Every single one of us is a space holder. Every single one of us takes up space.

If there is one thing that we can do in this lifetime that will make a difference, it is to be present in the space that we share together.

Often missed, though blatantly obvious, the core of humanity is the quality of our relationships- from start to end.

When bringing mindfulness into schools became a “thing” a while back, it arrived like it was a fancy new concept…. And yet, it is one of the most fundamental remembering’s that has existed as long as we have walked on Earth.

It is a reminder of how we so often complicate the core of what we all need and what makes us human.

It is the space from where we innately know what is needed and how to respond.

It is the space from where being anything other than who we are, how we are and in our own version of genuine-ness, compassion and empathy is not required. We immediately let the masks fall away and we see one another as we truly are.

And our experie...

''I was told that the best way to handle being a Social Worker was to choose a tree on the way home from work and to stop thinking about work each day when I drove past. This is what a lot of us were told, and still are told. 

I have always found this perplexing, as it does not make sense to me in how this helps any of us to grow into people centred work or navigate it. 

Over the years, and a few rounds of burn out later, I have learned and figured out a bunch of things that have really helped. And so many of them are the pieces that have become The Societe.

The thing is, that each time I have burned out, I have asked myself if this really is for me… and every time, a big fat solid yes has been the response. 

If it hadn’t been, I would likely be a florist by now.

This means that I have had to become much better at navigating what I do. 

Change is successful when it is sustained, and we are sustained as leaders. 

Yes, we can do epic things in the world. 

Yes, yes, yes we can!

A...

“Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world” – Marianne Williamson.

I was in my early 20’s and at a conference for work. My name was chosen out of a hat to be the only staff member to travel interstate with Senior Management to attend this event. At the time I could count on one hand how many times I had left the state I lived in my lifetime. 

A key note speaker shared this poem. I had not been exposed to anything like it before. She had given every person a page full of motivational quotes and told us to put them everywhere. 

I still had this little scrap of paper with this poem on it on my work desk when I left in early 2020. The language that this woman used and the way that she spoke, it was so foreign to me, and yet something in my fumbly early adulting ways began to shift and re-orient itself.

This is the thing, playing small isn’t going to create the c...