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How's your heart today?

I was facilitating a national workshop last Wednesday. We knew it was going to be the morning after the US election. I made the mistake of looking at my phone at 3am (when will I learn?) and was operating on a less than ideal amount of sleep. We proposed to the CEO that we add some time to clear. Clearing is a coaching tool where you set a short amount of time for people to vent and get stuff off their chest so they can be present. In the end it wasn't needed and I'm glad we offered it.

I'm taking an awesome online course on communication and consent. At the start of last night's class one of the facilitators shared their "fuck it" breathing exercise. You take a slow deep inhale then on the exhale you cuss and get things off your chest, make noises for things you don't have the words for or simply exhale.

I know many people are still needing to clear. If that's you, that's completely normal.

Many people are also asking "so, what's next?" How do we take care of ourselves and each other? The advice that is most resonant for me is that none of us can go it alone, that we need each other, our neighbours, our people, our communities to do this.

At the end of this newsletter are some resources that I've found helpful.

Planting seeds for 2025

For many organizations it's the tail end of 2025 budget planning. It's a great time to allocate resources for developing individuals on your team and for your team as a whole.

I ask good questions that help organizations, teams and individuals see what's really going on below the surface. I then help them get clear on where they want to go. I'm here to make equitable futures irresistible.

Here's some of the seeds I'm planting:

• Working with teams that are a little or a lot dysfunctional that are hungry for change
• Working with teams where things are good but they want them to be even better
• Serving white executive leaders who want to do their personal and leadership work so they can lead high performing, inclusive teams at work
• Co-creating and co-leading with nature
• ​Partnering with these other consultants and coaches to serve organizations

This photo of sunflowers drying came from a client. We worked with her team to let go of things that weren't serving them and to plant seeds for the future. We actually planted seeds in pots of dirt while we had this conversation. She transplanted many of them into her garden and I saw photos of them growing taller and taller over the summer. She's drying the heads to save the seed to replant which is such a beautiful metaphor.

Better Not Bitter Summit

I'm excited to be a part of the first Better Not Bitter summit. This in person event is organized by Mariat Jibril to inspire, empower, and ignite action around mental health. I'm excited to connect with people in person.

All money raised with go to InspireHealth, an organization dedicated to making a profound impact by supporting individuals facing critical illness.

Use my code "Tara 30" to get 30% off. This discount code is good until this Friday.

Coaching

About half of my clients have shared that they are neurodivergent.
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I know from 15 years doing diversity, equity and inclusion work that systemic issues cannot be solved by an individual. Simply adding diversity does not result in inclusion or equitable systems. While systems slowly change (or don't) we can use our individual values to help us navigate our work and lives in a way that feels right for us.
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It was an honour to coach this person and witness them really own the value that they bring to their organization and show up authentically, unapologetically and at choice.

Recommended Resources

​10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won by Daniel Hunter in Waging Nonviolence. Reading Hunter's work I can see how he's used future scenario planning to think through some things that could happen. I'm going to think about some future scenarios if Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives win the federal election in Canada.

I know the story of Octavia Butler's Parable of The Sower through friends telling it to me and seeing Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reason's opera. The story has seemed too scary and heavy for me to read, but it's time.

​AK Press is offering 6 ebooks for free download, including adrienne maree brown's Emergent Strategy.
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​Haymarket Books is offering 10 ebooks for free download, including Let This Radicalize You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba and Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark.

Erin Reed's substack Erin In The Morning is worth subscribing to. Steps For Transgender People Preparing For Federal Crackdowns Under Trump is a must read for trans folks, allies and HR leaders. I'm hearing from corporate HR leaders about internal mobility requests, mostly from trans staff and Black and brown staff who are scared. If your company haven't already communicate internally what your company is willing to do to take care of your people and the policies and procedures, get on it.

What resources are you finding useful in these times? I'd love to know.

Take care of yourselves and each other ❤️