The Shift is On.

   This is a marathon folks. But I feel that the time is now for real shifts to happen. Shifts in so many ways need to happen. We are being pushed against the wall by mother nature, education, health care, racism. Our old ways of being and doing aren't sustainable. We didn’t listen to the whispers or loud voices so now we are here.    Waking up, awakening. From my perspective as a white person, it is a real time to listen, to see behind the veil of what we thought was changing, to what is the harsh reality. We are all different ages and stages but seeing even in our lifetime Rodney King, 911, George Floyd (and many more) just proves the need to do things differently.   
   In coaching I am always working with clients to Look, See, Tell the truth and then take Authentic action. The time we are in can be a perfect example of this. We have all been Looking without really Seeing. Now we are Seeing. It is so different to really SEE. If you need help Seeing I would direct you to watch or read Jane Elliott (she is absolutely brilliant at breaking this down so you can “see” it). Also recommended are “How to be an Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi (audible or book) and or the podcast that Brene Brown did with him to get you started. The movie, “Just Mercy” based on the book by the same name is free this whole month from Warner Brothers on every platform or read the book by Bryan Stevenson (and Oprah has an amazing interview with him, it is on my Facebook page).
   These are just a few ways to SEE. What I love about Anti-Racism is that Ibram is showing us that being a non-racist isn’t really a thing. This isn’t about guilt and shame for us, as white people, but an acknowledgement of where we are, a deep listening, a hearing, a seeing, a true uncovering and admitting that there are systemic racist policies that are at the heart of this country that we need to get behind to shift, for all of us, for everyone to be able to eventually move forward.
   So similar to the stages of grief there are stages to change (shock, numbness, denial, fear, anger, depression, understanding, acceptance, moving on). This is a long process but don’t get stuck in a stage. Keep walking through, keep learning and growing and practicing self care to keep you strong and healthy so that you can withstand this time of change. The time is now to shift this. Let this be our legacy, that we gave a helping hand in shifting the United States in 2020 to a New way of being. So when we look back on this time in 10/20 years we will be so grateful that we took the time to really See and tell the truth which then led to moving authentically forward into a new way of being an American. We can do this. We are up to this. We need each other and we are in this together.