Season of Change

Well we can finally say that Fall has arrived in all its glory. The cooler weather brings out those great turtlenecks. The changing leaves always leave us with a sense of awe and the thought, “how the heck do the leaves know how to do that???”

It’s also a great time of year to re-evaluate your daily routine and ask yourself whether you are making the most of each day. Many of the doctors and staff at our center start each day with something we call the Hour of Power.

The Hour of Power is just as it sounds – it’s an hour (or as close as possible) that we dedicate to our well being each and every day. That hour usually is best first thing in the morning because as our day goes along, we all know that “things” crop up and can interfere with that time for ourselves. And with the changing of the clocks, it’s all that much easier to wake up “when the cock crows” and start our hour of power. Of course ideally you are going to bed earlier as well. (Remember the body enjoys 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night). And as I just heard from the Dr. Jay Lombard, director of neurology at Cornell University, sleep is the BEST anti-inflammatory that exists.

So here are some great suggestions of what you can do (and what we do during our hour of power):

· EXERCISE, even if it’s just a brisk 20 minute walk.

· Sit quietly in your “quiet chair” (my kids know what chair this is and that they can only disturb me during a true emergency like setting their brother on fire) – try to sit quietly and listen to peaceful music with little to no thinking. Each time a thought enters, just let it leave as quietly as it came and return your thoughts back to the music.

· Give thanks – what a great way to start your day than to give thanks for all the many blessings in your life – give thanks for your significant other/spouse; give thanks for your children and grandchildren; give thanks for your home/apartment/wherever you have a roof over your head when many others do not; give thanks for the weather; give thanks to live in the United States and for our many freedoms; one of the chiropractors on the lecture circuit, Dr. John DeMartini says it this way, “Start each day thinking and thanking your day in advance.”

· Say your affirmations. If you don’t have a destination, you won’t know where you are going. If you don’t know what you want out of life, how in the heck are you going to get there. So affirm each and every day exactly what it is that you want. And remember God doesn’t have a poverty mentality. So THINK BIG. We break our affirmations down into personal and professional categories. And say your affirmations aloud. Speaking out loud is so much more powerful. I say it like this, “I’m so happy that my children are happy, healthy and wonderful kids to be around.”… “I’m so happy that I’m going to touch as many lives as possible at work today”… “I’m so happy that I have a great marriage to a husband who cherishes me”… “I’m so happy that I will exercise 5 times this week.” You get the message.

So get that Hour of Power started, and see your life begin to change.