Maryland’s Eastern Shore used to be such a great playground for me! Riding the waves with my body as the surfing vehicle was so much fun to learn to do! Hunting the best wave and then riding it to the shore was thrilling! For days I perfected my skills…until the last wave of the trip. I was mid-way into diving into a wave when from the corner of my eye I caught sight of an even better wave, so I turned into it. The original wave caught me and twisted me, wrenching my neck in the process. Ouch!
It was only after going to the chiropractor on my return that I learned why my back and knees hurt so much and everything was stiff. She told me that when my neck was out of alignment, such as what happened when the wave twisted me, the misalignment impacted more than “just” my neck. It effectively pulled everything from my head to my toes out of alignment and into pain. An aligned body moves well — it flows.
Interestingly, your life is like your neck — alignment equals flow. When your life is aligned you allow a natural flow of new things to come into your life, keeping you unstuck. It’s when your life gets out of alignment that you get stuck in old thoughts and patterns.
What do I mean about alignment? Knowing and honoring your values, being true to all of them all of the time. Aligning your values with the values of nature or the universe contributes to better flow too. It takes mindful living to stay in alignment with your values, and that can be a challenge. It’s a challenge worth accepting.
To extrapolate further, when life is congested — out of alignment — you have pain points. That leads you to seek relief and to resolve the pain points. How can you find relief from that internal strife? What frees your mind? That can be tricky, especially if you aren’t aware of what the pain points are or what the source of blockage is.
And don’t let the size of the pain points fool you either, because though they can be small they can cause big blocks and pains. The big blocks can dim your light and impede your movement — emotionally, physically, and mentally. Being stuck like that has so many possible drawbacks that impede your life.
To get back into alignment, pay attention to what your values are and check within to see if you have fallen from integrity with yourself. Stress is part of our survival system; chronic stress is the problem and results from being out of alignment. What a great area to get unstuck from!
An “Attitude of Gratitude” reduces stress and creates positive energy, and that helps create flow and thus alignment. How you see things impacts how your body reacts to life and the flow you have in your life, so keeping a positive outlook is part of how you improve your flow.
Having more of what you want in life requires you stay open and aligned as much as possible. Let life’s goodness flow through you for ultimate success and joy as your body’s goodness flows through you for ultimate health. When misalignment happens, make corrections as quickly as possible.
I learned a lesson about alignment. But I’ve been a slow learner when it came to applying that to other areas of my life. Meditation, gratitude, and a positive attitude are all parts of keeping me aligned. Being mindful of my values and working from them is the cap of what keeps me aligned and flowing in life.
From my observations, you too will benefit from learning to maintain a positive attitude, practicing gratitude, meditating, and being mindful of working from your values will keep you aligned. The value of alignment is that it’s a secret to success and joy.
I think the most important lesson I’ve learned is to try not to be anxious about life – just go with it and realize that I’m not in charge. God is. Today is a good example. I would prefer to stay home rather than go to church. And do what? I have no plan – just a desperate feeling that I should be doing something productive. The reality is that I’m stuck and, until I have a plan, I’ll waste time frozen trying to figure out what to do. So go to church! I’ll feel better, see friends, hopefully be able to help someone, and need to get dressed and get out. And maybe will have an “aha!” moment of what to do next while I’m distracted doing something else.