10 Ways to Build a Meaningful Life

In this podcast, Dr. Rodney and Karen remember a beautiful tree in the Rio Grande National Forest that had been affected by a wind force or storm. The beauty of this illustration that when it lost its lead branch it set out to grow a new one. They draw the similarities to our health journey. 

Here are some nuggets from this fun conversation:

1. Believe you can change in order to build a meaningful life rather than one you want to escape from. 
2. Consistency will pay off with longevity and strength.
3. Your body listens to what you say and it has an impact on your health and longevity.
4. You are much more resilient than you realize so act like it.
5. Your habits will determine your resilience. 
6. Create new habits today and you will see the results in the years to come.
7. You are built to bounce-back if you establish good habits.
8. Be present - enjoy where you find yourself rather than wishing you were somewhere else.
9. Breathwork and visualization will place you in the ideal frame of mind - parasympathetic.
10. Remember, you control your health choices and the process is not as complicated as you might think.

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Transcript

[00:07] Dr. Rodney: Welcome to Stance for Health Podcast with Dr. Rodney and Karen Wirth. Where becoming healthy is not complicated, control your health by focusing on six areas of life that we teach you so you finally have the energy you have to do what you want instead of being a victim of your age. I have over 20 years experience working as a chiropractor, and Karen is an author, speaker, and longevity coach. We've seen how a tiny change in your habits today can open up your life to a powerful future. Start today and take your stance for health.

[00:50] Karen: Welcome. This is Karen Sebastian Wirth with Dr. Rodney from Stance Chiropractic. And we are so excited to share with you Stance for Health podcast today. We want to talk about your role in making sure you don't give up.

[01:10] Dr. Rodney: Yes.

[01:12] Karen: And so it goes back. We keep referring to our trips to Colorado, but we have had such a good time recently going to Colorado. And this is another story from climbing up that one third of a mile hike up a steep was we weren't climbing, like with ropes where we hurt ourselves, but Dr. Rodney, tell that story.

[01:39] Dr. Rodney: I didn't notice the tree that we're referring to until the way down, and it reminded me of our trip to Nevada from California and how snow would get so heavy it would snap the tops of trees off or they would have avalanches. Either way, the top of the tree loses its lead branch, which means that unless another lead branch replaces it, that tree can't grow anymore.

[02:14] Karen: Oh, I didn't realize that they get.

[02:16] Dr. Rodney: Stuck in that place of growth. So seeing that lead branch replaced I immediately thought of how we, as people were often referred to in the scriptures as, like, trees. The trees of the field will clap their hands.

[02:38] Karen: The blind guy that he saw men as trees walking.

[02:43] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[02:44] Karen: I love it.

[02:45] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. So, oaks of righteousness. So, I thought, wow, how many of us feel like we got our lead branch snapped off?

[02:56] Karen: Okay.

[02:57] Dr. Rodney: Right. Or we feel like it's just all about our genetics. Like, I can't go any further than this.

[03:04] Karen: So, I've heard that so often as people get older, we have here at the wellness center, we have folks that are past their sixties. And a common statement is you ask them, how are you doing? And they'll say things like, pretty good for and then they'll fill in their age.

[03:24] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[03:25] Karen: And it's like it's expected that at a certain age people are going to go downhill. Their lead branch is going to be it's been snuffed out. Maybe they've had a health emergency and they kind of just give up and coast the rest of the way.

[03:42] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. Now contrast that with the tree that we went to go see.

[03:48] Karen: Listen to Last podcast for all the details, but we were climbing one third of a mile to go see a 55 foot, Douglas FIR actually it was 66 feet. 66. Oh, I'm such an exaggerator. Yes, I tend to exaggerate.

[04:05] Dr. Rodney: So, you had to pull back a little bit.

[04:07] Karen: I was pulling back because I didn't want to exaggerate. And when we got up there, it was beautiful. It was on the way home that Doc stopped to take a picture of a little bird and he noticed this tree that had that lead branch, that it had lost the lead branch, but then a new one was growing. So I think what we're saying is that we need to stop saying well, in fact, I heard a young person say this last week. We were talking about her grandma, and she said that she doesn't want to live as long as her grandma. And I said, why? She said, because I wouldn't want to be a burden because grandma has dementia.

[04:56] Dr. Rodney: That's common for people to think that way. And you said something that really made me think about just in general, how we can assume that the path that we're on like, we were on a path to go to see the tree, and we were just kind of on this path on our way down, and we saw deer and we saw this bird, and I thought, well, what if you're listening to this and you assume that the path you're on is only you can't find anything off that path?

[05:27] Karen: So your health path is predetermined for you by your genetics. That is not true.

[05:33] Dr. Rodney: Right. And when you study anything out there that has to do with epigenetics and it has to do with there's a place on your DNA outside of the wrap in the cell when it goes to divide and go through all the stages that there's actually a message. It's like subatomic particles that can turn that on or off.

[06:01] Karen: Wow, how do you do that? How do you want to turn it on?

[06:04] Dr. Rodney: It is your agreement with it or your disagreement with it depending on if it's good or bad, you don't have to agree with it if it's bad.

[06:15] Karen: So in other words, the people that feel like they've just been handed a bad rap when it comes to their health. Like, I hear people all the time. I talk about my daddy, who was almost 102 before he moved to heaven, and they'll go like, oh, you're so lucky. You have good genetics. But you're saying there's something that I can do.

[06:37] Dr. Rodney: And then there is an actual thing that is a reality. Let's face it, we are bi-locational beings. In other words, we're meant to both have a foot in heaven and have a foot on the earth, but these bodies were made from earth, for earth. And whenever we say something in the earth realm, that's how that will affect our DNA. Actually saying it out loud. Yeah.

[07:09] Karen: So all of this negativity that people have around their lives, around their health, around their families around everything is affecting their DNA.

[07:20] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, it is. So it sounds like DNA is supernatural. Well, the reality is it's both natural and supernatural because we're supernatural beings. Yes, we are, but we're also natural beings.

[07:32] Karen: But we're made in the image of God. He created things by speaking. And we're getting off into an area that we've seen people take to extremes.

[07:41] Dr. Rodney: But I think this is what we're hungry for.

[07:44] Karen: We are. Because I am a very positive person. If I act normal, everybody comes up to me and says, “Are you okay?” I think that the reality is that I discovered when I was sick, so much of it had to do with my negativity. I was in a job I hated. It's another whole story. And probably podcast. Hope is Powerful Podcast covers a lot of this. I can put the link in the show notes. But here's the thing. When I decided this is where I am, I'm going to make the best of this job, my health changed.

[08:24] Dr. Rodney: You have such a great testimony with that. Just by way of asking the question, is there any resource that people could look to and hear some of those testimonies about you?

[08:35] Karen: Well, I have the book and it's called The Power of Hopeful for Prodigals. And this was around a time where my late husband and I were struggling with our oldest daughter because she was really going crazy and so she came back. But it was only through changes that happened in me that then released her to do that. So, I can also put a link to that book if you're interested in that. Because as we're looking at this, I think that one of the most important gifts that you can give yourself and give the world is to build a meaningful life that you do not have to escape from.

[09:19] Dr. Rodney: That's right.

[09:20] Karen: And so many people are just living day-to-day for when they can retire or day-to-day so they can go on a vacation. But that's what we've done here with Stance. We've built an ideal life and I feel so very blessed.

[09:38] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, one of our goals makes me think of one of our goals, and yet we're actually living in that. I feel like we're living that Rejuvenation Lifestyle that you talk about so much and that's what we want you to see is a picture that the tree is being rejuvenated. In other words, if a tree could be joyful.

[10:06] Karen: Yes. All the bad things that happened to me as a tree, I'm saying, oh, look at all I've been through. An avalanche came through here, knocked off my lead branch. There's nothing more I could do. Instead, it's like there's a brand new lead branch coming out of it.

[10:28] Dr. Rodney: So, in other words, I think I hear you saying, if I'm hearing this right, that just like fortunately or unfortunately, we have the ability to think, but a tree just is built to sustain that type of damage and come back.

[10:46] Karen: And come back. Bounce back.

[10:47] Dr. Rodney: And so, are we resilient if we'll agree?

[10:50] Karen: Yes, agree with the resilience. That was one of the things learned from my dad is if he didn't feel good on any given day, he'd say, yeah, I'm not feeling so good, but I'm the bounce back kid. And sure enough, he would bounce back. I mean, it's just an incredible story with that. And he was able to sprint to the finish line of his life. He didn't just kind of slide in and fade.

[11:16] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, that's one of those guys. I don't see him as having slid into home base. He was so sharp. Yeah.

[11:25] Karen: But I think so much of that was because he was a pastor, so he would preach to himself. So, I would call him and he'd say, “I got a sermon today.” “Okay, let's hear it.” And before he started he would say, “By the way, I'm preaching this one to myself.” I love it.

[11:52] Dr. Rodney: Well, and he was a man of good habits.

[12:01] Karen: Yes.

[12:02] Dr. Rodney: Particularly in his later years, but in his early years, too, when you were growing up.

[12:05] Karen: I woke up to hearing mom and dad praying. We had breakfast early, and we went to school very early. We had a life that was centered around the word of God on serving people, and that never changed his entire life.

[12:26] Dr. Rodney: Right. I think he ended up going to the gym, and he did supplements every day, some form of exercise, and ate well.

[12:39] Karen: We're not going to have a commission or anything. We're not affiliates with them. But he had a vitamix. So we would go into Costco, and the guy would be selling vitamix, and he'd say, I'll give a testimonial. The guy just loved him because he's like, here's 100 year old guy that uses his Vitamix well. Like you said, disclaimer here. We're neither endorsing that, rather  we're just saying you become what your habits create through your choices.

[13:15] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. The tree doesn't really have a choice because it's built to come back. We are built to come back, but we do have a choice.

[13:24] Karen: So good.

[13:25] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[13:26] Karen: You know, another thing that I realized that has helped us is that ability to be present. Wherever you are, be there.

[13:36] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[13:38] Karen: Don't be wishing you were somewhere else, but be completely present. Wow. I love it. You know, one of my favorite things to do when we're doing breath work.

[13:52] Dr. Rodney: I was just going to say, I'm wondering if that speaks to your success with breath work in terms of your ability to just for those of you who just brag, it's brag Wirthy. She's actually can hold her breath for more than 20 minutes.

[14:17] Karen: I'm embarrassed.

[14:19] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, just let your jaw drop. You actually heard that, ight And so she's about to tell you one of the secrets of overcoming fear or overcoming that sense of threat or overcoming that anxiety that we have associated with being smothered or just fearful. And because there's so much in your nervous system that has to do with survival, she's actually able to say, you guys chill out, we're good here, and overcome that. That's also known as part of the limbic system. And she's able to tap in to the brain stem, and she's reprogrammed that with great success. You want to talk about that?

[15:05] Karen: I sure do, because I do not practice meditation. I do practice prayer. And so for me, it is that if I'm going to go into an extended breath hold, that I begin with prayer and lots of gratitude, and then I allow myself to visualize how it felt up at that tree. Both the one that lost the leave branch, but mainly the one that was it. 66ft. I am literally there. I hear the birds. I see the aspen trees moving, leaves moving in the wind. There was a hummingbird that was chasing Doc, so I just hear the rustle of those wings and I'm literally transported to that green space.

[16:03] Dr. Rodney: I was transported to the green space just now. You know how to paint a picture until it's HD.

[16:09] Karen: It's so beautiful. And the last thing that I'm worried about is that I'm holding my breath. And it's that experience, it's that renewal, it's that sense, that power that I have as my decision to put fear down and the body cooperates. Your mind is what you have to overcome. Say when we do the cult exposure, your mind is saying, and yet you go, it's fine, and there you go.

[16:42] Dr. Rodney: Actually, it's usually saying, try to suck in some air. But like, on the other extreme, I.

[16:52] Karen: Did make that rather melodic. And that's also part of what happens with the parasympathetic. I always got those mixed up because I think that they misnamed them. But the sympathetic is the fear that sets in. Fight or flight, freeze or fun. The parasympathetic is trusting, okay, my body can handle this. I am in good shape. I have nothing to fear. And it is so incredible. I wish that more people could experience that.

[17:31] Dr. Rodney: And let's make a note here, too, that I would like to do a little bit of research and a podcast, then subsequent to that on brainwave patterns in conjunction with, like, what are you matching up with when you do breath work or cold exposure or fill in.

[17:49] Karen: The blank challenges out of your comfort zone? What are you doing differently?

[17:55] Dr. Rodney: Right?

[17:55] Karen: And I know a lot of you are facing some health challenges. This is to help you with that.

[18:00] Dr. Rodney: And some of you might even be having dealt with different types of stress, maybe post traumatic stress of some kind, and we want to touch on that in future podcasts too.

[18:13] Karen: I love it. I look forward to it. Yeah, me too. Thank you for sharing that story.

[18:19] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, thanks for coming with me to go see it. It was an unforgettable experience, and we.

[18:29] Karen: Just want to remind you that you make your own health choices. A community is important. That's why we're here. We want to be your health part of your health community as you take your stance for health.

[18:50] Dr. Rodney: Thank you for joining us at Stance for Health podcast, where getting healthy and staying that way are not as complicated as you might think. Subscribe now and discover steps and small changes that can increase your energy and open the door to vibrant health and longevity. If this podcast has been helpful please write a review. We'll see you next time.