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To be clear…

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Last week I posted an article “Being a True Transformational Leader means doing your own Anti-Racism work” you can read it HERE.

I want to share the message again, and take it a step further in the hopes that it will be helpful:

If you are white, and want to be in-integrity calling yourself a transformational leader, coach, teacher or guide, it is important to:

1. Look at the biases & racist ideas that live deep inside of you. 

Even if you believe all people are & should be equal, you have been brought up within our culture’s systemic racism, and therefore you carry some unconscious racist ideas inside of you. 

Yes, this is painful & possibly shameful to acknowledge. 

The first time I really acknowledged the systemic racism inside of me was in 2016, and because I think of myself as “a good person”, it was absolutely excruciatingly painful. 

But it must be done. 

If you avoid your shame & don’t look at your biases head-on, you will continue to sleepwalk without seeing them….and inadvertently cause harm to black people and people of color.

2. Continue to acknowledge the impact of your privilege & root out the internalized racism inside of you. It’s not a once and done.

Looking at your deeper biases and how you take your privileges is not something that can be done only once. If done only once, the learning and the corrections don’t stick. True learning and transformation happen when you commit consistently and persistently. The moment you think you’re done is the moment you become complacent. I know that my own anti-racism journey will never be done.

As Andrea Ranae (@andrearanaej) says: “Anti-racism is not an identity or a checklist; it’s a practice.” READ MORE

Being a True Transformational Leader means doing your own Anti-Racism work

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I have been outraged, horrified, and heartbroken yet again by the news this week that another unarmed black man was murdered by a police officer. George Floyd was brutally & needlessly killed because of racism. 

When there is a dynamic as horror-filled as racism that is pervasive in a society, like it is in ours, you can be sure that the racism isn’t simply out there and perpetrated by “other” white people. 

If you are white, like me, you don’t just spot it, you got it too. 

I know this is a strong statement, and may even be triggering, but please, keep reading. I’ll explain.

Racism is pervasive in society because it’s a collective Shadow, not just a Shadow for some people. And we must do the really hard & honest work to confront it & root it out inside ourselves. 

If you’re white and consider yourself, or desire to be, a leader or a guide for others, it is vital that you look at your own biases & your own conscious and unconscious implanted beliefs around people of color.  READ MORE

One of the Secrets to….Everything

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For millennia, the wise women have understood and known how to navigate this particular key to life, and we need this key now more than ever before: Master the Paradox.

What is Mastering the Paradox?

It’s the knowing and living into the fact that opposites exist at the same time and sometimes inevitably need to be experienced at the same time.

It’s the understanding that life is not just one thing….that real life is a layered and complex, disorganized mishmash of things that at first seem to not go together. READ MORE

10 Things I’m doing right now

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10thingsFor many people – myself included – it’s been a trying few weeks since the U.S. elections.

To be fair, it’s been a trying year.
I’m honestly kind of really over 2016.

Amidst all of this, I’ve been incredibly reflective – processing, listening to my emotions, understanding my fears…. READ MORE

Your Business and Your Nervous System

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joannabeachwithfamilyJuly2016

When this newsletter gets to your inbox, I’ll be enjoying my last day of a week-long vacation with my family at the beach on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

I wrote this newsletter before leaving for our trip, and it’s a short one…but a really important one.

What I want to share with you today is about the absolute, VITAL importance of taking care of your nervous system…first and foremost for your physical, spiritual and emotional health…but also for the health of your business.

In today’s world of ongoing technology and social media, and of IMMENSE pressure, fast-paced and professional expectation (all we have to do is open up to Facebook to see what others are saying they’re up to, and start feeling bad about ourselves)…our nervous systems are in very precarious positions. READ MORE

I Took A Look At Something Important This Week

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This last Monday, Penina had the day off school, and I strategically set up a playdate for her during Yael’s nap so that I could get some work done. Normally, I wouldn’t necessarily do this, but my babysitter was off most of last week, and I had stuff on my list to do.

As soon as I got Yael to sleep, I went to the computer to get through some emails.

About 5 minutes into it, Penina and her friend came downstairs, all dressed up — they wanted me to watch their play.

My first thought was "I don’t have time for this!"
My second thought was self-judgment that I would even think my first thought, because my kids are more important than anything to me.
My third thought was to chill out on myself.
I went upstairs.

While I was waiting for them to start, my mind was on the email I had left unwritten.

I didn’t even sit down, because I was thinking I’d watch them for a minute or two and then be able to get back to work.

They were dilly-dallying getting started, and I noticed some inner tension, because I wanted to send that email and write a newsletter article before Yael woke up.

And then Penina came "on the stage" and started singing. And as she sang, she looked at me to make sure I was listening closely. So I sat down.

And I decided to forget about the email and be fully present to my daughter and her friend. I started swaying to their singing and allowed myself to get fully caught up in the moment.

I pretty much ended up hanging out with them through Yael’s nap, deciding that this week’s newsletter could be a re-print of an older one I wrote, and that nothing would fall apart if emails went out a day later.

(This week’s newsletter article would have been a re-print, but I posted this originally on Facebook, and then I realized it was the newsletter article that I hadn’t written!)

I am clear on my priorities in my heart and soul, and most of the time in how I act. But I have to admit that every now and again my actions betray me. Sometimes I get caught between home and business. Or forget that one of the reasons I chose to be an entrepreneur in the first place was because I wanted more FREEDOM in my life to do what I want to do.

Today was a powerful reminder for me on how important it is to be vigilante when I slip into "work, work, work" — to realize it as quickly as possible and move out of it, so that I can have the life I want and a business that supports it.

Whether you have kids or not, living and being present to your LIFE is crucial. If you’re part of my community, you’re like me, and I know that while your business is important to you, it can’t be the end all, be all.

Where can you pay more attention to your life, starting TODAY?

What are the “little things” you do for your business that actually are big things and take you away from your life and freedom?

I would love to help you attract more aligned clients and visibility while also making choices that are right for you and your life. Fill out this 2-minute application, and we’ll set up a time to speak and see what you’re needing right now.

With love,
Joanna