The world feels fucked up, probably because it is. I'm not going to list all the things, because I think we all know what's going on and most of us are titrating the news so we don't get overwhelmed. This weekend I doom scrolled and found myself overwhelmed and numb (oops).

Connecting with moments that felt alive for me helped me thaw and reconnect with people I'm close to and then broader communities. When I read Dr. Dori Tunstall's newsletter I realized I had also been micro-dosing on joy:

• connecting with a friend who was visiting from out of town
• walking in the forest with my wife and dog
• eating a grilled pork bahn mi
• going to see my first professional women's hockey game with a group of women from my gym
• feeling the sunshine on my skin

Community and nature help me unfreeze and to start to feel alive again.

Seasons of Change - starting March 20

Cherry blossoms are my favourite. Living in Vancouver when they start blooming it signals that spring is right around the corner.

​Em House and I are kicking off a group program called Seasons of Change on March 20th, which is the Spring Equinox. It's a great time to pull out goals or intentions that you set in January and start to make a plan to nurture and grow them.

We invite you to keep what matters most to you alive and growing through the seasons with others who are doing the same thing. This group, capped at 36 people, meets 4 times this year: spring, summer, fall and winter.

Join us! We start on March 20th.

1:1 coaching

Most people first reach out to me because they're at an inflection point in their career:

• They've been promoted (to an executive role or to their first manager role) and know that what got them to this point isn't what will guarantee success in this new role. While people around them think they're crushing it, privately they a
• They're going up for a promotion in their current role. They want their impact to be seen and valued. They want to navigate their career path with clarity and agency.
• They're looking for a new job. Even in this tough market, they want a job that aligns with their values.

My friend Eli used to say "all of you is welcome with me". That is true in my coaching too. I do whole person coaching, after all, we're the same person at home, at work and in our communities. It's exciting to see people get unstuck in one area of their life and have that unlock new possibilities in other areas of their lives.

If you think I might be the right coach for you, reach out and book a free chemistry session.

Rupture and Repair

In 2019, Maxwell Johnson, a Heiltsuk Nation member, took his granddaughter to a BMO branch in downtown Vancouver to open a bank account for her. The bank staff did not recognize their Indian status cards and called the Vancouver police who wrongly arrested, detained and handcuffed them.

Last week B.C.'s Human Rights Commissioner released a final review on this case. Many of the systemic changes that were promised did not happen.

As part of the repair process there was an apology ceremony in Bella Bella. Unfortunately the two officers who arrested the grandfather and granddaughter did not attend.

Actions speak louder than words.

Resources about death and grieving

We don't talk about death much in our society, especially at work.

Until a year or two ago I didn't have much experience with either death or grief until one of my closest friends died. I see her in the magnolias that are in bloom and in the hummingbirds that come to visit. I miss her so much and I can't text her but her spirit is everywhere.

Here are some resources that I have found helpful and interesting.

Wendy McNaughton's How to Say Goodbye

​Wendy McNaughton was the artist-in-residence at Zen Hospice in San Francisco. Her observations, illustrations and short bits of text from people who were dying and their caregivers are so powerful, moving and sweet.

I especially love this detail of a flower arrangement near the front of the book:

And the contrast with this arrangement of flowers at the end:

Death's Apprentice

​Christa Ovenell walked away from a senior leadership role in higher education to become a funeral director. She is one of the few death educators who is both a licensed Funeral Director/Embalmers AND an end-of-life doula.

If you are interested in learning more about what End of Life Doulas actually do, Christa has an excellent 25 minute video explaining how doulas fit into the death-caring landscape.

Grief at Work: Beyond Bereavement Leave

This post outlines how most workplace bereavement policies fall short and has concrete suggestions on how organizations can respond with humanity and clarity.

I really liked this suggestion, for both the manager and the employee:

African Burial Ground from 28 Day of Black History

The African Burial Ground is the oldest and largest known excavated burial ground in North America for both free and enslaved Africans. I learned about it from The 28 Days of Black History, an excellent daily newsletter for Black History Month/February.

Each newsletter is well researched and has reflection questions at the end, like this one "What does it mean that a burial ground this significant was forgotten for nearly 200 years? Who benefits from that kind of forgetting?"