This article is one of mankind’s mistakes proposed by Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC-43BC) entitled “The Six Mistakes of Man”.
I believe that these ‘mistakes’ are as common today as they were over 2000 years ago and I am sure that you will notice parts of you that participate in these mistakes.
Mankind’s Mistake #5 is “Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and study”.
The one organ in your body that can keep growing is your brain. I say “can” because it wont happen unless you drive it. It is up to you.
Your brain doesn’t grow without input. It shrivels and habituates into rigid and solid pathways of operation without stimulation. These well-travelled pathways give habits that are automatic and repetitive. Take adjusting, for example. The state of unconscious competence is useful in that you can adjust a person with a few attention units on the job because you have programmed your actions of adjusting into automatic chunks. You can therefore conduct a conversation and pay attention to other matters at the same time.
The downside of this is that you don’t grow your brain and ultimately you burn out.
I had a great opportunity in this context when I dislocated my right AC joint whilst skiing. This required that I change my preferred adjusting methods to a left dominant one. The subsequent rewiring of my brain that took place was nothing short of amazing as I found new levels of creativity and thought kicking in.
This stimulation of the brain from my body reminded me of the importance of stimulating the growth of my brain by learning new concepts, information and activities.
The habit of reading, study, and variety of exercise and in the case of you the chiropractor, mixing up your technique application and clinical rituals will fire up your brain and keep you young and growing.
