Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Before I even became a Senate senator, we were working in, in, in the legislature to try to change laws. You can't do it alone. We need each other. And it's, it takes humility. But if we want to change the world around us is we wanna manifest a better world. That manifestation has a start in us and is always grounded in love and care and compassion.
Speaker 1 00:00:25 Hello, I'm Deborah Rosman and a warm welcome to our listeners, the the Ad Heart podcast, inspiring forward movement and Heart Powered Intention. Our topic, this episode is Dare to Love How to Release Separation in today's Polarized Politics. And I have a very special guest, Patricia Van Powell. PhD is an Illinois State senator who practices this and we're gonna learn about how she does it. She's also been an entrepreneur, an author, a real estate developer, a certified public accountant, and co-founder and president of Guana for Life to help empower underserved communities. And she's a heart mast certified trainer. And I love her goal in life. She says this to advance civilization and help solve world problems. Dr. Pat received her doctorate in management of nonprofit agencies after completing a dissertation on the study of social movements and revolutions. Welcome Pat. We are so glad to have you with us.
Speaker 0 00:01:33 I am so happy to be here. It is my pleasure, uh, to be here with you. I love Heart Math Institute and I, and I sing your praises everywhere I go because it is such a powerful answer to the challenges that we are facing today.
Speaker 1 00:01:48 Well, I think your background in studying social movements and coming to heart math, seeing the hardest key to that, and I love the stories you've told, I want you to share with our listener how Dar to Love, which is Dear theme came to you because you've had to make a series of choices. And one was that you shared would, could you really love and care for all the people, including those who have opposing views to you? And you had to address that given the background you were raised in. And then shortly after you became an Illinois State senator became clear to your heart that you had to release separation or you'd have to deny love, justice and compassion to some of your constituents who had different polarized views. Tell us more about this experience or this realization.
Speaker 0 00:02:43 Yes, I'll tell you, it was, uh, a definitely a growing, uh, experience. I, I worked hard on trying to solve problems in my community. I started working hard in, in my community, trying to reduce crime and improve public safety. And I learned that we could not win alone. It wasn't enough for just the African American community to try to face this alone, that we really needed to build relationships across, across ethnic lines and then across religious lines, which was a challenge because I was raised in church and we always felt like that we could solve our own problems. We didn't need Muslims or, or any other group, you know, to come in and try to help us. We could do it ourselves. Turns out we couldn't, we needed each other. And so I had to break myself down to accept that fact. And I did it because I wanted to save my community.
Speaker 0 00:03:33 And so I I I, it came became clear to me that winning alone was never going to give us the long-term solutions that we were looking for. So that's one reason why I went back to school to study social movements and revolutions because I wanted to figure out what works. I said, we need a, a movement. We, we need a, something bigger than what's going on. And now, you know, and so I started studying that and I learned the, the primary, um, tenets that need to be present in order for a movement to happen. And I'll talk about that a little later, but, uh, cuz I don't wanna get too far off the subject here. Uh, but I, I start building relationships across ethnic lines and religious lines. And we end up having a coalition that, one, the coalition of the of of the Year award in Illinois won $50,000 and Organization of the Year Award and won $35,000. So we were really doing good. But even in spite of all of that, I knew that there was more. And that's what drove me into politics.
Speaker 1 00:04:29 That's amazing. You know, I, you were listening and following your heart and I just admire dear to love, dare starts with the kind of true honesty that you had with yourself and what am I really gonna do here? And then listening to your heart and you know, at HeartMath we have a saying of take a heart stand, not a mind stance with what you believe in because the mind stance is, is what perpetuates religious separation, political separation and polarization. Cuz it just believes it's right and others are wrong. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And you told me that you came to a showdown in the next series of heart choices you had to make when you were shouted down on the Senate chamber floor. And you had to dare to choose love and justice instead of suspicion and fear, even in the face of being negated and misinterpreted. What did you do exactly in that moment?
Speaker 0 00:05:28 Well, that, that was a challenge that I wasn't ready for. I had, I thought I was ready when I went in, when I won the Senate race. I thought I would bring the same kind of love and care and understanding to the Senate and that everything would work out. Now, the every, I did bring the same kind of love care and concerning to the Senate, but everything didn't work out <laugh>. Okay. It didn't work out like it did in the community because what the difference was in the community, people wanted to solve the problem the same way we all saw the problem, which is one of the tenets of, uh, social movement theory that you see the, you have a collective understanding of the problem and a collective understanding of the solution. Um, so that's one of the tenets. And that in the community we had that.
Speaker 0 00:06:10 So therefore we were able to build a mobilizing unit, which is another tenant having a mobilizing unit. And then, uh, the third tenant is to have a political opportunity, a crack in the system, something happens to let you get it, come in and fix, you know, operate on something, fix something as a result of there being some type of crack in the system. So we were using that model. We were passing laws and everything. So when I got to the Senate, I thought I could use the same thing. But the problem was, Deborah, was that there was no collective understanding of the problem and the solution. And no matter how much love and care I shared, we couldn't get there. And the reason why was because their constituents was different from my constituents. Yeah. And so I struggled with that so hard and I didn't have the heart math tools, so I didn't have the quick coherence or the, the heart lock in.
Speaker 0 00:07:01 I didn't have any of that. So all I had was my history of using the model that I had learned over time in my own life. It, it wasn't fast enough. So I, I found myself, I came to a point where I began to judge them and say, you know, they, they just don't want us to, uh, bring, uh, solutions to our state. They don't want change that's gonna really be effective for the community. And in reality they did want that. It's just that it was from a different perspective than the way I was looking at it, the way my community looked at it. So we saw each other as enemies. Um, and that really hurt me really badly because it caused my, uh, caused me to really struggle with, uh, stress and anxiety and high blood pressure. And I had to make a decision that, you know, you've got to make a decision about who you are going to be in this moment and in this time.
Speaker 0 00:07:54 And I will fight my way through it over and over again. But that's why I'm so grateful that I found a heart Math twos cuz that that made me turn, be able to turn it around much, much sooner. Because instead of, um, going through, you know, weeks of battling against this whole thing about whether you're gonna show love to these people, do they deserve love? I actually felt like they didn't deserve love. That you know what? They needed to be wiped off the face of the earth cuz they do don't care about people and they needed to go. That's where I felt. And so, and that created all kinds of physical conditions in my body that I couldn't control. Uh, but when I finally came around and said, you know what, everybody deserves love. Everybody deserves respect for their thoughts and their ideas. Everybody is important and is wrong for me to judge them just because their ideas and their values or ideals and values were different from mine.
Speaker 0 00:08:49 And because I couldn't get them, we couldn't get to Yes. Was no reason for me to despise them. It was a reason for me to even love them more because we couldn't get there and I needed to, as much as I could protect them, um, from my own, even my own peers, right. <laugh> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Uh, so it, it was a powerful experience for me. And I tell you, learning that experience and, and finding out about the heart math tools, it, it just really turned my whole world around. I mean, I was able to move forward much quicker and help people much sooner than I would have had I not learned.
Speaker 1 00:09:24 That's amazing because that's happening everywhere you look on the news and in our own families and workplaces that polarization and the, the human tendency to judge and negate and hate and turning it around is very powerful. Yes. For you Yes. In your health and wellbeing and others. But you said because of that, you won the hearts of people inside and outside of the Senate Chamber. How, what happened? How, what won their hearts, what happened?
Speaker 0 00:09:57 Well, you know, it's, it's a thing about it. When you, uh, exude love and compassion and care, people know it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and respect you. I remember walking into the chamber and one of the, uh, ladies from the, uh, that were of the other, uh, party, she stood up and and hugged me. I knew she was, she, she probably don't even know why she was hugging me, but she, she saw, you know, this exuding that I was exuding this love and compassion, something that I had been fighting with, you know, for a while. I was able to just bring it out and just fill it for everybody. And she felt, and she got up and hugged me for no particular reason, <laugh>, other than that she felt that she should <laugh>. But, you know, they would, they were, um, they, I felt like what they did was over the, over the top, the way they would treat you.
Speaker 0 00:10:44 And I was trying to pass this law so that all children would have an attorney if they were being interrogated for, uh, a crime that may cause them to spend 15 years to life in prison. So I was fighting for them to have, um, have an have an attorney present, which everybody in, in the United States has, has a right to have an attorney, but children don't know. So they waived their rights and we had become the false confession capital of the nation. No other, no other county had more people in prison had that had come back. And, and they learned later that they was imprisoned wrongly because they confessed when they was a child to something. Uh, and ended up spending 15, 20 years in prison. So these kids were coming back as adults testifying to us, telling us what happened. And then when I looked at the research and I saw we would a false confession capital of the nation, I said, you know, we need to change this.
Speaker 0 00:11:35 And I'm bringing this up, I'm thinking everybody's gonna wrap their arms around it. But they didn't, they fought it and they said I was a hugger. I was bringing a hug, a thug mentality into the Senate and that I wanted to, uh, cripple, uh, uh, no, um, shackle the hands of police officers so they couldn't stop crime so the crime could run rampant in the community. And they said, if we don't know what you want in Chicago, but in our neighborhood, we are not having it, you're not passing this law and, and you're a huga thug person. You, you're coddling criminals. And it was just horrific the things they said. And it, it really impacted me. Cuz that's when I got to the point where I'm saying, wait a minute, you don't know me better than that. Right. <laugh>. And so, uh, and then after that, they wanna come by and say, Hey, let's go out for drinks or let's go out and have something to eat. I'm saying to myself, am I going anywhere with you? If you wicked person <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:12:24 You know that you turned it around so something touched their heart and you got some legislation passed. Not everything you wanted, but I just wanna know what, what was the heart moment that you felt these people shift? What won their hearts?
Speaker 0 00:12:42 I think when I, uh, actually talked about, um, I I, I start talking to them individually, Uhhuh <affirmative>, collectively, right. And I, and I started talking to 'em individually and I was able to get them to move from, you know, saying only 11 years old and younger could have an attorney, but they went up to 14 years old. So they can have an, they have to have an attorney. Uh, they can't waive their rights if they're old, if they're young, 14 or younger. And that happened, I think, because I started showing them, uh, videos of kids that were being interrogated. So they were able to see it. And also it wasn't, they was, it wasn't group think it was individual and I got enough of their support to get them to, to come. But that, that took something from me. I had to, I had to humble myself to, um, to take the time to share and with the, with the understanding that they may not even get it even with that, you know. But I, I, I had to humble myself. I had, I had to, I had to appeal to their humanity. And um, and I did, I got enough of them to vote yes to pass that bill. So that was big <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:13:49 That's amazing. I just wanna really underline what you did because that's a solution for each one of us in our own family's workplaces, world's where, how we can make a difference in this heart stand. You knew your heart told you you needed to connect heart to heart. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> with individuals took time, but that's care. You know, care is love and action. And so dare to love is how can I care what is going to really move things forward? And it is, is my experience always that one-to-one heart connection in your own heart said, let me show you what I see these pictures, these visuals, what are we gonna do? And then it's a collaborative between you and that person. And you multiply that by individuals and pretty soon you have a collective shift based upon that collective heart connection and intelligence. And so much of people's beliefs and assumptions are based upon not really understanding the other's world.
Speaker 1 00:14:55 And being able to share information like that in the world can make a huge difference in not having to have that personal tragedy in your own life, wake you up. Like we're seeing right now in so many areas where people are going, wait a minute, we have to do something because the stress is so great in their life. Or the tragedy is, you know, you're doing conferences and giving workshops all over the world now, sharing HeartMath tools that helped you to help people connect with their heart, operate from the heart come from within, rather than being just influenced as we all were by our background or externals or, you know, compromising themselves in order to stay in power. Finding that real inner empowerment. So how do you help people? What is your one message to not be so influenced by the externals? They bet knowing the truth in your own heart, given all the challenges, the pressures, the stresses going on.
Speaker 0 00:15:56 Yeah. What does, I think that the most important thing that I share with people is that if they want to change the world, they have to start with themselves. That we're not going to change the world unless we find a new way of working. Just like when I was in the community trying to stop crime and then start trying to change laws before I even became a Senate senator, we were working in, in, in the legislature to try to change laws. You can't do it alone. We need each other. And it's, it takes humility to, to to bring yourself to a place where you try to understand the person from where they're coming from and also, uh, understand that they may not still understand where you're coming from. But if we want to change the world around us, is we wanna manifest a better world. That manifestation has a start in us and it's always grounded in love and care and compassion. It's always gonna be grounded there. So that's got to be the starting point. If you want to change the world, it's gotta change. The change has a start in us and it's always grounded in love.
Speaker 1 00:17:07 That's beautifully said. And that means the dear to love is choices, making choices. Especially it's for yourself and how you handle watching the news and the reactions you have there. You know, that's a good place to practice because there's nobody who can talk back to you. But that separation and that horrific things we see, or people with different beliefs, how can you shift to the heart and practice care and compassion and understanding right there? And then how do you expand that to people in your own family or in your workplace or in your social circles? Cuz I think that, like you said, it starts with yourself and then it goes out to practicing with others. Um, at least that's certainly how I found in my own life. And then it becomes more of a, like for you, it's obvious, it's a baseline. You've practiced this choices so much and it doesn't mean we still aren't challenged and have to remake that choice, reconnect with the heart. But you know, it works. You've proven it to yourself. So your own confidence to keep daring, the love is strengthen. And I think that's beautiful. And what, you know, what we're gonna do now is we're gonna do a heart meditation together on dare to love for ourselves taking a heart stand. What does it mean for us personally and releasing separation. So we're gonna get in our hearts and heart coherent state, individually and collectively to increase our heart power and our heart powered intention.
Speaker 1 00:18:47 So let's focus our attention in the area of the heart, the center and the heart. Breathe in love, gratitude, or appreciation. We'll do this for a minute, to warm our heart and increase our heart coherence. Let's radiate that heartfelt love and gratitude to each other and our intention to take a heart stand in the face of misunderstandings or separation by daring to love practicing qualities of the heart, like compassion, care, kindness and forgiveness, which helps us stay centered, lifts our spirit and creates deeper access to our own honesty and our heart's intuitive guidance. Let's just radiate that love and gratitude to all people making effort to do this. Take that hard stand now in this collective heart energy. Ask your own hearts intuitive guidance where you could apply heart qualities more in the face of being judged, misunderstood, negated what heart qualities would be appropriate for your situation.
Speaker 1 00:21:31 Ask your heart where else you can practice non-judgment, non-separation connection. Now let's radiate the collective heart energy towards our commitment to stepping into what our hearts just guided us towards. Daring the love, actualizing that heart stand. Let's radiate God har into the collective field to strengthen our intention. Let's co-create a reservoir of hard energy that each of us can access as needed over the next month when our mood falls or doubts Come in whenever you wanna connect more, reconnect with that heart's intuitive guidance or wisdom. When you need to reboot, reset, you can tap into this reservoir of heart energy that we're all radiating. Now let's close by radiating this collective heart power and intelligence, this reservoir our love and compassion to people in areas of the planet that are experiencing extreme stress and hardship. Let's see our collective heart energy, lifting their spirit a bit in the field and helping them connect more with their own heart. Thank you for sharing that heart meditation with me, Patricia. We so appreciate the example that you are setting. It gives others inspiration that they can do the same. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners?
Speaker 0 00:25:37 Yes. Um, first of all, this has been such a, uh, a great, um, session here. I every time we go through these hard math, uh, lock-ins and card coherence, I just, I just love it. I mean, it's like having, I just wanna say to the audience as I, the part that you have to be the world that you wanna see, as Gandhi said, and it's nowhere around it. It has to come from within you. You have to, and it has to come from the heart. That's the only way we can bear it. It has to come from the heart. If it comes from the mind, we will break down. We will break down, but from the heart, we can bear it and we can grow and we can develop and we can share. We have more than enough. So I encourage you to go within the heart, always go there cuz that's where your help lies.
Speaker 1 00:26:23 That's beautiful. Beautifully said. And you know, to help people find that heart, connect there and get back there. HeartMath tools were created for that purpose. As well as there's other tools that you might be using that are valuable. There's a movement towards heart. You know, Patricia talked about the need for a movement and the movement is heart. It's about the heart on the planet. And every one of us has a heart and our hearts are really the same, even though our minds are very different. And as we connect with that power that runs the body, that runs the brain, that runs our future, if we go to the heart, we can co-create from there. And as a gift to our listeners, I want to remind you that you can get free access to the HeartMath experience at the HeartMath websites. It's an amazing online film.
Speaker 1 00:27:20 If you wanna watch all 90 minutes or a video course in 10 segments to learn several very helpful heart math tools for connecting with your deeper hearts intuitive guidance and connecting with unfolding, what are your next steps? It's a beautiful course and we wanna give it away to the world to help create and facilitate this ad heart movement. So I wanna also remind you that the third Tuesday of every month we publish a new episode of the Ad Heart podcast. So be sure you subscribe so you don't miss our next guest and topic. And again, thank you Patricia, so much. And to all of our listeners, take care.
Speaker 0 00:28:08 Thank you.
Speaker 2 00:28:10 Thank you for listening to the Ad Heart podcast. Be sure to subscribe so you can catch the latest episodes. If you're wanting even more heart inspired content, find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Look for HeartMath and also the HeartMath Institute. Both organizations are committed to helping activate the heart of humanity.
