Clarity Holistic Health
September 2020
September 2020
After a partial summer break, we are back with our Daily Clarity page! It still seems like summertime here in the desert southwest with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees. We are looking forward to cooler weather which usually arrives in October.
September typically means that kids are back to school and college, but of course everything looks a bit different this year with many students, parents, grandparents, and teachers learning the details of digital learning.
Sending words of encouragement to all! Remember to breathe! This is truly a time of great adjustment. Whether we want to or not, we are learning patience and flexibility. May you find inspiration in our daily notes.
Photo By: L. Gordon
Location: Kamloops, British Columbia
September 1, 2020
Change Is Everywhere
September 1, 2020
Change Is Everywhere
This use to be my office located in Mesa, Arizona where I met with clients. Even before the pandemic arrived, I began to encounter more and more individuals who preferred phone or online sessions, mostly because they lived out of the area. I missed having clients experience the tranquil office setting located in a holistic healing center, but gradually I grew more comfortable with the changing landscape of healthcare.
Then Covid-19 changed healthcare options for so many and tele-health became a common phrase and option for keeping up with physical and mental healthcare.
My home office has many of the same furnishings, but it now has two retrievers who happily nap or occasionally bark at the delivery drivers they see from the window. Clients enjoy meeting Maggie and Daisy and hearing about their latest antics as well.
Today, I invite you to reflect on the changes that have occurred in your life over the past few months. Have there been positive changes amidst the global confusion? Take time to think about those changes that have brought unexpected good into your life. There have been many challenges, but if we stop to examine all aspects, we may just find some interesting changes that have brought increased love and light into our world.
September 2, 2020
Stop - Listen - Learn
September 2, 2020
Stop - Listen - Learn
Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, discussed the positive action of pro-active listening in his best-selling book. Dr. Covey lists Habit 5 as, "Seek first to understand, then be understood."
Many of us do more talking than we do listening and when we do listen, we often rapidly jump to conclusions. We hear something that sounds familiar to a past experience and our mind jumps quickly to a thought, opinion or conclusion before we have even heard the entire sentence or sentences.
Today, take time to reflect upon your listening habits. Do you take time to carefully consider more than one point of view? Take time to slow down as you are talking and listening to others. Stop. Listen. Learn. There is so much that we may be missing out on if we jump to conclusions. Ask questions. Clarify and re-clarify.
"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply."
- Dr. Stephen R. Covey
September 3, 2020
Happiness and Hugs
September 3, 2020
Happiness and Hugs
Today, you are encouraged to reflect on what your daily life really looks like. Pretend you are viewing your life from outside yourself. Do you have hugs and happiness in your daily life? If not, is this something you want to change? You can change what you do not like about your life.
Read that again. You CAN change what you do not like about your life. It will take time and probably some significant sacrifice. It will take courage to step into the unknown and rebuild a different life. It may get terribly uncomfortable, but it may usher in the hugs and happiness you want more of.
Clients often say, "I don't know where to start. I am scared. What if I fail?" Yes. Your efforts may not go smoothly. Your goals may take longer than you ever dreamed, but if you never try - you truly will not know how different your life could be. Only you can make the decision to change - to try new things. If you stay in the same rut, it is not likely that a magic fairy will swoop down and rescue you. But YOU - can rescue YOU - if that is what you want to happen.
Be your own best friend. Be an advocate for yourself.
That old saying, "one step at a time" is a good place to start. Not making a choice to change things is also a choice. Be willing to acknowledge that. "NO choice - IS a choice." When you are ready - step out of your comfort zone. Step out.
September 4, 2020
The Steps of Your Life
September 4, 2020
The Steps of Your Life
The picture above was taken a few years ago when I had the opportunity to visit Dublin, Ireland. This is a close-up of street stones at Dublin Castle which was founded in 1204 and largely completed by 1230. There were so many times during my trip that brought deep reflection and this photo signifies one of them.
I stopped and stared at the stones which were uneven and difficult to walk on at times. I thought about the many generations of men, women and children who had also walked on these stones. I tried to imagine what life was like here so very long ago and then compared it to the current day.
These stones will most likely be there forever, but you and I - we are here on earth physically, for a relatively short time. When we are young, we can't wait to grow up, drive a car, move out our parent's house and be on our own. The adult world ushers in new wonders and new challenges depending on the path we take.
Today, reflect upon the current path you are on. How do you feel being on this path? Do you need to embark on a new one? How can you improve the path you are on if you want to stay on it? How do you get on a new path if that is your goal?
Planning is part of the process to reaching a goal. While most of us know this and it isn't earth shattering news, most of us get stuck now and then. We get stuck gradually and stay there until something sparks a desire for change - for something different.
What is nudging you? Listen to the inner stirrings and have courage to explore the world that is perhaps on a new path.
"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."
- Rumi
Inspiration for the Weekend
Inspiration for the Weekend
"Possibilities in life are endless; we are all surrounded by them.
But a negative mind fails to see them, because it is incapable of looking beyond its present obstacles."
- Edmond Mbiaka
Be Who You Are
Let the true spirit of who you are shine through in all that you do.
Let your hopes and dreams always guide you in the direction that you definitely believe in.
Let the love that is within your heart never stop being the most important and beautiful part of your life. Travel through time not as one alone, but as one among the many; reach out to those who need your gentle spirit and caring ways. Make your passage through time an endless journey of love."
- Deanna Beisser
"Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you're doing."
- Sharon Salzberg
Tuesday
September 8, 2020
Tuesday
September 8, 2020
WORD FOR THE DAY
A U T H E N T I C I T Y
Be you.
All of you.
Be real.
Be authentic.
Be respectful - but speak your truth.
It will take practice - like learning to ride a bike.
What may feel uncomfortable today,
will become an automatic habit with consistent practice.
Keep at it.
TIME
Wednesday
September 9, 2020
TIME
Wednesday
September 9, 2020
Today - take a few minutes to reflect on how you use the 24 hours you have each day. Do you make time for daily self-care? Do you want to make time for different activities? New activities?
Consider the following:
Baking
Biking
Crafting
Dancing
Drawing
Exercising
Gardening
Hiking
Jogging
Knitting
Meditating
Painting
Reading
Remodeling
Sewing
Singing
Traveling
Volunteering
Make a commitment to add a specific type of positive self-care activity to your daily routine. Set a goal. Make it a priority. Create a calendar/checklist. This is important. Draw it or design and print it. Post it somewhere that is highly visible to you - each and every day. Place it by the refrigerator, bathroom mirror, coffee pot or by your work desk. Visual checklists truly help us stay on track.
Commit to adding at least one new self-care habit to your daily routine for a one month period. Go for it! Stick to it! You can do this! You are creating a new habit, that over time, with consistent practice, will greatly benefit your overall health and well-being. Have fun with this and let us know how you are doing as well!
Thursday
September 10, 2020
Thursday
September 10, 2020
CLARITY TIP FOR THE DAY
You know this one ...
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. For the fun of it, throw some strawberries in there too!
"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us."
- John Dryden
Inspiration For The Weekend
Inspiration For The Weekend
The weekend is around the corner, but first there is Friday, September 11, 2020. A day of memories that forever changed so many of us. Today, we remember all who lost their lives in the tragedy of 9/11. We remember families, friends, colleagues and first responders.
"Wisdom means to choose now what will make sense later.
I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am
and where I want to be, to inspire me and not terrify me."
and where I want to be, to inspire me and not terrify me."
- Tracee Ellis Ross
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Only in the darkness can you see the stars."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday - September 14, 2020
"It is never too late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot
Tuesday - September 15, 2020
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."
- Albert Einstein
Wednesday - September 16, 2020
"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."
- C. S. Lewis
Thursday - September 17, 2020
"Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink the wild air."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Friday - September 18, 2020
"Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace."
- Author Unknown
Saturday - September 19, 2020
"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition . . . what you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."
- Alan Alda
Sunday - September 20, 2020
"The whole idea of compassion . . . is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another and all involved in one another."
- Thomas Merton
Monday - September 21, 2020
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on."
- Shakespeare
Tuesday - September 22, 2020
"The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
- Nelson Mandela
Wednesday - September 23, 2020
"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thursday - September 24, 2020
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
- Francis of Assisi
Friday - September 25, 2020
"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."
- Joseph Campbell
Saturday - September 26, 2020
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Sunday - September 27, 2020
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world."
- Robin Williams
Monday - September 28, 2020
"From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life."
- Arthur Ashe
Tuesday - September 29, 2020
"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."
- Warren Buffett
Wednesday - September 30, 2020
"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith."
- Steve Jobs