Navigating the Stress Road to Fulfillment

Has problem solving become your specialty and the central focus of your day? Are you finding that there isn't enough time and energy left over for dreaming and creating more of the life you would prefer? Is the image of living the majority of your time in harmony and passionate engagement a foreign notion or fading memory?

If you are finding yourself somewhat disenchanted with your current state but settling for a degree of routine mediocrity, then I would like to lift your gaze beyond the city limits and up to the hills from where greater satisfaction flows.

First of all, are you committed to taking the journey toward greater fulfillment? Are you moving forward? Do you have at least some clarity regarding your aspirations and the contribution that you would like to make?

You have been given something unique and special to invest and multiply in your brief stay on Earth. There are passionate interests and latent abilities within you waiting to be recognized and nourished.

In the Simon and Garfunkel song "My Little Town", Paul Simon wrote that "everything's the same" and "it's nothin' but the dead of night back in my little town." It wasn't that anything had to be intrinsically wrong with our little towns of childhood but rather that the past is fixed and unchangeable. The past and the people still living in it don't progress even as we are all carried along toward our journey's end.

How are you investing your time and energy? Are you stretching and growing and expressing your full range of gifts, talents, and possibilities?

The contemporary message translation of the Bible rephrases the parable of the talents as the story about investment. Each of three servants were delegated responsibility and given differing amounts of money by a man going off on an extended trip. The distribution was based upon abilities or potential.

When the master eventually returned, he found that the two servants entrusted with the most had diligently invested what they had been given. The third servant controlled by fear failed to take the steps that could create increase.

The master was furious and said, "That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most and get rid of this 'play-it-safe' who won't go out on a limb."

Are you playing it safe, solving problems and simply protecting what you have?

The heart of the matter is this. It is stressful to step out of the imagined safety of the status quo and risk developing what you have been given so as to complete your mission. This is navigating the stress road to fulfillment.

You will face many challenges on your journey but this is really the only way you grow and become more of the image of God that you were created in.

William James said that "need and struggle are what excite and inspire us" and that "it is only by risking ourselves from one hour to another that we live at all."

You must leave "your little town" of the past and playing it small, and set off through the expansive countryside to envision and give birth to something fresh and new. Set the problems aside more frequently to focus upon creating what you want. This will often render some problems unnecessary to address. What do you normally find waiting on the other side of solved problems anyway? More of them to solve, right?

Do the inner work of discerning your driving values and passionate interests and begin to spend more time blowing air into those balloons and less time trying to catch and pop the balloons of problems.

We will continue this article in upcoming issues.

See the next section for opportunities to learn more in this area and take concrete action steps.

More on "Navigating the Stress Road to Fulfillment" in Healing Hints below.

Visit our web site!

Visit Dr. Norton's web site. The Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center web site is packed with a vast amount of news, tips, and health information. If you are experiencing pain, or just want more information on your health or how we do business, please stop by!

News & Events

1. Dr. Norton will be teaching his powerful program "Stress-Who Needs It?" on Tuesday evening, Aug. 17, 2004 in his office. He shares many personal stress challenges that have kept him growing and thriving.

   This program could change your life!

   Please call 559-490-9550 to reserve very limited seating.

2. Another exciting new class Dr. Norton will be teaching on Thursday, September 23rd, 2004 is "Your Attitude is Showing." This class will define six basic values, that either draw people together, or push them apart.

   This is a must class to help understand all your relationships better!!

   Please call 559-490-9550 to reserve very limited seating

3. Measure the accumulated negative stress in your body with a computerized nervous system assessment. If you are new to Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center or have been away for over 6 months, mention this e-zine by Aug. 26th, 2004 for a complimentary evaluation.

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Norton Chiropractic Wellness Center (View Map) at 5670 N. Fresno St. Ste. 102 in Fresno, Calif. Call us at (559) 490-9550 or contact us here.

Healing Hints

About Dr. Norton

Dr. Norton unites his passion for learning, teaching, and healing with a compassion for those who are struggling with pain and illness or not performing at their peak. He brings to his work a high level of academic achievement and cutting-edge bodymind research. However, he also brings a deeply caring heart transformed by difficult personal life experiences. Read more.