Massage and Chropractic

English: Thai Massage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had never been to see a Chiropractor until this week, but I had begun to get weekly massages.  The massages relieved pain and pressure in my neck, shoulders and back.  It was wonderful.  The pain in my neck had been so severe that I often went to bed early or endured pain that made me nauseated.   After I started getting the massages weekly, I realized that the relief was wonderful but temporary, so I thought it was time to get more serious about the treatment.


One reason I like this approach is the lack of chemical or pharmacological agents.  I don't do well with many medications.  In addition to that, I like it because at any time I can say, "That's enough."  I may be a control freak, but I want to know what is happening and be able to stop when I want.  When you take medication, it is in your body and the effects may last beyond the time you want them to.  I find that unacceptable especially since the effects can cause visual distortion, loss of balance, allergic reactions, or intoxication.  Massage and Chiropractic haven't caused any of these negative events for me.  


If you've never tried it, you might want to consider it before you take your next pill.

Experience and Wisdom

It seems that denial is one of the best defense mechanisms I practice. When I have that option, I can embrace youth, vitality, and optimism.  Denying the ravages that old age is producing does nothing to remove them, and it only makes me feel better about my prospects as long as I don't have to face the truth.


I have sought a better way to face old age, and according to people like George Valliant and Gene Cohen, those strategics do exist.  They  may involve re-framing events to view the successes instead of the failures and the ability to continue to get joy from past positive 
experiences.  


I don't suggest that we should live in the past, but remembering joy can still give you joy.  When it comes to the abilities you feel old age is taking from you, look at the things that old age is giving you.


Wisdom is supposed to be the task of old age.  It's said to arrive with the gray hair and creaky knees, but the fact is that wisdom comes from experience, and a lot of that is related to bad choices.  Nothing teaches you the wise path like making the wrong choice.  One of the wise maneuvers you probably learned as you moved through your younger years had to do with these mistakes.  


I learned that I can watch my friends and family and learn from their mistakes as well as my own.  I don't have to do everything wrong to learn that it's a bad way to go.  I can get a lot of information about bad choices by watching other people and learning from their mistakes.  It may not have the same impact as doing it myself, but neither does it have the same consequences.


We try to share this wisdom with younger people, but they all seem to want to do it for themselves.  Oh, well, I tried.