As I open my mind to the various points of views about systemic racism and learning more about what’s happening, I am reading, watching and learning about things that are uncomfortable. To learn about systemic racism means I need to take in views I don’t agree with, haven’t considered, images and learnings which make me upset, angry and embarrassed. It… View Article
Worry doesn’t work… even when the world doesn’t make sense, when you’d like to change everything about the circumstances and conditions surrounding you, and things feel out of control. Worry is a result of catastrophizing what could be. (but isn’t) It’s a result of your mind running rampant with all the possibilities for negative outcomes in the future. Could… View Article
There’s been a lot of unpredictable, unforeseen things happening this spring. Most of which has challenged the best of us. Truthfully, this past weekend was the first full day off I’ve taken since March 10th. While I’ve taken hours and partial days, like many people, I’ve been working more than usual to adjust to the ever changing… View Article
Some experiences give you hope. No matter how hopeless things may seem at times, we all have visual reminders of hope. It’s no surprise, with a last name like Hawkes, why for me they often involve birds of prey. Every time I see a hawk perched on highway lights or flying by, I am immediately connected with my Mom,… View Article
To know is not enough. In fact, it’s the door prize. Knowing about racism won’t change what’s happening; action, learning and repeated practice will. My family and I watched “Just Mercy” over the weekend. We wanted to watch together while the awareness in Minnesota is still heightened and we are all tender. It proved to be an amazing movie… View Article
Fear. It’s certainly prevalent and it’s gotten our full attention. For now, that’s good. It’s sobering and necessary to move us forward to create equity. We can all agree, it’s not a place to live. We are better than this. We must gather, learn, affect change and move forward together. It’s the only way we’ll survive. We must sit together in the discomfort to build trust. We… View Article
Sometimes, you can’t fake it ‘til you make it. When you’ve been flexing, adjusting, staying strong and managing to address the sudden and immediate changes that come with a pandemic coupled with rioting, it’s a lot. It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to take a break. It’s okay to breathe, think and learn. It’s okay to take turns and pass the baton. This is a… View Article
It is hard to assimilate all that is happening around us. Unless your ability to compartmentalize is superhuman, “business as usual” sounds like a foreign concept. How do we reconcile this? How do we learn? How do we make it better? When we were walking through the remnants of our beautiful city yesterday, a police… View Article
HopeFULL and hope filled. These are two words I’d use after spending the better part of the day in Minneapolis to do clean up post rioting. The news makes Minneapolis look like a war zone. Make no mistake about it, we’re not in the clear, and it’s not a pretty sight. However, when you spend a day with people intending… View Article
To say this past week has been challenging, disappointing, disruptive, saddening, scary, sickening, enraging, disgusting, and hopeless would be understated. If you’ve been reading along with the blogs, you know Minnesota is the epicenter of one more senseless murder of a black man from a group of white cops. Our communities across the US are burning during a global… View Article
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Communication Catalyzer Bundle: Winning Strategies for Stress-Free Communication