How To Be Rich and Stay Rich

Let’s be honest: everyone wants to be rich!  Money is the key to happiness…or is it?  What happens when we have plenty of money, but suffer from poor health?  Can we really enjoy anything in life when we don’t feel well?

I recently came across a book titled The Complete Compendium of Universal Knowledge, published in 1895.  The author postulates that “he who is wealthy has mastered two arts: the art of being content with what he is able to obtain, and the art of using what he has.”  In other words, the only way to be rich is to keep one’s desires within one’s ability to financially support them. 

It so happens that 1895 was also the year that chiropractic came into existence.  Therefore, the author of Compendium, who claimed that his book included anything and everything that could ever be known, could not have known about chiropractic, as it had just been invented.  His guidelines for being “rich” did not factor health and wellness into the equation. 

The art of chiropractic came into being when a man named D.D. Palmer worked with patients’ spines, using the bony processes of vertebrae and moving one vertebrae specifically in relation to neighboring vertebrae.  He would feel the bones of a patient’s spine, and when he found one to be out of place compared to the others, he would manipulate that vertebrae, restoring it to its normal and natural position within the spine.  In his words, he “wracked” the bones of the spine to make them move.  

Palmer utilized this technique on a patient, Harvey Lillard – a man who suffered hearing difficulties.  When Palmer manipulated the bones in Lillard’s spine and moved vertebrae to their natural, correct position, Lillard’s hearing was restored after several weeks!  Initially, Palmer believed he had found the cure for deafness.  He later realized that while adjustments didn’t necessarily restore hearing to every deaf person, finding and correcting misaligned vertebrae improved the overall health of all his patients.   Palmer surmised that by working on the bones of the spine, he was able to influence the nervous system.  He came up with the name “chiropractic” for this new art of manipulating spinal bones, as the word chiropractic means “done by hand”. 

What does all this this have to do with getting rich?  Even if a person has as much money as he wants and is careful to never want something that is beyond his financial means, this does not automatically mean that he will be happy and healthy.  Our health is our greatest possession and is worth more than any amount of monetary “richness”.   

We can achieve, maintain and protect our health and wellness by attending to our nervous system, ensuring that it is functioning at an optimal level.  This means seeking the help and care of a chiropractor to restore and maintain maximum function of the nervous system, as the nervous system controls and monitors every aspect of a body’s health.  

When something is wrong with our cars (i.e., the engine light comes on, the oil needs changing, or the brakes stop working), do we ignore the problem and continue driving the car despite these issues?  Of course not – that would be dangerous.  We take the vehicle to a mechanic to have the problem fixed.  The same care and attention should be given to our spine and nervous system.  Rather than attempting to alleviate or cover up pain and discomfort with over-the-counter pills or prescription drugs, we should have our bodies “checked out” by a chiropractor, who can locate and address the problematic vertebrae that cause pain in the first place.  Taking pain medication to cover up pain is like putting electrical tape over your car’s warning light on the dashboard (brakes, engine, etc.) so that you can’t see it, and then continuing to drive the car, ignoring the problem – but the problem is still there.  If you feel pain, it is a symptom and indication of a problem within your body.  Covering up the pain with pills will have the same outcome as ignoring your car’s problem.

More than a century after Palmer invented chiropractic, the main function of chiropractic care today continues to be addressing problems with the nervous system by adjusting and correcting misaligned vertebrae in the spine.  Our spinal bones give us mobility, and upright posture puts stress on the spine.  When the spine gets over-stressed and bones are out of place, this is called a subluxation, and it has an effect on your nervous system.  If your nervous system isn’t fully functional, you can’t achieve maximum health. 

An example of painkillers-gone-wrong, and of the fact that money can’t buy health, is famous golf player Tiger Woods.  Woods experienced many back problems and underwent multiple back surgeries, resulting in his taking – and later become addicted to and abusing – prescription painkillers to deal with his pain.  Chiropractic care, alternatively, would have treated the underlying cause of his pain naturally, without the use of medication or surgery. 

You owe it to yourself to bring your body in to a chiropractor to see what's wrong with it.  Addressing spinal subluxations and correcting misaligned vertebrae will help restore your nervous system to maximum function, ensuring that you’ll be able to enjoy your wealth - no matter how much you have - for a long lifetime.