Eyes Up

I want to share a story with you about a friend of mine. This is a friend I have a lot of respect for. He works in the medical field and he is really, really good at what he does.

My friend uses this amazing therapeutic technique to help people with pain and to help them improve the way they move. When someone shares that they are in pain he will use assessments and traditional medical treatments to try and improve how they feel. If that doesn’t work he will utilize another technique where he looks for other areas of weakness in the body and he tries to bring strength back to those muscle groups.

Here’s an example; someone might be suffering from shin-splints but traditional treatment hasn’t relieved their pain. My friend might find that their glutes are not working to absorb shock during running and he might find that it’s related to a previously broken clavicle. How he figures this out, I don’t know, but after massaging a spot near the clavicle the glute function is improved so the shin-splints can go away.

I’ve seen it firsthand.
It’s amazing.
It’s mind blowing.

My friend has been helping people for years but he was having some pain in his neck and he decided to get help himself. After being poked and prodded he was asked to simply stand up and walk. The person doing his exam finally asked him, “do you know why your neck is hurting?” My friend replied, “no.” Then he was told, “your neck hurts because you are always looking down. Do you know why you are always looking down?” My friend was intrigued but replied with another, “no.” He was then told, “you are always looking down because you don’t know where the ground is.”

When my friend shared this story with me we both had an, “oh my goodness, that is like some crazy Jedi Warrior stuff, you have to know what you are standing on, you have to know what grounds you, this is amazing” type moment. And then, we just sat there looking at each other while smiling.

This story blows my mind. Our bodies are in pain when we are uncertain about the ground we are standing on. We hurt when we are living and working in the space we weren’t meant to be in. When our life is out of alignment our bodies are also out of alignment. When we know where the ground is the pain will leave us.

We have to do the hard work on ourselves. We have to find and know our own ground. We have to be living in and working on the ground that we are supposed to be on.

How can you run toward something great when you are uncertain if your feet will even hit solid ground? How can you know where you are being called to if you are looking down? How can you find your true north if you are looking down? How can you plot your course if you are looking down? Get on solid ground so you can get your eyes up. Tell me you don’t find that to be some crazy Jedi Warrior stuff?!

Know where your ground is and you’ll find peace.
Know where your ground is and you’ll find your purpose.
Know where your ground is and you can run freely toward a fuller life.

Who needs a lightsaber when you can simply know your ground…. easier said than done, but so worth it.

Eyes up my friends, eyes up.