by Kelly Robbins
As massage therapists in the healing arts, we understand the importance of a person’s physical health. We also understand the role a person’s mindset has on her ability to heal and live a healthy life.
As we stretch ourselves, reach to expand our practice and create more prosperity in our lives, it’s important we understand the role our own mindset has played in the experiences we have now.
In order to achieve prosperity in your life and business, you must first know what prosperity means to you. Prosperity to you may be much different than what it means to us.
Understand that developing a prosperity mentality is the foundation of success for your practice.
I have chosen to discuss money and prosperity because the belief that it’s difficult to make money in the healing arts is the most common block holding practitioners back. It’s not that these practitioners are not great healers and they don’t try hard enough; it’s that they believe creating a prosperous practice is difficult—and so it is.
What you believe is your reality
I want you to engage in thought processes that allow prosperity. Understand you are in control of your prosperity, not anyone else.
Developing feelings of lack happens over time. As things happen in your life, you internally consider them “evidence” to back up your “beliefs” about money and prosperity.
This leads me to discuss scarcity thinking. When you believe there is not enough of anything—paying clients, food, money, love, etc.—you will never have enough of it. Scarcity thinking is the opposite of prosperity thinking.
As children, we are taught “money doesn’t grow on trees” and “I’m not made of money.” We are raised to believe this because this is what our parents believe. The same holds true for what we are taught in school.
Understand that your conscious thought can be controlled. Train yourself to consciously be aware of your thoughts. Make a choice to focus your attention on what you want, instead of what you don’t want. When you notice you’re sinking in anxiety, depression, doubt or confusion about your practice, know your focus is on what you don’t want. Consider this a red flag that you need to mindfully return your focus to the qualities, behaviors and actions that uplift and excite you.
Overcoming your unconscious chatter takes strength, discipline and patience. If you find your thoughts scattering away to worry and negativity, quickly change the path. Each morning when you wake up, immediately assess your thoughts and make a conscious decision to not be attached to them. One technique that works well is having a “default thought” to fall back on. I recommend you come up with something positive about yourself or something you’ve done that you can “default” your thinking to whenever you catch your mind wandering into the lack zone.
It’s important you develop an awareness of how your thoughts and feelings are distorted by your negative interpretations of events that developed into beliefs. Remember, your mind was programmed to focus on lack based on the past. It will only change if you consciously set the intention to change it. This can feel awkward and scary at first because it is a new way of perceiving yourself and the world, but it is crucial to your success because your practice will only grow to the extent you do.
The perception that it is difficult to make good money in the alternative health industry is ingrained in our heads in school. Do you remember instructors telling you how difficult it is to make it as a practitioner, that they supplement their income by teaching or that you have to have a second job to make it in the beginning?
Don’t let their beliefs of lack become your beliefs of lack.
Your vision of prosperity
The prosperity mentality will naturally guide you so that you are extremely clear in your intention and purpose. I’d like you to take a few minutes and write down what prosperity means to you. Be descriptive in your answers. How much is “enough money”? How many patients do you see a month? How much time away from your practice do you have? Does your income come from a variety of sources or from your patient base?
Does striving for prosperity mean you are not sincere in your work?
Just because you are making money (which is an even exchange of energy for the work you do) does not in any way compromise the healing you do, or make you selfish and greedy.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
When it comes to our financial motivations, it’s helpful to get very clear about what we believe to be true about money. Why do some of us believe money should be shunned, that it is somehow unethical to make a lot of money and help people heal? Why do others believe money is the end all be all, that making money is the top priority in life?
As a massage therapist, your belief system around money will determine your success as much as anything you do. We live in a society that fears not having enough. Most of us have bought into the mentality that money is in limited supply and we must do what we can, however we can, to get our fair share.
When we live from a place of scarcity, fear will dictate that unfolding of our lives, acting like a clamp that shuts us off from the magic and abundance of the universe.
Recognizing your prosperity mindset
Understanding your beliefs about money and prosperity is an important component to changing them. I will now review a few personal exercises to help you recognize your beliefs.
1. Write down the main qualities that come to mind when you contemplate how your parents relate to money. What did they teach you through their actions? Can you identify any harmful themes that have been passed down to you? Feel free to write this in a personal journal over several days and weeks.
2. Write down, by decade, your experiences about money throughout your life. What was your family life like when you were a child? A teen? In your 20s, 30s etc.?
3. Read the following statement: “As a bodyworker, I deserve to make a healthy six figure income. There is no cap to my earning potential. I value making money just as I value the service I offer to my clients.”
How do you feel after reading that statement? Do you embrace this statement wholeheartedly? Is there a part of you that resists it? If so, what is the belief that causes you to resist it?
Understanding your beliefs about prosperity and money are an important factor for your growth and development, both personally and professionally.
Kelly Robbins is a health-care copywriter, marketing coach/consultant and author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed and The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes “The Healthcare Marketing Connection,” a free e-zine on health-care marketing tips. Contact Robbins at Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com or (303) 460-0285 to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits.”