We are all beings of light

As we look at the past week, it breaks my heart to see so much pain and destruction among us.

You only have to look at the news reports to see that many of us are in pain. 
I feel deeply saddened by the death of George Floyd and many other black people in this county.  I am saddened by a lack of humanity on all sides.

I often feel helpless in these situations, but I also know that I personally am responsible for how I act, how I work with people and how I am racist, biased or opinionated towards others.

I have also learned through all these years, that I did not grow up racist.  I did learn biases along the way and changed my viewpoints about others as I worked on my own biases against myself.

In times like this, we do need to band together to find the resolution.  In times like this, we need to ask questions of ourselves as well as others, not to create judgement, but to find understanding.

When I was growing up, I went to a private catholic school 5 houses from my home.  I got to walk to school and come home for lunch.  We did have buses come from the neighboring area, and we had one bus that came from the inner city of Chicago.

In my 100-person class, we had 7 or 8 black kids come to school every day.  They came off the bus just like most of the kids.  The only difference was in my opinion, they had different hair.  I never saw their color as an issue.  They were in school just like me and my twin sister.  They were there to learn just like me.  But racism was not what I learned.  I learned to be inclusive.  The school brought that to us and I am thankful.

Others may not be as fortunate to have this exposure.  I am grateful for it.
At this time, I still battle with a racist parent who unfortunately has never really associated with black people except when I brought my black friends to meet her.  She was okay with them, but I remember choosing not to date Patrick when I was 23 because I was so scared my mother would disown me if I did.  I chose to date Bob instead who was white and she would approve of him more.

In hindsight, I wish I had led with my heart back then.  My life may have been totally different.  I did end up dating Patrick years later, but I never did tell my mother…again, for fear or being disowned.  She did meet him and thought he was nice, well educated (a lawyer), well dressed and well mannered.  Yet it did not work out.  I dated 3 other black men and to me, the color of their skin had nothing to do with anything I had to be repelled against.  They were as likable and lovable as any other man I dated.

Even in my practice, I have had people of every religion, race, color, creed and nationality come to me.  I have welcomed each one with open arms.
I have had to work on my own biases, too as I at one time had a bias against overweight people.  Until I was able to work through those, I was not inclusive and that is how I want to be! 

I ask questions to genuinely understand.  I want to know who you are and what experiences you have had that have shaped you.  I am not here to change or judge your opinion or mine, but to become open-minded and seek alternative points of view.  I want you to feel safe in my space.

It wasn’t until I worked through my own biases through my energy therapy and The Path To Heal work that I became more inclusive.

I can see that we are all human beings, doing the best we can with the resources we have.  We all have emotional scars from childhood criticisms either from parents, expectations, teachers, coaches, etc that have helped shape us.

Even through this pandemic, I felt lost at times.  I wrote that I forgot my why, I questioned why I did anything and everything, I questioned why my hip hurts and learned how to talk to my body to get the answers by actually listening.  It had become apparent that I am here to remember who I am, and help others release the layers of who they are not.

This is just one way to gaining equality.  Work through your own biases so you can learn how to include others more easily.

At this time, it seems to hard to know what to do.  It is hard to know how to stand up for equality of all races, colors, creeds, etc.  We are all beings of light in our own respective bodies.  We are all souls, connected by Light even if we don’t realize we are.
We all have similar fears, phobias and desires to be loved, acknowledged and cared for.

Often we need to work on our own loving, acknowledging and caring of ourselves. 
We need to heal the emotional scars we have that cause biases so that we don’t get triggered and react inappropriately.

I know I can only work on creating peace within myself, so that I do not get triggered.
If I do get triggered, I have the tools to work through them with love and understanding.  I have helped others access their own tools they did not know they had within themselves so they can find their inner peace and joy.

This is a time for us to work first on ourselves to heal our own biases of race or anything else.  It is a time to reconnect to love – love of self so we can then share that love with others.
It is a time of inclusion not exclusion.
It is a time for love.  If you can try for one moment to be kind and loving to whoever you meet today, it is a good start.

I send you and all those affected by the recent events love and blessings so you, too may find your inner peace even when the outer world seems to be falling apart.

As the Hawaiian Ho’oponopono prayer states   (Read more here):

“Peace begins with me and noone else.
I am sorry.  Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.”

You can say this to yourself and to others.  As we forgive ourselves and others, we can create that inner peace we seek.  As we create peace within ourselves, we can create peace across the world.
 

Sending you all blessings, hugs and peace! xo

joanna