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I can remember the first moment when I realized that I loved my work. I wasn’t in HR, I was only a 19-year old retail store associate. At that moment,…

This week on my Work+Love Livestream, I shared about an article I had read that inspired me to action. The article was by Dr. Taharee A. Jackson and is titled, “I’m White and I’m Outraged by Ahmaud Arbery’s Murder. Now What?” The article provides a practical guide for white allies and accomplices. When I found Dr. Taharee’s article, I was in a space where I felt helpless. The recent event had caused an undeniable stirring with me, one that I knew I could not suppress.

The COVID-19 Quarantine created an incredible opportunity of pause for so many of us. Me, like many of you, were required to stay at home per a government mandate and readjust our lives, in an effort to find my “new normal.” I found a gift of time to pause and essentially cleanse my life of impurities. 

Impurities? What I am referring to is physical material things and commitments that I had accumulated that were not serving my highest good. In addition, they were taking up literal and metaphorical space, leaving barely any room for what I really wanted. After so many years of accumulation, without ever intentionally taking a pause to evaluate, left me with a life right before the stay at home mandate that was exhausting. Not only that is, it was only fulfilling because of the prospective someday visions that danced through my head. 

Before I begin sharing my Yin Yoga prop collection, I want to take a minute to express my gratitude. When the stay at home mandate caused us to cancel all of our live HRart classes indefinitely, I found myself needing our weekly practices and community even more. Even though I am the teacher, our weekly HRart class offerings instill a sense of personal accountability to ensure that I am practicing at a minimum twice a week. 

After the first two weeks of quarantine, I attempted Zoom classes and even created an online platform to house the entire experience. It flopped, well actually it crashed and as a result I moved to YouTube. The simplicity of offering a simple link and the ability to hit one button begin sharing classes once again with you has proven effective. Not only that, it has served me immensely during these uncertain times. I have been able to find peace in quarantine, all while being in a very busy household. So, first off, thank you for showing up. Your virtual presence I truly do treasure. 

Is it a coincidence that I am feeling the tug to work on the rewrite of this book during a global pandemic? I think not. See it was only January when I identified exactly what disengagement was… it was a virus. A virus just like covid-19, with minimal signs of infection in some and fatal rapid progression in others. 

It’s been five years since I began my research on employee engagement. This research that began with my own disengagement. I spent the first year as a business owner coming to the harsh realization that I was the cause of my own cyclical disengagement. Also, I realized if I ever wanted to undo the results of these cycles it was on completely on me.  

When the stay at home mandate was first put in place, I kind of went radio silent. Not gonna lie, the first 10 days I was kinda in shock. My top priority was taking care of my family, so I instantly transitioned into super mom mode and my kids became my sole focus. As the days turned into weeks, I found myself like many then scrambling to begin finding a place for the rest of my life that had been placed on hold. As the reality set in, that this would not be over in 14 days, I took the only approach that made sense, do something. Be productive in some fashion, taking simple actions that serve my highest good.  So while it took a hot minute for me to start posting and sharing again, my days were filled. 

May 4th is a pretty awesome day. Not only is it Star Wars day! But, it’s my birthday!

So I couldn’t pass up this chance to share this with you. See one of the coolest fun facts that was revealed in my Medical Qigong Training to date was the connection between Qi and the “Force.” It is uncanny how many similarities the infamous “Force” in Star Wars parallels in the description of Qi in Chinese Philosophy. There are even rumors that Daoism may have influenced George Lucas when creating this epic storyline. 

Regardless, this entire concept brought new meaning to the inspirational quotes by my favorite Star Wars character of all time, Yoda. I even saw him referenced recently on a website as the OG Wellness Guru. Today, in honor of Star Wars Day, I’d like to share with you four Yoda quotes that resonate with me and my HRart journey.

I have spent many years taking my weekends for granted. As an introvert, I found that weekends were filled with social gatherings and outings with more people than I preferred. The entire weekend process was never personally restorative, it was more so just another day of the week with more stuff I needed to do. 

In the last few months, I have been working on being more intentional. Creating time and space that is sacred. This includes my nights when I can and my weekends. There have been too many solemn reminders already this year that life is too short and tomorrow is never promised. As shared in one of my favorite books of all time, The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen, we cannot control time. Therefore we have only two options, we can make time work for us or against us. 

I choose to make time work for me by being intentional. I hope you choose to do the same.