John Amaro, LAc, DC, Dipl. Ac.(NCCAOM), Dipl.Med.Ac.(IAMA)
This issue marks my fifth anniversary with Dynamic Chiropractic as a monthly columnist. During that time, I have met scores of doctors on several continents who tell me they read my column and clip it for future reference. If there was ever an article to save and share with select patients, this is most certainly it. Doctors pay special heed to the advice offered here, as it affects us just as much as it does our patients.
How to Get Sick If You're Well
- Avoid making any changes which would bring greater satisfaction and joy into your life.
- Shun anything that resembles humor. Remember that life is a serious struggle and is no laughing matter.
- Do not express your feelings and views openly and honestly. Other people wouldn't appreciate it. If at all possible, avoid even knowing what your feelings are.
- Blame other people for all your problems. Stay angry at people for everything lacking in your life.
- Avoid any possibility of developing deep friendships and intimate relationships with your mate.
- Fill your mind with dreadful pictures and then obsess over them. Worry about the future most, if not all, of the time.
- Be resentful, hypercritical and judgmental of everyone around you and especially towards yourself.
- Do lots of things you don't like and avoid doing what you really want. Follow everyone else's opinion and advice, while seeing yourself as miserable and stuck.
- Cultivate the perception that your life is meaningless and of little value.
- Don't pay any attention to your body. Eat plenty of junk food, don't exercise and drink lots of tap water. If you are over stressed and tired, IGNORE IT and keep on pushing yourself.
How to Get Sicker (If You're Already Sick) - Think constantly about all the awful things that could happen to you. Dwell upon negative, fearful images.
- Be depressed, self-pitying, envious and angry. Blame everyone and everything for your illness.
- Read articles, books and newspapers, watch TV programs and listen to people who reinforce the viewpoint that there is NO HOPE. Feel that you are powerless to influence your future.
- Cut yourself off from other people. Be a recluse.
- Despise yourself for having destroyed your life or for not having gotten everything out of it as you could. Dwell on your age and realize you're getting older every day.
- Go see lots of different doctors. Run from one to another, spend half your time in waiting rooms, get lots of conflicting opinions and lots of treatment starting one program after another without sticking to any. Become thoroughly confused.
- Stop working on any projects and give up all activities that bring you a sense of purpose and fun. See your life as essentially pointless and at an end.
- Complain constantly about your symptoms and associate exclusively with other people who are unhappy and embittered. Reinforce each others feelings of hopelessness and hatred.
- Don't take care of yourself. What's the use!
- Think how awful life is and how you might as well be dead. But also make sure that you are absolutely terrified of death, just to increase the pain and terror you feel.
How to Stay Well or Get Better - Do things that bring you a sense of fulfillment, joy and purpose, things that validate your self-worth. See your life as being your own creation and strive to make it a positive and expansive one.
- Pay close and loving attention to yourself, tuning in to your needs on all levels. Take care of yourself, nourishing, supporting and encouraging yourself.
- Release all negative emotions, especially resentment, envy, fear, sadness, and anger. Express your feelings appropriately and authentically, don't stuff or hold onto them. Forgive yourself daily for anything you feel bad about.
- Hold positive images and goals in your mind, pictures of what you truly want in your life. When fearful images arise, refocus on positive images that evoke feelings of peace and joy.
- Love yourself unconditionally and do your best to love everyone else. Make this love the purpose and primary expression in your life. Create fun, loving, honest relationships, allowing for the expression and fulfillment of your needs for security. Try to heal any wounds in past relationships as with parents, old friends, co-workers, etc.
- Make a positive contribution to your community through some form of work or volunteer service that you value and enjoy.
- Make a commitment to your health and well being and develop a strong belief in the possibility of total health. Develop a healing program drawing on the advice and wisdom of professionals you respect.
- Accept yourself and everything in your life as an opportunity for growth and learning. Be grateful for the abundance and blessing in your life. When you make a mistake, forgive yourself, learn what you can from the experience and then move on without regrets.
- Keep a lighthearted sense of humor. Laugh at the appropriate time to laugh, even if you really don't feel like doing so. Look forward to each and every birthday. Look forward to the future knowing full well you cannot go back to earlier days.
- Develop a sense of kinship with a loving, protective, benevolent universal intelligence. This intelligence is referred to by a variety of names by various religions and areas of the world. Talk to this higher intelligence and tug on it for assistance and support in times of need.
Most importantly, give thanks for all that you have. Even though you don't have everything you want, think about how many things there are that you DON'T HAVE that you DON'T WANT!!!!!!
John A. Amaro, DC, FIACA, Dipl.Ac.
Carefree, Arizona
