Category: Awareness

  • You Can’t Help Yourself

    You Can’t Help Yourself

    I grew up with a single mother who was friends with other single mothers. Several of them had their own businesses. I often heard them bashing men and saying things like, “I don’t need a man to be happy.” While ontologically true, many of them attempted to enter into relationships with men or other women…

  • The Time to Shine is Always Now

    The Time to Shine is Always Now

    The time to shine is always now. If people are surprised to see me rapping now, there’s more to the backstory you don’t know. A lot of people don’t know this. But my mom was basically a part of early hip hop. She used to be called JoSi, The Queen of Rhymes and she had…

  • Disconnected: Lessons Learned From Social Media Silence

    Disconnected: Lessons Learned From Social Media Silence

    At 8AM on October 12th, I started–what was meant to be–a 24 hour social media fast. But, if you follow me online at all, you know it was for much longer. I was initially calling it an “intermittent fast”. But once I crossed the three week mark, I think intermittent was out the window. And…

  • Giving Up a Dream to Receive a Vision

    Giving Up a Dream to Receive a Vision

    Dreams are overrated and not for everyone. In fact, after living a life where I have worked in almost every type of organization with almost every type of person, in numerous different cultures and backgrounds, I can affirm that for most of us, a dream for our lives is a distraction to living the reality…

  • If We Can Laugh Together, Maybe We Can Last Together

    If We Can Laugh Together, Maybe We Can Last Together

    I need a reasonably decent sense of humor to do the work I do, bringing people together across differences and helping people discover their capacities to affect positive transformation in their communities. I have to see the comedy in everything even if not all of it can be turned into a joke. That is because,…

  • Fear of an Equitable Workplace (FEW) and the Quiet Quitting Deception

    Fear of an Equitable Workplace (FEW) and the Quiet Quitting Deception

    By now, you’ve probably come across a plethora of articles aiming to explain this seeming phenomena being touted as “quiet quitting” or “quitting in place”. As I see it, this label attributed to folks who–for the most part–have failed at QUIT QUITTING, is a way of adding fuel to the fire known as THE GREAT…

  • What is Worth Knowing?: From a Knowledge Economy to a Know Less Economy

    What is Worth Knowing?: From a Knowledge Economy to a Know Less Economy

    The fact is that many of us get overwhelmed trying to keep up with all of the information that is thrown at us. It’s challenging to figure out what’s worth knowing. So, many of us just decide to limit our sources to those that challenge us the least. We then convince ourselves that our limited…

  • Responsible Free Speech: Context, Content, and Why They Matter

    Responsible Free Speech: Context, Content, and Why They Matter

    Many Americans want to express their right to free speech. But, it seems that very few people want to be responsible for their right to free speech. There is a bit of wisdom that has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln that goes something like this, “Better to remain silent and thought a fool than to…

  • Dear Catalytic Convertor Thieves

    Dear Catalytic Convertor Thieves

    I know that some people will either think I am either full of BS, naive, or just stupid. But, I submit to you–especially if you are on a spiritual path–to be a Catalytic Convertor when offered the opportunity. Take the junk that comes in and transmute it. (Like the Hawaiian concept of Hemolele) We are…

  • Despite Reverence for Variety and Diversity…

    Despite Reverence for Variety and Diversity…

    In reflection, I wonder if what makes so many “well meaning” folks show up so hypocritically (myself included) is the unexamined discriminatory brain function that tells me, “Weeds are magnificent models of creation and I don’t want them in my yard.”