News: Healing the World from Within – Cultivating Self Compassion for World Peace
Be The Change You Wish to See in The World.
When we are faced with trauma, conflicts and challenges in our world on a daily basis, we can feel a bit helpless at times. How can we help others? Well, for one, we can not pour from an empty cup. We must come back to the present and cultivate mindfulness within ourselves. In order to contribute to healing the world, we must first heal ourselves.
Join Aikta Suri Dhillon and Jan Elizabeth Hummer in our upcoming retreat, Healing the World from Within. In order to start or continue our internal healing, Aikta and Jan invited us to participate in restorative yoga, loving-kindness practice, mindful silence practice, shamatha practice, journaling, nature-based healing work, mindful movement, poetry in motion, activities that cultivate deep listening and authentic presence, a clearing ritual, soul collaging, and simply time to just be. We asked Aikta some questions about her own experience with navigating life’s challenges. Read her responses below!
Life can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to figuring out how to contribute to the abundance of humans and organizations in need. What advice do you have for someone who is looking for ways to contribute their time and efforts to others?
Our collective brain, which is largely our media networks, is hyper-focused on fear, destruction, and the billion and one things going terribly wrong with the world. Our collective voice is screeching alarm calls that a change is needed. So I suggest allowing yourself to be a vehicle and vessel for that change to occur. If you wish to see more love in the world then be more love in the world. If you want to be love, you have to also consciously choose to fill yourself with love and compassion. Create the world you want to see by starting with yourself. We have to bring change to our personal being. That requires time and space for inner work and reflection. When we feel more whole, healed, loved, and complete we begin to build connections of love in our own community. We have to remember the power we have in our personal contribution to the world around us.
Why is it important to cultivate self-compassion in order to help others?
I have worked in the field of education for over twenty years and mostly in what is labeled ‘underserved communities’. It is so easy for people with the best of intentions to bring positivity to their community to completely burn out. There is an idea of being a martyr where we give selflessly to others even at our own expense and we end up depleted. This act of giving away your energy leaves you drained. When we cultivate self-compassion and love we radiate love. This is very different. People in your present experience love by being in your presence. You become an example of love. Love is the fragrance of the nurturing and self-care you have given yourself. You aren’t giving it away, you are sharing it.
Also again by starting with ourselves and finding compassion for all aspects of ourselves, including our shadows, we can then begin to understand and have compassion for the shadows of others. If I have taken time to understand and bring self-compassion to the anger or insecurity or jealously within myself, I will then be able to feel compassion when I see that trait in someone else.
What kind of healing practice resonates most within your life?
Any practice or experience that brings me fully in the present moment. That might be meditation, dance, music therapy, ritual work, writing, yoga, time in the outdoors, art projects or simply quality present time with my family and friends.