Aug06
Posted on Aug 6 by Ruth Davis
Two years ago this week I was pulling out of Marika’s driveway in the RV with Laddy, heading to the California coast. The dream was to move to CA, find a house to rent, continue doing the same Mac training work and enjoy the climate and the weather as I built a new life. And maybe Marika would join me in a year or two. A friend recently reminded me that dreams are fluid. They are not frozen in time exactly as we originally imagine them. Our dreams are always shifting, changing, seeking their own level, like water. As you know, that original dream morphed and changed many times, and I discovered that I enjoyed the simpler, smaller, spontaneous life of living in my motorhome. I made trips back to Phoenix to visit family, clients, and adventure with Marika. Somewhere in those adventures, we rekindled our deep love and, in January, we celebrated and recommitted to our 25 year partnership. Which is why I’m still in Phoenix in the middle of a Very Hot Summer. Yes, it is partly...
Jul30
Posted on Jul 30 by Ruth Davis
“Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ unknown Nothing is impossible. An idea may seem challenging. Difficult. Hard to fathom. But it is not impossible. Often, what we believe is impossible is really someone else’s voice telling us we can’t be it, do it, have it. But what if, for one moment, we imagined that we could. What if, for one moment, we heard a different voice that says it might, in fact, be possible. Shifting our thoughts, trying on this new belief as possibility, changes everything. It says that YES, we could, YES, we might, YES, we can! “What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.” ~ Tony Robbins It is so easy to just say a thing is too hard, too bizarre, too ridiculous to even consider trying. But what if you did?...
Jul23
Posted on Jul 23 by Ruth Davis
I love stepping back from myself. It gives me perspective. It minimizes self-judgment and helps me see my patterns and habits more objectively. When I take a step back and imagine that I am talking to myself as if I am my own best friend, I am gentler, kinder and so much more forgiving with myself. And it is easier to see how my behavior may not really be serving me. I’m finding that, the more I become an observer of myself, the more flexible I become, the more willing I am to try new things and open to the unexpected. Several months ago, my coach and I were talking about the power of our thoughts and intentions, and she shared a Prayer for Unexpected Income with me. She said that, when we open ourselves to new money, that new money will come. So I tried it. I read the prayer, out loud, and envisioned checks arriving in my mailbox. And nothing happened. A few weeks ago I found the prayer again. I read it out loud again, several...
Jul16
Posted on Jul 16 by Ruth Davis
In Zen Buddhism, Beginner’s Mind refers to “having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.” (Wikipedia) Children are a perfect example of living in Beginner’s Mind. They approach every new experience with curiosity and wonder. They have no experience, no expectations. They just show up and try. As adults, even when we know we are learning something that we don’t know, or attempting to do something we’ve never done, we expect to immediately be good at it. Often, that expectation of perfection and competence butts up against the deeper knowing that we WON’T be immediately good at it, and so we don’t even make the effort. How often, as an adult, do you allow yourself to be in a position where you know you won’t be a master? Where you let yourself be taught, encouraged, and allowed to make mistakes? Where you give it your best without having to be perfect? Several years ago I took a...
Jul09
Posted on Jul 9 by Ruth Davis
It’s too quiet to think! This is what so many of my clients tell me when I ask them to sit in stillness. They are uncomfortable. Fidgety. There is nothing to distract them from the silence. Even with all of the scattered thoughts running through their minds, it becomes too quiet to think. And this is exactly where I am hoping they get. Because sometimes we need to just STOP THINKING. Sometimes we need to stop trying to figure things out, stop planning every moment and just BE with our feelings. BE with the void of thought. BE in that sacred space where our deeper knowing can begin speak to us. I remember one of the first times I sat in a group, practicing meditation. We were listening to a CD of a woman asking us to sit still and just notice everything we thought, felt, imagined, but not stay with any one thought. She wanted us to let our thoughts float past us, making room for whatever came next. And through it all, she wanted us to be...
Jul02
Posted on Jul 2 by Ruth Davis
“It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E. L. Doctorow said this about writing, but it’s really about anything in life. You have to trust that things will be revealed as you move forward toward a goal, that there will always be enough light to see what’s in front of you. But it takes so much courage to step into that unknown, that darkness, to move into that place of not knowing, fully aware that you have no idea what lies ahead. But you also know that, if you stay where you are, waiting for all of the information, you may never take a single step. Change happens with one next step in the direction of your desire. Just one, single, full-of-faith movement into the darkness. Maybe it is making a phone call for more information about a class, or saying hello to a person you’ve had a faraway crush on. Maybe it is sitting down at your keyboard and writing the first...
