A Tribute to a Friend

The Spirit in the Wind

A couple weeks ago Barbara and I lost two friends in a plane crash. One of these friends had great influence in my life. She was a teacher and a healer. Her name was Spirit Wind.

I learned a lot from her. She taught me about the ways of the Navajo and the Celtic traditions. I learned about chakras and was introduced to energy healing through her. She opened my eyes to the magic of life.

We held retreats together and always spoke of doing them again someday.

She helped me cope with the decision to let my dog Mojo go. One of the toughest experiences in my life.

She performed the marriage ceremony for Barbara and I. One of the greatest experiences of my life.

Barbara and I went on a walkabout with her and visited Sedona, Monument Valley and Canyon Duche. That was an amazing trip that really opened up a clairvoyant side of me that I do not speak about very often. I saw incredible things. Wow!

She was an incredible woman. Unfortunately, we grew apart.

I wonder now if I really ever let her know how much she meant to me in my life. I still use the lessons I learned from her in my practice every day. It is really one of the ingredients that makes me unique as a healer.

I have decided to place her on my wall of influential people. This is long overdue and I am sorry that it took so long to recognize her in this way.

Which leads me to this... My biggest lesson in all of this.

Recognize the people in your life that are of great help to you and say thank you. Acknowledge them now.

Take the time to make a phone call today to someone that influenced you in your growth on this planet. You may have grown apart. You may no longer even speak to each other. Do it anyway. You never know when they will be gone.

Bless you Mary and Leo. May your journey on the other side be filled with love and joy. Ho!

Hope for Humanity, Part 6

The Third Key to Health - Positive Mental Attitude

People who are chronically happy and optimistic live longer, happier lives. Smile! Be optimistic! Be grateful!

Let's look at that last one, gratitude. I have found that there are two major keys in life. When I forget these keys, I tend to find myself grumpy and on edge. These keys are love and gratitude. Love is a very common subject in the Monday Motivator (as is gratitude), but let's just look at gratitude. If you are truly grateful for what you have, what more do you need? Sure, you will have needs, but it is the grateful person who attracts more to be grateful for.

When was the last time that you wrote out a list of all that you have to be grateful for? It actually feels wonderful and stress tends to just melt away.

Take a moment and write your list.

Now let's look at being happy.

Here are some keys to help...

Stop watching or reading the news. I had to even stop watching Jon Stewart. Too negative!

Set aside some time every morning to read something positive, say some affirmations, visualize, go over your goals.

Spend time with children that are having fun. Go to a playground. Smile.

Dance. Laugh.

Look in the mirror and smile.

Rent a funny DVD. Try Something about Mary, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, American Pie, 40-year-old Virgin.

Always find the bright side.

Stop hanging around the negative crowd. Tony Robbins says that you are most like the 5 people you hang around the most. Maybe it's time to re-evaluate your group.

Start giving compliments. Everybody loves a compliment. As you spread the good around, everyone's day gets brighter. Including yours.

Dr. John Demartini has a cool way of looking at the bright side. (By the way, he wrote a book called Count Your Blessings). If something happens that upsets you, write down everything negative about it. Make the list as long as you can. Next, make a list of everything positive about it. This may be a bit more difficult, and the rule is to make it as long as your negative list. Once you do this, then you will realize that it is your choice to focus on the negative or the positive. It is always your choice. Try it.

Here is an example of the news' way of spinning fear. They say right now unemployment is reaching 11+%. Here is the other side of the truth. In the best of times, unemployment is around 5%, and right now, employment is in the high 80 %. Optimism.

The Hope of Humanity: Shifting to Wellness, Part 5

The Second Key to Health - Exercise

This is the next one that everyone seems to know about. OK. Let's take a look at your hunter-gatherer ancestors. How much did they exercise every day?

Hunter-gatherers traveled about 8 miles every day.

How much do you need? Ideally 8 miles. However, the body is so amazing that you could actually do 30 - 45 minutes a day and get incredible benefits. Still, more than 50 percent of Americans do not get the recommended amount of physical activity; and 25 percent get practically no exercise at all.

More and more research is coming out all of the time about the benefits of just a little exercise. Benefits include more energy, loss of weight, better alertness, better concentration, reversing aging... Need I write more?

In a paper recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Dr. Arthur Kramer and Kirk Erickson uncovered one of the keys to slowing and reversing the effects of aging on our brains. Movement.

By regularly participating in aerobic exercise, you can not only keep your brain function from deteriorating, but also turn back the clock on brain aging.

Even people with signs of dementia and Alzheimer's disease have been shown to get a boost of speed and sharpness of thought with just three 45-minute brisk walks per week. They also showed changes in the volume of brain tissue and positive changes in the way their brain functioned.

In another study, Kramer and colleagues followed 60 to 75 year olds who walked briskly three times per week. After six months, they not only improved in their physical fitness, but their mental fitness as well. This was compared to the control group who only did non-aerobic stretching and toning exercises.

They concluded that the results of their studies indicated that aerobic exercise can "reliably reverse age-related cognitive decline."Here is a great way to see if you are exercising enough... How fat is your dog?

All kidding aside... Start walking! Here are some helpful hints.
1) Get a friend to walk with you. Hold each other accountable.
2) Get a dog. They love to go for walks and if you don't take them out, they tear up your house.
3) Set a goal to run a marathon next year. Join a club that helps you prepare.
4) Make vacation plans that require you to walk a lot. Maybe Yosemite, Sedona, or Yellowstone.
5) Make a bet with a friend. I bet by the end of next month I can run a whole 2 miles without stopping or I'll have to wash your car.
6) Buy a swimsuit that you must get in shape to wear. If you have the guts, put it on and have someone take a picture of you in it. Motivation!

Make it fun and go for it!Another key to exercise is to do something you enjoy. If you like to swim, do it. If you like nature, go outside.

Try Pilates. Do some Yoga. Get a DVD. Hire a trainer. Anything that gets you moving!

Just stop making excuses. Schedule it and just do it!

The Hope of Humanity: Shifting to Wellness, Part 4

The Real Hope for Humanity

It all comes down to this… Lifestyle.

If you want to live a long healthy life, you must adopt a lifestyle that supports a long healthy life. If you want to be healthy, you must live a lifestyle that supports health.

How you live your life determines your health.

What exactly is the best lifestyle for living a long healthy life? Now we’ve arrived at the big question.

Honestly, I could write a book on this, however let’s stop and cover the basics.

There are 5 key areas of health. If you miss even one of these, you have lost. They are not in any particular order of importance because they are all important. As we go through these, you will learn more than most of the medical doctors, nutritionist and exercise gurus out there. You will become so empowered that you will set a goal to climb a mountain, and you’ll do it! Here we go…

The First Key to Health - What You Eat

This is probably the biggest hyped of all of the keys. Everyone has an opinion. After we cover this section, you will look at the food pyramid and just shake your head.

To really figure this out, we must ask the right questions… Here they are… What must a person eat to be healthy? What must a person avoid in order to stay healthy? In other words, what do our bodies require and what is toxic to our bodies that we must avoid?

How is the best way to answer this?

Let’s look at our genes.

Fact:
Our genes have not changed much in 40,000 years.

Assumption:
Our bodies are designed to be healthy. Honestly, there are no scientific experiments that prove otherwise. So for now, let’s just assume this to be completely true.

If our bodies are designed to be healthy, and our genes (the blue print of our bodies), have not changed much in 40,000 years, then let’s look at our diets from 40,000 years ago.

40,000 years ago, we were hunter-gatherers. What did hunter-gatherers eat?

Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables
Fresh, clean water
Free-range, organic meats
Fresh fish

Get the picture?

So if you want to be your absolute healthiest, what should you eat?
Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables
Fresh, clean water
Free-range, organic meats
Fresh fish

The Unfortunate Need for Supplementation

Unfortunately, the earth has changed a bit since the hunter-gatherer times. This means that some supplementation is now necessary for health. There are only 3 supplements that you are required for overall health.

1) A really good multi-vitamin

According to Nutrisearch Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements, 4th edition, these are the top 4 multivitamins on the market…
Creating Wellness Vitalize (in Men’s, Women’s and Senior Women’s formulas)
Douglas Laboratories Ultra Preventative (IX and X)
Truestar Health TrueBASIC
USANA Health Science Essentials

Why? It is no secret that our soils have been somewhat depleted of nutrients over the past centuries of farming. This requires supplementation.

2) A really good fish oil
Why? Free-range meats and fish have a very high percentage of Omega 3 Fatty Acids in them. These days, the meat that we eat is highly depleted of this essential ingredient to our health and if we ate enough fish to get our supply, we would glow with mercury poisoning.
My favorite fish oil comes from Innate Choice. It’s called Omega Sufficiency.

Note: Not all fish oils are the same. They do go rancid and they are often chemically altered. If it smells funny or tastes bad, throw it out!

3) A really good probiotic
What are probiotics? These are the bacteria that naturally live in our bodies. You have 10,000,000,000 cells that make up your body. You have 100,000,000,000 bacteria living inside you. This is a good thing when they are the good bacteria.

You can tell the health of the soil by the bugs it contains. We are all just animated soil.
Your bacteria are your first line of defense against yeast and bad bacteria. They actually form a barrier against the bad ones.

In hunter-gatherer days we ate a lot of good bacteria. We would get it from the dirt on our food.
My favorite 3 probiotics are…
Innate Choice’s Probiotic Sufficiency
Metagenic’s Ultra Flora DF
Garden of Life’s Primal Defense

The Hope of Humanity: Shifting to Wellness, Part 3

False Hope that's Fooling America

The 3 Big Lies That Are Holding Your Health Hostage

As you read each section of this article, you will be amazed at the crazy stuff we buy into that is just not true. You may even get upset. But won't it be great to understand this so you can do something about it?

Imagine, in just a few minutes, you will know the 3 biggest lies that are holding your health hostage!

So let's get to it.

The first big lie: Your genes are responsible for your health.

If you're thinking, "Well of course that's true," you now know that even a smart person like yourself can be misled by false information. Let me explain...

Several years ago we were told that 75% of all diseases are genetically based. Now, a recent Harvard study says it's 25%. I am sure that eventually it will be down to 3% or so. This is why...

When you look at our genes and study them, you will find that they have not changed much in 40,000 years. That's a long time. Really think about it. Your genes are perfect. They respond to your environment to either produce health and healing in your body or help you survive a threat.

The question is, "Did the hunter-gatherers of 40,000 years ago develop heart disease, diabetes and cancer?" The answer is, no, no and very rarely. If the Hunter-Gatherer did not die at a young age from trauma, they lived a long, healthy, productive life.

The Truth:
You do not get sick because of your genes. Even if your mother had cancer and your sister had cancer, it does not mean that you will have cancer. Even if your grandfather and father died of a heart attack, it does not mean that you will die of a heart attack.

Read on and you'll discover just how powerful you really are...


The second big lie: You're sick because you are unlucky.

I remember paging through a Physician's Desk Reference book while I was in chiropractic school. You know, this is the book that has every disease known to man in it. The thing that was amazing is that there is very rarely a known cause of a disease. In fact, they have a fancy name for this: idiopathic. Isaac Asimov called idiopathic "A high-flow term to conceal ignorance." In the television show House, the lead character remarks that the word "comes from the Latin meaning 'we're idiots, because we don't know what's causing it.'"


The Truth:
You do not get sick because you are unlucky. Just because they don't know what caused a disease does not mean that you are unlucky.


The third big lie: Don't worry, we are developing the magic pill.

Do you really believe that there will be a magic pill? How many years have they been looking for the cure for cancer? Did you know that the big solution they have for cancer right now is early detection?

When you look at the statistics, they are now detecting cancer around 2 years earlier than they used to. In fact, 5-year survival rate for cancer has improved dramatically. But guess what, 7 year survival rate has plummeted. So yes, they discover it earlier and treat you with chemotherapy and radiation for a longer period of time before you die, because they detected it earlier. However, people are still living generally the same amount of time.

Please understand that I know that there are a lot of cancer survivors out there that may be a little put off by these statements. Read on and you will understand that the focus of this little piece is to empower you and your upcoming generations so that they are not made victims of these lies.

The Truth:
There is no magic pill. There never will be.


So those are 3 of the biggest lies that are holding your health hostage. Did you notice what they have in common? Let's take a look at them.

You're sick because of your genes.
You're sick because you are unlucky.
Don't worry, we're developing a magic pill that will take care of everything.

If you were to believe these statements, then you have absolutely no power over your own health. Your health would be in someone else's hands.

Imagine taking total control over your health. Imagine feeling awesome and never having to worry about cancer, heart disease or diabetes. Imagine achieving and maintaining your ideal weight and having an energy level that would intimidate a teenager. You are about to uncover the secret recipe to total health and longevity. You won't be lied to anymore!

The Real Hope for Humanity

It all comes down to this... Lifestyle.

To be continued...

The Hope of Humanity: Shifting to Wellness, Part 2

The Behavior that's Killing America
This is where the rubber meets the road. There is actually a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on this behavior. In fact, it is bankrupting America. By the time you finish reading this, you should be ready to make a change.
Most of us do not like pain. It scares us. We run away from it. This running from pain towards relief is a powerful behavior. In fact, for most of us, it is our habit. It is the habit of being reactive.
What it means to be reactive is that whenever you come up to a painful feeling, you run back to comfort. Here is the problem...
When you experience a pain or symptom in your body, it is your body's way of telling you that you must do something different. Doing something different means changing a behavior or changing a habit. Changing a behavior or habit is painful.

Here is an example:
I love chili dogs. When I eat them, I get bad heartburn. In fact, it is so bad that I cannot lie down at night because it is so uncomfortable. My wife hates it too. The gas is horrendous. The dogs even clear the room. So what's really going on?
My body is letting me know that chili dogs are bad for me. It is showing me by giving me heartburn and gas. It just cannot adapt anymore to this poor food choice. Rather than allowing it to kill me, it is sending me signals to stop. My wife is even letting me know (as well as the dogs).
But I love chili dogs. Giving up something that gives me emotional joy and comfort will hurt. I think, "It's not so bad. My body can take it. I'll just sleep in the other room or my wife just has to put up with it because she loves me." So I keep eating them until the symptoms (my body's warning signals) get so bad, that I take action.
Do I quit the chili dogs? Remember, this would cause pain. So, no. I go to the medical doctor to find out what's "wrong" with my body. I choose denial.
What does the medical doctor do? They listen to you describe your heartburn and gas, diagnose you as having acid reflux disease, and write you a prescription. All in under a minute!
Here is when you should get pretty upset...
What just happened? Did the medical doctor ask you about your diet? Does the medical doctor really care about what is causing the heartburn? Do the drugs that he or she prescribed really fix anything or are they just quieting your body's alarm system?
Here is the big question... Please pay attention...
If you are eating something that is killing you, and your body is letting you know about it the only way it can (symptoms), and somebody gives you something that silences your body so that you can continue to do the thing that is killing you with more comfort, is that a form of assisted suicide?
Please read it again.

Here is my disclaimer to medicine.
We have one of the best crisis care systems in the world. No doubt about it. If I cut off an arm, I am going to the emergency room and I am extremely grateful for the medical care that I will receive. The best... However, where medicine fails is in the concept of wellness care. Where they fail is in keeping you healthy and giving you the tools to be healthy.

Think about it, they have drugs and surgery as their main tools. These are awesome and powerful tools when you are in crisis. How good are they at keeping you healthy?
Fact:
The number one cause of death in America is medical care.
So where is the hope of Humanity? How are we to become healthy? Are you ready for some answers? Before we go there, let's look at one thing first...

The Hope of Humanity: Shifting to Wellness, Part 1

Have you ever wondered why so many people are sick today? Why so many people are fat and obese? Why so many diseases that once were reserved for adults are now showing up in our children? Why Americans spend nearly double on health care than any other country in the world and we are still sicker than over 30 other countries?
In contemplating these questions, I have come to recognize the problem and the solution. That is what this article is about. By the time you are finished reading this, you too will know the solution.
The Philosophy That's Killing America
Have you ever heard this? "If it's not broke, don't fix it." This has become the mantra of American health for the last century. Let's take a closer look at it...
Facts:
100 years ago, the life expectancy of Americans was under 50 years old. People expected to only live to 50 if they were lucky. People generally played hard up until they died. They never "fixed" their physical problems because they were going to die soon anyway.
A majority of these centenarians are now in rest homes living on an average of 16 medications a piece. Have you ever visited these "homes?" It is really sad to see what has happened to our seniors. What is even sadder is that they passed this "if it's not broke, don't fix it" attitude onto us, and it is killing our country.
"If it's not broke, don't fix it." What constitutes broke? How do you know when you are broken? This is where we get into trouble. Our body is so adaptable that by the time you realize that you are broken (by observing any number of symptoms), it is too late to become fully healthy. Does this mean that you should just give up? Absolutely not. I am just pointing out the flaw in this way of thinking.
The other problem with focusing on signs of being broke is that we can often be dead wrong. For instance...
Fact:
The most common, first indication that somebody under 40 has a heart condition is sudden death. This would be the worst way to find out that you are broken.

So, these are the main problems with the philosophy of "If it's not broke, don't fix it."
How do you know when you are broken?
By the time you know you are broken, often times your disease process is already advanced (or you're dead).
It creates a habit of reactivity.

To be Continued...