Key Moments
Key Moments
After experiencing profound loss and grief, the speaker found her superpower in holistic healing practices and community support, transforming personal pain into a mission to help others feel seen.
Key Insights
The speaker experienced significant grief, losing her father in 2010 and nine people between 2015 and 2016, including her mother and grandmother.
In 2020, the speaker sought professional help, engaging a counselor and psychiatrist to navigate her grief.
The speaker actively pursued holistic practices like meditation, guided journaling, Reiki, breathwork, and sound healing, leading to certifications.
Between 2020 and 2021, despite practicing self-healing, the speaker experienced further losses, including Miss Elaine, Nana Jean Wilson, Betty Wright, and her friend Tabitha.
The death of her roommate, Mr. Wade, in November 2023, was a particularly profound loss that led her to find healing through community and service.
The speaker founded Sawubona Healing, a practice rooted in the Zulu greeting 'I see you,' to help individuals and the Overtown community feel seen and valued.
Embracing 'yesterday then' moments through love and grief
The speaker introduces the concept of 'yesterday then moments' – impactful experiences that shape our lives, often a blend of joy and grief tied together by love. She acknowledges anger as a familiar emotion but credits her father's guidance for pushing her towards a different path. Her personal journey is characterized by an acceptance of these complex emotions, viewing the integration of grief, sadness, and love as her 'superpower.' Growing up in rural Virginia, she was deeply connected to her church and family, experiencing a childhood surrounded by funerals due to her father's work as a grave digger and her mother's role as church clerk. This early exposure normalized death and grief within her life.
Grandma Beck's wedding and the weight of honor
A poignant 'yesterday then moment' involved her Grandma Beck. Despite battling illness for years, Grandma Beck attended her granddaughter's wedding, sharing in the joy and dancing. Tragically, she passed away just 24 hours after the reception. This event instilled a powerful sense of duty in the speaker and her siblings: to 'make her proud' and 'keep the course.' This led to a moment of disorientation at school and marching band practice, where academic and performance expectations paled in comparison to the emotional weight of honoring her grandmother's memory through continued life and effort.
Navigating loss and disorientation in Miami
Moving to Miami for university, the speaker found herself facing significant personal challenges. A pivotal moment occurred on Father's Day 2010, when her father, in a rehabilitation hospital, urged her to come home before Christmas. Tragically, he passed away just hours after she arrived home, three months before the planned Christmas visit. The family faced the difficult decision of attending her sister's wedding shortly after their father's death, ultimately choosing to go to honor him. This period of intense grief led to disorientation, poor decision-making, and significant weight gain, illustrating how grief can profoundly impact daily life and stability.
The overwhelming losses of 2015-2016 and seeking help
The speaker recounts an exceptionally difficult period between 2015 and 2016, during which she lost nine people within a span of eight weeks, including her mother and grandmother. This compounded grief left her 'out of her mind' and living in fear. Recognizing her inability to cope alone, she sought professional help, engaging a counselor and psychiatrist. She emphasizes that she is not ashamed of this, seeing it as a necessary step to overcome paralysis caused by grief and to reclaim a life of 'power, love, and a sound mind.'
Embracing holistic healing and the universality of wellness
The year 2020 marked a turning point as the speaker felt a strong need for healing and community. She found that the necessary training and resources – meditation, guided journaling, Reiki, breathwork, and sound healing – came to her. This journey led her to understand that 'healing is universal' and not confined to any single religion or group, challenging her earlier upbringing's views on practices like yoga. While continuing her healing path, she still faced losses, including Miss Elaine, Nana Jean Wilson, Betty Wright, and her friend Tabitha, further reinforcing the ongoing nature of grief and healing.
The profound impact of Mr. Wade's death and community resilience
In November 2023, the speaker experienced one of her most devastating losses with the sudden death of her roommate and friend, Mr. Wade. This event left her feeling lost, hopeless, and experiencing pain unlike any she had felt before, even surpassing the grief from her parents' deaths. However, it was her community that provided the essential support to navigate this profound loss. Friends rallied around her, encouraging her work, organizing conferences, and supporting her community initiatives. This experience underscored the critical role of community in healing and allowed her to see that, as Mr. Wade had always told her, she was enough.
Founding Sawubona Healing and serving the Overtown community
The speaker's journey culminates in the establishment of Sawubona Healing, a practice rooted in the Zulu greeting meaning 'I see you.' Her purpose is to ensure that individuals, particularly within the Overtown community, feel seen, heard, and valued in their entirety. She attributes her ability to do this work to the guidance and support of those who have touched her life, especially Mr. Wade, who urged her to 'do this work' for the community. The talk concludes with a guided meditation, inviting participants to embrace love, release negative energy, and focus on the healing and restoration of the Overtown community, emphasizing that 'in love and truth, this community can be restored and move forward.'
Mentioned in This Episode
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Common Questions
Laquisha Fowlkes refers to 'yesterday moments' as significant life events, both joyful and difficult, that shape one's perspective and strength. These moments, often viewed in hindsight, tie together emotions like love, grief, and sadness, ultimately contributing to personal growth and resilience.
Topics
Mentioned in this video
A movie reference the speaker used to imagine Miami before moving there.
One of the Miami-based media references the speaker used to imagine the city before moving there.
A media reference the speaker used to imagine Miami before moving there.
A media reference the speaker used to imagine Miami before moving there.
The speaker's 'Overtown champion buddy' who invited her to stay with him in 2022.
A friend and mentor who gave the speaker her first tour of black and brown areas in Miami, lost in September 2023.
The speaker's mentor and friend in early childhood, whom she lost in August 2023. She taught her about Liberty City.
Mentioned as someone the speaker lost between 2020 and 2021. She was a straight-talker and mother of Tracy Wilson Morning.
Mentioned as the child of Nana Jean Wilson, whom the speaker lost between 2020 and 2021.
Mentioned as someone the speaker lost between 2020 and 2021. The speaker last saw her at Miss Elaine's funeral.
A group that fought to get the 'Lifeline' bus route reinstated in Overtown.
The university the speaker was accepted to in 2004, with the tagline 'Where you belong'.
The grief group the speaker joined after her friend Tabitha died. She later becomes a facilitator for them.
The museum in Overtown where the speaker was hired to do education work in November 2023.
The name of the speaker's endeavor, based on a Zulu greeting meaning 'I see you', focused on healing and ensuring people are seen.
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