July 2007

Becoming conscious of your individuality

by Dr. Robert Schiffmann

While working with people and chiropractors over many years of practice, I've never encountered a person who doesn't want to improve upon his or her life, or be happier. The goal I want to reach the most is educating chiropractors ‑‑ and everyone ‑‑ to understand that one's life is based on the unconscious (i.e. dreams, desires, love, hurt), and help them become more conscious of their individuality so they'll know and take control of their life and destiny.

Everyone's different, everyone moves to a different beat, everyone's programmed differently and functions at different levels. The way that you function and are productive is based on how you were raised, how much love you received and what you experienced in life as a child. These things remain in your unconscious and what you believe and perceive about life and what it has to offer are exactly what you'll create. If you believe life can't be full and fulfilling, then that's what you'll create your future and life to emit.

As a chiropractor, you should be able to help people who come into your office looking for help. The negative things that fill your unconscious hinder you from being able to do this. It's something to think about. You might delete information from your brain if it's overloaded with childhood experiences.

The way you handle life and its changes, you learned from your parents. The way you handled things as a child would be the same way that you handle life as an adult. It's possible to get easily overwhelmed and therefore not "see" the clear choices right in front of you.

For instance, people who've been abused as children or have had significant emotional experiences may come from a place of unconsciously feeling the need to feel safe and protect themselves. Because of the fear of being hurt, people can delete love right out of their lives and not "feel" it when it's right in front of them. In fact, all types of information may be filtered out so they miss golden opportunities.

People may also rely on information from others to make a decision because they've learned as a child not to trust their instincts due to the mixed messages they received. This can prevent them from moving ahead and they can get stuck and keep themselves from moving out of their comfort zone. That's why, as DCs, we must get these people educated about chiropractic. We have something that can help them overcome these situations in their lives.

Another thing people tend to do is distort information. There are many ways to do this, including by miscommunication. People imagine others don't like them (fear of rejection) or they put the cause outside themselves ("you made me angry") or make a value judgment ("it's bad to be angry"). People also distort information internally to fit their beliefs, values and decisions and in many other ways that negatively effect their lives. Again, as chiropractors, we have to find ways to reach out to these types of patients and educate them about chiropractic.

People also tend to create generalizations. Unfortunately, most of the time this can be destructive and create a lot of needless suffering for all. One type of generalization involves statements such as "you never..." or "you always..." Words used in communication like this most always instigate arguments and hurt feelings. Prejudice and chauvinism come from these negative generalizations.

Another type of generalization involves possibility or impossibility. For some, everything "can" be done. Anything's possible. Others place limitations on themselves such as, "I can't" or I won't." Rules, in other words create generalizations about what's possible or impossible or what should or must be done. For example, you can be a high volume chiropractor, your patients will stay, and you will fill the hole in the bucket.

Many of your beliefs and values are generalizations that can create or expand your life. They aren't all negative. What IS negative is allowing them to operate automatically outside your awareness. The goal therefore, isn't to eliminate them but rather to use them consciously in a way that can create desirable results and experiences. Learning this is good, so that you can provide the best care and produce the best results for your patients.

After people delete, distort and generalize the sensory input they receive, they make some sort of internal representation of that sensory material that can be either negative or positive. The more conscious we are of this input, the more in control we become to expand our boundaries and break free of our self‑imposed limitations. Patterns are then stopped ‑‑ not only in ourselves but in the next generation as well!

(Studying under CS Gonstead ignited Dr. Robert Schiffman's passion for chiropractic. The Life University graduate's career accomplishments have won him much recognition, and he is one of the most sought‑after speakers in chiropractic today. Dr. Schiffman ‑‑ founder of the Principled Revolution, Get the Big Idea! Seminars and Coaching Programs ‑‑ continues to maintain one of the world's largest volume practices. Contact him by calling 877‑251‑0181, or visit online at www.getthebigidea.com.)