Dec27
Posted on Dec 27 by Ruth Davis
I can’t believe it’s the last Monday in 2010. It’s been quite a year for me! Really high highs and incredibly low lows. And everything in between. So often, if we’ve had a loss in our life ( a loved one, a job, a relationship, etc) we say it’s been a bad year. Yes, definitely, it’s been hard, but every moment hasn’t been full of grief. We couldn’t survive if it were. In the midst of all of the hard stuff there are always moments of hope, of joy, of gratitude. This last week of the year is an especially opportune time to reflect on ALL of the moments that have made up this year. It’s easy to list all of the BIG stuff that has happened to us, for us, this year. But what else has happened? What else have you done? What are you proud of? What have you accomplished? Taking the time to acknowledge our lives can be so empowering. I invite you to find a quiet place and take out a piece of paper. List...
Dec06
Posted on Dec 6 by Ruth Davis
Today’s post is written by Anna Garrett, President and Founder of the National Association for Women in Healthcare (NAWHC). Anna is passionate about teaching women who work in health care the importance of caring for themselves while caring for others. If you are ready to put yourself back on your to-do list, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription to Thriving in Health Care at http://www.nawhc.com. The holiday season is here again! And as beautiful and magical as the holiday season ought to be, it is often an invitation to have a super-sized helping of stress. We shop… we wrap… we entertain (and are entertained)… we eat, we drink, we are merry. We deal with our nutty relatives! At this time of the year, most of us tend to prioritize everything EXCEPT ourselves. And guess who ends up not having any fun? That’s right… you (and me). But the holidays are MEANT to be enjoyed! And a little conscious decision-making can help turn that frazzled feeling right around! Here’s what to do BEFORE you turn into the Grinch:...
Oct04
Posted on Oct 4 by Ruth Davis
We take about 28,000 breaths a day, inhaling and exhaling, bringing oxygen into our bodies, and releasing toxins and waste we don’t need. Most of us are shallow breathers. We breathe high into our chests, not deep into the lower lobes of our lungs. And yet breathing into our lower lobes activates the calming receptors that reside there. Breathing into our lower lungs stimulates the lymphatic system so waste products can be efficiently carried from the body. Breathing into the lower lobes allows the rib cage to be elastic and open. This deep, whole lung breathing, is also called belly breathing because we can see our bellies rise when we fill our lower lobes with air. Belly breathing is not hard to do. It requires no special equipment. It just takes practice. The Practice: Find a comfortable position, either standing, sitting or lying down. Breathe in deeply through your nose. Breathing through your nose is the best way to activate the lower lung receptors. Inhale deeply and slowly, pulling your breath into your belly. You might want to place...
Aug16
Posted on Aug 16 by Ruth Davis
I have been crying a lot lately. But that’s not why I’m writing this. I’m writing this because, for years, I didn’t cry. Like most of us, I’ve had sorrow and trauma in my past. But instead of feeling it, sharing it and releasing it, I buried it. I tucked my sadness and grief deep and away, convinced that, if I didn’t feel it, it would disappear. My biggest fear was that, if I started to cry, to FEEL my sadness, that I would never stop. And so I denied it, avoided it, numbed myself with pot to prevent myself from feeling any kind of vulnerability. And if something happened in my life that did poke at my vulnerability, I quickly busied myself to avoid confronting any deep feelings. This “worked” for a long time. And then it didn’t work at all. I was always agitated. Crabby. Needy. I wasn’t allowing my body to ebb and flow through ALL of my emotions. Just like the body needs to laugh and sleep and breathe clean air, the body needs to...
Jul26
Posted on Jul 26 by Ruth Davis
We all love when magic happens. Magic is effortless. Surprising. Bigger than our expectations. Yet how often are we willing to make room for magic to happen? I am finding that, when I am willing to let go and create some space (through breathing, being in nature, just being still) magic really does happen and, out of nowhere, a brilliant new idea appears. This always happens when I am not trying to think of a great new idea but, instead, it is after I have released an open-ended question to the Universe. EXAMPLE: I recently created some very cool, fun, easy-to-follow video training tutorials for Mac users. My existing client base has loved them, purchased them, encouraged their friends to try them too. (you can try them for free at www.mac2school.com) And so I wondered, how can I reach a wider audience of primed and ready Mac users? The same afternoon that I posed this question, a friend in CA emailed me, asking if I was still planning to visit in September. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, came the...
Jul05
Posted on Jul 5 by Ruth Davis
Yesterday was the 4th of July here, a time, once again, to celebrate our freedom as Americans. I could go on about what freedom means, but we all have our own thoughts about it. So, instead, I’d like to invite you to play with some Free Writing. Writing is a wonderful way to access what is in your heart. Your hands are, in fact, an extension of your heart. Free writing means just writing…not editing, not even thinking, just following a stream of consciousness without judgment. It doesn’t have to be grammatically correct, you don’t even have to write complete sentences. And no one is checking your spelling! The idea is to just write and see where your words take you. If you find yourself correcting spelling as you write, or judging what you’ve written, consider this: the writer in you uses a very different part of your brain than the editor. I like to think of them as two beings doing two very different jobs. Both are important but they cannot work together in the same room at...
