Pearls of Wisdom - Pure & Powerful. Dr. Liz Anderson Peacock
our individual understanding of the anatomy, philosophy and science of the human body. It is what a patient will partly judge us by. It needs to be delivered cleanly, accurately and with focused intent. This requires confidence and certainty that is gained through repetition, observation of and critique by colleagues, and practice. There is never enough practice, as we always have potential for improving. An artist cannot say they have created their masterpiece since one to come may still be in their future. An athlete may have a personal best, but cannot know for sure they have truly turned in a best performance. There could always be one more, one better yet.
The Universe Gives Us What We Can Handle
At times, I may judge what has been placed before me, but know I am a co-creator in it. What I learned more than anything else is that one can be brilliant and talented, but if not lead first by the heart, it is more difficult to push ahead. I am constantly learning deeper levels of turning inwardly to ask for guidance and trust my heart and intuition, rather than my head. Whenever I have followed the advice of my head or intellect I regretted it. The conflict comes because I enjoy spending time in my head – analyzing and reflecting, debating and discussing. With recent events in my life, I am learning to let go and just be. Just being is an art. You will read about my journey in a future book yet to be published.
When faced with challenge, I realize it is a test for me to learn and grow. I may look to others who have experienced a similar event in their life. I ask how they dealt with it. Overall, the Universe will not drop more than we can handle into our lap.
People Do Not Care What You Know
Until They Feel You Care
Knowing statistics and health data does not change most people’s lifestyles. If it did, we would all be at our ideal weight, eating organic foods, drinking clean purified water, sleeping an appropriate amount, detoxifying, practicing mindfulness, and reducing stresses. Knowing the data does not change our behavior. Emotions, feelings and attachments change us. So in order for what we know to be heard, we need to appeal to others on their level, and meet them where they are. Once we have a relationship, eventually they become willing to hear our advice. Connect with hearts, then minds.
In making connections, I remember a particular patient, a male teenager. His dream was to become a pilot like his dad. He had severe long-term chronic asthma, and was devastated when he heard he did not qualify as a pilot due to the scarring within his lungs, and his poor pulmonary function.
In his mid-teenage years, he began being adjusted in my office on a regular basis. His use of inhalers decreased; in addition, the acute attacks that frequently sent him to the hospital Emergency wards began to reduce. I once visited him in the hospital. He was in a tent with secondary oxygen and was running a poor oxygen saturation rate. His breathing was labored, rapid, shallow, and he was using his accessory breathing muscles to assist his breathing. I asked for and was granted permission to adjust him. He was adjusted and within seconds, everything – and I mean everything – normalized. The rapid, labored breathing relaxed into rhythmic breaths, his oxygen saturation returned to within normal range, and his body relaxed. The attending nurse stood – eyes wide-open – frozen in place. Speechless. He returned home within a couple of hours.
A few years later, I received a thank you note from his mother stating her sons’ dream to become a pilot became reality. He had no lung scarring and pulmonary function tests were within qualifying ranges. He had no medication and no bouts of asthma.
We connect with people and help them to connect with their dreams. We make a difference in people’s lives. These experiences allow us to gain a quiet certainty with what we do. A confidence in knowing that no matter what is going on from the outside in, if the inside is not communicating, then the rest does not matter. The presence of life allows the body to be organized. Interference with life reduces efficiency of the body’s ability to function properly. If the body cannot perceive its environment accurately and resend at its full magnitude, then it will respond with a less than favorable adaptive choice, perhaps making an error in the process by finding a less than ideal way. If the body continues to operate this way over time it deteriorates human vitality.
Who We Unfold To Become
We all experience rough times and bumpy roads along our path, as they are a part of life. It’s not the obstacles that are most important, but rather who we become as a result of overcoming them. As an example, in a span of a few years a number of personal challenges were thrown my way. In respect for time, I explain with minimal detail by saying there were the unrelated deaths of my godmother, my father-in-law, my father, my sister-in-law and our oldest sixteen-year-old dog. In the same year, I had another dog hit and dragged by a truck and survive, a mother who had congestive heart failure, a mother-in-law who suffered an extensive stroke, and a brother who’s experimental brain surgery kept him in the ICU for twelve weeks during the SARS epidemic. In addition, I had a vehicular accident, when my car skidded on black ice, rolled-over and crossed two lanes of on-coming traffic. With all of these events I did not slow down, but kept my usual pace. These significant events were not fully dealt with; I just chalked them up as more life experience. I dealt with them intellectually, but not emotionally. I shifted more into my head and stayed there. I kept myself busy, which was the first clue I was not fully connecting with my feelings.
Dealing with my emotions was inconvenient. I did not want to stop what I was doing. My avoidance was excused by not having time to feel. Over time, life slowly began to feel more difficult and I became frustrated with any little mishap. Being strong, I muscled through it all using my stamina and endurance, focusing on the tasks needing to be completed. I was so busy doing I did not see it.
I recognized my disconnection when I finally caught myself saying, “I think;” whereas I more commonly say, “I feel.” A variety of other events also occurred to the point I had to literally stop to reassess who I was and how I defined myself. The doing stopped so I could just focus on being. Over the years, my neurology has been wired to the process of activity and busy-ness, and to stop long enough to change my neurology felt cruelly difficult.
“There is no process which does not require time,” Principle #6 of Stephenson’s 33 Principles. Knowing this still becomes difficult to apply. For someone accustomed to being busy, allowing time to unravel is not an easy transition for change. A principle in neuroscience is: “Neurons that Fire together, Wire together.” The reverse is also true. So I worked on reversing my neurological wiring.
With my re-evaluation of who I was unfolding to become, I began loving the down time. I needed to be reminded of who I am and distinguish it from what I do. In retrospect, it was quite plain that my outer world was reflecting my inner world. I am thankful to the Universe for providing me with the chaotic challenges, for they served as a wake up call to making change.
‘Response – Ability’ is aptly named because humans live and experience life through their nervous system. Our ability to respond has everything to do with the quality and quantity of our nervous system function. A healthy response is free to be creative. Through our ‘response – ability’ we communicate who we are to the world. In our practices, our ability to palpate demonstrates and communicates to patients our wisdom supporting what we do. In life, our response to the world determines outcomes. What we are capable of ‘seeing and not seeing’ is dictated by the limitations in our perception and experience. Our ability to adapt in the world determines our survival and health. Responsibility is an inside out process.
When we adjust our thoughts and adjust our actions, we adjust our life. Like Chiropractic, when life is pure it is without a doubt powerful.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives. It is not the fastest of the species that survives. It is the one most able to adapt to change.
~ Charles Darwin
•To help others, first change yourself.
•There is no failure, only lessons.
•Ask for help and it appears.
•Continue being a student of life.
•Love them when they do not love themselves.
•We