Life is a Sojourner's Residence: & We are Temporary Inhabitants

Hi Everyone, this is Nikki and I want to thank you for tuning in today.? In a time where nurses are leaving the profession in droves, I think it best to offer some love.? Don’t we need it?? I am a Health Equity Education Coach and what that means is I combine coach leadership, health equity, belonging and well-being in nursing education to transform our relationship with equity practices.? I hope to bend the arc in nursing towards nurses who act locally, but think globally.? I imagine nurses who are activists, rebels, advocates, and helpers demanding that we use our healing abilities to restore relationships between minoritized & divested communities so that we can see the beauty of liberation in ourselves and others. ?And with this knowledge, this change in attitudes, our practice will change, and so will the health of our society.

The strength of belief is important.? It starts with our ideas, that grows into words and then into actions.? The nursing profession was created on the belief that we can offer something that was not at the time present-a healing practice honing in on the most ill in society. Public health nurses pioneered our profession by visiting patients in their homes, riding out through the countryside on horses to get to their patients or delivering babies at home when black moms couldn’t birth in white hospitals.??

What we believe about our ability to impact racism in nursing is a strong factor in our ability to do so.? Last week, I had the esteemed opportunity to speak to the University of Maryland and nurses at large about taking “Words to Action: A Four-Part Discussion on the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing Practice.”? I did something different than I’ve ever done.? Remember, I’m out here imagining nurses who are activists, rebels, advocates, and helpers demanding that we use our healing abilities to restore relationships between minoritized & divested communities so that we can see the beauty of liberation in ourselves and others. And the power of my belief is that by being focused on emotional growth and having a growth mindset, we can shift the tide in health towards nurses who embrace rather than run from difficult work.? It is possible.? Our nursing founders did it.??

And if we are honest with ourselves, we can see how positive belief and positive regard has impacted our thoughts and behaviors.? If you’ve ever practiced a new health habit, then you know what I mean.? I’m a sugar fanatic.? I love sugary things.? I’ve told myself that I need sugar, especially when I feel depleted or my favorite time is after dinner as my “treat” to myself for getting through another long day with its twists and turns, highs and lows, peaks and valleys, you get my drift.? I also know that sugar doesn’t love me.? It does the opposite of what I want it to do, it makes me crave more, it spikes my blood sugar instead of stabilizing it, I can be cranky without it…I mean the list just goes on.? But I decided one day after years of deliberation about even attempting going sugar free for a little while that finally I was ready to try.? Real talk, I’ve only been doing this sugar free journey for a short time so I can’t tell you that I’m radiating or glowing or anything lol.? What I can say is that, the power of belief that I could stop in fact made me able to stop consuming it.? I could because I believed I could.? And yep, I’ve had lapses, I’ve forgotten literally that I’m not eating sugar after eating M&M’s or some cookies and I laugh.? I don’t get upset or frustrated like I used to, I just check and adjust.????

When I enter a space to do a presentation like the “Words to Action” I know that just occupying a space in which racism is going to be discussed is triggering for many persons; white and brown alike.? We have such an affinity for our beliefs that we often are not willing to be open to the uncertainty of our beliefs maybe, just maybe, not being the truth.? In moments where I feel like I’m under the spotlight as a speaker, influencer or challenger, I remind myself that my emotional growth and ultimately others’ lives may depend on my ability to stay grounded, stay open, stay learning, stay listening.??

In wellness coaching culture, we call this learning mode.? In health equity work we call this developing a critical/liberatory consciousness.? According to a phenomenal coach and friend now deceased, Bobbie Burdett, learning mode is about being curious, open to what is, as it is, and being able to relate to the person or situation at hand. ? When in learning mode, we feel spacious, curious, interested and flexible.? The movement feels expansive and good.? We experience more positive regard, empathy, presence, compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, joy and yes even playfulness!? We are able to think laterally (brainstorm) and creatively look at many possible solutions to problems and then make the best choice from many options.? We are able to investigate our stressful thoughts in pursuit of peace, understanding and being in the world more effectively.??

In health equity work, learning mode is essential. ? It is vital that we be able to relate to both the persons and the situations we are encountering.? This is the heart and soul of creating health and equity in our nursing practice.? Paulo Friere, author of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, has this to say about liberation. “We will seek to unlearn oppression with learning liberation.”? Liberation work is inside of? all of us.? Those who show up to implicit bias training, who have friends who have different lived experiences they want to understand, those who are new to the work or are sages, all are liberation workers.? Many who benefit from oppression as well as those oppressed want to work for social change to reduce inequity and bring greater justice and happiness to the world that we live in, yet many of us continue to behave in ways that preserve and perpetuate the existing system.? This is because the institutions in which we live reward and reinforce behaviors that perpetuate existing systems and resist efforts to change (Developing a Liberatory Consciousness, Barbara J. Love, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, 4th ed.)??

So how can we be effective? How can we practice learning mode and be a liberation worker???

According to Love, to be committed to changing systems and institutions, bringing social change, being what some call antiracist is to develop the liberatory consciousness.? A liberatory consciousness enablers humans to live their lives in oppressive systems and institutions with awareness and intentionality, rather than on the basis of the socialization to which we have been subjected.? A liberatory consciousness is not mystical or magical.? It’s quite practical.? For me, it's the rejection of the belief that I need sugar in my life to feel whole and complete or like I’m giving myself good (sugary) things.? It’s intentionally shifting into learning mode and asking myself, what does not needing to focus on my next sugar fix free my mind to enjoy?? What new spaciousness can I drink in?? What else might my body and mind be interested in??

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the equal and opposite of learning mode and that is protecting mode. In protecting mode we are defensive and judgemental.? We’re attached to our thoughts that only our perspective is correct (sounding familiar?). We’re so invested in controlling the situation? that we can’t look at the many possibilities, beliefs and values that form our contradictions. The movement is contracted and bad.? We’re limited in our thinking, our dialogue and thoughts tend to run in repetitive circles that only make us more stressed and alienate others.? Our effectiveness is hampered to the point where we often become our own worst enemies.? We tend to teach, learn, work, and make decisions in protecting mode as our default.? I believe this is why so many of us have been scarred by the obligatory DEI training, the fear of addressing white supremacy, the fear of being outed etc. ? What I invite in is a shift. Just a shift into learning mode.? It does wonders beyond what I can begin to describe, but you will only know it if you try.??

Conclusion

In life we dance between learning and protecting modes.? From learning to protecting, from protecting to learning in a myriad of ways.? Each mode contains the seed? of the other.? Usually our transition of any habitual protecting pattern happens slowly-in little ways- starting with awareness after a protective event has passed.? Hopefully, with grace and compassion, we can find the shift to learning mode as we uncover the little edge of protecting holding us back from greater freedom, peace and joy.? This is Nikki, your Health Equity Education Coach letting you know you're not alone, and you have access to learning mode any time you want.??

I have a beyond the book study co-learning masterclass called "Breaking Barriers: Navigating Health Equity – A Clinician's Interactive Journey Beyond the Pages." ( I retitled the course ??) It’s a deeper dive into my workbook The Clinician's Guide to Microaggressions and Unconscious Bias.? No pre-reading is required and it comes with CEU’s! ? Many nurses have leaned into diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to promote more equitable workplaces, but without aligning it to a transformational leadership process, it often fails to convert to better learning environments or improved representation of diversity in nursing.? This masterclass will help nurses get super clear on the actions to take to move us into engaging in liberation and health equity.? That link is ALMOST hot!? It’ll be out soon.? For the first 5 who sign up, I will have something special.? Until the next time, be the love you wish to see.???

Important Foot Note:

Most of my understanding and description of learning? and protecting mode came from Bobbie Burdett with my own interpretations infused throughout.? I honor her memory by allowing her words to live on her and hopefully you will take them, breathe them into your words and find peace.?