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Blueprints highlight healing expectations

Do you have a healing blueprint? Tips for new patients (Part 3)

Yes, you have a healing blueprint, and yes it matters, even if you don’t realize yet that you have a blueprint.

What do I mean by this?

Everyone has some expectations about their healing, and sometimes those expectations aren’t met

If you’re trying to make some sort of change in your life or health, you’re almost certain to have some expectations about how those changes are going to happen. That’s normal.

It’s also normal to not voice these expectations in detail, or even really reflect on them, until something happens that surprises or violates your expectations.

“That was sooner than I thought.” Or maybe: “Wow, that was harder than I thought it would be.”

It’s always enjoyable for a process to be easier, faster, or less costly (time, energy, or money) than we thought.

It’s always a challenge when a process appears to be come harder, slower, or more costly (time, energy, or money) than we thought.

Sometimes you have to change your blueprint

Perhaps one of the most powerful words I’ve ever heard from anyone are the following:

“Unhappiness is an unfulfilled blue print.”

If we want to experience meaning and happiness in the face of a challenge, sometimes we have to re-frame our story. As soon as we say “Things were supposed to be different,” as in “this is harder, slower, or more costly than I expected,” then we are faced with a choice:

  • Re-frame and choose another blueprint that offers us a new meaning
  • Get stuck in in our unfulfilled expectations

Why am I saying this? Why now?

Because, we (you and I assuming we started working together recently as chiropractor and patient) are now into “the process.”

The event is over. It came and went. The event was your first initial reaction to the first couple of spinal releases. What happened is what happened. And what didn’t happen, didn’t. And now, this is where the real work of the process gets done.

What process? The process of healing. Self-healing.

Allowing your body to take care of some unfinished business it hasn’t had the chance to deal with for a year, 10 years, or even longer.

And this is where you have to honestly deal with your blue print. And I’m here to help you do that.

If your blue print had you experiencing immediate relief and coasting through decades (or more) of stress and spinal degeneration with only a few bad days…Then there’s a good chance you are going to feel little stuck.

Which would be sad. And probably unnecessary.

So, if you are struggling a bit, let me encourage you: trust the process.

Look at yourself, not from the perspective of today. Or yesterday. But over time.

If you need to re-frame, then re-frame and think about the four dimensions of any symptom

Let me help you by teaching you about the four dimensions of any symptom: intensity, duration, frequency, and location.

Understand that we can pay attention to four different dimensions when charting our progress…

  • How bad or good? (intensity)
  • For how short or how long? (duration)
  • How often did it come or go? (frequency)
  • How big/small? (size, region, or location)

It’s possible that all four of these dimensions may change together, or only one will change at a time.

Many people look at healing as a binary “yes/no” or “pain/no pain” and that hides the subtlety of the real healing process. For example, if the the intensity is the same, but the size, and low long the symptom is present is getting smaller, that’s a win to celebrate!

With documentation of where you started, you can go back and remind yourself how far you’ve come. The path may not have been strait, easy, or what you thought it was going to be, but you can still see you’re moving forward.

Remember we have set a deadline of 4 to 6 weeks (in most cases) to track your progress…if we haven’t already done a quick re-evaluation.

One more thing! Re-framing a blue print doesn’t just have to be for your spinal care. Any place where you are feeling stuck in your life can get a blue print makeover.

Some easier than others, of course.

DrZWard
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