By LAURA LEONARD
Doctor of Chiropractic
Los Alamos
It’s No-More-Motivation February, the time of year when our New Year’s resolutions are downgraded on our list of importance.
Never fear … I have a new Chinese parable for you that will help get you going again. No, this one is not about diet, exercise routines or setting goals. It is about … you guessed it, changing your thoughts.
The amazing thing about working on your thoughts is that all it requires is paying attention and shifting gears. No 5 a.m. workouts, no insane restriction of calories, no liver cleansing and no extra use of your time required. Ironically, trending our thinking in a more positive or optimistic direction actually helps us nail our resolutions.
With optimism comes less stress, more energy, motivation, less emotional eating and self-love. I have written about positive mindset/optimism ad nauseum because I truly believe that putting forth a conscious effort to change our negative self-talk stories to better stories has the biggest impact on health PERIOD!
I am in the business of helping people feel better and coaching people to tell better stories has by far the biggest impact on how they feel. I personally love parables because great parables teach us how to rewrite our stories.
In my last article, I discussed the parable of the Chinese farmer which taught us that we should not label life events as good or bad because we can’t know what gifts we gain. Difficult circumstances are just as likely to result in great gifts as joyous circumstances so we should accept all things as necessary to our greater good.
This week I share the parable of “Yegong Hao Long” or “Lord Who Loves Dragons”.
“It is well known that Lord Ye had a particular love for dragons. Ye’s house was covered in dragons – designs, paintings, carvings – whether on his weapons, bed linen, chairs or walls.
“On hearing about Ye’s passion for dragons, a celestial dragon was so moved that it decided to honor Ye by paying him a visit. So, it descended to earth and stuck its head into Ye’s bedroom window, while the other half of its body swayed in the hall.
The scene that accompanied the dragon’s descent to earth was magnificent: dark clouds rolled across the sky, lightning flashed and thunder boomed. The earth shook and a heavy downpour almost devastated the city.
“Ye, the dragon lover, was far from flattered. On the contrary, he was so frightened by the dragon’s visit that he took to his heels and ran away as fast as he could.” –www.Chinastory.cn
The main take home of this parable according to scholars is, don’t profess your love for something you actually fear.
My take on this parable however is.…be careful what you wish for because your thoughts create your reality. This story shows us that intense focus on something results in that thing becoming real. If this is true, then the stories we tell ourselves affect our life more than we realize.
In other words, the nature of our thoughts can affect us in very negative or very positive ways. In the case of the dragon loving Lord, his intense focus on dragons created a terrifying reality that he didn’t expect.
The good news is we can use the power of our mind to create what we desire. The beauty of telling optimistic stories is that it doesn’t require more time it simply requires the discipline to redirect yourself. After all, the only thing we can reliably control in our lives is personal choices and the quality of our thoughts. Point your thoughts towards optimism, tell new stories and create the life you desire.
Dr. Leonard’s practice focuses on posture and performance using a combination of soft tissue release, adjustments and exercise recommendations. She also coaches patients on nutrition, self-care and body awareness to manage themselves between visits. LA Chiropractic Center is in the Mary Deal Building on Trinity Drive.
