1. We Have More in Common than Separates Us
At the end of the day, there are things that we all want and need as humans. We all share the need to have our basic necessities met. We all need healthy food, clean water, clean air, clothing/shelter, sufficient rest, and healthcare.
We all want to be safe and to make sure that those that we love are safe and well cared for. On a deeper level, we all want to love and be loved.
We all are born and we will all die. And, on our death bed, it is highly unlikely that we will be judging someone else who doesn’t share our beliefs. We will be thinking of the most important questions like, “Did I live and love well?” and “Did I fulfill my soul’s purpose?”
At the end of the day, we have more that connects us than separates us. And, just because another person has a different color skin, loves differently than we do, has different spiritual beliefs or viewpoints than us…in the core of it all, we are all more the same than we are different.
2. Nurture Awareness
Awareness asks us to be present with, to consider, and to turn toward another and ourselves.
It includes turning toward others who are different than us with understanding. It also means turning toward our own internal judgments that we have about another. Awareness helps us understand that which connects us, as well as the beliefs, ideas, and contractions that divide us.
Let me use a story to elucidate this. Recently, with all of the tension of the U.S. elections I had the experience of feeling fury, rage, and even hatred inside of me toward the dysfunctional patriarchal systems of power in our world. As I sat with these feelings I could tell that there was much more inside than what was on the surface. I needed to bring my awareness deeper.
When I did I discovered a contraction of hatred lodged in my psyche. It was an ancient conglomeration of multiple lifetimes where I had experienced intense trauma, violence, killing, and more. Many of the memories here were not new to me. But, what was different was that they tied together in a way that activated powerful rage and hatred and it was still causing chaos in my being. My past time hatred and rage were spilling out onto my current time experience.
So, I turned toward this contraction with my higher awareness and offered my full presence, love, and care to it. As I did it started to soften, rest, and slowly it began to dissolve along with the hatred and rage. Although I still had feelings about what was happening in the world they weren’t so intense and caustic. And, I finally came back into balance.
This is true for us all. Whether it be present life trauma, familial trauma, or from past-lives; when we heal our traumatic contractions and the dysfunctional emotions they hold, we step into a new level of equilibrium and freedom This is true for us ALL whether someone is a judgmental racist, fearful transgender, furious Hispanic, empathic new-age hippie, or wherever they are on the spectrum of humanity. The bottom line is that the more healing awareness we bring to our internal experience the more balance we bring to our present time experience of the world.
3. Offer Compassion
Compassion is love in action. It arises when we have the ability to walk a mile in another’s shoes. It breaks the chains of judgment, fear, and hatred; and allows softness and understanding to blossom.
Compassion is not the same as dysfunctional empathy. This is when someone takes on another’s unhealthy energy into their body with the falsely guided intention to help. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help and only hurts us.
Compassion, on the other hand, is seeing another’s perspective and allowing our heart to be affected, and even broken open, while we also stay grounded and strong in ourselves. When this happens we open to compassion which motivates us to do what’s right based on how we are guided by our hearts. It also assures that we don’t collapse into another’s story or energy and gives us the energy to complete the task.
Compassion motivates us to reach out to help others in need because we understand the intensity of their suffering. It gives us a bigger view of what is needed and inspires us to act with care and kindness, whether that means giving of our time, our resources, or our love. Compassion leads us into loving actions…because we know in our heart of hearts that it’s just the right thing to do.
4. Step into Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the natural right to have autonomy, self-government, and self-determination. In essence, it means that we are free to live our life the way we want it…just as long as we don’t hurt anyone in the process.
Sovereignty is a powerful word, one that I believe will be used a lot more in the near and distant future as we step more into our inner freedom. No matter what is happening on the outside humanity IS moving at a very fast pace into embodying our sovereignty. Remember sometimes the things that prohibit our freedom get very loud before an explosion of freedom comes on the scene…think of the Civil Rights Movement or the Suffragettes. We are in a time of blossoming freedom!
With this sovereignty, we are asked to allow everyone else their sovereignty too. ALL LIFE IS SACRED. And, everyone gets to find their own beautifully unique way of allowing divine creativity to move through us in how we live our life.
When we realize that we all have inherent within us the Divine Sovereign Right to be exactly as we are, then there is a lot more space for everyone to be accepted for who they are.
And, when we find this is difficult we have yet another “opportunity” to turn our awareness inward and ask the question, “Why am I being triggered by what they are doing”? Then work with that trigger and bring it healing. Doing so allows us to free ourselves of judgment and everyone else to be the Beautiful Divine Sovereign Being that they are.
5. Open to Forgiveness
Forgiveness is an all-powerful balm that is one of the most precious healing attributes. It can also be one of the most difficult healing alchemy’s because so many believe that in order to forgive we must be okay with what the victimizer did. This is challenging because what the victimizer did usually does NOT feel okay in our being. Fortunately, in order to forgive we do not have to make what the predator did okay.
Forgiveness is found when we choose not to carry the pain, anger, outrage, hurt, and grief regarding what happened in our body anymore. Not forgiving keeps these things alive in our system. It causes us to replay over and over again, how what they did was not right and how they should suffer. But, this actually keeps the pain, anger, outrage, hurt, and grief alive in our bodies.
Choosing to forgive is actually an act of kindness we offer to ourselves. Because it opens a gateway of this all-powerful healing energy into our lives. Forgiveness happens when we choose our own healing over keeping the old pain alive.
Take it from me, a person who has had more than my fair share of remembering traumatizing past-life memories, I know how hard this can be. I also know how much energy it takes to not forgive. Because when we don’t we keep the fear, rage, and hatred frozen and trapped inside.
We, individually and as a collective, will not get to the other side of healing unless we are courageous enough to do what is needed to finally thaw what is frozen and bring healing to the fear and righteousness. Here we can finally and fully chose to forgive…for our own sake.
But, remember forgiveness comes in waves. It’s not something that you do once and for all. It is a layered process that can sometimes feel fragile, raw, and even elusive. But, if we keep choosing it, it will grow and eventually pour down like healing rain in our lives and usher us into a newfound freedom.
When we as individuals and communities rally around and open to the deeper healing of forgiveness, we will open the door to the vast healing that forgiveness offers ourselves, our community, and our country.
As we ground these five healing attributes into our lives…healing is not only a dream…it becomes a knowing. On a calm day, I can sense, feel, and know that in the future it has already fully arrived!
Dr. Melissa Sophia Joy is the Founder of Somatic Awakening®, a Mind-Body-Spirit Healing Modality and Spiritual Practice. She is also a Naturopathic Doctor, Mind-Body Specialist, Spiritual Teacher, Medical Intuitive, Energy Medicine Practitioner, and more. Find out more about her here.
Find out more about her practice here.
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