Thot for the week of 2008, by Dr. Ogi Ressel

Tuesday, June 23rd 2009

Warm wishes to each one of you for an abundant 2008!

Here's something to think about for your first week of the year:
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have
the life that is waiting for us"
                                 - Joseph Campbell

Glenn Close, in the movie "The Natural", said this to Robert Redford;
"I believe we have two lives. The life we learn with and the life we live after that".

Welcome to the University of Life...

There are only two classes offered:
Over the door of one classroom a sign reads: "Seminar on Understanding and
Applying the Principles and Mechanics of the Analysis of the Ingredients of a Piece
of Chocolate Cake and the Results of the Psychoanalysis of the Cook".

Over the other door: "Tasting the Cake".
So, here's the thing I want you to consider: Which class are you enrolled in?

When tasting a piece of chocolate cake, do you analyze the recipe and then
psychoanalyze the cook? Or do you simply taste it? Is everything planned in your life,
or do you welcome surprises, opportunities, and risk?

Oh..........Did you just say you wanted to changes classes? Wonderful!

You see....Every morning, each of us gets a wonderful opportunity - to choose
the class we'd like to enroll in. There will be pop quizzes and challenges in every
class and no one really knows when our final exam is really scheduled, but in the
meantime, we are living a Life....

I thought that I'd start the 2008 year off with this THOT as there are so many
doctors I talk with that are simply paralyzed with inertia and fear.......and most
of it has to do with what they have been through in their past. ...and the poor
coaching they' ve received, and that they just have "bad patients" and/or are in
a bad neighborhood, or their patients are not paying them, or everyone is always
missing their appointments, or they are not referring, or they were simply born
on the wrong side of the tracks, or they are the middle child, or they are too short,
or no one in their state wants to pay for Chiropractic, or they failed before, or....
(you can fill in your own reason). And of course, they blame their present state
of Life on their past experiences and people who have done this and that to
them and caused their present state of being.

Wayne Dyer calls all of this our "wake".

In a wonderful metaphor, he equates Life to driving a boat.

Imagine for a moment that you are the captain of your boat which is cruising into
the sunset and you are standing at the stern of your boat. You look behind you
and see this "thing" which laps the shores as your boat cruises forward. .

So....Let me ask you three really cool questions:

1. What is the wake?
What is this "thing" that your boat leaves behind?
Well....The answer is that it is the wake, the trail, spent energy, expended
effort, the leftovers, which your boat leaves behind - nothing more.

2. What is driving the boat then?
Well....It is the engine. It is your present-time effort, energy, consciousness,
work, etc.
....and here's the most important question;

3. Is it possible for the wake to drive the boat?
Is it possible for the trail you leave behind in life, to propel your boat forward?
The answer is an emphatic NO!
........and yet that is exactly what we do, isn't it?

We attempt to explain why our life isn't working the way we think it ought to
in the present, by leaning on what has happened to us in the past. We make
every conceivable excuse to explain why we are not where we'd like to be with
the exception of one - we never look in the mirror! And the reason is that it is
never our fault. It is always someone else's. Cerebral constipation comes to mind.

So.....here's a suggestion - get over it!

I did a wonderful and liberating exercise on every New Year's Eve with my 12
year young son
And I invite all of you to do this as well...
We wrote down all the things, people who pissed us off, situations, emotions,
hates, embarrassments, grieves, regrets, anxieties, stresses, angers, and worries,
which took us "off course" and to which we devoted time and effort.

We wrote all of these on small pieces of paper, and in a wonderful ceremonious
flourish, threw them into the fireplace. ...and we celebrated the renewal of Life.

It is my sincere wish that you look at this New Year as a renewal for you - as a
reawakening of your spirit to choose the life and go after the dream you have
always wanted.

Please allow me to help you in that quest, if you have not already.
Join with me - I'll help you have the practice you have always wanted to have - in
an honest, sincere and honorable manner - No BS, no sales, and with complete
honor and integrity!

My warmest wishes to all,
Dr. Ogi Ressel