The Starfish

A young man from Nebraska, who had never seen the ocean, decided one night that it was time to do it. He packed a bag, went to the airport and flew to a tropical island where he checked into a hotel on the beach. It was still dark when he arrived and the young man remembered that someone had told him that the sunrise over the ocean was incredible so he dressed and went down to the beach and sat in the sand, waiting for the sun to rise.


The sun came up and it was, in fact, the most beautiful sunrise he had ever seen. As he watched the sun rising over the ocean, he noticed a group of people following a man who was dancing down the beach. He rose from the sand and went to join the group to see what was going on.

As he joined the group he saw that the man was not actually dancing but was picking something up from the sand and throwing it into the ocean, but with so much joy and enthusiasm that it looked as though he was dancing. At a certain point, the crowd dispersed and only the young man from Nebraska and the man throwing starfish remained.

The young man walked up to the man throwing starfish and asked, “Pardon me, what are you doing?” To which the man replied, “Oh, it’s very simple. I walk this 2 mile stretch of beach every morning and pick up the starfish that have washed up during the night and throw them back into the ocean before the sun comes up and kills them.” The young man, somewhat confused said, “Well, I’m from Nebraska and I don’t know much about the ocean, but isn’t there a tide that will simply wash them up again? What does it matter?”

With that the man bent over, picked up another starfish and said, “It will matter to this one.” as he threw it into the ocean.

Each One Matters

 

Sometimes we can look at our health the way the man from Nebraska looked at the starfish on the beach. The little things we do for our health may seem inconsequential. What difference does one healthy meal, one day without a cigarette, one good long walk, or one adjustment make? By itself, maybe not much, but when we make a habit or commitment to better health, the results speak for themselves. Each thing we do to enhance our level of health and well being is a statement to ourselves that we are important; that we are worth taking care of; that we matter and that what we do matters to bring us where we want to be in the future. So, although healthy habits take time, effort and repetition, they are worth it for both our current and long-term health.

The number of starfish the “dancer” had to deal with was huge. Sometimes, the number of different things we feel we could or should be doing for our health appears just as daunting.

How will we fit in 3—5 workouts per week? What exercise is best—cardio, weights, stretching or some combination? What exactly is a healthy diet? Is Atkins right about low carbs or is it Pritikin”s low fat plan that’s right? If I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, but they’re not organic can I be hurting myself? What vitamins should I take and where’s the best place to get them from? These and endless other questions keep some people from acting at all.

The best way to tackle the huge question of our health is to just get in action and be proud of ourselves for each thing we do. By just changing one thing at a time on a regular basis, at the end of a year, we will have done so much more for our health. It’s also important that when we add other healthful habits, we don’t drop the ones we’ve already started.

That’s why it’s so important to keep regular with our adjustments. EACH ONE MATTERS!!!!! The effects of the adjustments are cumulative, meaning that each one will just enhance the one before, assuming that there’s not too much time, stress and additional subluxation between adjustments. Thus, in the early stage of care, when visits are frequent, keeping close to your recommended schedule will give you the greatest change in the least amount of time. Once the subluxation patterns in your spine have begun to improve, regular visits will allow this improvement to continue into the future.

Regular adjustments are also a great buffer against the waves of stress which we are bombarded with daily and which can serve to undermine our best efforts at better health.

You can be a “starfish dancer” for someone else by helping them to understand and experience the great benefits Chiropractic care offers. By your own commitment to getting adjusted, you already serve as a positive role model, but there’s more you can do:

Be the One that Matters

1. Refer someone to our New Patient workshop, so they can learn all about the great benefits of Chiropractic.

2. Bring someone along for your visit, so they can see for themselves what the office and getting adjusted is like.

3. Share this hand out, or some of our other literature with friends or family so they can understand better.

4. Give us their name and number and we’ll invite them to the office for a complimentary Chiropractic evaluation, to see how they can be helped.

Courtesy of:

Chiro-Works Bayside
Dr. Alan Corin
17 South Concourse
Beaumaris, Vic 3193
9589 0076

http://www.chiro-works.com.au/
 
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