Cardinals and Quarters
Good Vibrations Family Chiropractic
Cardinals and Quarters
By Kevin Donka, D.C.
Years ago, while I was still in chiropractic college, a group of my friends and I took a trip into Chicago for theday. We were standing outside a Bennigan’s Restaurant across from the Art Institute on Michigan Avenue waiting for our table. I was in the middle of a conversation with my friend Gary, a student from South Africa, when he suddenly put up his hand and said, “Wait, wait! That’s a cardinal I hear!”
I looked at him like he was crazy. “WHAT?! Where?” I asked, incredulous that anyone could hear a bird’s call over the noise of a Chicago afternoon on Michigan Avenue. He looked around for a moment, then pointed across the street and shouted enthusiastically, “There! RIGHT OVER THERE!” Sure enough, sitting on the peak of the Art Institute’s roof…was a cardinal.
“How on Earth did you hear that over all this noise?” I wondered aloud to him. “It’s simple,” he replied, “I love birds!” “So what?!” I said. “Sooooo,” he continued, “I listen for them, and you always find what you’re focusing on.” “That’s ridiculous,” I replied, “Just because you are focused on something doesn’t mean you always find it!” Gary chuckled a little and said, “Oh Yea? I know what you Americans are focused on.” “What’s that?” I asked. He replied with just one word, “MONEY!”
I took offense to this and defended myself and my countrymen to him by saying, “That’s not true!” “I’ll prove it to you,” he said. With that, Gary took a quarter out of his pocket and held it up for me to see. “Watch this,” he said, and he flipped the quarter high into the air and let it fall to the sidewalk where it made a faint tinkling sound. “Now, look around,” he said.
I looked around, and to my astonishment, the overwhelming majority of people ON ALL FOUR CORNERS was looking toward us. “You see, they all heard that quarter hit the ground,” Gary said. “Cool thing, isn’t it?” I couldn’t believe my eyes! I had read in many books, heard on lots of tapes and been told at several seminars that I should focus on what I wanted to experience in my life because that would, in fact, be what I would see. But this was the most graphic demonstration of that truth I had ever witnessed.
The main difference between chiropractic and nearly every other form of healthcare is that chiropractors focus on what’s RIGHT with you – the Innate Perfection within – and helping you express that Perfection outwardly as completely as possible. Most other healthcare disciplines are concerned with identifying, diagnosing, treating, managing and/or eliminating what’s WRONG.
BUT YOU ALWAYS GET MORE OF WHAT YOU LOOK FOR! Have you ever known someone who got “stuck” on the “treatment merry-go-round?” That is, they got trapped going around and around receiving treatments for one thing after another without ever reaching the state of health and happiness they were looking for? This is a very common problem!
Now, what are you focusing on in YOUR life? Do you tend to see what’s wrong or missing? Do you wake up each day and take an inventory of what hurts today?
Many people have difficulty in seeing themselves as ultimately healthy because of how long they’ve been sick. Just remember that everything is a process! If you can’t see yourself as totally fit and vibrantly expressing life, start with something simple, like seeing yourself smiling more and eating a healthy diet. Then, over time, expand your vision. Just remember this; Go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther. Be grateful for all you DO have in your life and you will get more (“To him that has shall be given…”).
And one last thing; Subluxation (nerve interference) makes the energy use in your body very inefficient. When energy is used at a greater than normal rate, your body goes into survival mode and shuts down all functions that are not necessary for survival – like higher levels of creative thinking. The specific chiropractic adjustment process progressively allows more normal and efficient energy use and helps you to once again focus on something other than just surviving – like the beauty of a cardinal’s song.