Over the holiday season I spent time reflecting on 2020 and even though it was a tough year, I found that there were some amazing moments.  The thing that struck me the most is that I had submitted that the pandemic had shadowed and directed a lot of my thoughts or rather what my mind focused on.

I decided that 2021 will be different.  Even though the pandemic continues and there are external circumstances that will no doubt determine changes I will have to make in my personal and professional life, I am committed to steering my own course.

I wanted to share with you how you too can still have your best year yet by focusing on the things you CAN change.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

1. What is your Why?

This is what drives us to take action OR not take action.
Why did you decide to make “whatever this is (weight loss, reading more, meditation, self-love, etc)” your goal?

Is it for YOU or is it because of societal or familial pressures?
Maybe you want to do this for someone else.

Have you attempted to pursue this endeavor in the past and why did it work or not work?

Why do you want to do it?

Take time to write our your why now.  Write the following on the top of a fresh page of paper.  “I want to _____, because___________.

Maybe you want to lose weight.  Maybe you really want to make this happen so you can be ready for that summer wedding, or because your health is important.

Maybe you want to get into shape for a hiking trip.  What ever it is for you.  Write it down now.
When you physically write it out, your likelihood to make it happen goes up ten-fold.

Why is at the core of your existence and the foundation of ALL ACTIONs, therefore, once you define your WHY, the next secret will come into play.

2. BE

Now that you understand WHY you want to have your goals transform into your reality it is ESSENTIAL to become aware of who you need to BE so that this can materialize.

What characteristics are present in someone who has already achieved this status in their lives?

Who are you today that is limiting this possibility?

What are you willing to change before tomorrow morning to begin the process?
We often have clarity of what we would like to HAVE in our lives (aka New Year’s Resolutions), without first working on who we are, which is responsible for what we will have.

3.  DO

Now that you have a better idea as to WHY you have established this goal and who you need to BE in order for it to materialize, the next fundamental secret is what will you DO so that your resolution will become a reality. In our office, we look at our health, and even our life for that matter, within three distinct domains:

Move By Design: To move your body daily so as to pursue health.  This is one of my personal goals for 2021.

“I am committing to exercising for at least 20 minutes per day.”

When we seek out and make health our focus and priority, then looking good, being a healthy weight and feeling great are the result.  Our bodies were designed to be moved everyday with whole body movements.  It is essential that we train our bodies for strength, flexibility, endurance, agility, power, cardiovascular strength, and stamina

EAT BY DESIGN: Eating foods that are wholesome and nutritious is essential to being healthy.

What are the foods that give you energy versus the foods that rob us of energy?

To be more alive than dead, you have to eat foods that are more alive than dead.

If it comes in a package, doesn’t grow on a tree or in the ground or move on land or water or air, then don’t eat it.

Basically, to be healthy, we need an abundance of foods that whole and in their natural form.  Processed foods or foods made by man are not healthy.

THINK BY DESIGN: We must talk to ourselves and surround ourselves with positive, empowering conversations in order to be well.  For many of us, if we talked to our friends the way we talked to ourselves, we wouldn’t have any friends!

Take time every day to give thanks for that which you have, which you have learned and the people you share life with.  Affirm yourself and be kind to yourself through daily rituals.

By giving thought to this content you are reading, you are raising your consciousness to a higher level.

Another element for GOAL MANIFESTATION that is more than essential if you want 2021 to be distinctively different is what we call CONNECTION.

Connection can be defined as accountability from another human being or beings. Connection is having someone other than yourself who will motivate you each day and leave you feeling inspired.

Connection is creating a synergy with one or more people so that TOGETHER everyone achieves more than you could have accomplished on your own.

Connection is at the foundation of our purpose at Synergy Chiropractic to making Kanata the healthiest community in Canada because together everything becomes possible.

We define a movement as a group of people who share a mission and are willing to challenge the status quo so that the world changes.

The mission that we share is one where our community will become one of the healthiest places to live in our country and the status quo that we will challenge is the conditioned beliefs of society about the inevitable health challenges that we will experience.

4.  HAVE:

The Fourth Secret deals with Self Actualization or in other words, what do you want to HAVE?

I want you to be specific with regards to what you are looking to achieve in 2012.

What will you look like?
How will you be living?
What changes will have taken place?

See yourself as the byproduct of someone who ACCOMPLISHED this feat. Give deep thought to the day to day actions and activities as if you are already living this way.

Self-Actualization is an extremely REAL psychology because you convince yourself that the achievement has become your reality.

5.  CSWS:

Now that you have clarity of your WHY, you know who you need to BE and what you need to DO, and you can already see yourself as someone who has made their goal a reality, it is time for the FINAL SECRET which is an acronym that I want all of you to really focus on right now.

Clear your head, put any of your life stresses behind you, and take in these four words which are CSWS…CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP!

When these first four secrets become part of your conscious state, nothing will stop you, especially when you make the choice, the decision, and the commitment to yourself that NOTHING will stand between YOU and what you are looking to achieve.

In 2001, I made the commitment to train for a heavy maximum one rep squat of 400 lbs. It was just one of those physical goals that was out of reach previously, and I was more curious to see if I could than anything else. I had been close in the past, but never quite got there.

I trained over the course of three months to scale my training and move myself closer to the goal. I had to make changes in how I approached my goal. In the past, I was unsuccessful and I realized that I needed a different strategy if I was going to hit it.

I’ve made so many other commitments in my life, and I bet you have too, dear reader. Marriage, kids, jobs, savings, exercise, eating healthy, climbing mountains, or cutting back on sweets. We all make commitments and when we put our full engagement into them, the sky is the limit.

Engagement

Notice I didn’t say effort? My reasoning is that effort is, in my opinion, a fair bit short of engagement. Engagement is the full commitment to the process with a clear and directed process and outcome with an emotional investment in all of it. I can give my effort (defined as vigorous attempt) but if the goal isn’t clear, I can do ‘stuff’ that moves me towards it, but not directly because it lacks the emotional anchor to get me there.

What are you committing to?

After the Holiday Hangover, you’re probably looking to do more or less of something that led you to make decision to commit to something different.

Good for you!

I believe that since we all make commitments everyday in our lives (like checking facebook, emails, making dinner etc) we can and must commit to ourselves.

Here are a few things to help you make commitments

1. Overt benefit assignment. Want to exercise but can’t seem to get going? Write out 100 reasons WHY you want to. Here’s an example of a conversation I had with a practice member recently:

Me: Why do you want to get fit?
PM So I can have more energy
Me: Why?
PM: So I can play with my kids
Me: Why?
PM: So I’ll feel better as a mom
Me: Why?
PM: Because they need me
Me: Why?
PM: So that I can be there for them and raise them to be strong and confident
Me: Why?

and so on and so on.

You see, if the WHY isn’t BIG ENOUGH, the HOW doesn’t happen.

2. Write out your goals and review daily. As we wrote about last week, we discussed how you can lay out your goals and action steps for each. Next is to pick one of the categories and review a different one daily. This should only take you 3-5 minutes to review. Then pick one or two things to do that day that can move you towards your goal. For example, let’s say that you chose to review the Intellectual category and your goal is to read ten books. Maybe the action step for that day is to research and buy a book that you want to read.

3. Accountability.  Share your goals publicly. Whether with friends, or on social media, or on your fringe for all to see, there is massive benefit by getting support from others. And you just might inspire someone else too!

4. Be realistic.  I’m guilty of ‘biting off more than I can chew’. Trying to hit my goal of 400lbs two days after I made the commitment wasn’t realistic. I needed to give myself a timeline and ‘reverse engineer’ how I was going to get there.

5. Make it FUN!  Choose some cool things to commit to. A couple of years ago, I made the commitment to see 5 different waterfalls that year. I had to research where ones close to me were, and that meant, planning a day trip to get there. It got me out in nature, and I discovered some cool areas I had never been before. Choose some commitments that appeal to your adventurous side as much as your more serious side. Heck, by choosing the adventurous child side, you’ll likely get to your serious goals much faster anyways.

I would love to hear how these commitments are going for you!

Dr C

PS – I did hit my squatting goal – 405lbs on September 23, 2001.  👊 😊

Dr. Craig Hazel’s mission is to help families THRIVE. After graduating from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education, he went on to earn a Doctor of Chiropractic degree and a Bachelor of Science in Anatomy from Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas Texas. He is passionate about seeing children and families in his private practice at Synergy Chiropractic in Kanata Ontario. A sought after speaker, he has been featured regularly on TSN Team 1200, CTV and Rogers TV. He is also the Chairman of the Alliance for Chiropractic of Ontario.

Holiday stress can carry over well into the new year.

Are you overwhelmed by stress?   Got the Holiday Hangover from the recent holiday season?

Well, you’re not alone. Studies show over 54% of people are concerned with the amount of stress in their daily life. Many of us carry this stress in our shoulders and neck. Muscle tension in our shoulders can contribute to headaches, neck and back pain.  Chronic stress can lower your energy levels resulting in irritability, illness, and even depression. But, there is good news! A few simple changes to your daily routine can help you dramatically decrease your stress level, boost your energy, and ultimately live a healthier and happier life. Keep reading to learn how.

Why it Matters

One of the best ways you can increase your energy levels and reduce stress is with motion! Our bodies are built to move. Improving spinal motion, or segmental motion is one the ways that chiropractic adjustments help you move and feel better. Research has shown that chiropractic adjustments can significantly reduce muscle tension in the shoulders, helping reduce pain, improve range of motion, and decrease stress!

“…cervical muscle tension was significantly reduced bilaterally after (an adjustment).”

“…we observed metabolic changes in the brain and skeletal muscles, as well as reductions in subjective pain, muscle tension… (after a chiropractic adjustment)”

Next Steps: If you know someone who gets sick around the holidays it is likely due to stress. Show them you care and share this research with them. These simple tips for reducing stress will help them have a happier and healthier holiday season!

Science Source:

Glucose Metabolic Changes in the Brain and Muscles of Patients with Nonspecific Neck Pain Treated by Spinal Manipulation Therapy

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Volume 2017. Article ID 4345703

Central Motor Excitability Changes After Spinal Manipulation: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study

Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Volume 25. Number 1. January 2002

Stress in America Survey. American Psychological Association. 2010

Dr. Craig Hazel’s mission is to help families THRIVE. After graduating from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education, he went on to earn a Doctor of Chiropractic degree and a Bachelor of Science in Anatomy from Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas Texas. He is passionate about seeing children and families in his private practice at Synergy Chiropractic in Kanata Ontario. A sought after speaker, he has been featured regularly on TSN Team 1200, CTV and Rogers TV. He is also the Chairman of the Alliance for Chiropractic of Ontario.

The best way to feel more energized? Stay active! Top research journals have shown that moderate exercise can increase your energy. A simple 10-15 minute walk can get your blood pumping and increase the oxygen coming into your body, helping you feel more energized and maybe even helping you shed a few extra pounds.

Why it Matters:

Moderate exercise can help you feel energized by releasing endorphins,

New Year = a fresh re-start

which make you feel happier, while contributing to a better quality of sleep. Additionally, exercise helps train the heart to work more efficiently. Ultimately, your immune system will also function better with consistent exercise. In other words, exercise can not only help you feel more energized, but it can reduce your likelihood of getting sick. And combining a moderate exercise routine with chiropractic care may be one of the best ways to stay healthy and energized all year long.

▪    Exercise releases endorphins which make us feel more energized and happier

▪    A simple 10-15 minute walk per day can improve your energy level by over 20%

▪    Regular exercise can help you sleep better and reduce your risk of getting sick

Don’t feel like exercising?  You choose your pain.  It’s either the pain of feeling terrible and living in so-so or poor health or the pain of getting up and exercising.  The former results in more pain.  The latter allows you the joy of experiencing something great later.  Have you ever had a great workout and been miserable afterwards?  Then let’s get moving and choose the ‘pain’ of exercising shall we?

And another thing – stop feeling like it is an “ALL OR NOTHING” thing!  Many people get caught up in the notion that you have to ‘kill yourself’ in order to get a great workout; or if you usually do 60mins and you only have 30 mins then it’s not worth doing.

Nonsense.

All exercise helps your body.  Even if you have 10mins, you can get a great 10 mins of activity and feel great afterwards.  Who doesn’t have 10 mins?

Next Steps:

Start with a simple calendar. Schedule at least three days per week that you can take a 10-15 minute walk. By putting the activity on your schedule, it’s more likely that you will follow through. Also, ask us about how chiropractic care may be able to keep you pain-free and on track with your exercise goals. We want to partner with you to make this year your healthiest and happiest year ever!

Comment below – what are you committing to doing?

Science Source:

Sports Med. Endorphins and exercise. 1984

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. February 2008

Dr. Craig Hazel’s mission is to help families THRIVE. After graduating from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education, he went on to earn a Doctor of Chiropractic degree and a Bachelor of Science in Anatomy from Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas Texas. He is passionate about seeing children and families in his private practice at Synergy Chiropractic in Kanata Ontario. A sought after speaker, he has been featured regularly on TSN Team 1200, CTV and Rogers TV. He is also the Chairman of the Alliance for Chiropractic of Ontario.