An area of my life that I constantly make efforts to improve in is in the arena of clear and authentic communication.
With 2 teenagers in my house, I am learning how to convey information in the clearest most succinct way possible. Those of you who work with or are a caregiver in any capacity with teenagers know this! Take too much time or have too much of your own agenda and you have lost them!
My favorite way to communicate is through the spoken word. I think this has come the most naturally to me. It is one of the reasons I have so enjoyed working in the field of healthcare for the last 30 years.
Writing is another form of communication that I would have never have predicted would be a style that I would love. Over time and much perseverance, I have indeed come to love it! Robyn Scherr and I recently co-wrote an article for the ABMP called Touch Matters. In this article we write about how problematic the absence of attuned touch is in our everyday life is, the evidence of the benefits of healthy compassionate touch and we look at how we can be part of the solution with a call to action! I would really appreciate hearing what you think of this article and any ideas or responses that the article prompted within you.
The process of writing this article brought a lot of clarity to the both of us. So much so that we changed the name of our platform from Touch Matters to Touch Advocates. We feel that this more accurately reflects our purpose.
Recently I have been working with a client who sustained significant soft tissue damage from a car accident that broke his seat over 10 years ago! I can only imagine the forces that went through his body. He had no broken bones and no internal bleeding, thankfully. However, afterward he had a hard time digesting food and for quite while was vomiting daily. The doctors could find no reason for it. Through CST, he no longer has body spasms that keep him awake at night and no more vomiting and reflux. This really brought home to me the significance of soft tissue damage and the profound effect this can have on the smooth functioning of all the different systems of our body. It is also important for the body to have time to integrate significant changes we experience in our life.
Many of us pick ourselves up from these kinds of events, brush ourselves down and get right back to work and daily life as if nothing had happened. It is generally not what our body is asking for! I know that I have had to learn and am still learning how to relax and be more playful.
In fact, the world around me seems to be getting more and more serious and very task orientated. For me, that approach stifles my creativity and well-being. I have some great role models in my life who have helped me discover this more playful side of myself. Two wonderful colleagues of mine will be holding workshops on Rediscovering Play that I highly recommend to anybody who identifies with what I just shared. I hope you get to spend some time with my wonderful friends Deb Jewett and Joel Ying.
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