The beautiful aspect of wellness is that we can control our own. Wellness and disease are just different degrees of the same thing. Both originate from the same source -- physiological responses to stimuli. With predominately appropriate stimuli, we rest comfortably on the health side of the continuum. When most of the stimuli that spark physiological responses are inappropriate, we develop what we call "disease."

By understanding that health and disease are effects of perfect internal responses, you'll never again look at a physical condition as the luck of the draw. And by understanding that we are energy beings, composed of, developed by, and powered by perfect energy, we can understand that there's more to us than meets the eye.

As thinking, feeling creatures we have the opportunity to enjoy choices in every essential area of life. We can choose to recognize the positive side of each life experience and situation and to be considerate of others, or we can choose to dwell on the negative and to think only of ourselves. We can choose to eat foods that our bodies can handle easily, or we can choose to live on junk food.

In my nearly 40 years of clinical research, I have studied wellness and the lack of it very strenuously. The system of care that I have developed is based on wellness being a whole-body affair. I see the body as more than just a collection of systems, organs, tissues, and fluids that independently break down or malfunction. I view the body as an integrated unit. No function of the body is independent of other functions.

So, I see wellness as the result of a proactive stance rather that a reactive stance. In other words, rather than being reactive to disease, we should be proactive for health and wellness. Instead of trying to fix symptoms, we need to address the source of the problem that caused the symptoms. What is the cause that mandates low insulin levels, high blood pressure, or artery-clogging debris? What is the cause of subluxation?

In my pursuit of "finding the cause" for patients and doctors alike, I began to notice a pattern among the patients I treated. In every case, the people who came to me for help had a "cause" in one of three areas: trauma, toxicity or thoughts. Their bodies were either overly acidic (toxicity), or their bodies were expressing normal functions at inappropriate times (timing). Something -- or several "somethings" -- forced the body to respond in ways that produced undesirable results for the patient. From the body's point of view, however, the results were perfect for survival and survival is the body's ultimate goal.

I have concluded that all stimuli come from either inside the body or from outside the body, and activities in six essential areas prompt most of the stimuli. If "incorrect" choices in most of the six essential areas are made consistently, short-term stimuli that pose no problem become long-term stimuli. The body survives, but the survival processes require particular organs or systems to go full-tilt continuously. Eventually, the result is exhaustion, pain, and disease -- certainly not wellness.

Each of us makes choices in six essential areas of life. The cumulative effect of these choices is either long-term health, success, happiness, and general physical and mental wellness, or it is exhaustion, pain, and disease. The six essentials are: 1) what you eat, 2) what you drink, 3) how you exercise, 4) how you rest, 5) what you breathe, and 6) what you think. Any violation of these essentials causes interference -- an interruption between brain cell and tissue cell -- that will manifest as disease.

Whatever our state of health is, it is a direct result of the choices we have made to this point in time in these six areas. So, essentially, your health is your choice. Now, it is not my intention to place blame or guilt on anyone for his/her state of wellness. I merely see and understand these six principles to be factual.

In future columns, I intend to explain each of these essentials and how they affect our state of wellness. There will be an emphasis on what we think -- the most important of the six essentials -- because what we think has a greater impact on health than the other five combined. It is my wish that you will be able to convert these principles into realities for you and for your patients.

As chiropractors, we should promote this proactive method of wellness. We must address "cause" and correct it, because wellness isn't just the luck of the draw!