The Stone Wall

Let me share a story with you. Many years ago a man built several dry-stack stone walls at his house. These mortar-less barricades were dynamic and shifted with each passing season. A young child walking across or jumping from them or perhaps “discovering” the perfect rock needed for his fort took its toll as well. One day, the man’s wife noticed the walls were starting to look a little worse for the wear, and mentioned that they needed work. Wearing rose-colored glasses, the man replied that the deterioration simply added “character” to them.dry_stone_wall_3_large

Nevertheless, the man set out to rebuild the walls. Step number one was to determine exactly what had to be done to truly correct the problem and not just make them look better. The more the man studied them, the more he saw that while one section would have to be completely dismantled and rebuilt, most of the wall was okay. He could make minor adjustments to the top stones and everything would be fine.

As he began tearing down the wall, he realized that what he was doing was similar to what his chiropractor does every day. First, chiropractors identify the area of primary concern. Second, they begin the process of restoration – healing – by removing the decaying – interfering – sections. What struck him was that removing the broken section took most of the work. Each time he removed a stone, he had to be careful not to bring the whole wall down. Slow and steady proved the best method and allowed him to see how the rocks could be used to rebuild the wall even better than he originally built it. Finally, restacking the stones went rather quickly because he knew each one that had been removed and saw how they fit together.

If the man had not disassembled the wall, he would not have corrected some of the problems it developed over time. But if he just moved a few stones around as a patch job, he’d have to go out every weekend and use this patchwork approach to “fix” the wall. That’s the difference between correcting the problem – initial corrective care – and getting a few adjustments to get out of pain.

So, what should you take away from this story? With time, things change, and it is often subtle. Eventually, we all need to be rebuilt in some area of our life and that’s okay. Once the problem’s been identified, invest in correction, not a temporary fix. Wellness and maintenance care keeps the body working better longer.

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