Shared by: Dennis Perman DC,  for The Masters
(master9@aol.com)

Dear Doctor:

Developing a vision for your practice and your life requires the focus 
and commitment to identify what is really important to you.  Learn 
to language or express your vision in a way that inspires and 
motivates you.  Emily Dickinson wrote "The Imagination is the Slow 
Fuse of the Possible" -- we must dare to think of what can be before 
we can generate the energy and momentum to manifest it. 

Such is the message we heard this weekend from Dr. Patrick 
Gentempo at his Total Solution seminar,  high in the Colorado 
Rockies.  Chiropractors have an incredible opportunity,  if they are 
willing to recognize what makes us special,  and to make that bold 
statement in our communities.  We've been talking about improving 
quality of life and developing human potential since the days of B.J. 
Palmer,  and the today's health care consumer is clamoring for 
nothing other.

In order to capitalize on this societal shift,  we must learn to 
articulate our message in clear, understandable terms,  so the public 
is certain about what we have to offer.  That means we must both 
clarify chiropractic's unique contribution in general,  and then learn 
to demonstrate our individuality by defining a specific niche that 
satisfies and fulfills us as professionals and as people.

The former is best accomplished by putting aside past conflicts and 
joining forces around the basic premise that makes chiropractic so 
powerful -- an awareness that we have a natural tendency toward 
health and happiness,  as long as nothing interferes with it.  This 
normal,  healthful expression is disturbed by problems in the control 
mechanism of the body,  and most of the thousands of chiropractors 
I've spoken with consider this central in their practices.

There is abundant research to show that nerve interference prevents 
normal function,  and just as much to suggest that chiropractic 
intervention has a positive impact on people's health.  It falls upon 
each particular doctor to evaluate the literature and technical 
advances over the recent past,  and come to an internal agreement 
about what role he or she chooses to play.  While some doctors 
exercise their right to concentrate on musculoskeletal concerns,  a 
growing number of our colleagues are selecting a "full spectrum" 
approach,  choosing to teach their patients about the implications of 
nerve interference on quality of life issues,  not just symptomatic 
conditions.

You must decide where you fit in,  and then passionately proclaim 
your position to the marketplace.  They're waiting for you -- so what 
are you waiting for?  Define your identity as a chiropractor,  and use 
the certainty and power of your self-definition and congruency to 
catapult you to massive success,  for yourself,  for your patients,  
and for a better world.

Dennis Perman DC,  for The Masters