Chiropractic Thinkers

By Stew Bittman, D.C.

Many times in the past, when describing my chiropractic experiences in Panama, I’ve mentioned that during those missions I’d checked my brain in at immigration and didn’t pick it up again until I left the country. Therefore, for a week at a time, I was able to abide in a blissful, brainless state, allowing my body to be used by God and my gifts to be fully expressed. I was able to love unconditionally, to give myself away, to share my full power in service. I was able to bear witness to the majesty of the chiropractic adjustment delivered with no agendas or expectations or desires for recompense, and to see the miracles that inevitably resulted. And when I’ve managed to keep my brain from driving its doubting, whining stake thru the heart of my mission here in my own practice, I’ve experienced the same things. Coincidence? Heck no. It’s the Law.

As long as I can remember, Sigafoose has implored us to stop thinking. I think I finally know what he means. It’s not that we can really stop thinking. Even thinking about not thinking is still thinking. Since my brain apparently intends to remain firmly ensconced inside my skull, and also apparently intends to continue in its incessant chatter, I’ve decided to accept that. No longer do I expect my meditation practice or the other things I do in preparation to suddenly and miraculously silence the pitiful tennis match of thots that bounce between past and future, between good and bad, between heaven and hell in my head. There are, of course, times when the match is like Centre Court at Wimbledon, and other times when it’s like a quiet game of backyard badminton. But the match goes on. And the value of my spiritual work has been that now I am often aware that I am not the match. I watch the match, I detach from the match, I even sometimes enjoy the match (quite comical it is, really), and regardless of the score I know that the match is not what or who I am. In this state, instead of “thinking” being a series of reactions and programmed, fear-based idiocies that bombard me from every angle and cling to me like burrs, thinking becomes an outpouring of my heart’s song. I can control my dominant thots, and I can choose which ones to believe. I can see things as I wish them to be, I can focus on thots that further my mission, and I can dwell in love, connection, and one-ness, free of doubts, lack, limitation, and judgment.. Like in Panama.

There is no magic involved here, and no magical way to get “there.” And there is really no “there” to get to. The 4th dimension exists right here and right now, and nowhere else. It is reality, and to connect to it I simply have to disconnect from the illusions I previously allowed myself to believe were reality. There’s nothing to figure out. It’s about unlearning. There’s nothing to do. It’s about surrendering. There’s nothing to buy, beg, borrow, or steal. It’s about love: loving myself enuf to know that I am Spirit, that I am whole, that I am powerful, and that I am fully capable of creating my dreams thru my intentions because I am a child of God. I am not what I think I am, and I am not my thots. My thots can either serve me or destroy me; it is my choice. I can’t stop thinking, but I can create a masterpiece of loving thots that create beauty and serve everyone, including me. Descartes was wrong. “I think, therefore I am” is so much bullshit. “I am, therefore I think” is closer to the truth. Still closer is “I am, even tho I think.” I am, and that’s a beautiful thing to think about.

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Dr. Stew Bittman maintains a box practice in South Lake Tahoe, CA along his wife Hillary and daughter Ari. For our more “scientific” brethren: Stew Bittman graduated from LACC as Valedictorian, Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0 GPA. On the first set of National Boards he scored 4 perfect “800’s” out of 6 exams. He has a video, “The Mission of Chiropractic” that is available for purchase through Planet Chiropractic. In his video, recorded at one of his weekly evening talks, Stew communicates the big picture of chiropractic – the ability to express our life’s full potential free from interference.