I know.
6) Being stopped on the road and invited right into someone’s dirt floor home to set up our tables and serve their community because they caught wind that there were chiropractors in our car as we drove by.
7) The intense dirt road drive up this mountain along side 500 foot drop offs and not guard rails.
8) The beautiful travel nurse that understands chiropractic care and educates these communities when we show up. A special shout out to our driver that chose to carry our tables for us, take pictures and help the people understand what we were doing and how to participate.

9) The huge language barrier we were dealing with as neither of us speak Quechuan, but realizing a smile and laughter is a universal language.

10) The roaring laughter as these communities were lit up and a chance to be a small part of their lives.
We have documented our day well and without these pictures, you would never truly be able to grasp the extent of it all. Truly a blessing.
When serving like this, all the “stuff” is stripped away. The documentation, monetary exchange, health insurance coverage, the bills to run an office, the layers and layers of things that are required to run a successful office in the country where we live. And then when you no longer have language to communicate…it becomes raw. It is a deep look into beautiful stranger”s eyes, a soul to soul connection, a smile and the purest intention to give, love and serve from a deep, abundant well inside of me. It is the most beautiful thing I know of in this entire world.

PERU

I am not sure I have been more excited about a trip in years and years. You all know me, I travel a lot, so that is a pretty bold statement. Yes, I have been to some really incredible places in my life, some of those very recently, but when I tap into this place inside I have for this trip coming up, it bubbles over. I cannot wait to get to Peru.

A friend of mine called a few months back. She has been to Peru for the past few years and goes back every year to deliver chiropractic care, love and serve the people in the Sacred Valley. She says, “You know, you should come with my team this year.” I am beyond honored to even get an invite.

If you have followed this blog or know me at all, you know my core is absolutely driven by the desire to have “rich, rewarding experiences” in my lifetime. My answer was “Yes!”…and I began to work on making that happen.

Thursday this week marks the beginning of what I anticipate being an adventure of a lifetime!

I fly Detroit to Atlanta to Lima to Cuzco in a 19 hour travel day. I am chalking that up as part of the actual adventure, and truthfully that is probably the only way to get through it.

Fenton Chiropractor Peru — My Friend Adjusting a Child in a Past Year

We will be staying at high altitudes and serving at even higher, so the first few days will be time to acclimate and get situated as a team. We will be serving Monday-Friday next week. I will take a couple extra days to see Machu Picchu since it is quite close to there and then head back with another 20+ hour travel adventure to return to my home on the 12th.

As I stated before, I have done a tremendous amount of traveling, however, going some place to just be a tourist and visitor is completely different than integrating yourself into service mode in a community. Don’t get me wrong, on every trip I have been on since getting my license almost 10 years ago, I have done some adjusting. I even got paid in habanero hot sauce while helping some in Belize!!!

But this is different, very different. My friend refers to this trip as “dropping love bombs” (www.lovebombthemovie.com). I so look forward to being part of that.

I couldn’t do this without all the great people back here taking care of my practice and my home and making sure the gears keep turning while I am away. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I am grateful for my life. I am grateful for the opportunities that come my way and I am grateful for the support that gives me the confidence to seize such opportunities.

Stay tuned for posts from Peru!

EARTH DAY CLEANUP 2013

Come join us for EARTH DAY CLEANUP 2013!!! We need all the help we can get!!! May 4th…details on the flyer!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

I feel that a big part of running a business here in Fenton is to give back to the community that gives us so much. Not only am I a regular patron of so many local businesses, I also do my best to attend local community events, participate in everything that my schedule allows for and spread the word about new and upcoming businesses. I believe that “A rising tide lifts all boats” and work that philosophy into my daily choices.

But sometimes that is just not enough and 3 years ago, Cafe of LIFE and Simple

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - We need your help!

(which has since been sold) spear-headed an Earth Day Cleanup project. Our first year we attracted around 15 people to help us. We gathered a planning crew for 2011 and attracted close to 80 people for our spring cleaning project. With even more momentum going into this year’s event, 2012 is looking like a great time to really make a difference. I have noticed that the efforts of last year have had lasting effects and we do not see the amount of trash on our streets like last year. This is proof positive that we are making a difference.

Come and join us this year as we take to the streets and give Fenton a fresh start for spring. You will see fliers around town however I want to make sure you have an idea of how this all works. The even is scheduled for Saturday, April 21st 9am-noon. Meet us at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic Center at 521 N. Leroy St which is 1.5 blocks north of the Fenton Hotel, across from Legacy Realty and Dewey’s Automotive. We will provide biodegradable gloves and bags and send you towards a location in town. Scour the area picking up trash and there will be several drop-off locations provided around the city. We have volunteer pick-up drivers that will bring those bags back to the Cafe of LIFE. Stay for all 3 hours or just a part of it, all help is welcomed. We will have food, water and some kids activities at Cafe of LIFE.

We are hoping for sunny skies but this event will happen rain or shine. Wear comfortable walking shoes, bring your own gloves if you want and dress in layers so you can handle the weather. If you are unable to join us and you happen to be driving around on Saturday morning and see our people out filling bags, make sure to at least honk and wave to show your support…and mark to down on your calendars to join us next time around.

Hope to see you Saturday! If you have any questions or concerns…please feel free to email me at erica@cafeoflifefenton.com or give us a call at the Cafe of LIFE at (810)629-6023.