by Jenny L. Bruck DC
I recently heard the amazing statement Energy Flows Where Focus Goes. How true that is! It relates to everything, especially your health. I had a practice member who recently decided to start eating better. He had spent an hour at my nutrition workshop and decided to invest more energy in how he fueled his body. He actually took the time in the grocery store, read labels, thought about what meals he could prepare. The result? After just a few weeks he had dropped eight pounds and had so much energy he couldn’t believe it!
Here’s another example. I recently decided that I wanted to have more public speaking opportunities. I put ENERGY into thinking and talking more about it. I made a vision board, I wrote about it in my journal, and I told several colleagues about my wishes. Within a month, I acquired four new speaking opportunities and an interview for a major speaking gig. My focus on what I wanted created more energy, and more results.
You want your child to have better manners? Focus on that. You want to become a better listener? Focus on it. You want to make more money? Focus. Focus. Focus. This may mean taking action, talking more about it or learning more. As long as you create positive feelings about what you are focusing on, I believe you attract it.
This phenomenon works conversely as well. You want to get sick? Focus on sickness. You want a car accident? Look for it while you’re driving. You want to be under-appreciated at home? Talk a lot about how no one notices what you do for them. Energy Flows Where Focus Goes.
Applying this principle to health requires three things. First, is knowing what to focus on. Obviously, focusing on what you DON’T want (pain, inflammation, disease) is not the best strategy. Yet, most health care systems are about stopping pain and symptoms, detecting disease and treating conditions. Instead, focus on CREATING HEALTH. What requirements does your body have to be healthy? If you think from this angle then healthy lifestyle choices will have a higher value. No body is unhealthy because it is deficient in a pain killer.
Next is to seek out support from doctors who align with this approach. If all that is in a doctor’s tool box is a drug and scalpel, they may not be able to help you create health. They may be brilliant at helping you get out of crisis, but long term you need someone who understands the body’s requirements for health. That may include nutrition, exercise, sleep strategies and nervous system health. This is where wellness chiropractors, naturopaths and other alternative practitioners shine.
Finally, see health as a process rather than an event. You don’t create health from one workout, one good meal or one chiropractic adjustment. The ongoing process of repairing damage caused by life (sitting at computers, slips on the ice, emotional stress, etc.) is lifelong. Just like brushing your teeth for oral hygiene is a process.
The great thing about process, is that it’s never too late to begin and if you get off track you just start again. When you have more “on” choices than “off”, you will build a better a body.
What do you want? What do you want to be able to do? How do you want to live? Focus on that; not on what you don’t want. Highly successful people know this art and practice it faithfully. Like anything, it takes practice, patience and persistence. And it’s worth it!