Inspiring Seeds of Change

Some people question whether and why we need to remove statues and symbols of the Confederacy, or statues that honor Christopher Columbus. Here’s my take on this issue.

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Could you imagine surviving an abusive living situation only to live with a portrait of your abuser hanging in your room? Certainly you’d take it down the first chance you got and probably rip it to shreds or burn it. Would this not be an inspiring change? This would mark a turning point – stepping out of victimhood and onto a path of healing and hope.

Our entire country has been living with portraits of abusers hanging in every room. And we’ve been saying to those who have been abused, “It’s just history. Ignore it and live your life. You’re free now.”

Over the past two years, since the publication of the book. “While We Were Silent,” I’ve been working with women who are healing from the traumas of physical abuse, including sexual abuse. It’s very clear – no amount of “just get over it” resolves trauma, even generational trauma.

The traumas that have affected your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are present in your DNA and subconscious memories. If you are still living with daily reminders of these traumas, they are still impacting your life — every day.

It’s extremely difficult to realize freedom while living in such dark shadows. It’s fighting a daily battle to break through fears and walls that protect the heart from pain just so you can get by day to day. And still many aspire to reach out toward hope, toward joy, to expansion and success and fulfillment. This is resilience! This is strength!

Yet, it’s not healthy for anyone to live with constant reminders that normalize oppression and inequality – that erect invisible walls around our communities that continue to imprison the minds and hearts of any of our people. What affects one affects all.

Are you a person who dreams of living in a world of peace and love? I certainly am. To live in peace, we have to release the symbols of oppression from our physical realm, mental realm, emotional realm and energy realms.

As our world is moving through the protests following the murder of George Floyd and so many others, we are finally seeing Seeds of Change that inspire hope.

I want to acknowledge a few inspiring Seeds of Change:

The removal of statues and symbols of slavery and genocide that have marked celebrated landmarks around our country.
Juneteenth finally becoming a Federal holiday.
Columbus Day renamed to Indigenous People’s Day – Columbus Day has been celebrated since 1792 (228 years ago). Only relatively recently are we seeing cities and states opting for this change. This one needs to be a nationwide change too.

There are more to acknowledge in the US and many other countries. Some are near to my heart. For now, I’ll give focus to these subjects of recent US events.

We are finally replacing towering reminders of oppression and inequality with reminders that honor the people whose lives, families and homes were taken from them – the ultimate sacrifice.

The seeds of change we are seeing today are long overdue. We are finally placing the honor where it is due – to those who truly sacrificed, not by their choice, but chose resiliency and strength to survive the traumas and pursue a life of liberty.

We are finally replacing towering reminders of oppression and inequality with reminders that honor the people whose lives, families and homes were taken from them - the ultimate sacrifice. Share on X

We’re on a path of healing:

The first 3 steps in healing are awareness, discernment and then acceptance. This is true for individual healing and collective healing.

Our world has been very sick with diseases of inequality and oppression. The awareness has been present for a long time, but the pain has only been largely acknowledged by the people directly affected – those who are most feeling the pain.

What we’re seeing happening now is an expansion of the awareness to the masses. Finally, enough people are willing to see beyond the veils of illusion and face truth. Only then can we discern where the problems lie that need to be addressed and accept the whole of it with love and compassion.

Only then can we have hope for true change.

In today’s Prayer & Healing Circle, we offer prayers of gratitude and hope, prayers for discernment and acceptance, prayers for continued healing.

We asked for Source to lift the veils from each of us so we can see and release the bonds that tie us to habitual patterns of normalized oppression and violence.

We experienced a powerful healing meditation for our planet – to clear out the lower density vibrations from our atmosphere and infuse our planet with the higher lights – from the outer atmosphere all the way to the core.

This was healing for the planet and all her inhabitants, including us humans.

Please join us, listen to the replay and receive the healing vibes for yourself. Bring your prayers and intentions and whatever is on your heart.

On Al-Afuw, the One Who forgives; Blowing Away the Ashes:

“You can’t pollute the One’s air by burning away a false impression because every impression may have its place in Unity. But’s this particular impresssion’s time of residence with you is over.”

~ Neil Douglas Klotz, from The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish

“O Allah, overlook and absolve me from the humiliations I have brought upon myself and teach me to love!”

~ Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi, from Divine Names: The 99 Healing Names of the One Love

Divine Names:

As-Afuw, the Forgiveness that burns all remnants and memories of events to ashes and blows them away with the wind
An-Nur, the Divine Light
Al-Wadude, the Unconditional Love
Ar-Rahman, the Eternal Compassion

References to learn more about Divine Names

Divine Names: The 99 Healing Names of the One Love by Rosina-Fawzia al-Rawi
The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish by Neil Douglas-Klotz

If you’d like support with this process or anything it invokes for you, you’re welcome to schedule a free 30-minute breakthrough session. I’d be honored to support you.
THANK YOU!

You’re invited to catch all the replays and join us live next time.
Community for Conscious Living Prayer & Healing Circle
Every Sunday, 10am US ET / 7am US PT

As always, you are welcome to bring your prayers for personal struggles, challenges of and with those you care about, for peace, for fulfillment, and for the health and sustainability of our planet.

Bring whatever is on your heart. Come as you are, receive, heal and grow. Please invite your friends to join us, too.

In the future, if you’d like to join us live, there is time for Q&A and sharing at the end of the call – off the recording.

Hope to see you there next time…

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