Real Talk

Today we explore two forces in this world that have shaped the entire planet. They are responsible for maintaining systems of domination, exploitation, trauma, violence and powerlessness. They are intertwined with one another and require each other to maintain itself. These forces are Privilege and Oppression. On today’s episode we’ll be exploring each of these forces and learn to understand how they are connected and sustain one another. We’ll also discuss ways each of us can begin to become...

Relationships, the sacred bonds, we share with others. The purpose of relationships is to develop a greater understanding of oneself. However, in our culture, relationships have become more about learning another person in order to be what the other person wants you to be vs who you really are. We often enter relationships with an understanding of what we can get from another person vs what we can bring into the relationship to help foster compassion, empathy, and support creating opportuniti...

It has been long established in science that the physical attributes of humans are directly correlated to the environment. As animals, we hold an ability to alter our physical selves through the beauty of evolutionary mutation to ensure our survival as a species. For example, our skin pigmentation. Why are certain individuals darker in pigmentation and others lighter?. This is primarily due to the environment. Darker skin has a number of attributes, such as being a barrier to water loss...

Being hurt, intentionally or unintentionally can leave an individual feeling a sense of pain and betrayal. Many of us have our own personal stories of pain, anger and bitterness from a person or event in which we were deeply hurt. How can we begin to release these feelings, once we’ve acknowledged and processed them? How can we demonstrate forgiveness? On today’s episode we will discuss what forgiveness and unforgiveness is, misconceptions around forgiveness and five core components of practi...

Today we will examine each area of gender and how perceptions of gender identity and expression may vary from culture to culture. As our culture has evolved so has the construct of gender allowing for a broader range of gender identities and expression. Today, we’ll learn ways to support, embrace and respect these identities! Gender is quite a broad term covering three primary areas: biological, or the idea individuals assigned male have an xy chromosome and individuals assigned femal...

On today’s episode we’ll be discussing coming out in relation to both gender and sexuality. Also, steps you can take if you’re considering coming out. Our daily lives, activities and relationships are so heavily influenced by gender and sexuality. Should we decide to deviate from gender and sexual societal norms and beliefs, then we must “announce it” to the people we care about, are related to and are employed by. We must ‘come out’ over and over again throughout our lives as we meet new peo...

Generational trauma consists of generations of individuals who carry either consciously or unconsciously feelings or thoughts about devastating events or ongoing familial, societal, or cultural systemic atrocities occurring either before birth or at a young age. &...

Episode 7 Subconscious (Unconscious) bias In previous episodes we talked about being a diversity ally by addressing various types of behaviors, and ideas that can create feelings of fear and being stuck in one’s life which can limit one’s potential. Diversity brings variation and a different lens with which to view the world which can enrich one’s life and understanding of one’s self. We talked about the messages and conditioning in the form of social constructs we’ve all received in order ...

Empathy and emotion researcher and author Karla Mclaren defines empathy as “a social and emotional skill that helps us feel and understand the emotions, circumstances, intentions, thoughts, and needs of others, such that we can offer sensitive, perceptive and appropriate communication and support” (end quote) The word Empathy is a translation of the German word Einfuhlung (EIN-fhoo-loong), which means “feeling into”, and refers to our capacity to deeply connect to an object like a piece of ar...

Trauma can impact and influence multiple dimensions of our sense of self, to include, how we view and value ourselves. Trauma can influence the choices we make in our daily lives, how we perceive and respond to emotional experiences within ourselves and in the relationships we have with others. Trauma is a profound injury to an individual's sense of well-being, impacting the mind, body and soul. The impact of trauma can have lifelong consequences due to its systemic and cyclic effects o...

An emotional wound is very similar to a physical wound, the only difference being, you cannot see it. You can feel it and that feeling gives it life and breath. It can be sometimes difficult to accept what we cannot see as being in existence, but consider, we can feel the wind, we can feel love, we can feel chemistry, we can look around us and see how it envelops itself and transforms our lives through our life choices. Wounds are also very powerful and often unconscious creators in our lives...

The term Cognitive Dissonance emerged from the research of social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957. Festinger indicates a cognition as having any thought, knowledge, or belief about the environment, oneself or one’s behavior. Dissonance is a deep internal discomfort, similar to what one would feel with hunger but on a psychological level. Cognitive Dissonance is an attempt to relieve or alleviate the deep discomfort brought about by some thought, knowledge or belief about the environment, ...

A society is a group of beings living in an organized way. Societies with social constructs are when a group of people create and adapt certain ideas about what they perceive and give meaning to within the group. Constructs, while many are wonderful at providing cultural expression, structure and beauty, there are some that restrict, hinder, and confine. For example, constructs around race, sex, gender, ability, and age, References Bagemihl, B. (1999). Biological Exuberance: Animal H...

Microaggressions, first created by Harvard Professor Chester Middlebrook then further developed by Counseling Psychologist Derald Wing Sue defines microaggressions as brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights or insults to a target person or group. What do you do when you receive them, what do you do when you commit them. References Brown, B., (2010) The Gifts of ...