Structure is the path to freedom.

Last week I had the great pleasure of delivering one of my favorite workshops (Total Life Conditioning) to an eager crowd of about 100 patients, Bonfire members and random guests.  I was first introduced to the concept by one of my mentors Dr. CJ Mertz at a retreat in Texas in 1999.  (To learn more about TLC read here)

I can usually spot the new-comers during the question and answer period that naturally follows each presentation.  Each workshop topic has its moment.  There is an inflection point that shifts the audience in their seats.  The eyebrows raise, the heads tilt, the whispering begins.

Total Life Conditioning promotes a very conscious, deliberate way of living in balance and on purpose.

This lifestyle requires discipline and structure.  A purpose driven person will seek to master their time, energy, focus and money.  Schedules will be kept, budgets will be followed.  Of course the world will throw its agenda into the mix, but the On-Purpose person will choose to keep the path.

For many, this doesn’t sound like much fun.  All that structure? It seems so rigid.

A well-balanced life is anything but rigid.

I paddled out at Straw’s Point early this morning into perfect ground swell groomed by light westerly winds.  The waves were back-lit by the rising morning sun.  The water was unusually warm – as were the surfers packed in side by side at the peak – satiated by the last three straight days of hurricane waves.   I exchanged glances and head-nods with the familiar faces around me and waited out the first set of waves filling in at the point.   As surf etiquette states: first come, first served.

This morning it was easy to be patient and wait for my turn.  It was Monday morning, and soon the crowd would thin and head-off to work.  But not me, I had called in healthy.

Part of a well-balanced life is knowing when you’d be better off just playing.  Living On Purpose creates greater flexibility in your life.  Structure provides better stability and predictability.  When the conditions in life come together to create storms; this lifestyle will better equip you to ride them out.  And then when the wind switches, you’ll also be more likely to enjoy the waves.

Now go call in healthy,

Dr. Stephen Franson

We’ve all been there.  You are halfway down the first isle of the grocery store when you realize that you’ve selected a cart with a sticky wheel.  The cart squeaks and sputters along, pulling to the right – dangerously close the stack of pickles perched precariously on the end-cap of isle one.

As a chiropractor I am naturally drawn to the deeper meaning of the terms balance and alignment.  There are physical applications that are obvious:  a joint out of alignment disturbs function and creates imbalance.  Restore alignment and restore balance and function.  If only it were so easy above C1.

 The deeper issues of alignment, imbalance and dysfunction warrant our attention as well.  Long term misalignment in the body produces wasting and weakness – or “de-conditioning”.  The same can be said with the structure and health of our lifestyles.  Imbalance between the categories of our lives creates stress and dysfunction that can derail you as readily as a disc Herniation.  But not all imbalance manifests as an acute issue – screaming out for attention.  More common is the insidious reality of chronic, low-grade inequity that pulls us off-track lick a sticky wheel.

Total Lifestyle Conditioning speaks to the conscious and deliberate process of strategic living.  

Regardless of our situation or challenges, we are constantly faced with the opportunity to make the best choices.  Every free man and woman gets to chose behaviors, relationships and environments that will largely predict our experience – every day.  How are you designing your life?

Are your choices in line with your Life Purpose?  Do you know your Purpose?  Your Life Purpose Statement answers the question: Why do I exist?

Do you have a Mission Statement? This answers the question: How are you going to live-out your Purpose?  How are you going to point you life?

Are these both in alignment with your Vision Statement?  This answers the question: How do you see the world?  What possibility do you see?  How do you see your role in this becoming a reality?

It is too easy to allow the busyness of everyday life to stifle the inner voice that asks these questions.  The pull of the world is powerful and unrelenting.  If we are not careful to adopt rituals that create a mechanism to ensure quiet time and reflection in our lives; we will get swept into another day by the undercurrent of our lives.

Join us on Wednesday, August 23, 2010 for Total Lifestyle Conditioning, a deep-dive into these pressing questions.  Bring your wobbling wagon, challenging situation, frustrating relationship, honest curiosity, hopeful optimism, deepest confusion or unbridled inspiration to one of the most dynamic discussions of your life.

See you there.

Dr. Stephen Franson

Can you believe it?!?  It’s almost Ohana Day!

Our ancestors always took time to come together and celebrate life.  We are genetically programmed to gather, eat and dance around the fire.  We thrive when we take a break from our frantic pace to relax and play.  Come and spend some time with our Tribe - meet friends, make friends and bring friends.

This Saturday, August 21^st, the Bonfire Tribe will get together to celebrate our incredible community.   For thirteen years we have gathered the most wonderful families in the region for a day a food, fun and family.  This amazing group of people shares one thing in common – a passionate commitment to the healthiest lifestyle possible.

Of course we will be playing games (adults and kids), listening to music and just hanging out.  For the first time, the event will be held in Beverly, MA at the beautiful Lynch Park.  The park is right on the water, so be sure to bring your suits and lawn / beach chairs.  We’ve “arranged” to have a bright, sunny pleasant day with a refreshing sea breeze.  There are plenty of trees for shade and parking is close-by.

We will be grilling all day; but we do ask that everyone brings something to “throw on the bar-b”. 

This year we are hosting the first ever Bonfire Cook-Off.  In the great American tradition of the “Chili-Cook-Off” we will be hosting a friendly competition to find our community’s finest cooks.  There will be three categories: Best Salad, Best Entrée and Best Desert. 

• You must submit a recipe with each entry.  Selections will be scored on TASTE and NUTRITION.
• Please prepare enough of your dish for about 12 people to enjoy – or more if you wish!
• These delicious and nutritious entries will be judged by the Bonfire Team
• There will be a possible high score of 10 points
• 0 – 5 points possible for TASTE
• 0 – 5 points possible  for NUTRITIONAL VALUE*
• All entries will remain anonymous until the award ceremony
• PRIZES INCLUDE:

Recipes will be collected and turned into a cookbook for your family.   Please use the nutritional guidelines outlined in the Bonfire Health Principles.

Ohana day is our day to host and entertain you and your family.   We love to share time and stories with all of you.  It means so much to our entire team for you to be there.   It’s an open house, so feel free to swing by at any time and stay as long as you’d like.  We look forward to it!

You are family!

In health from within,

Dr.  Stephen Franson

“I am a simple man.”  ~Forest Gump

I prefer simple concepts.  There is an inherent beauty in simple, yet profound illustrations.  I believe that humans have a tendency to over complicate everything, and in the process, accomplish less.

Think of your life as a wheel rolling down the street.  Life is flowing and abundant when the wheel is turning smoothly.  It seems to roll on effortlessly, carried by its own momentum.  By nature, the wheel travels along upright and stable, and as long as a particular velocity is kept, the wheel turns.  Down the hills, it accelerates.  Across the flats, a smooth surface seems to be all that the wheel requires to run endlessly.

Physics tells us that an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless another force acts upon it.   Life has friction.  The constant, minute resistance to flow in our lives slows our wheel and creates “wobble.”  This friction presents itself every day and in every way.  In our relationships, our jobs, our bodies, and in our minds – resistance to flow, progress…momentum.

Of course there are the inclines, the debris, and the objects that we run into.  Our wheel can hit a bump – or a wall - that stops us dead in our tracks.  And then there you are, laying on your side, wondering what just happened.  You’re left hoping that someone will come along, pick you up, and help you to get rolling again.

Too often patients view a doctor’s role this way – someone to pick me up and dust me off after a fall.  Sure, we love to step in and save the day.  Every doctor strives to meet needs in a crisis.  We work, study, and pray to have the right skills at the right time to get the wheel upright again and back on the road.  But I think that we can do better.

I believe that my role is to reduce “the wobble.”

We recognize that there are specific behaviors that you can choose to include in your life that promote greater velocity and stability.  Likewise, there are choices that you can make that will clearly create bumps and rubs – wobble.

My view of chiropractic care is simple:  pick up tires and get them rolling.  Point out the course that is known to be smooth and exhilarating.  Run alongside of them and keep them on track…a tap, a push, a word.

Life will certainly provide its own obstacle course; the biggest idea is to choose the path that best predicts a smoother ride.

Now get rolling,

Doc

Dr. Stephen Franson

Spirituality means different things to different people.  If you ask one hundred individuals to describe what Spirituality means to them in their life; chances are that you will hear 100 wildly different descriptions.

I often begin patient consultations with the following two questions:

Are you as happy as you want to be?

What do you need to start doing to get there?

Almost invariably the word “balance” is used in the response.  Balance also comes with its own myriad of descriptions – some specific and detailed, but, more often than not, vague and obscure ideas surround this coveted and elusive state.

My role as health coach in this conversation is to provide structure and stimulate thought.  I try to guide the experience without taking ownership of the process.  I’ll suggest a checklist assessment of an individual’s life; categorically discussing the roles and goals they hold for each of their life “accounts”: Family Life…check… Professional Life…check…Physical Life…check….Social Life…check.  Most people move with ease through each arena of their lives; readily naming the strengths and shortcomings of each domain.  Until they get to Spirituality.  If you ever really want to watch someone squirm, ask them directly about their Spiritual Life.

I am intrigued by this. Spirituality has been a central theme in man’s life throughout all history.  Yet, most struggle with even the suggestion of its discussion.  How can we achieve a sense of balance in our lives if we do not regularly address each core element of our make-up?

Francis Collins, the current head of the National Institutes of Health, is renowned for his role as the Director of the Human Genome Project.  In 1980 he was commissioned by then President Bill Clinton to lead a team of the world’s top geneticists in an effort to “map” the human genome.  This was by all accounts the moon-landing equivalent for that period in science.

When Collins began the project, he was a self-described agnostic.  He had not seen any evidence of a god, and therefore did not believe in one.  By the time that his team had successfully completed the project, he was a professed believer and teacher.  His sentiments were summarized in his book, The Language of God in which he said that the perfectly complex design of our genetic blue-print clearly and compellingly implies Designer.

Collins goes on to say that humans are unique in ways that defy a simple “survival of the fittest”   explanation and point to our spiritual nature.  These traits are not found in any of our animal counterparts.  These include our sense of right and wrong (Moral Nature) and an innate search for a supreme being – a God.  This trait has characterized all human cultures throughout history and is generally credited with mans’ constant search for meaning.

I’ll suggest that this search is ingrained in our being.  I’ve heard it said that we are created with a God-shaped hole in our hearts that only He can fill.  Many people find themselves out of balance when they are trying to stuff that hole with something else.

I think that many of us have spent some time in our lives feeling like we were somewhat allergic to religion.  Religion is really just an imperfect man trying to understand a perfect God.   In that light, it may be understandable to be “allergic” to religion – just as long as you’re not allergic to God.