The Triad of Change
In mythology, the 3 Fates represent the forces that determine destiny. In Greek and Roman tradition, they are described as weavers: creating (Clotho), measuring (Lachesis), and cutting (Atropos) the thread of a human life. The number 3 is symbolically useful because it asks us to see relationships beyond the duality of black-white, either-or, us-them.
Chiropractic philosophy describes the Triune of Life as an interplay (force) between intelligence and matter. Life, after all, is the expression of intelligence through matter. We recognize the vital element that animates form. We also recognize the intelligent ways living things maintain their active organization in the face of a constantly changing and challenging environment.
The Triad of Change provides a useful model to understand the ways that energy organizes in living systems. As humans, we can consider Structure (the body we inhabit), Behavior (how we move ourselves), and Perception (how we view our relationship to ourselves in the environment). This model is appropriate in the context of chiropractic practice because we work with the nervous system. As chiropractors, we assess and support the ability of the nervous system to be more flexible and more adaptive. We do this directly through the alignment of the body (structure), facilitating movement and connection between parts (behavior), and offering a perspective of coherence (perception).
Whether our preference is to lead with the energy of the fabric maker, the measurer-planner, or the action-taker, we are participating in the process of weaving. Seen from this perspective we weave with the Fates instead of at their mercy. Empowerment comes when we are in alignment with our principles. We can choose to defer our fate to perceived authority or we can do the work to build resilience, act with integrity, and clarify our perception .
Babies and Chiropractic
There are many reasons for parents to consider chiropractic as a first line of support when encountering challenges with their babies. Chiropractors trained and experienced in the care of young ones offer a gentle, precise, drug-free, and physiologically-based service to facilitate more ease in the developing nervous system. Chiropractic is not a treatment for a condition, but rather a way to support the normal, self-healing capacity of the body. There are many expressions of dis-ease that occur in young ones that are often related to stress and tension held in the spine and cranium. Birth is a powerful experience and that power can be exerted in ways that can be taxing to the newborn’s body.
Parents may consider seeking chiropractic services for their young one for colic, issues with latch, digestive challenges, irregular/absent poops, sleep difficulties, mobility concerns, or visible asymmetry in posture or movements. Parents also bring their young ones in simply because they have personal experience with the benefits of chiropractic to facilitate balance and ease and want to offer that gift to their child.
I have heard parents and pediatricians describe expressions of dis-ease as “normal.” As in, “it’s normal to not poop for days at a time” or “some babies prefer to only nurse on one side” or “she has too much stomach acid, which is why she is spitting up after feeding.” To be clear - there is nothing wrong with the child in these circumstances. They are striving to find balance with the environment to the best of their ability. When their ability to find this balance is compromised by stress and strain on the nervous system (housed in the spine and cranium) it makes sense that we would see some kind of challenge. I find it important to discern between “normal” and “common.” We can acclimate to ideas or environments, especially when they surround us for extended periods of time. Their prevalence - how common they are or seem - does not mean they are “normal.” It is normal for the body to adapt and heal. The expression of pain and symptoms is a normal signal that the body is working to adapt and heal. It is normal to want to reduce discomfort and dis-ease in ourselves and our children. It has become common for us to hear that drugs and symptom suppression are standards of care. It has become common for us to hear that disease is preventable and should be eradicated with pharmaceutical interventions.
To approach health from a perspective that acknowledges and honors the innate capacity of the body to adapt and heal is, for me, normal. Chiropractic helps the communication system of the body to express health and life with more ease. When it comes to the health and lives of our children, I invite you to consider chiropractic today for a better world tomorrow.
"Paying" Attention?
Where does attention come from? What do we mean when we use the phrase “pay attention”?
When I encounter questions about the meaning and use of words, I often find it instructive to look to their origin and development. The word attention derives from the Latin tendere, which means “to stretch”. From Old French to Middle English to attend came to mean “applying one’s mind or energies toward something”. At some point in the mid 16th century, the legal term tender was used as a way to “formally offer a plea or evidence, or money to discharge a debt”.
We tend gardens, wounds, children - stretching our hands and hearts and minds forth to those things we perceive as important and delicate and worthy of care. Yet, at some point, we started using the same word in a way that reflected the influences of capitalism, commerce, and debt. Changes in language reflect changes in thought. The world was changing in the mid 16th century as exploration in new lands coincided with the rise of mercantilism, which was the predecessor of the capitalism we know today.
As the world changes again we see the competition for resources shift from physical commodities (land, oil, metal) to the commodity of information. The types and amount of data that are streamed and collected in the information economy must surely exceed the material wealth that can be extracted from the earth. This recognition has given rise to an attention economy, powered by technology, and expanding ever more rapidly.
It is something so powerful that it hides in plain sight, so dangerous that authority wants to control it at any cost, and so valuable that it is given, for free, to every conscious being.
In the process of witnessing my own use of language, the inquiry arose “why do we use the phrase ‘paying attention’?” Attention is something we can bring, capture, give, and lose. It has immense value as it creates the frame in which and through which we perceive ourselves, each other, and the world around us. It represents the light of awareness that directs the most precious resource we have and the only thing that we can truly claim with sovereignty. It is something so powerful that it hides in plain sight, so dangerous that authority wants to control it at any cost, and so valuable that it is given, for free, to every conscious being.
The next time you decide to “pay” attention to someone or something, I invite you to consider whether the exchange of value in such a “transaction” is in alignment with how you want to use your attention. We do not get paid for the extraordinary amount of data we disclose to our devices in the form of our attention. There are ways to engage with technology more consciously, but it takes discipline and having tools can help. I have found the resources at The Center for Humane Technology to be useful in this practice.
It is an aspect of biological life to consume resources and information. How we focus our attention plays a profound role not just in how we perceive the world, but in how we co-create reality as it unfolds. Using language consciously and creatively will influence thought, thoughts influence perspective, and perspective influences behavior. Take care when consuming. Your information diet will affect your health no less than the foods you eat. May you tend well and be well tended. Thank you for your attention.