Choosing Freedom

Peering Behind the Veil of an Unexpected Deceiver

Enticing Us Into An Addiction Mind-set

Would You Like To peer beyond the matrix of a smoothed-tongued deceiver? This familiar and patient deceiver speaks to you daily, beckoning you to run into its arms systematically and mindlessly, as a long-term trusted friend and confidant. Trusting can be extremely temping, because you have stories and experiences of the deceiver genuinely helping you in short-lived times of peril. It was, for short periods of time, a healthy relationship.

However, "it" systematically desires more and more of your trust and your focused mind-set. It would love for you to believe that it will remain your elite-trusted source of daily protection, because safety and protection is its’ greatest promise. As it whispers this lie of “safety and security” in these deeply uncertain times that we are living in, it doesn’t want you to take your eyes off of the magic trick – you must focus solely on it. And choosing to believe in it comes at a costly exchange - you must turn to it and make decisions based upon its alarming and insidious demands. It grooms and entices you to trust it above yourself, as all addictions do.

FEAR AS AN ADDICTION is the great deceiver using prolonged anxiety and stress together to form the deceptive trinity. Bring us to a place where we consider embracing them as a protective shield and relinquishing control because fear paralyzes rational thinking. And once in this fear addictive state of mind, our body can only sustain this state of emergency for so long, before it begins speaking, warning, and progressively crying out in dis-ease, living in a state in which it was never created to live.

It is tempting to allow ourselves to remain hyper-vigilant, for the sake of seeing up ahead and possibly avoiding peril; however, this is the focal-point of the magic trick. This insidious trick is used to entice us all to place our attention so trustingly and strategically into safeguarding the wellbeing of our ourselves, and our loved ones, at the devastating expense of our mental and physical health.

So, with your keen, curious and critical eye for tricks, let’s unveil the truths behind stress, fear and anxiety. This trinity is created to work for us, but it makes a devastatingly poor master.

The Sympathetic Nervous System

A brief period of stress, fear and anxiety, is a natural adaptive response to a potential threat. This condition puts your body into a heightened state of arousal, to keep you out of harm's way — your heart beats faster and your respiration increases. This helps your body prepare for action. Your Sympathetic Nervous System does this by directing energy away from non-essential functions (like the digestive and immune systems), towards functions that are essential for survival.

First, the hormone adrenaline is released from the adrenal gland. As adrenaline flows through your bloodstream, it causes several physiological changes in the body that prepare it to fight or flee. Heart rate and blood pressure are both increased. This boosts the flow of oxygenated blood to the muscles, which contract, ready for action. At the same time, the bronchial tubes dilate, increasing airflow in and out of the lungs and sending extra oxygen to the brain to improve alertness. The pupils also dilate, which allows more light to enter your eyes so you can see your surroundings more clearly. All of these responses happen quickly and involuntarily, allowing you to react rapidly to a perceived threat.

However, the human body cannot constantly live in this state of emergency, but the fear addiction mind-set demands just this and “wires” the body and the brain to stay in this emergency state, like a high-voltage wire, continuously sounding a biological alarm. When anxiety becomes chronic — as it is for an estimated 40 million Americans — it can increase your risk for a number of mental and physical health problems. If you find that you are spending a good deal of time feeling anxious, then it's imperative to take healthy steps to reduce that anxiety before it has a chance to systematically damage your health. Chronic anxiety might cause you to constantly look out for potential threats in a perpetual and constant state of fight or flight.

Anxiety Can Lead to a Number of Physical Illnesses

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 85% of all disease has an emotional element with fear, stress and anxiety topping the list of cause and effect. When you're stressed, the stress hormones that prepare your body for the perceived emergency also temporarily suppress parts of your immune system, which reduces your response to pathogens and other foreign invaders.

So, if you're stressed all the time, as with chronic anxiety, you are setting yourself up for a crash in terms of your overall health. The list of stress-related health problems is long and growing longer all the time. The following is just a sample:

· Lowered immune system function

· Heightened inflammatory response (researchers found that dwelling on a stressful event can increase your levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation in your body)

· Increased blood pressure and cholesterol levels

· Altered brain chemistry, blood sugar and hormone balance

· Increased risk of cancer and tumor growth rate

And, of course, we seek solutions to this heightened state of alarm within our body. One option attempted by 37 million Americans are anti-anxiety drugs.

Anti-Anxiety Drugs

1 in 8, or 37 million Americans, are on a prolonged treatment plan of taking anti-anxiety drugs. It is estimated that only one-third of people with anxiety disorders receive treatment, and the majority of that "treatment" is limited to prescription drugs. Antidepressants are now the third most common prescription medication taken by Americans, as reported by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

According to a report released this year by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the rate of antidepressant use in this country among teens increased by almost 400% between 1988 and 2008. Furthermore, between 2009 and 2021, persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness in high school students increased to 44%, almost doubling in a decade and the suicide rate has jumped by 35%.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are typically the first anti-anxiety drugs prescribed. These drugs for 30 years have been reported to work by attempting to block neurotransmitters in the brain from performing their function of creating chemicals that naturally allow nerves and therefore, cells to communicate and function. SSRIs are attempting to keep the brain from reabsorbing, or reuptake, the serotonin in the brain by ceasing the firing of neurotransmitters. It is important to note that this year researchers are reporting that serotonin is in fact not affected by SSRIs. More research will be conducted to verify these newest findings. Some of the commonly prescribed SSRIs include: Celexa, Lexapro, Sarafem, Luvox, Paxil, Paxil CR, Pexeva, Zoloft, and Viibryd.

Between 1991 and 2018, SSRI prescriptions rose 3,000 percent. In America, the total number of prescriptions for just the most common SSRIs hit 224 million in 2021, in a nation of only 331 million people.

SSRIs are often combined with benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines were approved by the FDA in 1960 and continue to carry their most serious “black box” warning.

Benzodiazepines works as a central nervous system depressant while they boost the action of one neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), in the same way as opioids (heroin) and cannabinoids (cannabis). This in turn activates the gratification hormone, dopamine, in your brain. Benzodiazepines which include Ativan, Xanax, and Valium, as with SSRIs, are complex synthetic compounds that come with many potentially serious risks, including birth defects, memory loss, dementia, bone loss and fractures, type 2 diabetes, addiction, cancer and pre-mature death.

Dr. Joseph Mercola offers the following statistics at www.mercola.com:

Up to 43% of older adults (age 65 or older) use benzodiazepines for anxiety and insomnia.
People who take these drugs are nearly four times more likely to die prematurely than people who don't, and also have a 35% greater risk of cancer.
There is also evidence that benzodiazepine use, by older adults, results in a 50% higher risk for dementia.

Getting off of these medications can be incredibly uncomfortable and a major challenge —"benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome" is characterized by panic, insomnia, sweating, vomiting, seizures, muscular pain and a plethora of other symptoms. SSRIs hold their own syndromes that call for a determined mind and discipline in order to release and rebalance the neurotransmitters within the brain.

There are exciting and powerful solutions and You are in control of these solutions!

These solutions will be discussed very soon in my next article, written for you!

Please remember that you have been through challenges and experiences in life that have given you priceless tools of discernment, knowledge, insight, understandings and foresight. Many of the difficult aspects of your past have given you nothing less than superpowers!

May you choose to use your highly astute critical thinking, divine intuition and your unique superpowers as your safety and protection while you navigate life’s choices while optimizing your health.

Dr. Joan Housley, D.C. specializes in Neuro Emotional Technique Therapy (NET), functional blood analysis, chiropractic care and is a certified Standard Process practitioner licensed to provide Standard Process supplemental products. Please click here to contact her directly https://www.newbalancedlife.com/contact.

Her message to you is…

The human body is infinitely more than the physical attributes we perceive. Oftentimes, an individual may recognize that something is amiss with their body but is unable to pinpoint the issue. Walking into Life’s Balance, is the first step towards wholeness and healing! An overall sense of peace permeates each session conducted by Dr. Joan Housley, as she identifies areas of imbalance. She is able to locate and remove the imbalances, then creating physical, emotional and chemical wellbeing for each patient. Whether it is tapping into and unblocking a life experience that may have had a negative influence in a patient’s life, analyzing lab tests from a functional perspective, or freeing the body from a subluxation, Dr. Joan has the capability of releasing the restraints that have been a roadblock in the achievement of optimal, life-long health. Although physical, chemical and emotional breakthroughs are no doubt important, Dr. Housley offers so much more… A look of genuine concern, a voice of comfort and clarity, a vision and a plan as struggles are shared, and a new season of life unfolds. The delight of having a knowledgeable doctor asking your body what it needs is priceless.. no more trial and error, no more guessing! Healing the body from the inside out paves the way for an amazing and abundant life! Once you have experienced the comfort and fullness of, “A Balanced Life”, you are sure to return, and to guide your loved ones along this path as well… Together we grow, heal, love, encourage and celebrate!

Dr. Joan Housley, a 20-year veteran in chiropractic, specializes in natural healing. She has a passionate heart for witnessing the restoration and wholeness of her patients, helping them realize and live in their full potential. Joan provides a powerful and multifaceted approach to health through several portals of entry: physical, chemical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual.

After spending her high school years abroad in England, Dr. Joan pursued a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida State University, a Doctorate Degree from Life University, and has received thousands of graduate and postgraduate hours in emotional healing, whole food and herbal nutrition, as well as many physical modalities. Dr. Joan possesses the innate ability to uncover the root cause of issues; she then assists in their uprooting, and helps empower each individual to make choices that lead to the freedom and restoration of hearts, souls, and lives.