Judith A. Yáñez - Be Like Water

You need to heal yourself before you can adequately hold space for others.

Judith A. Yáñez is the Founder and Executive Director of RootED Northwest Arkansas, which educates parents and helps them to use their power and voice to advance educational and economic opportunities for their families. After ascending from a working-class childhood of trauma and dysfunction and later becoming a math teacher who saw the disconnect between school systems and the families they were meant to serve firsthand, Judith shares her journey in helping ensure Latinx immigrants stay engaged in their child's education, break negative cycles and walk alongside them.

Being an empath is a beautiful gift, but it is tough to truly hear others if you are projecting your own experiences and beliefs onto them. A crucial part of holding space is knowing your boundaries and actively engaging in self-care to ensure that you show up as your best self for others.

Acting as a support for others is a lot like taking on the element of water; you have to acknowledge the environment you are in and know when to be rigid like ice, powerful and cleansing like a flood, or calm like a little stream. Reconnect with your spiritual element, help break cycles, and inspire and lead others to success!

Show Notes:

❤️ Judith is building a nonprofit organization to serve kids: she was trying to save herself by projecting onto people what she had gone through. 02:38
🌸 Being a space holder helped Judith to find balance and not impose personal healing onto a community anymore. 08:00
👂 Listening is a lost art, but we can practice it. 09:54
💔 Empath children feel the pain of others and take it as their own, even if they don’t understand it. 11:21
🌎 When you grow up in trauma, you don't know where the gift of empathy starts or ends: this gift is lonely because you're giving it back to the world and finding answers within you. 13:50
🟢 The legacy that helps heal you is usually the one you carry within you. 17:05
🇵🇪 Trauma makes everything so complex: Judith is going to Peru to feel the simplicity of life. 18:58
🧡 Put yourself first so the universe shows you clearly when you can help others. 20:29
🤝 You'll be a doormat if you don't have boundaries: people need to meet you somewhere so you can keep yourself healthy. 23:34
🌊 Water has been a teacher for Judith: nature gives us the wisdom to relearn. 26:25
💗 Judith helps Latinx immigrant families - parents are often scared, so they tend to control kids entirely: she shares the most recent experience she is proud of. 29:10
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The organization is modeling to those beautiful mamas how to be supportive parents for themselves and their kids: it's about breaking the cycle of putting fear and control on kids. 32:21
✅ The balance between autonomy and control in immigrant families - curiosity is the driver to break those cycles of stuckness and fear of change. 37:41
❗ We're taught to succeed without ever being given the tools to succeed. 39:48
🏊‍♂️ The story of Ron learning to swim: his mother and sister had the biggest influence on him growing up. 42:13
💕 We need more conversations like this to help connect us back to our true element. 44:20

Links:

✨ Connect with Judith: www.rootednwa.org

🤓 Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo

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🖼️ Instagram: www.instagram.com/phenomeron