Episode 122: Awareness and How It Unites Us All
About the Podcast
Jodi Pfarr, is an internationally acclaimed speaker, author, researcher, and founder of her Jodi Pfarr Consulting where she breaks down the various levels of awareness. She believes that if we are to solve major issues in society, we must understand ourselves and where others are at. The overall hope is understanding.
About Jodi Pfarr
Jodi Pfarr, is an internationally acclaimed speaker, author, researcher, and founder of her Jodi Pfarr Consulting where she has worked around the world conducting impactful seminars that leave people learning and laughing. Through her captivating presentations and programs, Jodi seeks to help people discover the human connections that unite us all—unlocking potential within communities, institutions and individuals alike.
Discussion Takeaways
- Jodi’s genius is rooted in the concept of awareness.
- She works to bring the concept of awareness to those in social service, law enforcement, really any sector. She started this work with Ruby Payne, author of the book “Bridges Out of Poverty” and the founder of the aha! Process.
- Jodi wrote a book titled, “Urgency of Awareness”.
- In it, she speaks of 18 sets or situations where society normalizes one situation over another. If a societal system geared to you, then you’ll notice how society is oriented toward you without hurt or pain. But, if you aren’t in the pool of normalized people, you call out these things as a frustrated, marginalized group.
- Once society gears toward normalizing one way over another, people think one group or way is “right” and the other is “wrong”.
- Everyone is surrounded by the blanket of life. Each thread represents a different part of us. We all need to identify each of the threads and figure out which ones are part of the normalized structure of our society and which parts are not. Then, we need to analyze how each of these threads affects how we show up in life. The more we are aware of these things, the more we can be open up to each other and have some rich, hard, and deep discussions.
- Jodi’s goal is to reach people that most cannot reach, whether it’s in the most liberal or conservative places around the world.
- Jodi grew up in a poor, rural area in the south. People surrounding her felt like they didn’t have power, and that made and continues to make them angry. So then, certain leaders and harsh rhetoric attracts them because they feeling angry and disenfranchised. This feeling of frustration is new to many. But, this sense isn’t new to those of different races, sexual identities, immigrants, and other marginalized groups. This kind of commonality can actually bring dissimilar people closer together.
- We all need to check ourselves in every situation. We can ask, “Were my actions or my words meant to protect myself or were they a way to be present and vulnerable?”
- Those who are a part of the dominant, normalized view of society often go to great lengths to make ourselves feel comfortable. A lot of times that comes at the expense of other people.
- “Normalized” does not mean the “Norm”. Individuals, institutions, communities, and policies all need to be aligned for something to be “normalized.” Those 4 arenas had to have once been and/or currently geared towards it. The “norm” just means that the majority falls into a certain group or situation in a certain place or time.
- Even if policies change and the majority of people consider themselves BIPOC in America. That won’t stop the residue of our scarring racial history from infiltrating our systems. That doesn’t erase 400 years of slavery.
- Policies that are harm people often arise from the awareness people have when writing them. The more awareness we have, the more we realize we are excluding people.
- When you are in a marginalized group, you often don’t trust institutions because they question you and are seemingly against you. You trust others and their relationship with you. However, if you are in the dominant group, you often trust the institution.
- If we try to relate to someone else’s experience, then we aren’t holding space for someone’s very different experience.
- When you are aware of yourself and your experience, you can hold space so someone can bring in a different experience. When you’re not aware of your experience, you react by over relating, denying someone’s experience, and that causes a space where two experiences are not allowed to exist in the same room. So by containing your awareness allows space for other people’s awareness without you reacting to it.
#1 tip to improve access to healthy food
- Cross sector collaboration is what Jodi’s work is all about. If we all work together, we can make our communities more beautiful for everyone.
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