Accentuate the Positive

by Coach Cary Bayer

More than half a century ago, Broadway's Tin Pan Alley offered the above advice to Americans who wanted to succeed in love and business. It's also true today for those today who want to succeed in life and the healing arts of massage, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, psychological counseling, medicine, energy medicine, nursing, social work, and other integrative healing modalities.

Most such healers think of their massage work as a "practice." If you want to "practice" massage, say, call me, and I'll be glad to let you practice on my back. If you want a massage business-or a business in any of the professions above--call me, but for a different reason: I'll show you how to change the attitudes about money and business kicking around in the cellar of your subconscious mind that hold you back from success in your chosen field.

A powerful way to accomplish this transformation is by rewiring your mind through affirmations. It's critical to release the negative thoughts preventing your success. In coaching more than150 licensed massage therapists, as well as dozens of healers in a variety of other fields, I've discovered four such common thoughts.

1. Healing is from Nature and pure; money is from man and dirty. 2. Doing healing work is so enjoyable, I don't need to get paid much for it. 3. Marketing my practice? I have a practitioner's license, not an MBA. 4. If my business gets too successful, I'll burn out.

These limited messages must be released to take your healing arts business to the next level. In this column, we'll focus on healing the second thought: Doing healing is so enjoyable I don't need to get paid much for it. I recommend the following affirmation: "When I do the healing work I love, the world is enriched and so am I, as money flows to me quickly and easily." Write the affirmation as 1A, then the negative response it elicits underneath it as 1B. Suppose the negative thought that comes up from your lower self is: "If I do the healing work that I love, not enough people will come."

Write the response without judgment. Underneath, as 1C, create a new affirmation, from your higher self, to specifically treat this response. A good one is: "The same force of Nature that helps my clients heal in my office supports me in bringing many new people to my office." Writing the resistance releases it from your being. I recommend writing this process for 10 minutes a day until its truth manifests. Each of the repetitions has three parts.

It would have been wonderful if your parents had taught you positive thoughts like these every day-it would have been nice for the school that taught you your healing art to have taught you this as well--but it's hard to teach what you don't know. Imagine what your life might have been like today if, when you were a child, your parents had whispered such affirmations into your ears. Imagine if your bedtime story was of your future success, demonstrating the truth of the affirmation they were teaching that night. Since they didn't, however, you are giving yourself the training they didn't have the knowledge to give you. (You are parenting yourself the way you wished you could have been. It truly is never too late.)

Enhancing your self-esteem wasn't the topic of conversation at the dining room table, where you ate some 20,000 meals with your parents. That meant 20,000 sessions with financial advisors who were probably ill equipped for the task. They were, however, were far more persuasive than advisors at brokerage houses, because they created, reared and loved you. And you did your best to love them and be loyal to their teachings.

It's now high time you become loving and loyal to your higher Self as well. Writing these affirmations daily helps a great deal, and can put more food on your dining table and more clients in your appointment book.

Cary Bayer (www.carybayer.com) was keynote speaker at the 2006 American Massage Therapy Association national convention. Widely known as The Business Coach for Massage Therapists, Cary is a Life Coach; CE provider licensed by NCBTMB and Florida Dept. of Health's Board of Massage Therapy; and faculty member of Massage Business University, he writes for Massage Today, massage publications in 14 states, and a syndicated column, "Life 101," that runs in wellness publications. His 27 publications include 11 specifically for massage therapists. He's coached some 150 LMTs and dozens of alternative healers. His CE seminars, "Build a $100,000 a Year Massage Business" and "Healer, Heal Thyself," are very popular among alternative facilitators.