Mom. Student. Wife. Doctor?

Being married can be a tricky thing. It is not always easy for each of us to balance our lives in perfect harmony with the other. Living with someone and loving them are just two separate things that do not always go hand in hand. Especially where kids are involved and many things happening at once, sometimes the juggling and handing off of kids becomes a replacement for actual time together.

Of late my husband and I have been having some marital difficulties. We are constantly bickering over stupid little things and can’t seem to get past the small stuff. We finally decided that perhaps it was time to go into couples counseling to see if we could resolve our issues.

Well, I made a few phone calls and found a person for us to talk to. The rate was reasonable and he seemed really nice on the phone, so we made our appointment. On that night we dropped the kids off with a sitter, and drove in silence to the counselor. I think that we were both a little nervous to hear what he had to say, and to lay all our cards on the table. We went in and he took down a little bit of background information on both of us, and then we began to speak about the core problems we were having in our marriage. My husband proceeded to tell him about how mad I would get at him when he would feed the dog at the table and then yell at her when she begged. I told the counselor that I really hated the way that he takes care of the house, and that he doesn’t fold the clothes the right way. Well, needless to say we went on and on, back and forth about these serious problems in our relationship and after a few minutes, the counselor stopped us and laughed. He said that we didn’t have any problems expressing how we felt to one another, and that our differences were normal. It was actually okay to get angry and frustrated at the other person, and to be able to convey that to them effectively showed that we had a really strong relationship. Well needless to say the ride home was much lighter than the ride there had been. We kept laughing about the fact that we went in for some serious marriage counseling and came out with the counselor laughing at us. Now we were both laughing at ourselves as well.

I guess sometimes you just need to have a trained professional tell you that you are normal. Although, I would venture a guess that we are far from normal, but we are pretty stuck together through it all. It really felt good to have our feelings validated and to know that we weren’t on the verge of anything major. We really had such a great night that night and we went out for coffee after a big session and just kept laughing about having the counselor laughing at us. What a hoot!

I learned about this new device today that I must share with you. The device’s name is Bob. What Bob is, is a device that limits the amount of TV or computer or video game time that your children can have.

You can buy this Bob thing online on Amazon or you can pick one up at Radio Shack. The cost is about $70.00. It can be plugged into any of the electronics devices listed above. To install it, just plug Bob into the wall and the device’s cord into Bob. It locks in, so short of cutting the cord, the kids can’t get Bob off the device. Then each person gets a code, and each code is set to an amount of time that they can spend on that device. This can be done daily or weekly which ever your preference is. You assign everybody a secret pin and a set amount of time. Then when they turn on the device, a code must be entered and the time the device is on is then deducted from that persons allotted time. When the person gets down to their last 60 seconds, Bob gives them a warning, and then boom…Bob cuts off the device. No arguments or debates, Bob just cuts you off.

The customers who had purchased this device said that not only was it stopping the arguments about how much time was being spent on TV and video games, but also it was saving them money. Apparently, so as not to waist their TV time, the kids have been shutting off the TV every time they leave the room, even just to use the bathroom. He said that it is well worth it just to see the kids shutting things off when they are not using them.

Another purpose of this device is that it encourages the kids to only watch the shows they really want to see, by forcing them to choose shows to watch with their limited number of hours. They must balance and bide their time, and in many cases, after breaking the bad habits of sitting and watching show after show, just because it comes on next, they are really scheduling and monitoring their own TV time. After a few months, studies have shown that most kids aren’t even using all of their allotted time, but are winding up with excess time in the end.

Well, as a parent, I can’t say enough good things about this device. It is amazing all the technology that is available to us parents these days. Another feature about this device that I really like is the fact that if you are a working parent and not there when the kids come home from school, Bob also has a block that will allow you to designate certain times of the day when the TV can not be watched. See Bob can be the enforcer even when you are not at home.

I personally think that if you have children, especially teenagers, then this device is definitely worth investing in.

These days so many Chiropractors are trying to be “real doctors”. It is a bit frightening to me when they try to get into medicine without a license. To me Chiropractic is so much more than medicine, that why try to change it, it is like reinventing the wheel. So that being said, then what is Chiropractic?

Chiropractic is the study of dis-ease not disease. The word disease just means lack of ease or proper function. The body can express is lack of ease with symptoms or lack of symptoms, every body is different. Symptoms that your body can express when it is not in a state of ease can be things like low back pain, neck pain, headaches, and even things like diabetes and high blood pressure. Sometimes symptoms can be a lack of sensation such as numbness or tingling or even a pins and needles sensation. In either case a body is expressing a lack of proper functioning and good health.

Your nervous system is the center of your well being. As we can tell, the brain is a very important part of your body, being the only part that is completely housed in a bony structure. Your spinal cord is also surrounded by bones called vertebra. These bones protect your body’s central nervous system. When one of the bones of your spinal column (vertebra) moves out of its normal alignment, this is called misalignment, also known in the Chiropractic world as a subluxation. This very basically just means a misalignment of one or more of the bones in your spinal column. It may or may not hurt or cause symptoms immediately; however, over time they can cause interference with the communication between your body and brain and cause problems later down the road.

Most people think, so what, a bone moves a tiny bit out of place in my spinal column, if it doesn’t cause me pain, who cares? Well, although this concept may seem trivial, think about the consequences of it. Your brain is the mechanism that regulates your whole body. It increases and decreases your body temperature based on the body’s needs. It sends healing messages throughout your whole body that tell it where and when to release hormones and endorphins and where to focus extra heat and energy. It even tells your body when to protect itself, like in the instance of a broken bone, where swelling builds up to protect the injured area and tells it to heal.

If these messages to and from the brain are getting mixed up or not getting through at all, then the ability of your body to take care of itself is limited. Usually, when your body’s healing ability is limited, this is the time at which you wind up going to see the medical doctor for treatment of a disease or symptoms. Unfortunately, for the most part, the medical profession is unable to do little more than symptom relief for you, either by medicating you or removing the part that is giving you trouble. These things just mask the body’s real problems however. Mind you I am in no way saying not to see a medical doctor, I am just saying that if you need to see one, you may have one of these subluxations that could be causing you more damage internally, even though your symptoms are being covered up.

Try to use this example:

Your neighbor comes running from their house screaming FIRE! At three o’clock in the morning. You want him to stop so you can get back to sleep Right? So you run over tie him up and put tape over his mouth and go back to sleep? No that is absurd! Well of course it is, and yet when our bodies start screaming that there is a disharmony in them, we quick run out and get something to cut off that message. We can’t be dealing with that issue right now. Well in America we have been taught that pain is bad and we need to make it go away as quickly as we can. Pain is the way for your body to communicate with you, and you are not listening. You need to listen to your body’s messages and address them if at all possible.

I have yet to find a religion that truly suits me. I am not sure why I experience such difficulty in this area, but I think that it is the people and the way that they use the religion that turns me away from it. When I was younger I always believed in God. I never had any doubts that he existed, until my aunt passed away. She was one of my favorite people in the whole world, and when she died I guess I felt as if God had taken too much from me. I still miss her, she was that special. In any case, at that point in time I began questioning in my own mind the existence of God, I guess this went on for about 3 or 4 years, and then I had a revelation that truly changed me. In my search for higher understanding about the world, God and religion, I began watching Billy Graham on TV and the one night, alone in my apartment, listening and trying to understand what he was saying God came to me. No, I am not crazy, and he did not enter in the form of a person or a ghost. He was just there and I could feel his presence as strongly as I have ever felt anything in my whole life. I have never since doubted the presence of God, for me this revelation was enough to insure me that God is a real presence.

I began going to a local Christian church, and was truly going 3 times a week. I went and enjoyed the environment and the sermons and even began listening to Christian music. I thought I had finally found the religion for me. Then one of the pastors of the church got sick, and the parishioners were talking about this, and they were instead of looking to God for strength and the answers they were looking toward the medical community and the doctors. I really thought, something was truly wrong here. How could such a faith based community think that faith in the doctors and in modern medicine was more powerful than that of God? Needless to say, I was disappointed. I went back a few more times, and began to see more inconsistencies. Then one day, I was driving by this particular church and the sign out front said, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve”. I could not believe that a church could spout such judgment. I don’t believe that it is our job to judge others, but only God’s as he has a level of understanding about things like this well beyond our comprehension. Why would people less than perfect themselves, begin pointing out the less than perfect ways of others? My personal feeling on this is that they know that they are not perfect, so they wish to distract by pointing out the imperfections in others. Being less than perfect is part of the human experience. Even those who try to achieve Godlike attitudes and perfection will always fall short in some way.

I think that we each are responsible for our own life, and keeping it as Godlike as we can. Living toward the ways of God and trying each day to improve on the day before should be our only focus. All judgment should be left in the hands of God.

In the dictionary Karma is explained as the concept of "action" or "deed" in Indian religions understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect (i.e., the cycle called samsara) described in Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddist philosophies.

The philosophical explanation of karma can differ slightly between traditions, but the general concept is basically the same. Through the law of karma, the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others. The results or 'fruits' of actions are called karma-phala. In religions that incorporate reincarnation, karma extends through one's present life and all past and future lives as well.

I believe in Karma. I believe that there is no point in trying to take our revenge out on others as the universe provides a complete system of checks and balances and what goes around does come back around. I am not sure about the whole past life present life, but usually if you watch throughout life you will see that the world that we life in does work in cycles. Everything that happens in our universe performs on this principle. The sun rises and then sets and then rises once again. People are born and then they die, and then people are born again. All the planets follow a cyclic pattern; weather follows a cyclic pattern, and so forth. Our world is based on this which I have heard referred to as the boomerang effect, which very basically says what you throw out there in the universe will come back to you. In some cases this is for the better. Let’s say that you are a good person, try to do right by others, and always try to do the right thing. The universal principle says that you will get good things. This principle also goes along with the philosophy, you reap what you sow.

At this point, I don’t have a specific religious belief that is making me think this and I am not sure whether or not the past life aspect of this is true or not. I have seen it work with kids though, who may be not doing the right thing and then fall down or perhaps bump their head, or something to this effect. I guess as a person who tries to live my life according to what I believe is right and true, I need a philosophy in it like this. I think that if you don’t believe in Karma than you might feel that the people who do wrong things and don’t get caught never pay for their wrong doings. The most freeing thing in this philosophy for me is that I never feel the need for revenge against anyone because I know that the universe will balance it all out in the end. And for me that is the best part of this philosophy.

My experiences with Karma have not always been on the positive side however, I have experienced the Karma of my mistakes in the form of universal revenge. Unfortunately, even when no one else finds out about your mistakes the universe still knows and finds the balance for you and for the person you have wronged.

In short, as much as it seems that some people are getting away with doing the wrong things, rest assured, nothing goes unseen or unpunished in this universe, trust it, it works!

Chiropractic is a bit of a different thought process than medicine. Even from an early age, for me a trip to the doctor was like a nightmare. I never wanted to see another doctor. When I was a little bit older, maybe like about 12 I remember clearly running out of a doctor's office and refusing to return because she was going to give me a shot. I remember my mother taking me back with my father to reinforce the fact that I was going to get this vaccination. So in any case, I got the shot, but I have always been one of those people who really can't stand routine medicine.

I think that medicine definitely has its value in our society. I think that medicine should be used to save lives, etc when needed. To sew back on limbs and give stitches, if necessary, however, I don't believe in a well patient system. I know that right now most of you are saying…WHAT?! It is my feeling that perhaps well patient care is not necessary. I think that most doctors rush to give treatment without allowing the body to experience a natural immunity. Your body has the inborn or innate ability to heal itself and only when allowed to use this immunity, can it really get stronger.

For instance, I don't believe in vaccinations. I believe that one reason you have to have follow up boosters, is because your body is rebelling against what the doctors are injecting you with. That is your natural immunity fighting. When you teach your body that if it rebels against an agent, that you are just going to keep bombarding it, aren't you really telling the body that this poison is okay. We live in a very clean society, with fresh drinking water, etc. We do not need vaccinations in the same way that the people in Africa do. In a poorer less advanced society, there may be more need for vaccinations, but in this country, there is really no need. In fact, most of the diseases for which they currently immunize children for, were on the decline in our society before the vaccinations were distributed, and there was a noticeable spike in the instances of these diseases immediately following the distribution of these vaccinations. By getting vaccinated for something, you are allowing them to inject your body with a form of the disease, in the same way you develop immunity to a disease you have already gotten.

In short, in this unknown world where anything can happen, I would rather rely on the innate ability of my body to fight off disease, rather than that the doctor gave me the right medicine or shot for it.

Also, there is a whole other issue surrounding these vaccinations. It is perhaps not a very widespread thought process as yet, however, it has been recently discovered that childhood vaccinations may very well be causing many cases of autism in our society. It is my person belief that many of the childhood issues are caused by these vaccinations especially at the early ages for which they are prescribed. I believe that the future will show that instances of ear infections, asthma, and crib death will be just some of the vaccination related issues of the future. I just know that for me, I will not subject my children to this form of cracking their immunity. I will instead allow them to utilize their own natural process to fight off disease and build natural immunity.

Just an aside, there is no truth to the fact that your children cannot attend school without vaccinations, that is just government hype. In each and every state, there is a waiver that you can sign to reject immunizations, and that waiver goes in your child's folder in place of the vaccination certificate. If you are unsure about vaccinations there are plenty of books out there about this, and it is truly your choice as to whether to subject your child to this or not.