This is the transcript from a public talk my good friend Dr. Kenton White gave recently. He ran it by me on the phone and I just had to have it. It seemed to boil the concept of health down to its essential elements. It also seemed very Taoist which always appeals to me. Kenton is also a chiropractor. Beyond that he is a healer and a serious seeker of truth, and I count myself very blessed to know him. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
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Health Comes From the Inside Out
Dr. Kenton White
By a show of hands, how many people here would like to live to be over 100 years old and have a healthy, active body?
If you discover or you already know that your health comes from the inside out you may. Sometimes the simplest statements contain more wisdom than you can possible imagine.
Let me share a story with you. Not that long ago in the deep southern state of Georgia where they take the time to speak slowly so they can enjoy listening to the words, a man walked into a motor vehicle office to renew his driver’s license. He arrived at the counter and spoke to the woman behind it. “Hello, it’s my Birthday and I need to renew my license,” he drawled as he handed her his old license. The woman behind the counter looked at it, smiled and said “Happy 100th Birthday, to renew your license everyone must take a vision test”. He read the letters and she reported the results, ” You have perfect vision!” she said. Now standing next to him was another man also renewing his license. He had overheard the exchange and was interested in the story, so he turned to the man and said, “you’re 100 years old! You drive a car! And your vision is 20/20! That’s amazing! What is your secret?
The 100-year old man thought for a moment and said” Every evening before I go to bed, I drink a shot of Crown Royal, eat 3 Oreo cookies and a glass of milk, and I trust my body to take care of everything”
Now this man knew that health doesn’t come from the outside in.
It doesn’t come from Doctors or drugs.
It doesn’t come from surgery or supplements.
It doesn’t come from exercise.
It doesn’t come from shots of Crown Royal or Oreo cookies (not even the double stuffed ones).
Health comes from the inside out.
You see health is a state of being, not an act of doing. We say, ” I am healthy, not I do healthy”. And the rules for being are different than the rules for doing. Doing requires action. Being requires principles of character. So I would like to share the principles of health from the inside out with you tonight.
The first principle of inside out health is that health is sacred. And our centenarian conveys this with two simple words, “every evening”. He demonstrates his commitment to a consistent sacred event. It’s not some evenings or occasionally at night, it is every evening. He shares the importance of a sacred ritual repeated for decades with consistency to the regular rhythm of the setting sun.
Next he flips us with the paradoxical principle of fun. We lose ourselves for a moment in the surprise of his revealed secret, “A shot of Crown Royal and 3 Oreo cookies with milk” Like a great master, he is indirect. He opens a door that allows him to push aside the critical mind and plant the seed of 100 years of healthy living wisdom deep into the fertile consciousness of his listener.
That Seed is his truth.
His third principle of health from within is the principle of trust. At the right time he waters his seeds of health with the certainty that his body can handle anything and everything. He humbly lets the wisdom of his body reign sovereign in that realm. He trusts his body as a respectful partner not a slave or servant.
Even in the midst of his fun he promotes one more principle, the principle of moderation. He doesn’t drink until he’s drunk. He doesn’t eat the whole box of cookies. He eats only the right amount for him. He does not over water his seeds, but trusts his body to the task of moderating his health from the inside out.
His ritual is fun and his health is sacred and he shares that with the man who is interested and the woman behind the counter and all of us here tonight. Because deep inside each of you is a seed of trust for your body that can be watered, with our own personal sacred and fun ritual performed in moderation and we can remember that true health does come from the inside out. May everyone live to be more than 100 years old in a healthy active body.
