As we all have been in a changing environment for the last 3 months I have finally learned to let go of control. Whenever I  doubt myself or lose faith in things I allow myself to focus more on putting myself into action, in trying to force or make things happen, but mainly not allowing things to freely flow or dance with life. Without the dance often work or life situations would not flourish but whither away and die which I never quite understood or couldn't seem to stop myself from pushing or forcing things to happen.

But now with Covid and with the forced slow down for a while I realized that all is happening without my controlling it. And just flowing with the change is much easier than struggling, pushing, forcing, and/or working hard all the time without any results. Instead I got quiet, meditated a lot more, listened to the intuition that was heightened as a result of the meditation and took action on it.

My intuition seems to always be right and whenever I follow it I immediately am not worried, forget about challenging those who I participate in the actions with but mainly I allow the dance to occur. I am listening to the still small voice within and not negating its presence and/or not listening to it. When I do that I realize I am no longer forcing things or trying to be in control, but I am allowing and thereby being flexible, adaptable, and finally in the flow.

How can you let go of control and be in the dance too?

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Well it has been a heck of a last couple of weeks. On top of the Covid Situation there was the terrible death of George Floyd and its associated protests and speaking out here in Washington DC and around the world. 

From a leadership perspective we have to stand up for what we believe in. For me that is equality for all and one particular group is suffering we stand up to support them and right now that is the African American population in this country. My heart was shattered hearing of the news of George Floyd and many others before him. I ran down to the White House one morning this week and saw all of the signs the protesters hung up. It was profound. Change is necessary and has been for a long time.

What can we as allies and leaders do to support this change?

• We must speak our voice - the African American community as well as those who support them must speak up at this time. That could be in the forum of holding dialogues with your employees to see how this feels for them. It could be putting out audios, videos, emails or newsletter blasts letting your organization know where it stands on this topic. It could be holding discussions with members of your African American community to see what is going on for them and what can be done about it. But most importantly we have to let people be heard, respect their voices and speak our truth back to them to show our support and/or learn about their experiences.
• Stand up for those who may be facing injustice and/or bias - as allies we can speak up for and show our support for members of the African American community. This could include mentoring them, sponsoring them, giving them opportunities for leadership and/or opportunities to learn, grow, and develop. Giving a hand, providing support, and offering help to the community can be a great way to shift things in society.
• Look at our own thoughts and feelings around this topic - so much bias is unconscious. In fact the data shows that 90%of what we do on a bias level is unconscious. Therefore having discussions with those we trust to enlighten ourselves on our perspectives, doing some self-reflection (whether that is thinking about it or journaling) and opening up thinking about actions we have done in the past and how that might have impacted others is important. Change starts from within, but we need to know what our baseline is.

So much can be said around this topic but for now I am searching for my own truth, trying to listen and hear others perspectives, and mainly open up to being a change agent as we all work on a better society for everyone.