About a year ago, I was sitting at a district meeting for the California Chiropractic Association here in San Diego and I got to hear a speech by one of my mentors. Although I have heard him speak dozens of times, there was one aspect of his message that has stuck with me ever since. It is the theme this month for the office.

Our theme is COMMITMENT. While I can sit here and review all of the quotes our amazing staff has put together for each day that talks about taking action, there is a prerequisite to commitment that many of us do not recognize…

This key factor is SPACE.

The biggest question being, do you have space in your life for commitment?

Space can be interpreted in many ways and largely it should be.

Do you have…

– Space in your schedule.
– Space in your budget.
– Space in your mind  (this is a big one)
– Space in your heart  (this is even bigger)

Not to mention, huge blind spot for a lot of us in Southern California, how is your living and work space? Have you noticed that we don’t have a shortage of stuff around here?

So our principle for this month is:

In order to truly commit to success in health and life, you must create space for commitment.

Here’s my story:

When Victoria and I moved in together, it was a converging of two worlds. Being a West Point grad, I have had many many roommates. I know what it’s like to live in close quarters with people and being rather introverted, it’s a challenge for me.

But I never lived with a woman… muchless someone I love and want to spend the rest of my life with… it was a really awesome change that we were both looking forward to. I never lived with someone who knew how to make such an amazingly beautiful and cozy home (Ahem, except my mom).

Which meant my current decor was about to change. A lot. If you could see before and after pictures, you would not even recognize my ‘old’ place.

Victoria loves organizing and decorating. If you love our office redecoration as of last summer, that’s pretty much all her. When she moved in, she used a system of organizing and decluttering called the Konmari Method developed by a woman named Marie Kondo.

I fought it. Literally everyday.

But after a while, I noticed something really profound. Not only do I know where everything is in my home now but everything that I own is something that brings me joy… Kondo’s books are simple that way.

Choose what you would love to keep. Thank the rest as you lovingly discard them. Keep it simple… right?

I had no idea what this would do to not only my physical and mental health. It feels very healing AND I love to keep it this way, but I had no idea how it would help me with my productivity at the office.

Why is this important?

I mean, I am a chiropractor not an interior decorator. But if you look at health from a chiropractic and nervous system perspective, you begin to understand how much your external environment affects your internal environment. Our nervous system’s role is to accurately sense the environment and in response, send the appropriate signals.

Interference in your physical space (a pile of junk) is the same as interference in your mental space (a negative thought) and the same as an interference in your physical body (a subluxation in your spine). Chiropractic adjustments remove those interferences and allow your nervous system space to restore normal function and most importantly heal.

Having a more organized living space can help your nervous system heal better. I’ve lived this.

Chiropractic care is often the catalyst for big life changes. For some it is a miraculous shift in a disease process, for others a new job, passion or purpose. Most often, it is responsible for initiating lifestyle changes which is always going to point you in a powerful direction for self-healing.

But the truth is, the outcome isn’t the goal. We call that Outside-In Philosophy.

Our philosophy is Inside-Out which focuses on the brilliance inside and so long as you remove interference patterns in the nervous system (subluxation), that innate potential will inevitably shine through.

One of my favorite analogies of chiropractic is that it’s like SLOW MOTION SPINE SURGERY. Where every adjustment is aimed at improving the structural and thereby neurological integrity of your whole system. As your body becomes more aligned, a natural consequence is the march towards more optimal function.

What I know with 100% certainty is that space must come first… not for you to be successful but for the results of your commitment to be sustainable.

Aligned Action items for the month are as follows:

• Identify your highest values. Use this process from one of my teachers Dr. John Demartini.
• Do a quick evaluation on your schedule, budget, food choices, your belongings… heck take a look at the people you spend time with (if you dare). Then in those areas, rate your levels of alignment on a scale of 1 to 10.
• Commit to adjusting your level of alignment. Think about what you would need to add to your life and potentially where you may need to start saying no or redefining.

Committing to alignment is a far better strategy for long term life success than the traditional New Year’s Resolutions!