There is a concept in parenting that encourages, as much as possible, the principle of teaching in moments of non-conflict. What does that mean? It means seeking opportunities to sit with your children and teach them healthy ways of thinking, acting, and doing. In moments when they aren’t misbehaving, teaching them to say please and thank you, teaching them to open to door for their elders, teaching them to be polite and courteous, teaching them how be a good friend.
The other option is to only teach them how to behave, by catching them in the conflict, when they are doing something wrong. These are usually moments of intense stress on the child, the parent, and potentially an innocent bystander. There can be yelling, tears, discipline, and feelings of disappointment and embarrassment. You can’t avoid these moments, but you can hopefully lessen their frequency if you intentionally seek out moments to teach during non-conflict.
The other day a patient being taught exercises on how to encourage healthy posture was stating that a healthy posture just doesn’t feel right. If she was to walk around all the time in that correct posture, she’d look incredibly funny. Then she commented on how good my (her chiropractor's) posture was. How I made it look so effortless. She was so frustrated with a spine and posture that kept doing the wrong things and felt the aches and pains of those wrongs things.
I had to encourage her to look at her body like she was the parent and her body was the child. If she only tended to positive behavior in moments of conflict (pain and suffering) then it became a battle. If she would look for times to teach her body in moments of non-conflict (no pain and suffering) then not only is it easier to do, but with repetition, her body will start to learn the healthy behaviors or posture and start to do it without her constantly watching over her own shoulder.
What does that ultimately mean for you? Take steady and frequent care of your body. Learn healthy postural exercises that you can reinforce every day. Oftentimes these exercises only take minutes to implement. It means stay consistent with your regular chiropractic care to keep your joints as healthy as possible. It means making healthy choices with your nutrition. Fueling your body instead of just entertaining it with food each day.
These are critical to your overall health. Take action now while you are in a season of good health. Make your appointments with your chiropractor. Make your healthy meals for the family. Make time each day for your stretches and exercises.
Do all this and give yourself the best opportunity to make good health and good posture look easy. Teach your body in those moments of non-conflict.
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