Aug05
Posted on Aug 5 by Ruth Davis
After a gloriously relaxing week in the White Mountains of Arizona, playing Mexican train dominoes with friends, lunching out and sleeping in, Marika and I headed back to Phoenix early Friday morning. I left at 8:30 and she and Mabel stayed an hour longer to watch the birds in the trees. It’s been years since I’ve driven the route from the northeastern part of the state to Phoenix. They’ve widened it to two easy lanes in each direction, separated in many places by the changing Arizona landscape. It was like a new road, a new way home. Driving west along the 260, the sky above the Mogollon Rim was filled with going-to-be-storm clouds, fat and greying on the edges. The elevation was still above 6000 feet and I chugged up the steepest mountain passes, barely reaching 35mph as SUVs passed me going 65. Still, I was going faster than the semi-truck behind me. I drove through Payson, a small mountain town that is now a congestion of fast food and traffic lights and housing developments. But the Beeline...
Jul29
Posted on Jul 29 by Ruth Davis
Whenever I return from traveling, I give myself a day with nothing planned so that I can re-adjust to the time zone, take a nap if I need to, do laundry, and unpack my own self from the experience before jumping back into daily life. And so I’m spending this last week of the Heart Sparks Road Tour in the mountains of Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ, just relaxing, before heading down into the summer-hot Phoenix valley to begin a month of Mac training. I’ve been on the road for 110 days, passed through 3 time zones, 10 states and stayed in 26 different camping spots. After the last two weeks of hopscotching from Memphis, TN, to Alabama, then Tennessee again, through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, I am so glad to be in Arizona, knowing that I don’t have to drive anywhere for a whole week. Even though I only drove 2-3 hours each day, it seemed like a long trip because it was too hot and muggy to venture out for anything more than a quick round of...
Jul22
Posted on Jul 22 by Ruth Davis
A client, Joan, recently shared that she was having a rough week. She felt she wasn’t getting the “right things” done, and she felt alone in the work she had to do. Joan thought the roller coaster she was on was “normal” but she was hoping for a way to get off the ride. Another client, Annie, shared how, one week she was feeling very motivated and productive and on fire, and then the next week she had fallen into a deep, unsettling funk. And she had lost all sight of the importance of the work she was doing. Both women are involved in big projects. They are doing big work from their hearts. And yet, they had forgotten to acknowledge how hard they’d been working. No wonder they landed in a funk. We all move from high to low. It is as natural as the tides, ebbing and flowing. It is in this flux that we experience movement. We couldn’t possibly sustain always feeling high and we couldn’t possibly survive if we were always feeling the lows....
Jul15
Posted on Jul 15 by Ruth Davis
Sometimes we get stuck making a decision, whether it’s saying yes or no, we just can’t choose. We swirl around in a circle of doubt and then we force a choice and it usually doesn’t work out. Instead, consider this: if you are having trouble deciding, perhaps it’s because you aren’t ready to choose, or this may not really be what you want, or something else is in the way. Instead of charging forward just to get it over with, I invite you to explore the resistance. Ask yourself “why am I having so much trouble deciding? And then step back again, breathe and listen in. Maybe you don’t have everything you need to decide. Maybe it’s something you really don’t want to do, Maybe there’s something ELSE CALLING YOU, or a different way. Or maybe you really want to say No instead of yes. So many people don’t know how to say NO. So they say YES to everything. Because they don’t want to offend someone, or rock the boat, or make the wrong choice. If you...
Jul08
Posted on Jul 8 by Ruth Davis
This past week I’ve been reading and thinking about the meaning of freedom. Folks are talking about freedom of speech, of being able to live without working, freedom to do what they want, when they want. Circumstances aside, it seems to me that, our biggest need for freedom is from our negative thoughts and limiting beliefs. From the outside it may seem like I live the ultimate free life — I have wheels underneath me and can travel wherever I choose, I work for myself so I can set my own hours and rates, I don’t have children or elders who I need to take care of. It is just me and Laddy and what do I want to do with my life. And yet, I sometimes find myself struggling with my own self-defeating thoughts. I fall into worry about finances, I stress about generating new business. I fret about what I want to eat for dinner. And all of this negative mind chatter is anything but freedom. Last week, after mucking around in a week of worry,...
Jul01
Posted on Jul 1 by Ruth Davis
It is my last full week here in Asheville, NC. Next Wednesday I begin the journey westward. And so it is a balancing of staying present and planning forward, without getting too far ahead of myself. I am consciously choosing to get my feet in the river every day, to connect with the energy of the moving water, to do my modified sun salutations and to practice my river walking skills. Walking in the river is not like walking on pavement, or even sand. The bottom is uneven. There are hidden rocks, and they are slippery with slimy moss. And so you have to take a small, sturdy step and then pause, plant your foot and make sure you are stable. Then you can step your other foot to find another secure landing. River walking is slow. Purposeful. You have to be fully present. I wear sturdy water shoes. I even bought a new pair, since I bought my old ones when I moved to the CA beach, almost 3 years ago. My new Keen sandals, are purple....
