Daily Living Philosophy

I've been reading through Dr. Ben Lerner's book Body by God and although I find some of the illustrations a bit corny, it's a decent book for the lay person who wants to get fit and live a healthy lifestyle based on Christian Biblical principles. Some of the nutrition aspects in the book will be commented upon at a future date when I project to compare and contrast a few of the nutritional books and philosophies that I have adapted into my daily routine. Anyway, Dr. Lerner wrote a list of 10 instructions for daily living that I thought were quite appropriate. I'd like to reference them here:

1. Thou shalt be appearanceless
2. Thou shalt be wantless
3. Thou shalt be acceptanceless
4. Thou shalt be resultless
5. Thou shalt be prideless
6. Thou shalt be timeless
7. Thou shalt be hateless
8. Thou shalt be fearless
9. Thou shalt be faithful
10. Thou shalt be hopeful

I went to a health talk by a Body By God practitioner yesterday. I admired his efficient and patient friendly office. It was good to remember how to take a complex subject such as spinal subluxation and the process of correction and rehabilitation and to water it down to a level that the patient understands but where truth is still communicated. We're so caught up in the thick of all the medical terminology that we use regularly on campus--which is important to effectively communicate concepts with precision to our professors and colleagues. However, if we want to talk to people who don't have our background, we have to talk in terms that they understand. So, that's something I need to remember to do and to practice. I did think 45 minutes was a little too long to capture the attention of new patients for a health talk. My attention-span alone was waning fast, mainly because I was tired of being sedentary for almost 13 hours! The other take home point was how the chiropractor ended the talk by telling the patients that he didn't want them to sign up for the long-term commitment of care unless they were willing to commit. He said his practice had an excellent reputation within the community to produce results to retore the curvature of the spine, thereby creating optimal health. However, if the patients weren't willing to follow-through with the commitment, he didn't want them to sign up, because his practice's reputation was on the line. I thought this was a great way to close. Make 'em WANT the care...want to improve their health and their spines. Overall, I would reduce the number of examples he gave of patient's he'd helped (to reduce the length of the presentation) and I'd avoid the reticular theory of neurology which isn't exactly applicable to most patients 99.5% of the time.

So, here are my lessons learned from a tough week. My personal worth is not dependent on my grades (whether they're good or bad), nor what other people think of me. If I base my value on things that can fluctuate like a vessel in the sea, then I'm gonna have one heckuva roller coaster ride of self-esteem and all I'll be left with in the end is a horrible stomache-ache. So, my grades and whether or not others are kind to me do not change who I am--and my worth is ultimately valuable because of Christ and what He did for me.

So, yeah, I learned a few things I could do to better prepare for my next structure and anatomy lab exams. I still have to figure out better test-taking strategy for foundations-neurology; just because you know the material doesn't help when it's the trickiest test format ever administered. But, in the end...I'm still gonna graduate chiropractic school, and I'm still gonna be a chiropractor. So, life is very, very good.