I have this recurring dream. I am in a small boat, careening down the raging Mississippi River. I am aware that this is not where I want to be. I look at who is steering the boat. It is my brain, but it's not really steering. It is otherwise occupied, rehashing dusty old thoughts of the past and future. Somehow, I can tell that it is not aware of my presence. I am in the back of the boat, in my body, which is bound and gagged. I am unable to move or speak. The boat is following a definite course, a deeply grooved channel down the path of least resistance. The scenery looks quite familiar. I have been this way many times before.

Further down the river, I look up at the banks and upon them is a scene of indescribable beauty. It feels very much like home. Everything I could ever want or need is there. Everything there is permeated with joy and peace. My heart cries out in a deep longing, but the boat goes on, its captain oblivious to the moment. Still further I notice the banks are lined with people. I know them. They are all parts of me. They are people to whom I have given away my power. People I have hated, envied, judged, held captive, belittled, lied to. They look down on me with amusement and yet with compassion. They gently call to me
"wake up."

I then realize that the ropes around my body are not tied. I suddenly realize that I had placed them there myself. I exult in the freedom that what I know now was always there. I grab the rudder and head back to that place I had seen. I jump out of the boat and I am home. In Spirit. In the moment. In control of my thoughts and therefore my choices. Connected to everything through the immense Love that flows through me from above down inside out.

This recurring dream is my life. Until I began waking up to the very truths inherent in our chiropractic principle, I spent my days very much unaware that the well-grooved pathways in my mind were defining my entire reality. Until I realized that I was a unique piece in the Universal jigsaw puzzle, I thought I was separate, vulnerable, under attack. My ego gladly volunteered for the job of body guard, and my thoughts became my invisible shield. They also became the source of all the lack and limitation, all the dis-ease, all the suffering in my life. It is now clear to me that every "crappy" moment I have experienced had one thing in common - I was there and I was thinking about me. Every truly joyous and fulfilling moment I have experienced also had one thing in common - Innate was there and it was feeling for someone else. Or for all else.

As a Chiropractor, my mission demands that I remember this. To be totally in service, totally in love with each soul I get to touch. I must be totally present. I must see the perfection in everyone and everything. I must look beyond the appearances, past the symptoms, past the personalities, and see the Great Spirit. To do this I must challenge those boat trips down the Great Mississippi River.
With One Vision,
With One Mission