Mother Teresa coming to a practice near you.....by Dr. Kevin Kulik
“Want to be successful, have unlimited potential, and have the most exciting personal and professional life you can imagine,?”
Now this time its for real and if you want to know how
you’re going to have to simply read on!
Have you done the seminar thing, spent a fortune on practice building, gimmicks, newsletters?
Still feel there might be something missing?
Good, there is hope!!!
The reason you feel something might be missing
is because probably there is!!!
You see most of us have bought the illusion that if we become good doctors, learn enough practice building techniques, tell enough people about our philosophy, our lives will be filled with “chiropractic Nirvana”, and we’ll live happily ever after. ( NOT!)
If you’re like me though, you might feel a tiny little knot in the pit of your stomach, and your Catholic roots might feel just a little bit separated from your professional life. You see I learned the Chiropractic philosophy really well. I listened to all the tapes, went to lots of lectures, read books, practiced on my friends, family, and basically anything that had a spine. My health care classes were so polished that you could wake me up in the middle of the night and I could recite a fresh and exciting workshop without skipping a beat.
Without sounding too bold, I was really good at this stuff,
but then it happened!
I had just finished, what in my opinion was my “pinnacle performance” in terms of a chiropractic lecture. The accolades were still hanging in the air. The last patient on his way out felt compelled to remind me once again:
“That was really a fantastic talk doc, nobody ever told me that before!”
After he left, I sat quietly in a now empty room thinking to myself, why do I still feel empty, why do I feel different this time?
Mentally I was on top of my game,
but there was a spiritual void lingering in my soul.
I thought to myself, “you know if I spent as much time, energy, and enthusiasm talking about God as I do about chiropractic, I could do so much more than just heal bodies.”
What normally would have been the average chiropractor’s
“dream day”,
only became empty and frustrating.
You see I didn’t know it, but my heart and my practice were divided. From my first day in practice, I tried to bring God into my work but I did not feel that the 2 were one.
On one hand there was the “chiropractor” that was enamored with the Chiropractic/ American dream who lived one way. Then, there was “the man” who knew all this was going to pass away one day.
Was I going to give Chiropractic the “flower of my youth” by teaching her philosophy and just quietly being a Catholic man in the background?
Was I really prepared in my heart of hearts to
stand before my maker on judgment day?
How many people did I bring to chiropractic and how many to the Lord?
I soon realized that this “wounded healer” needed to grow
in new directions and ask our Lord for his help.
Amazing how God really does prepare your heart for His work when you ask…
…meeting Mother Teresa.
One day, I was asked to go to the profession of one of Mother Teresa’s sisters’ by my mother. ( I didn’t even realize it but, I didn’t have an invitation!) I soon realized why she wanted me to go as we drove through the worst part of Harlem in New York City. I saw a police officer and asked him for directions because I was lost. His response was, “you sure are lost”, and advised me to get on the road and head on out of there as soon as possible! When we finally arrived, there literally was a “sea of people”. So many in fact that I realized that there was no chance of meeting Mother Teresa. After realizing this, I finished attending mass and decided to head out and get an early start back home, when all of a sudden the Mother Superior of the local house spotted me. She came over and began talking to me, and said,
“Would you like to meet Mother Teresa?”
I immediately gave a response
that to this day still causes me to cringe in embarrassment
I said “ well sure, if she’s not too busy “
Now, you have to imagine all the people trying to get her attention. They wanted her autograph, a touch, or a simple glance. She was all the way over on the other side of this huuuuuge hall, and I felt that there was no way that this woman could ever make it over to me before Christmas! However, this serene little house superior calmly made her way through the crowd, she bent over and whispered in Mother Teresa’s ear. I saw Mother Teresa look up and begin moving through the crowd right toward me! She extended her hand and put my hand in the hand of my bride-to-be and began to speak to us and instruct us (this in itself is a whole other story).
As her eyes pierced my soul, she spoke to me in a way that made me feel like we were the only people alive at that moment. When she finished speaking I asked her to bless my hands as I was a chiropractor.
She said that “I will bless them if you can agree to one condition,
every time you lay your hands on a patient
you see them as if they were Christ.”
Without realizing the magnitude of this request
I immediately responded,
“I will”.
When I returned to my office the following week my heart was excited with my new found energy, but reality soon began setting in as I found it difficult to cross over and to bring God to my patients.
(now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking full blast, bang em over the head type evangelical stuff here, I thought that I would start by perhaps interchanging “universal intelligence” with “God”
and see how that went for starters).
Well, the “reader’s digest” version of this was,
“It stunk!”
The patients started looking at me a little on the weird side and I felt like I was wearing an invisible sign with the word “quack” written all over it. (We have enough difficulty trying to enlighten and educate patients about Chiropractic yet alone God!) After all, a quack is nothing more than a fake, and I really wasn’t being me.
So, I thought to myself, I would just quietly pray over my patients as I work with them. This actually was a great grace for me.
Doc’s, I bet each and every one of you sense the brokeness within your patients. Those who can’t forgive, those with rage, those who struggle with depression, alcohol, infidelity, self righteousness, and the list goes on and on and on! You know as well as I do that this is where disease and illness really have their roots. The body is affected by the mind, and mind by the spirit!
How many of you have seen some of your patients posture bend as if they were carrying the “weight of the world on their shoulders”?
Or the patient that refuses to let go of their
“ self pity,” “anger,” or “unforgiveness;”
they almost never get well!
If you want to move to the next level of healing and blow the roof off all your expectations of a rewarding practice and life, start praying for your people!
I believe there are no coincidences in life and God sends exactly the kind of people that need to be in your practice! Not only for their welfare but for you as well!
Some of you may use the initials “PTC” in your practice. It stands for “present time consciousness”.( being present completely to the patient you are with) Well, I was beginning to learn a new technique called “PPG”, “practicing the presence of God”. It was a bit difficult in the beginning, kind of like introducing a whole new procedure, but once you got into the swing of it, it started to become routine.
This dramatically prepared me for
the ministerial practice that awaited me.
You see there is another slogan that we are taught in chiropractic,
“You can’t sell what you don’t own”, NYCC class of 1981.
Well you can’t talk about your relationship with God unless you actually have one( now please don’t feel that you need to be “canonized” before you try this, God takes even a mustard seed and makes use of it ! I am a perfect example!)
You get the kind of patient’s you are attracted to.
Very shortly by God’s grace I had an “ivory soap” practice. Remember the commercial for ivory, it’s 99.49 percent pure?
Well God made it easy for me because he knew that I was “Polish”.
Just about everybody that came through my door was Catholic.
Soon, I was taking care of the Dominicans, Josephites, the Ursulines, Diocesan priests, even a Bishop! It was real easy to talk about God to all those folks and I felt like my time had finally arrived,
“but I felt that there was more.”
You see we were talking and sharing, but that little ache in the pit of my stomach was still there. When you’re open, God will take care of everything and so he sent me a patient named Mary( changed the name thanks to HIPPA!.) She stood about 5 foot nothing and was about 87 pounds soaking wet. She drove about an hour to see me because she was Catholic, and she wanted a Catholic chiropractor. After a great exam, some philosophy, some sharing of our faith, and a fabulous adjustment, she looked at me with this big grin on her face, and she said
“Are you finished?”
Being a little curious I said,
“Is there something I missed?”
Smiling the whole time she said,
“I’m not leaving here until you pray over me.”
I said “Mary, I pray for my patients while I work on them.”
Mary said, “so you’re saying you prayed for me then?”
Doc: “that’s right.”
Mary: “ well what did you say?”
Doc: “What do you mean?”
Mary: “I mean what did you say in your prayer?”
(I was getting a bit embarrassed and nervous at this point, but this little old gal was being summoned by the Holy Spirit to push me out of my comfort zone (remember the chiropractic comfort zone?).
Doc: “well I kind of asked God to bless you and heal you.”
Mary: “kind of? Somebody told me that you pray.”
Doc: “yeah, but not out loud!”
Mary: “Why not?”
Doc: “I guess I never wanted anybody to feel uncomfortable.”
Mary: “Doc, I don’t know about anybody else but God does not make me feel uncomfortable.”
Doc: “Well Mary, how about if I pray over you next time since I am really getting back up with patients now”.
Mary: “Ok but, I want twice as much next time (LOL).
Now Mary was back and after her adjustment the next time she sat at the edge of the table and closed her eyes and said,
“I’m ready.”
I laid my hands on her shoulders and I asked the Holy Spirit to help me pray over this woman. I spoke softly for about a minute, but I definitely did not feel the “Red Sea part in the middle”. But, there was a nice quiet sense of peace in the middle of a hectic day.
Mary said, “see that wasn’t so bad.”
The next time Mary came in, she ended her visit in exactly the same way. I said, “again?”
So her response to me was, “do I only need one adjustment doc?”
The point was quite clear and little did I know I was learning all about this wonderful spiritual healing technique called prayer. (Sometimes a single prayer is a powerful tool, like the many times I have prayed with a patient that has lost a loved one, other times repetitive prayer may be indicated for a variety of reasons) Just as we chiropractors get to know our patient’s spines, the Holy Spirit teaches us about the ills of the spirit by ongoing discernment and prayer. Essentially, I would simply ask God to let me be and say, exactly what this patient needed to experience and hear, and then I would let God do the rest.
Docs, if you thought chiropractic healing was awesome, this blows everything you can imagine away. Soon patients just seem more receptive (Hmmm, I wonder if maybe I was just more receptive and maybe more at ease about being myself with my faith).
Patients began telling me that they got more out of their treatments emotionally and spiritually than when they spent an hour at their psychiatrist. It was not unusual to see patients with a hardened heart, have tears rolling down their eyes after a prayer or a hug. Broken marriages were being reconciled. The grip of unforgiveness being broken. Fallen away Catholics were coming back to the faith. All this being done in the quiet of the exam room, often times without even my staff knowing about it (you don’t really have to be loud about what you are doing, in fact I find the more subtle you are the more effective it is for your patients). Finally, that little ache in my stomach was lifting.
You see, I forgot to tell you something.
Mother Teresa she said something that haunted me and quite honestly alluded me until then. She said,
“You are not called to be like Christ, you are to be Christ! ”
To me it almost sounded blasphemous, but I finally knew what she was talking about. You see when you are either counseling or praying with a patient and you are giving your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole strength to that patient, the world seems to just fade away and only you, your patient, and God are present. As you “get out of the way”, God can use you as an “empty vessel”, by filling you with grace that flows from Him through you to your patient. It’s almost like you’re not there (as a matter of fact, he can’t really use you and fill you too easily if you are already filled too much with yourself).
Is not that what the priest does each and every time he offers the Holy Sacrifice at the mass?
He stands in for Christ as a “conduit” a “mediator” between God and his people. I soon realized my purpose
(No, it was not to see as many patients
and make as much money as possible!).
Each and every one of us has been baptized as
Priest, Prophet, and King!!!,
and I was beginning to know what I was born to be!!!.
Stretch your practice and your life.
Discover “ who you really are”!
You are going to live much longer than your title,
“Chiropractor”
Exercise the divine being that lives within you.
Jesus is calling you to be the
“King’s kid”
that you were meant to be.
He feels so strongly about it, he bet his life on it!
Peace
Now this time its for real and if you want to know how
you’re going to have to simply read on!
Have you done the seminar thing, spent a fortune on practice building, gimmicks, newsletters?
Still feel there might be something missing?
Good, there is hope!!!
The reason you feel something might be missing
is because probably there is!!!
You see most of us have bought the illusion that if we become good doctors, learn enough practice building techniques, tell enough people about our philosophy, our lives will be filled with “chiropractic Nirvana”, and we’ll live happily ever after. ( NOT!)
If you’re like me though, you might feel a tiny little knot in the pit of your stomach, and your Catholic roots might feel just a little bit separated from your professional life. You see I learned the Chiropractic philosophy really well. I listened to all the tapes, went to lots of lectures, read books, practiced on my friends, family, and basically anything that had a spine. My health care classes were so polished that you could wake me up in the middle of the night and I could recite a fresh and exciting workshop without skipping a beat.
Without sounding too bold, I was really good at this stuff,
but then it happened!
I had just finished, what in my opinion was my “pinnacle performance” in terms of a chiropractic lecture. The accolades were still hanging in the air. The last patient on his way out felt compelled to remind me once again:
“That was really a fantastic talk doc, nobody ever told me that before!”
After he left, I sat quietly in a now empty room thinking to myself, why do I still feel empty, why do I feel different this time?
Mentally I was on top of my game,
but there was a spiritual void lingering in my soul.
I thought to myself, “you know if I spent as much time, energy, and enthusiasm talking about God as I do about chiropractic, I could do so much more than just heal bodies.”
What normally would have been the average chiropractor’s
“dream day”,
only became empty and frustrating.
You see I didn’t know it, but my heart and my practice were divided. From my first day in practice, I tried to bring God into my work but I did not feel that the 2 were one.
On one hand there was the “chiropractor” that was enamored with the Chiropractic/ American dream who lived one way. Then, there was “the man” who knew all this was going to pass away one day.
Was I going to give Chiropractic the “flower of my youth” by teaching her philosophy and just quietly being a Catholic man in the background?
Was I really prepared in my heart of hearts to
stand before my maker on judgment day?
How many people did I bring to chiropractic and how many to the Lord?
I soon realized that this “wounded healer” needed to grow
in new directions and ask our Lord for his help.
Amazing how God really does prepare your heart for His work when you ask…
…meeting Mother Teresa.
One day, I was asked to go to the profession of one of Mother Teresa’s sisters’ by my mother. ( I didn’t even realize it but, I didn’t have an invitation!) I soon realized why she wanted me to go as we drove through the worst part of Harlem in New York City. I saw a police officer and asked him for directions because I was lost. His response was, “you sure are lost”, and advised me to get on the road and head on out of there as soon as possible! When we finally arrived, there literally was a “sea of people”. So many in fact that I realized that there was no chance of meeting Mother Teresa. After realizing this, I finished attending mass and decided to head out and get an early start back home, when all of a sudden the Mother Superior of the local house spotted me. She came over and began talking to me, and said,
“Would you like to meet Mother Teresa?”
I immediately gave a response
that to this day still causes me to cringe in embarrassment
I said “ well sure, if she’s not too busy “
Now, you have to imagine all the people trying to get her attention. They wanted her autograph, a touch, or a simple glance. She was all the way over on the other side of this huuuuuge hall, and I felt that there was no way that this woman could ever make it over to me before Christmas! However, this serene little house superior calmly made her way through the crowd, she bent over and whispered in Mother Teresa’s ear. I saw Mother Teresa look up and begin moving through the crowd right toward me! She extended her hand and put my hand in the hand of my bride-to-be and began to speak to us and instruct us (this in itself is a whole other story).
As her eyes pierced my soul, she spoke to me in a way that made me feel like we were the only people alive at that moment. When she finished speaking I asked her to bless my hands as I was a chiropractor.
She said that “I will bless them if you can agree to one condition,
every time you lay your hands on a patient
you see them as if they were Christ.”
Without realizing the magnitude of this request
I immediately responded,
“I will”.
When I returned to my office the following week my heart was excited with my new found energy, but reality soon began setting in as I found it difficult to cross over and to bring God to my patients.
(now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking full blast, bang em over the head type evangelical stuff here, I thought that I would start by perhaps interchanging “universal intelligence” with “God”
and see how that went for starters).
Well, the “reader’s digest” version of this was,
“It stunk!”
The patients started looking at me a little on the weird side and I felt like I was wearing an invisible sign with the word “quack” written all over it. (We have enough difficulty trying to enlighten and educate patients about Chiropractic yet alone God!) After all, a quack is nothing more than a fake, and I really wasn’t being me.
So, I thought to myself, I would just quietly pray over my patients as I work with them. This actually was a great grace for me.
Doc’s, I bet each and every one of you sense the brokeness within your patients. Those who can’t forgive, those with rage, those who struggle with depression, alcohol, infidelity, self righteousness, and the list goes on and on and on! You know as well as I do that this is where disease and illness really have their roots. The body is affected by the mind, and mind by the spirit!
How many of you have seen some of your patients posture bend as if they were carrying the “weight of the world on their shoulders”?
Or the patient that refuses to let go of their
“ self pity,” “anger,” or “unforgiveness;”
they almost never get well!
If you want to move to the next level of healing and blow the roof off all your expectations of a rewarding practice and life, start praying for your people!
I believe there are no coincidences in life and God sends exactly the kind of people that need to be in your practice! Not only for their welfare but for you as well!
Some of you may use the initials “PTC” in your practice. It stands for “present time consciousness”.( being present completely to the patient you are with) Well, I was beginning to learn a new technique called “PPG”, “practicing the presence of God”. It was a bit difficult in the beginning, kind of like introducing a whole new procedure, but once you got into the swing of it, it started to become routine.
This dramatically prepared me for
the ministerial practice that awaited me.
You see there is another slogan that we are taught in chiropractic,
“You can’t sell what you don’t own”, NYCC class of 1981.
Well you can’t talk about your relationship with God unless you actually have one( now please don’t feel that you need to be “canonized” before you try this, God takes even a mustard seed and makes use of it ! I am a perfect example!)
You get the kind of patient’s you are attracted to.
Very shortly by God’s grace I had an “ivory soap” practice. Remember the commercial for ivory, it’s 99.49 percent pure?
Well God made it easy for me because he knew that I was “Polish”.
Just about everybody that came through my door was Catholic.
Soon, I was taking care of the Dominicans, Josephites, the Ursulines, Diocesan priests, even a Bishop! It was real easy to talk about God to all those folks and I felt like my time had finally arrived,
“but I felt that there was more.”
You see we were talking and sharing, but that little ache in the pit of my stomach was still there. When you’re open, God will take care of everything and so he sent me a patient named Mary( changed the name thanks to HIPPA!.) She stood about 5 foot nothing and was about 87 pounds soaking wet. She drove about an hour to see me because she was Catholic, and she wanted a Catholic chiropractor. After a great exam, some philosophy, some sharing of our faith, and a fabulous adjustment, she looked at me with this big grin on her face, and she said
“Are you finished?”
Being a little curious I said,
“Is there something I missed?”
Smiling the whole time she said,
“I’m not leaving here until you pray over me.”
I said “Mary, I pray for my patients while I work on them.”
Mary said, “so you’re saying you prayed for me then?”
Doc: “that’s right.”
Mary: “ well what did you say?”
Doc: “What do you mean?”
Mary: “I mean what did you say in your prayer?”
(I was getting a bit embarrassed and nervous at this point, but this little old gal was being summoned by the Holy Spirit to push me out of my comfort zone (remember the chiropractic comfort zone?).
Doc: “well I kind of asked God to bless you and heal you.”
Mary: “kind of? Somebody told me that you pray.”
Doc: “yeah, but not out loud!”
Mary: “Why not?”
Doc: “I guess I never wanted anybody to feel uncomfortable.”
Mary: “Doc, I don’t know about anybody else but God does not make me feel uncomfortable.”
Doc: “Well Mary, how about if I pray over you next time since I am really getting back up with patients now”.
Mary: “Ok but, I want twice as much next time (LOL).
Now Mary was back and after her adjustment the next time she sat at the edge of the table and closed her eyes and said,
“I’m ready.”
I laid my hands on her shoulders and I asked the Holy Spirit to help me pray over this woman. I spoke softly for about a minute, but I definitely did not feel the “Red Sea part in the middle”. But, there was a nice quiet sense of peace in the middle of a hectic day.
Mary said, “see that wasn’t so bad.”
The next time Mary came in, she ended her visit in exactly the same way. I said, “again?”
So her response to me was, “do I only need one adjustment doc?”
The point was quite clear and little did I know I was learning all about this wonderful spiritual healing technique called prayer. (Sometimes a single prayer is a powerful tool, like the many times I have prayed with a patient that has lost a loved one, other times repetitive prayer may be indicated for a variety of reasons) Just as we chiropractors get to know our patient’s spines, the Holy Spirit teaches us about the ills of the spirit by ongoing discernment and prayer. Essentially, I would simply ask God to let me be and say, exactly what this patient needed to experience and hear, and then I would let God do the rest.
Docs, if you thought chiropractic healing was awesome, this blows everything you can imagine away. Soon patients just seem more receptive (Hmmm, I wonder if maybe I was just more receptive and maybe more at ease about being myself with my faith).
Patients began telling me that they got more out of their treatments emotionally and spiritually than when they spent an hour at their psychiatrist. It was not unusual to see patients with a hardened heart, have tears rolling down their eyes after a prayer or a hug. Broken marriages were being reconciled. The grip of unforgiveness being broken. Fallen away Catholics were coming back to the faith. All this being done in the quiet of the exam room, often times without even my staff knowing about it (you don’t really have to be loud about what you are doing, in fact I find the more subtle you are the more effective it is for your patients). Finally, that little ache in my stomach was lifting.
You see, I forgot to tell you something.
Mother Teresa she said something that haunted me and quite honestly alluded me until then. She said,
“You are not called to be like Christ, you are to be Christ! ”
To me it almost sounded blasphemous, but I finally knew what she was talking about. You see when you are either counseling or praying with a patient and you are giving your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole strength to that patient, the world seems to just fade away and only you, your patient, and God are present. As you “get out of the way”, God can use you as an “empty vessel”, by filling you with grace that flows from Him through you to your patient. It’s almost like you’re not there (as a matter of fact, he can’t really use you and fill you too easily if you are already filled too much with yourself).
Is not that what the priest does each and every time he offers the Holy Sacrifice at the mass?
He stands in for Christ as a “conduit” a “mediator” between God and his people. I soon realized my purpose
(No, it was not to see as many patients
and make as much money as possible!).
Each and every one of us has been baptized as
Priest, Prophet, and King!!!,
and I was beginning to know what I was born to be!!!.
Stretch your practice and your life.
Discover “ who you really are”!
You are going to live much longer than your title,
“Chiropractor”
Exercise the divine being that lives within you.
Jesus is calling you to be the
“King’s kid”
that you were meant to be.
He feels so strongly about it, he bet his life on it!
Peace
Kevin Kulik D.C
Share your story, your struggle, your dreams with us all. Even if you have an interesting article, link, a thought or a suggestion, we want to hear from you ! Please let us know if you would like your email address posted
as we are setting up a
“Virtual Catholic Chiropractic Community”
Share your story, your struggle, your dreams with us all. Even if you have an interesting article, link, a thought or a suggestion, we want to hear from you ! Please let us know if you would like your email address posted
as we are setting up a
“Virtual Catholic Chiropractic Community”
To have your story posted
Send them to dockulik@yahoo.com
Send them to dockulik@yahoo.com
(Please put AFCC in the subject of your email so it is not mistakenly deleted)
Click "Post a comment" below for your thoughts about this article *
*If you want to hear from other Catholic Chiropractors
posted by Dr Kevin Kulik | 1:45 PM
6 Comments:
Hello Dr. Kevin
I found your expression of faith in your newsletter very hearfelt and inspiring.
I am in the process of returning to my roots as a Catholic. I have been through many interesting "journey's" over the last 27 years as a chiropractor.
Your words have given me pause to consider purpose in a more up stream context.
I just joined the AFCC... I hope to have a chance to meet with others of like mind and spirit. I dont know what lay ahead but the sense of Christ in my daily life is becoming more apparent.
Sincerely
Matt Hammett drhamchiro@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Yes, please record my email address, would love to hear from some other Catholic chiropractors. Thanks
Matt Hammett DC
Trish Hammett FICPA
This has touch my heart and given me encouragment to be more as a Catholic chiropractor to my patients.
God bless your ministry.
God bless you for your story on Mother Teresa. It was pretty much right on.
Robert Hochfelder, D.C.
Hi Kevin
From Australia
I read you articile and rejoice with you about God's work through you! What an awesome work of the Lord. Talk about miracles in our midst. I will get to work on mine - soon/
Bro in Christ
Daniel Dahdah
Thanks Dr Kevin
Very powerful. Your stories remind me of where I came from.
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