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Writer's picture©Dr. Phyllis SHU Hubbard

Making Health How We Work

Updated: Oct 17




To those of you with your years of service still ahead, the challenge is yours. Stop doubting yourselves. Have the courage to make up your minds and hold your decisions. Refuse to be BOUGHT for a nickel, or a million dollars, or a job! ☥ Mary McLeod Bethune ☥


Yeah, yeah ... I promise, I'll do better, but I gotta get through this project at work. Whenever I hear these responses from busy working professionals, I respond by asserting the need to make health how we work as well as share the many consequences of not giving our bodies the energy and resources that it needs to get us through the "project." And ... there seems to be an unlimited amount of "projects" that keep us from actively engaging in self-care. We cannot wait until we believe that we’ll have time to think about health. When I talk about health, I’m not just focused on eating our veggies and exercising, although those are very important elements of our wellness routine. An empowered professional must embody courage, honesty, integrity, benevolence and competence in the midst of any environment including unexpected challenges or chaos. In order to cultivate these qualities, we must have a healthy, focused mindbalanced emotions. Making health how we work means that health is the foundation of our work. When we make health how we work:

☥ our professional conversations are efficient, productive and transformative;

☥ our ideas are innovative;

☥ our energy level is high and vibrant; and,

☥ the work that we produce serves the highest good.



Each person comes into this world with a specific destiny–[they have] something to fulfill, some message has to be delivered, some work has to be completed. You are not here accidentally–you are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind you. The whole intends to do something through you. ॐ Osho ॐ



Making health how we work requires a daily commitment to active engagement in self-care as the approach that we take to:

☥ Communicating with loved ones, colleagues and associates

☥ Honing our skills and solving problems

☥ Leveling up our ability to be creative ☥ innovative

☥ Crisis response and processing trauma



There are many aspects to success; material wealth is only one component ... But success also includes good health, energy and enthusiasm for life, fulfilling relationships, creative freedom, emotional and psychological stability, a sense of well-being, and peace of mind.           ॐ Deepak Chopra


Pensive Black woman


If you focus on success, you’ll have stress. But if you pursue excellence, success will be guaranteed.        ॐ Deepak Chopra


Here's what happens when we don't make health how we work:

☥ We neglect self-care because we think that we are too busy

☥ We answer text messages and emails even when on vacation, taking a sick day or

other PTO (Paid Time Off)

☥ We constantly work late or don't have time for hobbies

☥ We fight through competition, sabotage and ego games

☥ We adopt or endure passive-aggressive behavior

☥ We struggle with cultivating or regaining trust

☥ We feel misunderstood no matter how often we explain ourselves

☥ Our efforts are not appreciated or are overlooked

☥ We feel stuck or pigeon-holed in a particular position

☥ We experience bouts of anxiety, sadness and/or depression

☥ We experience chronic headaches or recurring colds

☥ We develop health issues that appear to spring up without warning

☥ We gain weight or experience bouts of shortness of breath

☥ We attempt to hide from our pain through overcompensation or indulgence in:

☥ Alcohol and/or drugs

☥ Constant use of pain medication

☥ Promiscuity or extra marital affairs

☥ Pornography

☥ Unproductive distractions that increase our level of stress, i.e., excessive time on

social media


If we struggle with any of the issues listed above, how do we get from where we are to where we want to be? Because these issues are generally driven by unconscious emotional addictions that have developed as a coping mechanism over time, we need to be gentle with ourselves and patient with the process of healing. That said, we do need to take action, and we will need to pull up our will to push through the inner saboteur who will certainly cry "but I don't feel like it." This can often feel like doing a pushup for the first time after gaining excess weight. If we can find a way to hold a vision for what we want to accomplish, we can use that vision to help us push through the initial resistance. We achieve self-mastery through consistent practice.



It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow.          ☥ Ralph Ellison ☥




In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.         ☯ Laozi ☯


Work desk with healthy food and products from www.phyllishubbard.com/shop


Making Health How We Work ☥ Sustainability Resources

This website is rich in resources that are specifically designed to help us make health how we work. However, it can be challenging to know where to start in the process. With your busy schedules in mind, I have organized some of these resources into groups of flyers that you can download, share and use to sustain your journey. I highly recommend surrounding yourself with sustainability resources as a counterstrategy to the constant assault on our psyche through the news and multimedia. Examples can include:

☥ Posting the flyers at your desk at work

☥ Placing the flyers in strategic locations at home (i.e. refrigerator, garage door, etc.)

☥ Keeping a stock of affirmative cards in your office to use and share as icebreaker

activities at work, to mentor colleagues, etc.

☥ Setting alarms on your phone or notifications in your calendar to watch at least one of

the videos listed below

☥  Ordering and downloading The Chakra Emotions Energy Wisdom Quick Start Toolkit to

help you identify and heal feelings as they arise


Listed below the groups of flyers are groups of video links that you can watch at any time to hone your skills and practice self-mastery. Please share these resources with family, friends, colleagues and associates to prevent the disenfranchisement of wellness information to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People. More than 90% of the resources listed below are completely free. A few of the resources, such as the interactive workbooks, quick start guides and video courses and Kamitology products are available for purchase. The video courses can also be rented. Please consider purchasing and gifting those resources to leaders in community ☥ nonprofit organizations ☥ people you know who are working hard and neglecting self-care. These people will not take the time to engage in self-care without loving intervention or an illness. Be the loving intervention for these people in your life.





The Universe is no place for Perfection and in the eyes of the Great Spirit, Perfection is as bad as Evil. Once a race has reached Ultimate Perfection it automatically loses its purpose - like a runner who stops when [they have] reached [their] goal as there is no purpose in continuing.                        ☥ Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa



When I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.                      ☥ Michelle Obama ☥


Multicultural healthy leaders



To make the right choices in life, you have to get in touch with your soul. To do this, you need to experience solitude, which most people are afraid of, because in the silence you hear the truth and know the solutions.         ॐ Deepak Chopra



Self-Awareness Flyers


Black man meditating in a chair



Power doesn’t have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it.                  ☥ Ralph Ellison ☥


Black women being healthy at work







The price for freedom may be high, but the price that we pay for being imprisoned and cut off from the very root of our being is even higher.                  ☥ Queen Afua ☥


Black men being healthy at work


The development of personal awareness is the only thing the human person can control, and once we understand that, a lot of the appendages fall away.                               ॐ Maya Tiwari ॐ




When I discover who I am, I'll be free.          ☥ Ralph Ellison ☥


Black woman with long braids







I don’t allow anonymous people to give me a sense of my worth.           ☥ Ralph Ellison ☥




Here is the problem with how many people approach the question of purpose: Many are looking outside of themselves for their purpose, destiny, or meaning in life. The very key to knowing your purpose is discovering and celebrating your personal identity. ☥ TD Jakes ☥




Black woman giving a presentations and practicing meditation



Most people don't want the responsibility of being a leader, but let me tell you the consequences of being a follower. As a follower, you just go along with whatever ... Do you know how many adjustments you have to make as a follower?          ☥ Steve Harvey ☥




You have to plan and cultivate good health. You have to commit to good health. You have to live good health because it comes from the inside out. It comes from what you bring to your life: positive, empowering thoughts, prayers and affirmations, uplifting company, and high-quality, life-giving foods. To have excellent health you must invest time and energy into the transformation of your Sacred Body Temple. And once you’ve acquired excellent health, you must maintain it vigilantly. That’s the true divine challenge—one that you can and must meet.       ☥ Queen Afua ☥


Black fireman and Indian yoga practitioner


You can’t give what you don’t have. You have to keep your own self full. Keep your cup full.                    ☥ Oprah Winfrey ☥




Food is not just nourishment – it is something that makes your life. We need to treat it with utmost love and reverence.                     ॐ Sadhguru ॐ


Indigenous chef and yoga practitioner



To eat intelligently means to understand and supply the kind of fuel the body is designed for so that it can function at its best. The way you eat not only decides your physical health it decides the very way you think, feel and experience life.                   ॐ Sadhguru ॐ

Yoga works miraculously. The only thing is, you have to do it.           ॐ Sadhguru ॐ


Black women piloting a plane and practicing yoga


The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.             ☯ Bruce Lee


Make Health How You Work ☥ Be Well ☥ Be Radiant


Check Out https://bit.ly/Move2BWell To View The "Somatic Strategies For Workplace Wellness Collection"

Check out our full collection at https://bit.ly/Move2BWell. Contact us on the Consultancy page for customized orders.




Epilogue ☥ Your Treasure Map For Self-Care


Mother and daughter with map


The content within this blog explores the following questions
Click on this image to magnify ☥ guide your process.

Thank you for taking the time to actively engage in your own self-care. If you have ever spent time at a hammam ☥ steam room ☥ sauna, you will notice that it is a comfortable space because you are wearing minimal or no clothing and you can just be yourself. However, after a short time, it starts to get hot, and you begin to sweat.



This is a good thing because you are helping your body to eliminate toxins. If you want to detoxify your body correctly you will:

☥ Breathe slowly and deeply to help your body adjust to the intensity of the heat.

☥ Sip water every 15 minutes to stay hydrated.

☥ Have a piece of fruit ☥ pumpkin seeds ☥ favorite healthy snack available.

☥ Take a shower after excessive sweating.

☥ Go into a cold room/take a cold plunge/cold water rinse off to cool down before doing

another sweat and to stimulate your lymphatic system.

☥ Go for a walk in nature, spend time in meditation ☥ contemplation, have a healthy meal

and give your body some time to complete the healing process (which could include

sending you messages through your intuition about your next steps).


As you journey through ☥ interact with the blogs ☥ other content on phyllishubbard.com, you might have an insight that causes you to suddenly feel mentally ☥ emotionallyhot” -- which could show up as:

☥ “Ah-ha” moments

☥ A hop-in-the-bed-and-cry-yourself-to-sleep or fetal position crying time of intensive

self-care

☥ Intense feelings of anger/regret about something in your past

☥ Disorientation caused by the realization of truth

Strong reactions such as heightened senses, vomiting; an urge to release emotions

such as yelling/screaming, going outside for fresh air/to take a walk, punching a

boxing bag/pillow; a feeling of tightness in the chest, etc.


Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations


If you find yourself having a strong reaction, I encourage you to flow with it while helping your body to release mental ☥ emotional toxins by using the same five self-care strategies listed above for releasing physical toxins. Your body talks to you all the time, but unconscious adherence to social conditioning can mute its messages.


Strong reactions are your body’s way of letting you know that there is a deeper issue requiring your attention.

Keep revisiting the content ☥ utilizing the five self-care strategies until you no longer experience the strong reaction, release fears and have identified ☥ transformed ☥ removed the root cause of the issue. You will find additional strategies throughout this website that you can add to your mental health self-care toolkit.


Self-Care Sustainability Suggestions




A Cross-Cultural Healing Haven – read this blog to understand the purpose of

phyllishubbard.com and the meaning behind its organization ☥ symbols.

☥ Revisit the content periodically and make a note of if/how your perceptions have

evolved.

☥ Check out the other pages on phyllishubbard.com:

Home - watch the videos. Click on the images in the Spiritual Guidance

section. Each image has a story that might assist your self-care journey. Learn

about other spiritual practices.

About - Learn about my background ☥ reasons for co-creating

phyllishubbard.com with Spirit. Explore healing through the image carousel and

videos.

Shop Kamitology - Purchase and download vital tools for your personal growth

☥ development.

Reclaiming Our Humanity - Help us develop and disseminate video courses.

Rise TV - Practice breathing and movement exercises and deepen your

understanding of healing through the experiences of community members.

Check back periodically to discover new/re-experience the content.

Journey - This is your invitation to own the journey to radiance. Experience the

journey and download healing resources to share with your friends, family and

community.


When you share healing, healing comes back to and flows through you.

About Sharing ...

During my first presentation to an all-Black audience, I introduced 20-year-old research on the hazards of sitting. I presented the research because I noticed that people sat for way too long at convenings and realized that the information was not disseminated to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant communities. I was determined to intentionally include this research, often surprising participants by getting people up to stretch. After more than 13 years of intentional work, Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People are just barely beginning to normalize conscious movement. We still have a long way to go, and it is important that we share what we know as much as we can to prevent the disenfranchisement of wellness information to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant communities.



Copy/Paste Version Of A Full Citation Example: 

Hubbard, P. S. (2020, September 27). Making Health How We Work. PHYLLISHUBBARD.COM. <https://www.phyllishubbard.com/post/making-health-how-we-work>



Please do not keep phyllishubbard.com to yourself. We will not co-create a better world until we heal our current, past/childhood traumas. We will not love others until we learn to love ourselves.


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https://bit.ly/SeeMeRise


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About Dr. Phyllis SHU Hubbard's work as a Health Warrior

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