Dr. Mike Davison's Live Your Big Picture!

Thoughts, news and reviews by Dr. Mike Davison about connecting more fully with your life's purpose.

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Location: Arlington Heights, Illinois, United States

I am Mike Davison and I am the founder of PartnersInPurpose.com. My company’s mission is to assist individuals and organizations to connect with their purpose and maximize their resources to optimize success. I am a Clinical Psychologist, organizational consultant and peak performance coach. I believe that everyone has a purpose in life. It is when people are fully connected with their purpose and are actively living it with a spirit of service and contribution that they experience the greatest sense of fulfillment. I live in the Chicagoland area with my wife of 16 years and our three amazing children.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Check out the month of mindfulness and meditation

This time of the year can be so joyful and can at times be so stressful. That is why I am dedicating the next month to putting daily entries on my other blog http://www.drmikedavison.com on mindfulness and meditation. Check it out!

Here is a brief message on stress you will NOT find on my www.drmikedavison.com blog.

Stress, stress, and more stress:

There are more definitions of stress than you can shake a stick at. But what we particularly targeting when we’re talking about the stress that causes disease and chronic pain is “the stress that produces too much adrenaline too much of the time”. I like this definition, because it fits me to a “t”.

I used to work in a high-adrenaline job. I mean, every second you had to be on guard for a disaster. When your mind is in that kind of gear, your body responds almost as if in an emergency state that it can’t get out of. Our bodies produce adrenaline like crazy. That lovely hormone, in small doses, gives color and joy to life. In an over-dosed state, however, the rest of our hormones battle to stabilize – some of them increase and wreak havoc with our bodies.

When you’re living in a constant “flight or fight” manner, you end up becoming excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable. Naturally, these emotions diminish our abilities to be productive and focused. They especially interfere with developing and maintaining quality relationships (one of the best remedies for a stressful life!).

To be most productive, our day-by-day lives require a calm, focused, sensitive approach to living. You may have heard it said that being in the “here and now” is one of the quickest ways to alleviate stress and lower adrenaline levels. When we’re unable to control our flight or fight response – when the adrenaline is high all day long, we’re headed to disease and burnout fast. If we can focus on one thing at a time and breathe normally and naturally while completing that task, we lower our stress levels almost immediately.

It takes practice – living in the moment. But if you can accomplish just five minutes a day of calm focus on only one task at a time, you will begin to feel the heavy stresses of life dissolving like the morning dew. You’re not ignoring reality. You know you will take time to focus on each problem and situation separately. But for this moment, all you’re doing is one thing.

You will find yourself relaxing, your shoulders less tense, your back and leg muscles loosening. Enjoy the feeling of being at peace with yourself and focus on each little step of your present activity. Allow no thought of what you have to do later to creep in to this sacred time.

With practice, you can free your mind and body of anxiety and stress. Start with a few minutes a day, and then increase it to half an hour. The difference in your ability to enjoy life will motivate you to keep up this simple technique. You’ll find yourself accomplishing more and worrying less!

Many Blessings,
Dr. Mike Davison

“Your Destiny Doctor”
mike@PartnersInPurpose.com

P.S. Don't forget about my month long daily series on mindfulness and mediation on my blog at - www.drmikedavison.com

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Count Your Blessings!

As we enter the holiday season, I hope all of you
are prospering and pleased with the quality of your life.

I know some of you continue to struggle and I want
to invite all of you to make a radical shift in the way you
go about doing what you do.

Give yourself the gift of personal development.

Remember, personal development is never truly personal.

The happy you are the more you impact others positively.

The more grateful you are, the more generous you will be.

When you go after your dreams, you are giving others a model
of inspiration to follow.

I do believe that personal development is never simply about you.

I recently developed a quick inventory to help you assess your quality of life. If you would like a copy, please e-mail me and I will send you a copy.

Remember there are two parts of Thanksgiving. Thanks and Giving.

Thanks…

If you express gratitude and thanks for what you have it will always be enough.

Giving…

The more you are giving and contributing, the more fully alive you will feel.

Thank You!

One additional gift I would like you to receive is at my friend Frank Gasiorowski's website.

Check out the free audios on his site at:

http://90daygoals.com/media.php

While your there, accept the gift of his newsletter. When you sign up you will receive his 90 Day Goals "7 Step Program" "How I Hit My BIGGEST Goals in 90 Days!"

With Deep Gratitude,

Dr. Mike Davison
www.PartnersInPurpose.com
mike@PartnersInPurpose.com

P.S. Remember to take time to count your many blessings. It is truly the most rapid pathway to increasing your expereince of personal peace.

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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving Week

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Let us rise up and be thankful, for
if we didn’t learn a lot today, at
least we learned a little, and if
we didn’t learn a little, at least
we didn’t get sick, and if we
got sick, at least we didn’t die;
so, let us all be thankful.
-Buddha

I don’t know if your experience
in life has been the same as mine,
but things don’t always do the way
I want them to. Life inevitably has
it’s ups and downs. Challenges
come my way from time-to-time.
I have not yet figured out a way to
live an effortless and problem free
life. However, I have taped into the
next best thing. The next best thing
for me is living in gratitude. To
quote the popular saying, having
an attitude of gratitude. I believe
the greatest payer we can pray
is one of deep gratitude.

In my work as a Clinical Psychologist,
I have seen many depressed individuals
over the years. While I am not suggesting
this is a complete conceptualization of
depression, but folks who are depressed
have difficulty access feelings of gratitude.
This perspective is biased toward all that
is wrong and all they do not have. This
does not mean that depressed people
are making up ‘negative’ things, but I
am suggesting that they are likely to
filter out that which they can be grateful
for. I am not exactly suggesting positive
thinking. I am suggesting more of what
I call inclusive thinking. That is
acknowledging it all. The good, the
bad, and the ugly.

There is always something to be grateful
for. It may be things. People. Health.
A stable job. The list goes on and on.
Remember, I am not suggesting that
you deny the challenges. However,
don’t deny the ‘good stuff’ either.

I believe that having a deep spirit of
gratitude is contagious. It somehow
seems to give others permission to
stop and take notice for that which
they can be grateful for. Look for
opportunities to cultivate gratitude.
Keep a gratitude journal. Say prays
of gratitude. Write a letter of thanks
to someone who has positively impacted
you. Don’t miss an opportunity to say
words of appreciation and gratitude to
people in your life.

While the idea of expressing gratitude
or keeping a gratitude journal may
seem overly simplistic. I must tell
you - it works! I have a knowing from
my own experiences. I also know that
individuals who have kept a gratitude
journal for as brief as 6 weeks have
been studied and have been shown
to have a greater sense of subjective
well-being and also had increases in
immune system function.

Thanks for reading this weeks message.
I would be grateful if you considered practicing
the following daily exercises for the next week.
May it a week of gratitude and giving thanks!

7 Daily Practices:

Day one: Read this beautiful prayer from
Marianne Williamson that amplifies the
importance of gratitude and being clear
about what impact you want to have on
the world, and write your reflections in
your journal.

A New Day

Dear God,
Thank you for this new day, its beauty and its light.
Thank You for my chance to begin again.
Free me from the limitations of yesterday.
Today I am reborn.
May I become more fully a reflection of Your radiance.
Give me strength and compassion and courage and wisdom.
Show me the light in myself and others.
May I recognize the good that is available everywhere.
May I be, this day, an instrument of love and healing.
Lead me into gentle pastures.
Give me deep peace that I might serve You most deeply.

Amen.
Marianne Williamson from ‘Illuminata’.

Day two: Take at least 10 minutes to close
your eyes, quiet yourself and recollect
experiences over the past several months
when people were kind to you, you had
moments of deep appreciation for others,
you experienced a deep sense of joy and
connection with others. Imagine or
recollect these memories of gratitude
using all of your senses. Specifically
try to bring in what you saw, emotionally
felt, physically felt, heard, thought,
smelled or tasted. Visualizing past
experiences allows us to re-experience
them. Flood your mind, body and
consciousness with gratitude.

Day three: Write in a journal today for
10 minutes without stopping. Use the
statement, today I am grateful for…

Day four: Repeat the journaling exercise
from yesterday. Remember, in life what
ever you focus on you attract. A gratitude
journal is a powerful way of saturating
your consciousness with thoughts of
gratitude, which attracts more of what
you are grateful for into your life.

Day five: Tell at least one person you
are grateful for them today. Be
extremely specific for what and why
you are grateful for and why you are
blessed to have them in your life.

Day six: Write a letter to someone
who has had a positive impact on your
life. Express a heart felt appreciation
to this person. Be specific about what
they did that had a positive impact on
you. Be specific about the lasting
impact their generosity and kindness
had on your life.

Day seven: Repeat the visualization
exercise from day two. This time go
back as far in your life as you can to
recollect people, things, experiences,
occasions and accomplishments you
are grateful for. Allow yourself to fully
re-experience multiple vivid memories
of gratitude.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Dr. Mike Davison
Your Destiny Doctor
mike@PartnersInPurpose.com

P.S. Have you considered hiring a personal coach?

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Friday, November 09, 2007

Giving Thanks...

I know I am a bit early with this, but I could not help myself.

Maybe Thankfulness is for anytime...

The Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving fled religious persecution in Europe to seek a better life in America. The Thanksgiving holiday was established to provide a national day of thanksgiving for all Americans.

Even if you follow no particular religion, however, Thanksgiving is a good time to count our blessings.

Whatever else you do on Thanksgiving, make it a time to say thank you to the people in your life who matter most and, if possible, to spend time in their company.
Life is short, it is the moments that count most, and many of the best moments in life are those spent with friends and family.

If distance or circumstances prevent you from spending Thanksgiving with some of the people you love, call, email, send a card or write them a letter.

If you don't already, maybe this Thanksgiving you can continue to give thanks and express gratitude by making it a daily practice- whether it be in the form of a prayer, meditation or just a simple pause and reflection at some point in your day- everyday!

Until next time...

To your Mind, Body & Spirit ~

Many Blessings,

Dr. Mike Davison
Your Destiny Doctor

P.S. Do you have a family member, friend or collegue that would be interested and/or might benefit from our Newsletter or Blog? If so, please feel free to guide them on over! -http://www.PartnersInPurpose.com/

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Friday, November 02, 2007

Got Integrity?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend

I want to give you a gift to help you cultivate integrity.

My gift to you is an audio clip on this very topic.

Integrity is the one virtue that can make all the difference in life.

Check out the audio at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/todaysguest/2007/10/30/Build-your-spiritual-muscles

Your Destiny Doctor,

Dr. Mike Davison

P.S. If you are interested in personal coach to help accelerate your forward movement, simply contact me at mike@PartnersInPurpose.com or 847 490-7689

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