The Bright Morning Podcast with Elena Aguilar

In the fourth and final episode of our four part mini-series, Starting the School Year Strong, Elena shares her favorite tips and tricks relating to the logistical and technical elements of coaching. From how to set-up your coaching notebook, to the 15-minutes a day that can transform your coaching conversations, to how often to meet with your clients. We’ve got you covered!   Listen in, and then...

In the third of our four episode mini-series, Starting the School Year Strong, Elena shares what needs to be crystal clear if you want a thriving coaching program.   Listen in, and then hop over to our Instagram this week to engage with supplemental materials to guide you through this critical step in preparing for your best school year yet.  Mentioned in this episode:  The Art of Coaching (retire...

In the second of our four episode mini-series, Starting the School Year Strong, Elena shares the considerations you need to take into account to ensure you have the professional development structures to support your learning, and living into the vision you have created for yourself this year.  Listen in, and then hop over to our Instagram this week to engage with supplemental materials to guide y...

It’s the final week of our podcast summer break and we’re bringing you a replay episode that will help you incorporate an energizing practice that will support you in connecting in meaningful ways with people, places and yourself.  This episode was originally aired in the frenzy of the back-to-school season to help you step away from the checklists and make space for the pursuits that fill you up....

It’s the final week of our podcast summer break and we’re bringing you a replay episode that will help you incorporate an energizing practice that will support you in connecting in meaningful ways with people, places and yourself.  This episode was originally aired in the frenzy of the back-to-school season to help you step away from the checklists and make space for the pursuits that fill you up....

Are you starting the day in a way that serves you and sets you up to have your needs met?  How you spend the first part of your day sets the tone for the day. And how you spend your day is how you spend your life.  If you want to take a more intentional approach to the coming school year, start with your morning routine.  Today’s episode is a fan favorite from January 2022 in which Elena pulls bac...

What do you need to quit in order to stay?  We’re on summer break, so this week we’re replaying a fan favorite episode to help you explore what you might need to quit in order to stay…in whatever role or relationship that might not be best serving you right now.  You’ll hear where this question came from, how we answered it back in January answering it, and how this question will support your tran...

We’re on summer break so today we’re replaying a timely episode to make sure you have an impactful summer.  Grab your notebook and something to write with; today it’s time to design your summer of learning. Over the next thirty minutes you will:  Get clear on your needs and desires Identify the conditions necessary for you to thrive  Be guided through the three principles to uncover your “what”  I...

Exploring our joy (fulfillment, meaning, love, satisfaction, etc.) is a necessary component to cultivating our resilience…and something that requires skill and intention due to our cultural and neurological conditioning towards negativity bias and the phenomenon of toxic positivity. In this third and final episode of a three-part series on transformational end-of-year conversations, Elena dives in...

There is loss inherent in change regardless of the size or the amount of that change. If this school year was a magical one, or your most challenging yet, the end of the year means loss in some form. The question for us to consider is, how can we honor and learn from that loss?  In this second episode of a three-part series on transformational end-of-year conversations, Elena dives into how you ca...

Anger is a part of all of our lives. It has the potential to be a catalyst for change, an insight into our needs, and a source of wisdom. Yet too often it’s thought of as a “bad” emotion and avoided at all costs.  In this first episode of a three-part series on transformational end-of-year conversations, Elena dives into how you can support your coaching clients (or any conversation partner) in pr...

Today’s episode offers ten specific strategies you can use when you need to be “on” but are currently in a mood . If you’ve experienced this in the past, you know just how challenging it can be…and thanks to these suggestions for Elena, next time you’ll be prepared with the strategies you need.  These strategies and much more can also be found in The PD Book, which is releasing this week!!!   Ment...

Details can make or break a learning experience, yet are too often overlooked or deprioritized as “logistics”. It’s time for that to change.  In this episode, Elena shares why attending to the details is one of the 7 habits that transforms professional development, provides a couple of strategies you can start using right away to better attend to the details, and offers reflection questions to hel...

There’s 20 minutes left in your session and you have an hour's worth of content, what do you do?  Adaptive facilitation is the key to staying calm and skillfully adjusting course when things don’t go according to plan. On today’s episode, Elena brings you along on her adaptive facilitation journey and provides two sets of reflection questions to support you on your own. If you lead teams, gro...

If you want to lead transformative learning experiences, you must tend to your own transformation. In this episode, Elena dives into one of the 7 habits that transform professional development: knowing yourself as a facilitator.  Mentioned in this episode:  The PD Book Pre-Order Special Offer: including free mini-workshops with Elena and Lori! Learn more at brightmorningteam.com/the-pd-book-pre-or...

In less than a month The PD Book will be out in the world! This is the book you need if you lead teams, groups and/or professional development of any kind. Today Elena is giving us all a treat by reading from the introduction. Listen in to learn all about what's inside The PD Book, and then go pre-order your copy!  Mentioned in this episode:  The PD Book Pre-Order Special Offer: including fre...

How do you respond when young students say something racist?  What do you do when you are the one who has said something racist?  How do you address an entire community pushing against equity work?  Today we’re wrapping up our special What to Say When You Hear Something Racist series with a listener questions episode. Listen in to hear our answers to these questions and several more.  Mentioned in...

We’re busy working to put together our What to Say When You Hear Something Racist Listener Questions episode, so today we’re replaying one of our favorite shows from August 2021, Episode 85: You Want to Coach for Equity? Start Here. This episode will help you tie together the content from What to Say When to your coaching practice. It’s intricately connected.  Mentioned in this episode:  Friends o...

The last episode of our limited series, What to Say When You Hear Something Racist, wrapped up last week and today Elena is back with an invitation for listeners: get all of your What to Say When… questions answered!  Mentioned on this episode:  Submit your questions here ( https://bit.ly/WTSWquestions )   Download your "What to Say When You Hear Something Racist" Guide Visit https://bri...

In the final episode of our limited series, What to Say When You Hear Something Racist, Elena shares recommendations and resources to continue this critical work.  Mentioned on this episode:  Books:  How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith  Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather Mc...

In this episode of our limited series, What to Say When You Hear Something Racist, Elena is joined by Stacey Goodman to discuss the additional considerations the two are mindful of as people of color engaging in conversations that address racism.   Mentioned on this episode: Download your "What to Say When You Hear Something Racist" Guide Visit https://brightmorningteam.com/podcasts/ for...

How do you hold compassion and curiosity when you experience racism? When do you draw boundaries around people who say racist things?  These are a few of the questions we explore in today’s episode where Elena is once again joined by her teammate, LesLee Bickford, who shares a very personal story about how she responded to racism expressed by her family.  Mentioned on this episode:  Facebook is a...

In this episode of our limited series, What to Say When You Hear Something Racist, Elena demonstrates specific sentence stems and responses you can use.   Mentioned on this episode:  Here’s What to Say (handout with sentence stems and sample responses)  The Three Ps (handout of Elena’s framework)  Download your "What to Say When You Hear Something Racist" Guide Podcast Transcript and Use...

In today’s episode of our limited series, What to Say When You Hear Something Racist, Elena dives into the third (and final) P in her 3 P’s framework for responding to racism.  The third P is Possibility. And in this episode you’ll hear how to evaluate the possibility in a situation and how doing so will help you determine both what to say and whether you need to say something in that moment, or p...

In this episode of our What to Say When You Hear Something Racist limited series, Elena guides you through how to reflect on power dynamics that are present in a situation in which you hear something racist. Listen in to hear the three types of power dynamics commonly at play, how your identity markers add complexity that must be considered, and how an awareness of both can help you find a springb...