58: Trusting Your Intuition as a Nurse Coach- Love Hawkins, MSN, APRN, WHNP-BC, CNM, NC-BC

Trusting Your Intuition as a Nurse Coach- Love Hawkins, MSN, APRN, WHNP-BC, CNM, NC-BC Transcript

Nicole Vienneau  00:00

Welcome, everyone, to the Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION! podcast. My name is Nicole Vienneau. I am your host and I’m also a Board Certified Integrative Nurse Coach. And today we have a super interesting guest. Love Hawkins. She is a Nurse Coach, clinical faculty assistant cannabis Nurse instructor.

But what’s really fascinating is that Love has delivered hundreds of babies during her career. And in similar ways, she’s continuing to experience the labor and delivery process as she facilitates hundreds of others in giving birth to the next best version of themselves.

So she is using her history in labor and delivery, and combining it with Nurse Coaching, cannabis Nursing, and helping people rediscover themselves— like rebirth themselves. And I’m so excited to have her on the show. She’s also— for all those in Northwest Florida— she’s in Northwest Florida. So, we welcome Love Hawkins.

Love Hawkins  01:08

Thank you so much, Nicole, I appreciate the invite to be here.

Nicole Vienneau  01:13

Well, I’m happy, happy, happy that we finally made this happen. Glad you’re here. And you know, for all our listeners, it’s a little bit vulnerable to come on a podcast, right?

Love Hawkins  01:27

Absolutely.

Nicole Vienneau  01:27

Yeah. So you know, but I always imagine us like we’re just having virtual tea. And we’re just talking about all the things we love about Nursing, about Nurse Coaching, about life. And, you know, it’s really an opportunity for us just to be together. And so I really appreciate you coming with us. And for all of our listeners who are listening today.

Love Hawkins  01:47

My pleasure. My pleasure. So where do we begin?

Nicole Vienneau  01:50

Yes. Where do we begin, right? Well, we have to begin by going down history lane. We’d love to know how you discovered Nursing.

Love Hawkins  01:59

Wow. So, that takes me back a little ways. When I was growing up, and through high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I really was kind of upset that high school had come to an end because that meant now I have to start adulting, right? I have to make those decisions.

And so I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I did a whole bunch of things. And I remember at one point thinking something in the medical field would be great. But guess what? I didn’t think I was smart enough. I never once had a single person to tell me I was smart, or you can do anything, you can do this, you can do that.

So I just… I would overhear other students talking about how hard the science classes were, and I just never even went there because I just didn’t think I was smart enough. Life goes on. And I’m doing all kinds of odds and end jobs or what have you. I served a little bit of time in the Navy and got out.

And then I got into banking. I was a personal banker. And I was so miserable in that job. I would sit in the parking lot before going into work and just cry and cry and cry because I didn’t want to go in there. I was a personal banker, so I was responsible for making sales and getting new loans and things like that, and to get points, you know, or your quota for the month.

And every time you met that quota, they would raise it up higher. And it just was not fulfilling me to try to sell to people that really didn’t need to go into more debt. So, life goes on, and one day I was sitting in a doctor’s office. You know how they have the magazines sitting there? Pick up a magazine, I’m just thumbing through the magazine, and I ran across an article about “do you deserve a doula?”

What is a doula? So I’m reading the article, and as I’m reading the article about a doula, everything in my body lit up. I mean, from the gut, it was just like this ball of fire. And I was so excited because I had never heard of anything that pulled me in like that.

So I immediately go home, and I researched everything I needed to do to become a doula. And I did it. And so I had my own little business, in addition to working jobs, taking care of women, helping them through their pregnancy and the labor process, and I would help them postpartum as well. So I did that for a while, maybe a year or so.

And then one day I’m laboring with a patient in the hospital and in come this certified Nurse midwife. Oh my gosh, what in the world? I didn’t know this existed, right? So I do the same thing. I go home and research everything I need to do to become a certified Nurse midwife. Oh, well, that means now I have to take these science classes, right?

But at that time, I’m 32 years old. That’s how long after high school before I came to Nursing. So I started taking the prerequisite classes, you know, leading up for the BSN. I transferred over and completed the BSN program. But all the while I know full well I’m going to be a midwife.

So, you know how when you first come out of Nursing school, the first thing they want you to do is do med surg. I’m 30 some odd years old by this time, I don’t want to waste any time in med surg. I know where I’m going, I know what I want to do. That fire. You know, that ball of fire within me.

That listen, listen here, this is something you need to do. And so even through my clinical rotations, I had to petition to get to do my clinical hours with the Nurse midwife while I was in Nursing school, and they let me do it. And so as soon as I finished the bachelors program, six months later, I was in my master’s program for the Nurse midwifery.

And then I added on the women’s health Nurse practitioner. And so that’s how I got to do exactly what I wanted to do— that position that gave me fulfillment, and joy, and witnessing being a part of such sacred… a sacred part of the lives of families.

Because it’s not just the women that I’m taking care of, it was the whole family. And especially watching a brand new mom become a mom and the metamorphosis of that process, it was such a beautiful experience. And so that’s how… that was my short journey to Nursing, so to speak.

Nicole Vienneau  06:27

Such a story. So, second… no, third career Nurse, right? Because in banking, Love, I didn’t know this about you. Banking. And yet, all of that, I’m sure that in itself, you know, leads you down the path of really recognizing that’s not really what I want to do.

Love Hawkins  06:52

Right.

Nicole Vienneau  06:53

Yeah. And then becoming a doula, and I loved your expression, how not only at the time did it light up, but when you were talking about what is a doula, I think you said, do you deserve a doula? You’re reading this article. What is a doula?

Yeah, and everything in your body lit up. And as you were talking about it, you lit up too. It was really, you know, exciting to see that. And, you know, coming into Nursing at 32 or so and trying to avoid all the sciences, they still followed you and tracked you down anyways.

Love Hawkins  07:30

And the funny thing about that is that I made straight A’s. So I’m like, who knew? I’m like, man, I could have done this a long time ago. But I didn’t have that belief in myself, you know, I didn’t have the outer thing to confirm that or to even bring that notion up that I was smart enough to do this.

And it was like… it wasn’t like just such a breeze, I had to study for sure. It was not a cakewalk. But I did it. And I think it was just because I had that fire and made that I knew where I was going and what I wanted to do. And whatever I needed to do to do it, that’s what I was going to do. And yeah, the rest as they say is history.

Nicole Vienneau  08:12

The rest is history. But there’s more in your history. I know that. So, here you are a midwife and having experience as a doula and then moving in, you know, learning more and more in Nursing, and now you’re in midwifery. And so tell us a little bit about, say, maybe a few of those years, what was that like?

Love Hawkins  08:32

So, I have the pleasure of experiencing being a midwife in the civilian world, and in the military world. So in the civilian world it is quite different because there’s always people that maybe you have this type of insurance, or you have that type of insurance, or you don’t have insurance, or that’s a cash pay patient. So there was different levels of care that I could provide to people.

And that was very, very frustrating for me. If I wrote for them to have something that they needed, I wanted them to get it. But then that entailed way more work for me to go behind the scenes to try to work with all those social issues. They’re important, but I want to just take care of the patient and this process that they’re going through.

I don’t want to have to do that. I want to say here, this is what my patient needs, please make sure that they get it. And so that was very frustrating. And it wasn’t happening because of course, it’s someone couldn’t afford to get the care that they needed, they didn’t get it. So, I go into the Air Force.

And so that was a very different experience. My patients got what they needed. I was able to write whatever they needed, and they got it. So very, very different worlds, because everything’s just taken care of for people in the military, you know, and the dependents and things of that nature.

Nicole Vienneau  09:57

Okay. Yeah, many of us have never been in the military world. So, yeah, we don’t know much about that. So thanks for sharing that. And then, so now, somewhere along the lines, you discovered Nurse Coaching. So we’d love to hear that story.

Love Hawkins  10:14

Yes, yes. So after seven or so years in the Air Force, I had had some medical things to come up, and I got the word that I was being medically retired from the Air Force. So that certainly was not in my plan, because I have the rest of my career mapped out in like two year increments— this is what I’m going to do this two years, this is what I’m gonna do… until I retired, until I finished out all the years to where you could really retire, right?

And so I went home, and I just sat down on the bed. I didn’t fall apart. This is my career, you know, this is what I love to do, is to take care of people in this environment. And I just sat, I was like, okay, you know, I prayed to my higher power, I was like listen, I thought we were on the same sheet of music here. But obviously, we’re not.

What am I going to do? And so I just sat with that, and rode out the rest of the time in the Air Force, because it was like a year before they let me all the way out. So let’s see, that was like, maybe February, March that year. And so maybe three, four months later, I get… you how you get the emails that come from the various Nursing organizations?

So one of those came through, and I want to say it could have been AWHONN or something like that. And I see something in there, a little blurb about Nurse Coaching. Okay, that piqued my interest. What is Nurse Coaching? And so the same thing happens, you know, I go down that rabbit hole of reading that and trying to find out and understand what’s this all about.

And then that fire wells up in me again to like, oh my goodness, this is something that I can do. And guess what, and it’s also something that I would not have been able to do had I been still in the Air Force. Not to mention, right after that was when all the things happened with COVID.

So, this gave me that time and space to go down that avenue of researching Nurse Coaching and applying to the program and getting in. And yes, it was just a beautiful experience. So it just pays to really follow those… sometimes the nudges, the intuition nudges are very gentle, sometimes they are very loud. And in those cases, it was very, very pronounced and strong to where I didn’t have a doubt that this is what I’m supposed to do next.

Nicole Vienneau  12:50

Yes, and receiving such sounds like devastating news of thinking that you are going to be in the military for many, many years and receiving that information. And then using your spirituality to support you through that, and then allowing to have happen whatever happens.

Love Hawkins  13:14

Exactly. Exactly. That time and space of just sitting, being still, and being patient— of course, that thing called being patient for someone who may be impatient, who’s used to really directing that path— of just being still and waiting for the universe to present what’s next. Being alert to it, as well.

So, you know, I didn’t go just dig my head in the sand and say, okay, life is over. But it’s more so like, okay, what’s next then? Because it gave me so much joy to take care of the women and their families in a very meaningful manner, because it’s such a significant life event.

And so just like, there are those happy, happy moments of, you know, here’s this beautiful new baby here, you know, you have the opposite of that, you have women that I’ve had to say, I’m sorry, there’s no heartbeat. You know, and it doesn’t matter at what point in time in that pregnancy you hear such information, it can be that very first exam when you’re all excited because they got a positive pregnancy test.

You do the ultrasound, and there’s no heartbeat and the baby’s only, you know, six or seven weeks old. Whether or not that baby is 23 weeks along, whether or not that baby is full term, and they come in and there’s no heartbeat. You know, all of those are very monumental moments in a woman’s life for sure.

So all of it meant something and it was very meaningful because I’ve been there, in so many different situations at the moment of life’s conception, and at the moment that it ends, you know, when people have, you know, passed over. So, yeah.

Nicole Vienneau  15:09

Yes, it sounds like you have many memories and many lived experiences that are supporting you as you journey through life now.

Love Hawkins  15:19

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It’s very interesting how I started out very, very young. I always had a knack for being with women, you know, in a very supportive way. From the time I was in the sixth grade, almost every year, I had a friend, a very close friend that got pregnant from the sixth grade on, you know, I would have a classmate that got pregnant.

And so there was that thing and I bring them home and like, my mom, she said I would be bringing home all these stray dogs, but you know, of course, not dogs, but you know, people to bring in to help. Can we help? What can we do to help this young lady?

Because some of them may have lived in the projects or things like that. Mom, what can we do? Can we go buy her some… her baby some clothes, because they don’t have… you know. So I always had this thing for women, and maybe even more so pregnant women. So it was very near and dear to my heart. So I just had to shift, I had just to shift that focus on to something else.

Nicole Vienneau  16:25

Yeah. And yet you are still using that, what you’ve learned, what’s on your heart, what’s in your bones and blood, it sounds like, to now moving into Nurse Coaching, and using those skills and tools, the intuition, all of that, to now guide you in this practice. So please tell us a little bit about what you’re doing today, or in this recent few years. And let us know a little bit more about that.

Love Hawkins  16:56

Sure. For sure. So yes, I came on board with INCA as clinical faculty. So I have my cohorts that I supervise, they’re going through the program, and helping them. So I do certainly quite a bit of coaching with them. You know, sometimes it’s a one on one as they’re going through the program, and they’re going through their own life experiences as well.

So there’s that. And then, of course, being introduced to… that was another thing, the cannabis Nursing. When I read about that, that was another thing that lit me up like, man, this is going to be huge, right? So this is like before, you know, things really, really have really expanded across the nation, and the world for that matter, as far as many people having medicinal cannabis and how to take it.

Because many people, most people use it for pain. And so they get their medical card, but there’s no education. And they take that card to that dispensary, and they say to the budtender, whoever’s behind the counter, give me the strongest thing you got because I just want to be out of pain.

But that’s the worst thing to do, is to go in there and ask what’s the strongest thing you got. Right? So there’s no education there. So being able to guide clients and letting them know where to start, you know, the interactions with certain medications that they’re taking. So you want to get their history on that.

So yes, just using those skills in a lot of different pivots is very, very fulfilling. So, I don’t advertise, that’s the thing, I stay so busy that I don’t advertise, so that’s why haven’t advertised as of yet. Because yeah, everything that I’m doing is quite fulfilling and quite time consuming as well. So yeah, there’s only one of me, so I can’t coach every single body that I want to coach, you know, but I can certainly do my best.

Nicole Vienneau  18:57

Yes, absolutely. You’re doing your best. So, please explain a little bit about what it’s like to be Nursing faculty.

Love Hawkins  19:07

So, man, it is so beautiful how you get to connect with people all over the world. People you would not have otherwise ordinarily run into or known, and you develop these relationships that are absolutely beautiful. And just being able to hear different aspects of what it’s like to be a Nurse in these various places.

Very, very different. So yeah, that’s been really good. It’s been very fulfilling. And the same thing with Nurses that are going through the Nurse Coach program, seeing and witnessing their metamorphosis, the changes that occur in them where I can literally see it and witness it happening.

And where they are at the end of foundations, as well as at the end of practicum, at the whole program, just seeing that growth is marked, you can see the growth in those individuals. And it’s a beautiful thing. And so it’s very, very, very fulfilling.

Nicole Vienneau  20:18

So when you think of your cohorts and that beautiful feeling, how has that affected you in your life?

Love Hawkins  20:26

It helps me to keep going, because of course, with all that’s going on in the world, if you let it, it can really bring you down— all the negativity, the things that are out there. So it helps to keep me moving in a very purposeful manner, moving forward, and not just, you know, allowing all those other things to kind of set in or what have you.

To know that I still have hope for our future, I still have hope for our Nurses and their ability to still care, because that’s at the root of us all, we just care, we care. And it’s just like instinct to just reach out and help someone. And that’s very challenging to do when the profession are experiencing such burnout. Right? And the traumas that they have gone through even before COVID came along, right?

And COVID just took things to a whole other level. So yeah, my heart is in all of that. And it’s just very fulfilling, because this is just my way, you know, there’s that saying: be the change you want to be… want to see in the world. And so that’s just my part, my piece of being the change. I can’t wave a magic wand and change it all, but I can do what I can do. I can do my part.

Nicole Vienneau  21:55

Yes. And being with Nurses, exploring this new avenue of learning to be with people, be with, and we’ve all as Nurses… we know how to do that. That is true. And yet Nurse Coaching just takes it another level further, shifts the way in which we are showing up for and with our patients.

Love Hawkins  22:21

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

Nicole Vienneau  22:24

I know my time as faculty with Integrative Nurse Coach Academy, I loved every single second of it, because yes, we were privy to see the Nurses coming into the program at the beginning. And I have my own story about that, you know, my own personal story. And we get to see, week after week, just little small shifts.

And we know, working with with clients and with people in general, those small, tiny little shifts over time end up to be quite large transformations, if they’re allowing that, if they’re open to and willing to adjust and morph as they wish.

Love Hawkins  23:10

Absolutely.

Nicole Vienneau  23:11

Yeah. So we’d love also to know a little bit more about what you’re doing with the cannabis Nursing, because you’re right, I mean, this is a newer avenue for Nurses to show up for people to offer them education, support, information, you know, helping them navigate this new world. So what can you offer our listeners in that respect as far as your work and how that relates to Nursing and clients?

Love Hawkins  23:42

So first off is, of course, getting over the reputation, the past reputation of cannabis. And so there’s many that don’t agree with it, don’t want anything, “I don’t believe in that.” And you may be a Nurse that falls along those lines. Fair enough.

However, if you’re taking care of patients, ethically, you’re bound to have this information to know how to counsel your patients, especially when it’s coming to, like I stated before, the many drugs— we all know about polypharmacy— the many drugs that these people are already taking. And then they go add cannabis to the mix.

I mean, there are precautions, there’s safe ways to do it. Right? And so knowing that and being able to talk to your patients in a manner that’s going to be helpful to them, versus, you know, using that stigma to not even go there with the patient. And that leads to some very negative outcomes in that respect.

But yes, just being able to guide patients in a healthy manner. So some of the other things I do— I do some speaking engagements and public speaking in regards to that. My other desire is to educate other healthcare professionals in that manner as well, because there’s many doctors that write that certification for people to go obtain it, but they don’t know the pharmacology behind it themselves.

So, it’s very interesting how that all comes about. But nevertheless, there’s that, like I said, the code of ethics, and we need to know what are our patients are taking, and what interactions there are and what it does, what are the repercussions, you know, and making sure that not only patients, but other Nurses are also well educated in that. So that’s a lot of what I do with that, with the course that I’m the assistant instructor with through INCA.

Nicole Vienneau  25:50

So that is through the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy, the cannabis Nurse course… what is that? I can’t remember the name, the title of that course.

Love Hawkins  26:00

The CannyNurse program.

Nicole Vienneau  26:02

The CannyNurse program. Yes. And we’ll definitely be putting a link into the show notes for that, because that is an incredible program. I hear so many good things about it. So, yes. And you’re right, I mean, coming from a personal perspective, I don’t know much about cannabis myself.

And so I think it’s fabulous that I now know that we have a network of Nurses… Nurses and Nurse Coaches who have taken the CannyNurse program, that I can reach out to them and say, okay, I have this client, I’m not certain of this myself, I have not taken this specialty, but I know I can count on my colleagues to support me in that way when I need to have some information or understand a little bit better.

Love Hawkins  26:47

Yes. So, the course is offered, currently, twice a year. We’re looking at the possibility of adding a third cohort each year and doing three per year instead of two.

Nicole Vienneau  26:58

Oh, great. Oh, that’s fantastic. So more choices for people to, and Nurses, to be able to sign up. You don’t have to be a Nurse Coach to take this program.

Love Hawkins  27:08

Right.

Nicole Vienneau  27:09

Okay. Yes. Fabulous. And already six cohorts!

Love Hawkins  27:17

Yes. Very successful.

Nicole Vienneau  27:21

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, as you think of your history with being a doula, then a midwife, being in the military, finding Nurse Coaching, being a banker, all of those, you know, now cannabis Nursing— how has this helped you in your personal life, all of this knowledge and experience?

Love Hawkins  27:49

So, I tend to do my very best to pass on as much of the skills that I have learned. I do my best to coach around all those subjects that relate to every aspect of your being, right? So, if we focus only on, you know, our spiritual nature, but then we’re like so disconnected with life, okay, well, that doesn’t work.

That’s not, you know, why we came here to have this life experience, right? Life is meant to be lived. So likewise, if you focus only on the body, and not on your spiritual side, you know, so there’s that mind, body and the spirit. And I think many of us will focus on one or two, but never all three.

And it’s the integration. You know, that’s what the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy, you know, the integration of all the aspects of who you are. Every single bit of that matters. So many of us tend to ignore at least one or two of those areas, or they might nitpick at it, and not really give it their full self.

But these are… this is your life. These are our bodies. So we would enjoy the journey, I think, a whole lot better if we gave attention to all aspects of who we are. Otherwise, you know, that’s not a life fully lived.

Nicole Vienneau  29:25

Integration.

Love Hawkins  29:27

Yes.

Nicole Vienneau  29:28

Yes. Yes. We definitely see such dichotomies in the world we live in today. Yeah, it’s yes or no, and it’s this or that?

Love Hawkins  29:44

Yes, yes. It’s the marrying of all of that together. Some people want to say let’s get rid of the ego, the ego is bad. There’s a place for the ego. The ego helps to keep us safe, right? So if a tiger is actually coming at you, the ego helps you get up out of the way. Right? So there’s a place for it.

But the thing is, is to not let it run you, like the ego owning you versus, you know, it’s a part of you so you orchestrate your mind, your body, your spirit, or what have you. You have… you’re the director. And so I just think that that’s a huge piece that many of us miss.

And when we come into that, and we’re able to do that, that makes our lives a whole lot better. I mean, it’s way more pleasant, versus just making life bearable. Those are very different experiences.

Nicole Vienneau  30:46

Yes. And I know intuition… intuition… following your inner voice, your inner wisdom— what thoughts do you have on that?

Love Hawkins  30:56

Yes, that is like, so crucial. That is so crucial. I can’t tell you how many times, maybe I have, and I’ve also heard other stories of like, man, and before that happened, I got that nudge, I got this inkling, something told me, they don’t know what it is, but something told me to turn left, I should have turned left.

I never turn left right there, right? And then you may find out later why you should have turned left, you know, because you’ll get into something or whatever. Or if you listened, that will help confirm, oh, when that happens, I need to listen to that little voice because I went this way, because I followed that path, I now realize I avoided this 20 car pileup.

And so it’s such a critical thing, to really lean into that intuition, learn it, get to know it, start practicing with it. There’s ways to do that, right? And so really lean into that. And that, again, it makes life way more pleasant, way more fun, especially when you know, when it’s fun stuff that pops up.

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And so that gives me… that’s one of the biggest things that I took away from the course, going through INCA, the Nurse Coaching course, is really, really dialing in and knowing, getting to know your inner voice. Because we hear so many other voices from outside of us.

And we often listen to those voices. But who gets to live your life? Who lives inside of your body? That’s you. So you might want to listen to yourself. Now again, you know, there’s that self talk, it’s gonna be also, you know, that piece of that is talking to yourself like you would your very best friend.

And just leaning into those intuitive messages. You can journal, there’s so many ways to foster that intuition. And so that’s the biggest thing that I could ever really recommend.

Nicole Vienneau  33:14

So, you said that you yourself discovered the power of intuition through the Integrative Nurse Coach certificate program for Nurse Coaching. So were there things that you learned in the course that helps support you in understanding this more? And if so, what are those types of things that you learned and potentially use today?

Love Hawkins  33:38

Well I tell you, just going through our textbook, I would recommend our textbook to a person who’s not even a Nurse. Because it was such an easy, easy read. And like I had to look again like is this really a textbook? Because it really felt like a guide to life, on just how to live life and living life more fully, instead of just getting through today.

If I can just get through today, to get to another day to where you say if I can just get through this day. So you’re not really looking forward, you know, to the next day. And so, yeah, that textbook really just helps you to be silent, especially in those awareness practices.

There’s so much noise in the world, that often we don’t know how to be silent. We’re uncomfortable with the silence. But when you give it a chance and lean into it, oh, that silence is such a phenomenal feeling. And it brings such a level of peace and calm to the body.

And of course that triggers all the wonderful chemicals that we want released in our body, versus all the ones that are triggered by, you know, too much stress, or anxiety or what have you. Because I know people that they cannot sleep without the television being on, they have to have some kind of noise.

And so they’re not comfortable at all in the silence. But that is the very thing that really brings that level of peace from within. You don’t have to depend on things outside of you to experience peace. So that’s probably the biggest thing, certainly, going through the program.

Because before that, I would listen to my intuition certainly when it was loud, you know, when it was all in my face, but if it was just subtle, maybe I just didn’t even observe it. I wasn’t even aware of it. Whereas now I’m able to be way more in tune and aware for the little soft voice. But I also spend that time in silence so that there’s that room for things to come in.

Nicole Vienneau  36:09

So profound, yet so simple. Right?

Love Hawkins  36:13

Right. Exactly.

Nicole Vienneau  36:14

It is difficult for us in today’s world. So I’m just gonna back up a little bit, because I want to let our listeners know the name of this textbook. It’s called Nurse Coaching: Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing written by Barbara Dossey, Susan Luck, and Bonney Schaub.

And I have this… well, of course I have this textbook because you know, Integrative Nurse Coach over here. My textbook is so full of sticky notes and earmarked pages— which I know when I was a young, young girl, they always said don’t earmark your pages. Well, it’s like, this is my textbook so I’m going to.

So I have earmarks and highlights and all kinds of things in my textbook. Because it is a very valuable text. I almost… yeah, when you said that, I was like, yeah, it really isn’t a textbook, like in the traditional sense of this is the theory of this and we must learn it.

Like, there’s more to it. There’s more context. It’s very contextual. Yeah. And you know, and just returning back to what we were talking about with silence, and it’s hard to be silent. It is very vulnerable to sit in silence with yourself.

Love Hawkins  37:33

Yes.

Nicole Vienneau  37:34

Scary.

Love Hawkins  37:35

Yes. But so worth leaning into that fear. Lean into that fear.

Nicole Vienneau  37:45

Because we don’t know what’s going to happen. What will we discover about ourself?

Love Hawkins  37:51

But guess what? You already don’t know what’s going to happen. You already don’t know. You don’t know what the next minute is going to bring, you don’t know what’s going to happen an hour or two from now. You have plans, but you don’t know. None of us know.

So yeah, to lean into that, the fear so that you can sit into the silence, the information that you get from that helps so much. And you feel, like I said, so much better than just sitting there on the other side of fear. Sitting over there with that fear, like making fear your best friend.

So it’s definitely worth the effort. I mean, you start small— everything in increments. You know, of course I don’t ever try to make someone do that overnight, you know, okay, tonight, I want you to sit in silence for 15 minutes.

Start where you are, you start with five seconds, you know, maybe the next week, bump it to 10 seconds, and those teeny tiny increments, and you get to that point where you’re able to sit in silence for so long, and it feels so good. And you almost don’t want to come out of it. It feels so good.

Nicole Vienneau  39:05

Right.

Love Hawkins  39:07

But such a powerful thing. I mean, you get way more attuned to your own intuition. And you start to learn how to trust yourself and what is good for you. Not what’s good for anybody else and having everybody else tell you what’s good for you. You know from the core of your being what’s good for you.

Nicole Vienneau  39:31

Yes, I’m thinking of our fast paced healthcare environment.

Love Hawkins  39:38

Yes.

Nicole Vienneau  39:39

Specifically… well, not specifically, all of the Nursing units are very filled with noise.

Love Hawkins  39:49

Yes.

Nicole Vienneau  39:50

Must do’s, people, beeping, alarms, phones. Everybody’s attached to some kind of phone or a way to communicate with you. There’s not time, it seems, for silence. So, thinking of this concept and how we can bring that awareness to be able to tap into our intuition when we are in these really fast paced environments— I’m curious what comes to your mind when you think of Nurses in that space?

Love Hawkins  40:26

Well, there’s one thing that we, as long as we’re alive, one gift that we always have at our disposal, always, is our breath. So with your breath, especially if you’re already attune to the silence, with your breath, you can bring that feeling of silence into that chaotic situation.

You’re experiencing all of this crap, for lack of better terms, that’s going on around you, but you can connect with that breath and experience the silence in the moment, in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the tornado, whatever it is that you’re going through in that moment, but in that work environment.

And even for that brief moment, to help reset, and that’s a whole different message to your nervous system. By taking that breath, and it’s a deep breath, it’s a deep belly breath, tells your nervous system you’re safe, you’re okay.

And so that’s going to decrease all of, you know, the extra hormones that we don’t want, you know, chemicals being released in our bodies. Just connecting with that in those environments. So that’s how I would govern that situation.

Nicole Vienneau  41:49

So taking a purposeful breath. Let’s do it. You and I. Let’s do one. Listeners, I hope you did that with us. Yes, yeah, it brings a softening to a situation.

Love Hawkins  42:25

And it opens that door… to where you just had all of that chaos, all this stuff is going on, and when you do that, often, whatever your next move is will come to you. Whereas when you’re in the midst of it, and you’re letting it control you, you don’t know what to do next. You’re just overwhelmed. All this stuff is coming at you, oh my God, oh my God.

Slow down for that brief moment, take that deep belly breath that we often don’t do— usually we’re breathing more up higher than into the belly— doing that and releasing the air. And then what you need to do next just pops right in, because you’ve given it the space for that to take place.

Nicole Vienneau  43:09

Yes, thank you for bringing the breath into our podcast today.

Love Hawkins  43:15

Absolutely. People forget about it, but it’s the gift that we all have. As long as we’re alive, we have that gift.

Nicole Vienneau  43:21

Absolutely, yes. And every single podcast that I’ve done, I always remember, let’s sit for a few moments and take a few breaths.

Love Hawkins  43:32

It’s always a joy. It’s always a joy to do that.

Nicole Vienneau  43:35

Yes, it is. It is. So, Love, in our last few moments together, I love to ask a simple question, which may require a breath, which is what is on your heart that you’d like to share with our listeners today?

Love Hawkins  43:52

Well, I do… like you said, yeah, take a breath. Because I am very much an open book. And my message, so completely, is to take care of yourself. That is so vitally important. And being Nurses, we’re such, such givers. And we will give until we are spent and there’s nothing left for us. So take care of yourself first.

And oh my gosh, it sounds so cliche to fill up your own cup first, but please fill your own cup up first. And give from that overflow of who you are, because you have allowed all of this greatness, wonderful feelings to come into your body, into your experience, to take that and then you’re able to give from such joy. You’re not feeling like it’s at all being depleted.

Nicole Vienneau  45:00

Thank you. Thank you for that wisdom.

Love Hawkins  45:02

My pleasure. My pleasure.

Nicole Vienneau  45:06

Okay, now we have some quick, quick questions for you. Here we go. Don’t think too hard about the answers. Okay. For self care practices, would you prefer yoga, mindfulness, or sound healing?

Love Hawkins  45:28

Oh, man, that is hard! That is hard. But I would have to… because I love all of those, but I would have to say yoga.

Nicole Vienneau  45:42

Tell us why.

Love Hawkins  45:43

Ah, because it has a way of including that mindfulness, right? So that’s included. And you know, of course, any kind of sound, like that music, that kind of thing, that just takes it to a whole other level. But even with the yoga, the asanas, the poses, they require that breath, and so that’s a part of that mindfulness, and you’re very intentional about giving every part of your body some attention.

Because there’s so many parts of us that, like I said, our bodies that we don’t even give a second thought to, but being grateful for that part of your body, even your toe, you know, your big toe, your pinky toe, I mean, it has something to do with you being able to maintain your balance.

You know, being grateful that you have your toes and your feet. Just going through every part of your body with the yoga poses. So yeah, that really dials me in and connects me to me.

Nicole Vienneau  46:43

Thank you. Thank you. So the Integrative Nurse Coaches in ACTION! podcast stands for… the ACTION stands for authentic, curious, truthful, inspiring, open and nurturing. Which word stands out for you the most?

Love Hawkins  47:05

Can you repeat them one more time?

Nicole Vienneau  47:09

Authentic, curious, truthful, inspiring, open, nurturing.

Love Hawkins  47:15

I would have to say authentic.

Nicole Vienneau  47:20

Authentic.

Love Hawkins  47:21

Authentic. Again, I think too many of us show up not being their authentic selves. And when you’re your authentic self, the right people will be in your environment, in your circle. And it’s when you’re not being your authentic self is when things get kind of chaotic and you attract those people that shouldn’t be there. And they wouldn’t be there if you were being your authentic self.

Nicole Vienneau  47:56

Such wisdom. I love it. So good. Well, thank you, Love, so much for spending the last hour or so with us, and just sharing from your heart and all of your wisdom that you’ve gained through all the many amazing life experiences you’ve had. We’re so appreciative for you.

Love Hawkins  48:19

Thank you so much.