Heal Yourself, Heal the World

If we want to heal this planet, we must first heal ourselves.

This world is changing very quickly, and some of it is almost frightening. Earthquakes, wildfires, tsunamis, on-going war and famine, and with the growing awareness of Global Warming and its effects on wildlife and natural landscapes, people are starting to wake up and want to take action. With everything piling up, it leaves us wondering about the future that we're stepping into and the one we are giving our children.

Since the pandemic hit us in 2020, life as we all used to know it has come into question for some, as we just keep getting hit by one thing after another. The world has been trying to wake us up collectively to take a step back and see where we're going wrong with our lifestyles before it's too late. To really look at everything else that's plaguing society, and see what we can do to help fix problems and alleviate pain.

The cost of living in North America is increasing exponentially. Real estate itself has increased in insane increments each year for the last ten years. Cost of food and clothing is also going up quickly. The reason for dramatic increases in price is that there is more demand than supply - meaning we are running out of land and resources, but we keep wanting more.

Many people point the fingers at us humans, and with good reason. Most people live their lives unconsciously, submersed in a convenient and consumerist culture - consume and discard are done without a thought about the ripples of negative reactions that result from our lifestyles. I am one of these people. I am no different than most people in this society, except for maybe the fact that I want to make a change starting today.

As the world's health is declining, so is the health of the human inhabitants. Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure - it all seems to be plaguing our society. It's not just affecting life expectancy, but the quality of life altogether for both the patients and the family members. Cancer in particular, seems to be something that more and more families are facing each year.

It's not just our physical health that is tied to the planet, but also our mental health. Psychological disorders are now becoming an epidemic. Although we live in a "free society", with lots of seemingly good opportunity for growth and abundance, depression is common in almost every household. Depression is not just caused by the lack of abundance (whether in money or social status) however, as shown in the increasing number of celebrities that are admitting to having depression or even worse, taking their lives because of it.

There seems to be a correlation between the health of the planet and the overall health of humans. We are, after all, composed of the planet - if the planet is suffering, so will our bodies. Which makes sense - our actions, whether we see it or not, directly affect the planet, and that planet then goes back into us as we eat. So our lives and health become a reflection of the Earth we stand on.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

Alright, enough of the downer talk! As heavy as all of this feels, there is an upside. If we are THAT connected to the planet, meaning that if we're sick, than the planet is sick (and vise versa), it then follows that if we heal ourselves, the planet will then start to heal (and again, vise versa). If you want to save the planet, the first thing you must do is heal yourself, mind, body, and spirit, because it's all connected.

This is my mission going forward. I am not in the business of telling people how to live their lives who are unwilling to listen - I have tried that in the past, and it is never received well. I have also felt the burden of all the troubles in the world, and have felt the frustration of wanting to save the entire planet. As the famous Rumi quote goes,

"Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself."

For the last four years, everything in my life has been on a decline. I have abandoned all the lessons that I learned long ago, I abandoned all the good habits and ways of thinking that changed my life so dramatically, and it has resulted in me reverting back to old ways of being. I am not where I would like to be financially, I have had more health complications pop up, my relationships with friends and family have been strained, I have sabotaged any potential partnerships, and I am not as eco-friendly or sustainable as I wish to be. Instead of pointing the finger at big corporations or whatever situations I've been in, I know it's my responsibility to take control of my life so that I can turn it all around. And I will be documenting it all here so that I can keep myself accountable, and hopefully inspire change in others as well.

Creating an Opulence Vision

Years ago, I lived in a storefront studio located in Toronto. For the three years that I lived there, I spent countless hours meditating, moving, reflecting, studying, and creating. During that time, I created a formula and movement practice for obtaining an Opulent life, by being able to SEE Opulence. All Earth material is imbued with the potential for beauty, and we humans have the ability to bring the best out of all that is around us. It really depends on our perspective and approach to life.

My mission is to bring Opulence back. What does that mean to me? Opulence is the true and natural abundance of the lives we have been given—abundance not just in material wealth, but in job fulfillment, relationships, and community.

Opulence is all about sustainability: making things last as long and as strong as possible. This applies to your body, mind, spirit, possessions, relationships, jobs, family ties, and the environment itself—everything can be made more sustainable. Opulence Vision strives to create a more sustainable and beautiful life for everyone.

The key to Opulence is PERSPECTIVE. When you have the right mindset, you are able to create more with what you have, expand the energy within and around you, and come up with sustainable solutions to problems that may arise. I read somewhere that the definition of aging is when we are no longer able to find solutions to problems (I honestly don't know where I found this definition, but for some reason it stuck with me all these years). And so, perhaps when we develop Opulence Vision, we can train ourselves to find sustainable solutions, and , maybe maintain a certain 'agelessness' about us.

To create Opulence, you must develop an Opulent mindset:

1. Take responsibility for where you are in life. So often do we have a tendency to blame our situation on others or circumstances, because the situation seems bigger than us. Perhaps we blame a parent for not showing us unconditional love as a child, and that prevents us from truly loving someone else. Or maybe we blame the government for the environmental crisis that we're all in because they allowed big businesses to take over the world and destroy the planet. However, it is our desire for the products that continue the cycle. So instead of blaming an outside force, to have Opulence Vision is to see that YOU have the power to break those cycles. You have the freedom to choose differently in order to create a better situation. All it takes is honest reflection, strength to face things that you've been avoiding because they're intimidating or because they seem scary, a willingness to change, and practice to recondition habits that are not serving you any longer...or ever.
   

2. See everything as a Gift. Everything has beauty in it - the trees, flowers, animals, our homes, our cars, our clothes, and of course, our friends and family. All Earth material can be a blessing, but only if you genuinely perceive it as such. When you perceive everything in your life as a gift, you are making it sacred, and you tend to not take its existence for granted, and bring out the best in each gift. When you develop this mindset, you then become a productive citizen of the Universe. When you see everything around you as sacred, you are truly living a Tantric life, which I will discuss in more detail later on.

3. Understand that you are a Steward of the Planet. The power of the human race is in our ability to consciously take care of things - our bodies, our friends and family, and our Planet. We have been brought up in a culture that consumes and discards without a thought of what's happening to all that we are discarding. When you truly recognize your role as a Steward of the Planet, you start taking care of yourself and the environment the best you can. When you truly start taking care of yourself and your vessel, the world will take care of you back. Taking care of the environment brings a sense of pride and appreciation for the land, and again, making the land sacred. Which leads to the next point:

4. The Universe is co-conspiring WITH you. When you develop genuine gratitude for this life that you've been given, and start taking care of your life, your body, and your environment, the Universe works WITH you because it knows that you are truly following your intuition towards your highest calling; you are doing the work that will best help the Universe. When your motives become truly and genuinely altruistic, you will find that things start to line up for you to help you on your path. Even the challenges that you face are to help strengthen you for completing tasks. Do you know someone who always seems to have the best luck? It's because they are in alignment with their highest calling, and the Universe is helping them out.

5. Life is perfect, even beyond the imperfections. Know that everyone goes through challenges and no one leads a completely perfect life, but the perfection is in the collective stories of everyone on this planet. Sometimes it's our imperfections that leads us to what we are here to do on this planet - by understanding our 'flaws' we can work towards healing them, and perhaps helping others with similar challenges. I have a ton of things I would like to work on myself, so many that it sometimes puts me in a mode of depression. However, I know that it is my path to overcome the pain of these 'flaws' and help others accept themselves and empower their self-healing.

To fully heal my mind, body and spirit, I will finally be applying the Dance-to-Enhance Initiative to my life. I started to create the Journey Embodiment Movement Meditations (JEMMs) during the years I was living in my studio. It's been 10 years since I moved out of that studio and since then I have fallen back to old toxic habits and mindsets. I haven't danced as much as I promote it, and not dancing while not living a life authentic to me has really taken a toll on my mental health, self-confidence, and sense of purpose. I had discovered my mission years ago, and I put in on the back-burner in order to live a "normal" life - from doing so, I have slipped into bouts of depression, because I know I'm not fully expressing my true self, and I have not been living up to my own values. But I cannot afford to live a life that is inauthentic to who I really am any longer. The Planet cannot afford it either.

I will be embodying my 5 Archetypes while applying my own movement practice to my life, and show how I can rewrite my story and create Opulence Vision for myself, as I reshape my life.

Thank you for your time in reading my journey. My hope is to heal myself, and to rebuild my life to become a sustainable citizen of the world, living a life of meaningful purpose and loving relationships. I have been very overwhelmed about the amount of work this world needs, but I know that my job is to heal myself first.

Click here to learn about my Dance-to-Enhance Initiative! May we all elevate each other to reach our full potential!

Much Love to you,

Amala