The advent of a New Year always brings with it introspection, goal setting and ideas for expanding your practice and community reach. As you begin to set these practice growth goals, make sure that you write in some personal ones for yourself along with a willingness and commitment to grow on an individual and spiritual level as well.

We all know that our practices are really just another extension or representation of who we are in the physical world, so it would stand to reason that no real growth can be achieved in our practices unless we ourselves are willing and capable of growing internally on a personal and professional level.

Every day, we read or hear about the quest for and importance of spiritual growth, but what does it really mean and how can you apply it to your practice and personal life?

Think about where your practice is now and where you are in your life. And then ask yourself, how much are you spiritually capable of coping and dealing with right now? Are there actually opportunities that you may be pushing away because you aren't spiritually and physically open to them?

Look at your PAC statistics and see if they don't in some way reflect your current spiritual capacity. How many new patients are you seeing? Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty or fifty a month? Spiritually, is this the number of new people you are capable of bringing into your life at this moment in time? Have you ever had an influx that went way beyond what was a comfortable level for you to serve?

Many times, the sudden attraction of slews of new patients can cause anxiety and even have the opposite effect of stifling your practice's growth. Some chiropractors unwittingly respond to growth from a place of fear. They worry that they will not be able to serve the increased volume and begin to consciously or unconsciously lose the new patients they have gained. Regrettably, they soon end up with the same size practice they began with because spiritually they weren't really ready to advance to the next level.

What about your practice? Are you stuck at 50, 100, 200, or 300 visits per week? Could this be your "spiritual ceiling?" Is this volume the limit that your mind and body have been subconsciously told they can handle, and when you go higher than this, do you begin to feel anxious and nervous? Everyone has some kind of spiritual ceiling and in order to break through it, we must be willing to grow and stretch ourselves to physically, emotionally and spiritually handle more.

Stretching yourself spiritually literally means stopping the "tornado" that is your current way of thinking and going about doing things in your practice and personal life. In the New Year, open yourself up to new ways of doing things. Really take the time to evaluate your staff, your systems and procedures, and then be prepared to implement new marketing and communication systems that will support the higher level of chiropractic practice and service you are seeking.

When you look at growing your practice on a spiritual level, the concept of "less is more" is paramount. It usually means streamlining and eliminating aspects or steps of your practice such as "game playing."

The chiropractors I know who have grown their practices with an eye toward the "inward" have become more clear, focused and truthful in their communications with their patients. They have let go of anything unauthentic like reciting "scripts" that came from other practices and don't reflect how they really feel in their heart or soul. They have eliminated the robotic nature of their systems and procedures and adopted ones that will put them in a truthful spiritual "zone."

In this jaded era when your patients and community so desperately need health care leadership, nobody wants a robot for a health care professional. They want quality and compassion and someone who will listen to them and communicate with sincerity.

How can you become one of these health care leaders?

Begin by breaking through that spiritual ceiling and stretching yourself as far as you can go. Become involved in chiropractic causes. Be involved with chiropractic people and places that will support and expand your mind and chiropractic consciousness in your community. Make commitments that support your growth.

As I'm sure you've observed in your practice, the patients who make the greatest commitment to being healthy are the ones who wind up with the best results. The same applies for you.

What will you be committed to in the year 2002? Write down your intentions on paper, and you'll be more likely to achieve and manifest those results.

Now, more than ever, your community needs you to make a commitment to push past your limits and make spiritual practice growth your "resolution" for the New Year.