What a claim. How audacious! Okay, are you ready? You are not going to believe it. You opened this article to see what would improve your health and here is my answer. YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER! If you think about it, you know of three things that would definitely make you healthier- pick from the endless list: drink more water, eat different food, get better rest, exercise, stretch, change your posture, floss before bed… the problem isn’t knowing what to do, it is in following through and actually doing it!
What am I talking about? Let me use an illustration. We have a wonderful puppy. Becca. She is just over one year old. If you are a patient in our office, you may have heard her upstairs, barking at squirrels that might potentially invade our home. She will often be seen perched in the front window, vigilant to all that goes on in the street.
With all the reasons that it is good for Becca to play fetch, one would think she would happily drop the ball so the game can continue. Strangely, it is incredibly hard for her to let go of the ball so that we can throw it. She stands there, the ball in her mouth, desperate for us to throw the ball, yet unable to let it drop out of her mouth. We coax and plead, we command her to drop it, but she can’t seem to relinquish the prize from her mouth, though she knows she will enjoy the subsequent game.
Many of us are like that with our health. We know what will make us feel better, but have trouble implementing what we know we should do. We make plans to exercise more, or eat less, or drink more water, but we get frustrated when we don’t follow through on those plans. Like Becca dropping her ball, we see that life would be better if we carried out our plan, but we have trouble executing it. Network care will help with that.
Network care allows one to be more aware of the body’s cues in order to support the change one desires to make. How does this work? Suppose one is trying to quit smoking. They might quit for 3 different reasons:
One might quit because their spouse or family member wants them to quit. These people don’t tend to be too successful, as they will often smoke when that other person is not around.
One might quit because they have read studies and intellectually understand the negative impact of smoking on their health. These people will be somewhat more successful in trying to quit.
The final group, who will be most successful in quitting, are those that feel the negative effects of smoking as they take that nicotine into their lungs. If one can feel how yucky and harmful it is, it is very easy to quit.
With increased self connection through network care, one will make healthier choices. If you can feel the adverse effects of poor posture on your body, you will correct your posture much more readily then if you are doing so because your chiropractor has told you to. You will drink more water because your body feels thirsty, or get more rest when you require it. Your diet or exercise levels will change, as you pay attention to the needs of your body.
If you are having trouble following through on health goals, make sure you get checked with Network Care. Increased connection with the body will improve your follow through! Like Becca, you may intellectually see the benefit of dropping the ball and enjoying a good game of fetch, but you need the support of feeling your body to make it happen. Find out more about how to “listen” to your body with Network Care. And stay tuned- there haven’t been any Articles “In Good Health” for the past few months because I have been writing a book!!! Handbook to Health will be released at the end of September. Make sure to “like” Shaughnessy Family Chiropractic on Facebook and send us your email address to find out how you can get your free copy!