Creating balance within ourselves
By Sharon R. Penchina, CHt and Stuart Hoffman, DC

Chiropractors strive to achieve balance — a guiding principle of chiropractic.

It is how we encourage health and healing. By removing nerve interference, we help to restore and promote harmony within our patients, which establishes an all important sense of physical strength and well-being.

As chiropractors, we are instruments through which this physical balance is realized. Therefore, it is essential that we maintain our own personal balance.

In our profession, balance is typically thought of as physical. While the physical aspects of inner alignment are important, the mental and emotional ones must be addressed as well. A strong mental and emotional balance subscribes to the underlying holistic philosophy. It also helps us better connect with our patients, and enables us to maintain a higher level of confidence, which is conducive to optimum care and healing.

THINK ‘POSITIVE’

Not unlike chiropractic, developing strong mental and emotional balance requires technique and practice. By far, the best technique to use when influencing this aspect of your well-being is creative visualization.

Creative visualization involves regularly focusing positive energy on an idea or a goal until it becomes reality. Whether we are conscious of it or not, each of us creates our own mental, emotional, and physical state through our thoughts and interpretations. This creation is the basis for all that we experience, and can be altered in either a positive or negative fashion by our thoughts.

When we repeat and internalize certain thoughts or beliefs, our unconscious mind accepts them as reality. Therefore, to develop a strong mental and emotional balance you need to align your goals with your reality.

When your life goals and your life are in sync, you experience balance and calm. Worries and concerns melt away, and you do not waste concentration and brain power on what should be and how to achieve it. It simply is.

This simplicity frees the mind to concentrate on the task at hand, which in the workplace means concentrating all your efforts on your patients.

HOW TO REACH A BALANCED STATE

Creative visualization can help you reach a balanced state by feeding your unconscious the proper thoughts and visions. As the name implies, creative visualization is the process by which we use our creativity or imagination to visualize the goals we wish to achieve.

It then takes this desire one step further to tell and show our unconscious that we have reached that goal.

• Define your desired reality. The first step in this process is to clearly define the reality you wish to achieve. Perhaps your goal is to strengthen your skills and share your talents with a larger patient base. You must first put this desire into a visualization statement that utilizes positive action and precisely describes the outcome you hope to reach.

• Use strong, affirmative language. When formulating this statement, you will want to use strong, active language that firmly and positively roots you in the present tense. You may choose to say, “I am a strong and talented chiropractor, and my practice attracts many patients who greatly benefit from my skills and services.”

• Add the visual component. When you are comfortable with the words you have chosen, it is time to add the visual component to the process. Spend time inside your mind creating an image that clearly illustrates your desired goal.

If your goal is to expand your practice, your vision may be one that involves a steady stream of patients who benefit from your talent and leave your office pleased with the care they have received.

• Meditate. Once you are satisfied that the words and image you have created precisely define your desired outcome, then it is time to move forward. Creative visualization is practiced from a calm, meditative state.

Each day, find a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed and can con-centrate on quieting your mind. When thoughts come to you, consciously put them aside for another time.

Once you feel your mind is clear and receptive, begin to quietly repeat your visualization statement while envisioning yourself accomplishing your goal. Sit with this for as long as you are comfortable.

With repeated practice you will discover yourself carrying these words and images with you into your day, and gradually your wish will become your reality.

Utilizing creative visualization in this manner to achieve positive mindedness and internal balance can have a profound impact on the success of your facilitation; both personally and professionally.

Through cumulative practice, you will feel a shift, and discover that you are more present, balanced, and focused. This will enable you to not only reach your personal goals, but it will allow you to remain fully focused on your patients. It will give you the opportunity to fully share your talents, and offer those entrusted to your care the gift of your full and complete presence. This, in turn, optimizes your patient’s ability to experience full and complete healing.

Stuart Hoffman, DC, FICA, and Sharon R. Penchina, CHt, are co-founders of 2 Imagine in Scottsdale, Ariz. 2 Imagine publishes high quality self-empowerment books and audio CDs for both adults and children. For more information, visit www.2imaginethis.com or e-mail info@2imaginethis.com.