Articles by Dr. Lee

Vanilla or Chocolate: The power of CHOICE

By: Dr. Helen Lee

 

Something that I hear often is “I had another stressful week!  And that’s just how my life is.”  Many people wonder how they’re ever going to create more health while their lives are so stressful.  On the very first visit we talk about how physical, chemical, and emotional stressors that the body cannot adapt to, can lead to subluxations, or interference in the nervous system.  

The nervous system is what allows us to live life in the mist of all the stressors. The objective is not to get rid of ALL the stress in our lives, that’s just impossible.  It’s to minimize as much stress as possible and make sure that our body is functioning optimally so that it can adapt to the stress quickly.  That’s health!  

You’ve learned which foods may create more stress on your digestive system, which nutrients may add to optimal function of the chemical body, come in for adjustments, drink water, etc. These are all choices that you’re making in your daily life. They are a part of the 6 Essentials of Health that we discuss in our Wellness Workshop.  

What choices do you have when it comes to a “stressful life”?  Many feel that life just happens to them. They feel as if they have no control over how much work they have to do, no control over what a jerk their boss is, no control over how their kids are going to behave or what’s going to go wrong next, etc.  You’re absolutely right!  You DO NOT have control over any of it. No one does. But what you DO have control over is how you perceive it and how you react to it.

 At any moment in time you have the choice to feel, act, react, and be any way that you’d like. Making a choice can take less than a second.  For example if I asked you to choose between a vanilla ice cream cone or a chocolate one, which would you choose? It took you a second to decide. If I asked you if you’d rather be miserable and angry or calm and happy, which would you choose?  Hopefully most of you would choose the latter. And in THAT moment that you choose to be calm or happy, you ARE. 

 So the next time you’re stressed, frustrated or angry, think about the power of your choice.  If you decide to stay stressed & frustrated, that’s your choice—and that’s not good nor bad, it’s just a choice. No one is making you choose that, you are allowing yourself to be that.  However, if in that moment you decide that you don’t want to feel that way anymore, you have that power to create a different possibility.  A second later, you may have to choose again because you’re still feeling stressed, but that’s ok, choose again.  Choose as many times as it takes in order to get yourself where you want to be.  Of course, like any TOOL or exercise in life, the more you practice your power of choice, the better you’ll get at it. 

 When you choose to do something or be a certain way, at that moment you are that possibility. If you choose at that moment not to be stress but to be happy, then you are. If you can utilize this tool of choice, over and over, you will be creating your life second by second instead of being at an effect of life.

 You can let life take you for a ride or live your life. Be at an effect of life and stress or be CAUSE  in your life. It all begins with a choice. Remember that it’s as simple as Vanilla or Chocolate.  If you’re daring, you can even choose neither and go for the Strawberry! It’s your life.