I thought long and hard about the topic for this edition of Holistic Living Magazine. I like to tap into the energy of what people need in the moment. With everything that’s going on in the world night now the word community kept coming up for me. So, I decided this magazine will be about community.

A community of purpose is a community of people who are going through the same process or are trying to achieve a similar objective. A community helps to bring people together, to champion and support each other in the quest to overcome problems. As human beings, we need to feel a sense of belonging. That sense of belonging connects us to the many relationships that we develop throughout our life.

Our ancestors were all about community. They lived together and supported each other. Whole tribes of people would support each other. We can still see this in some indigenous communities still. These communities thrive because they are not alone and have support from others. They rely on each other’s knowledge and experiences to help them grow as individuals and as a society.

Even in our grandparent’s time they used to help their extended family or maybe even live in the same household. During the recent past, we have become more and more on our own, we live alone and feel isolated. We are always on our mobile phone or computer; we have less conversations and eye contact. Cases of depression get more as we get more and more removed from society and a feeling of community.

I know on a personal level when I suffered depression, I felt completely isolated and unable to communicate how I was feeling. Even though I live with a flatmate, because of her busyness with her work, she was unable to connect with me or even realise I was going through depression.

This depression became suicidal thoughts. (Fortunately, I recognised what was happening, made some changes and was able to help myself get over this). I realised at the core of my depression was a need to feel connected.

I am sure many of you can relate and I have realised there is a huge need for us to go back to community. We need to support each other. We need to tap into what other people know to help us survive on a more harmonious level.

We need a place to go where we can be our authentic self and feel safe to do that. Safety and security are some of our basic needs and if we are not fulfilling these basic needs, we will not evolve into another level. We will stay ‘stuck’ in survival mode.

When looking at growing as a soul and as community, safety and security in a community is key. When we have this foundation in place we can then build together.

Why is a supportive community important? Having a good community is like having a good foundation, without it, life becomes unsteady. So what is a community? Do you want to find your community? Have you been looking for community?

Do you want to know how to find where you belong in the world? Do you want to know how to build a community and how to find a community of friends? Maybe you could learn how to find community online? Maybe you are finding a community to live in? Whatever you want, you can learn how to find a sense of community.

Learn more in this magazine, you will read from our other experts about the need to find your community for your health and wellbeing.

Let’s do a little thought experiment; you’ve been stranded on a deserted island. Just you and what seems to be coconuts for company. Now what would be your first wish? Well you can’t have an immediate airlift of the island, so what would be your second wish?

Perhaps something along the lines of a survival guide? Something that would give you time to survive on the island before you get rescued. But what if such a rescue was a very remote chance; your plane had gone down, no survivors, but only you and you’d drifted for days away from the crash site.

Would your wish still be a guidebook, or perhaps someone who is a survival expert instead? Someone to talk to, someone who can help you, and you can help them? What if you get sick, perhaps a fever, a person, or people would be much more useful to you. They could still forage for food, comfort you, look after you while you recovered.

While a simplistic scenario; friends, relatives, community are all the building blocks of how people have lived for thousands of years. Learning lessons, passing them on through generation after generation, making sure that errors that made people sick, or got them killed in the past, weren’t repeated. Each generation built on the foundations of the past, making sure everyone was more secure and healthy than previous generations.

And yet here we are, the third decade of the current century and we have articles that state life expectancy has gone backwards in the UK, and research that shows that loneliness is killing us. So how can it be that we survived for so long with hundreds of generations stretching back thousands of years, and now having more ways of communication than ever before? This doesn’t really make sense to me. Unless of course, that the more we can communicate, the less we actually connect.

Everything is ephemeral these days, nothing is long lived, rush, rush, headphones on, not paying attention to anyone or anything around you. Here is a question for you; when was the last time you ended up talking to a stranger, just chatting, because strangely you had something like a work destination in common? Or when was the last time you did something for someone else that was just to help them? Something that wasn’t founded on your own selfishness and greed? Just good old-fashioned help to someone in need?

We all seem to be wrapped up in things that don’t last, Instagram influencers, the fleeting days news that is tomorrow’s chip shop wrappers; nothing that is a building block, a foundation for something that will last months if not years.

This edition is all about ways a community is of value to all of us, yet it all starts with you; you deciding to start a community or join one. You may ask, how to find a new community? How do you start building a sense of belonging?

It all starts with you putting yourself out there and spending time with no expectation that anything will come back to you. And yet you will find that things do come back to you, things that are lovely and unexpected will suddenly be in your life.

So, go search. Be part of something that isn’t just you. Have fun finding your community.

When we look at the state of the world right now, it’s full of people thinking about themselves, especially our ‘leaders’. They are not looking out for the collective. Their life is based on who can get more money and power. Society is run on greed. While the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer, the world as we know it, is collapsing.

Now, from my own personal opinion (belief) this needs to happen so a different way can emerge. A time for us looking out for each other is starting.

To give you a great example of this, look at what has happened in Australia during the recent fires. The Prime Minister decided to go on holiday while the Australian people were losing their houses, security and in some cases their lives.

The government did not step up straight away to help the people it is supposed to serve. What we saw happen instead was a community of people come together. Volunteers started helping their communities. People started sending food, clothes, offering their houses as other people were losing everything they ever had.

We saw communities’ bond together. These people had common goals. Some of these communities’ goals were to survive. Other communities’ goals were to help the people in need. We saw a real bonding and a separation start to happen before our very eyes.

So, before this article turns political, I want to get you to think about the power of community and how community can help you and others. To think about the possibilities of the world we know it, changing and coming back together in a more harmonious form.

It will solve so many problems economically and on a level of health too.

Why Do We Need Community?

Being in a community allows us to support and interact with each other. It gives us a place where we can share our experiences and struggles. Having this bond with others builds valuable relationships, and it gives us a sense of belonging.

Communities are rich in resources. We can learn from our peers. Your strengths may be someone else’s weaknesses and vice versa. This way we can share our knowledge and enjoy a simpler life, one where we share with others. This takes away the ‘need to know everything’ or ‘have it all’. It takes the pressure away from the life we now know and brings us back to a place of togetherness. It brings us less stress.

Being in a community helps us realise why we are really here. It creates a deeper understanding of what it means to be a person and how we can better interact with each other. We learn from others. We need others so we can better understand ourselves. Understanding our obligations to a community, is part of our development as an individual.

As humans we have always evolved like this, but in recent years, we are becoming more and more isolated. It stands to reason that so many cases of depression and drug abuse are rising. People are forgetting how to communicate with each other. People are forgetting we need to connect with others. People are forgetting that to grow as spiritual beings, we need to learn from each other. When we forget these things dis-ease in our body occurs.

When we learn what each other needs, it grows us and pushes us to be better, both for ourselves and others. A good community works best with common goals, needs, interests, and ambitions. Members of a community must be aware of its “we-ness” instead of its separateness. So how to build community and make friends?

I love this quote:

“When “I” is replaced with “WE” even illness becomes wellness”. – Malcolm X

What is The Difference Between A Group & A Community?

A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values or is situated in a geographical area (e.g. a village, town, city, or you can get online communities these days). There is a commonality between the members of a community.

A community is a ‘gathering’ of people with the same values and goals.

Communities are different to groups because they share a common interest, background, or purpose that gives them a sense of unity or a feeling of togetherness. A group will share common characteristics, but they do not necessarily share common values or goals. 

Our modern world is keeping us separate and it is harming us. Coming back into communities will make us stronger. So, knowing how the world is moving away from community, can you see how we need to go back to the old ways of being and behaving?

Not everyone in the world has the same idea of community, so how do you find yours? I guess the first step is knowing yourself.

What are your beliefs and values, and what are your goals? Why is it important to know your values when looking for your community? Once you know this, it will be easier to find your ‘community’ as you can look for people with the same goals and values.

So, now three questions pop into my mind:

Why Are Values Important?

Our values are important because they help us develop and grow. They inform our thoughts, words and actions. The decisions and actions we make are a reflection of our values and our beliefs. These values and beliefs are always directed towards a specific purpose. That purpose is the contentment of our individual or collective (community’s) needs.

Here are examples of values:

⦁ Loyalty
⦁ Commitment
⦁ Open-mindedness
⦁ Consistency
⦁ Honesty
⦁ Fun

Why Are Beliefs Important?

Our belief system is the stories we tell ourselves, the things we believe to be true. These beliefs define our personal sense of reality. These beliefs are the things that help us ‘make sense’ of the world around us. Each person has different beliefs, this gives us all a different perspective on reality.

Here is an example of a belief:

I believe I am great at English or I believe that money comes to me when I need it.

Why Are Goals Important?

Without a goal we float through life aimlessly. Goals create a road map for our success. Goals are the things we aim for to reach our dreams. A goal can let you see where you are right now and give you a measured target, so you can reach your desired destination. Many people write their goals to help them clarify what they want to bring into their life. Once people write their goals down it gives them a sense of something to commit to.

Here is an example of a goal:

I want to help others.

Now we have a better understanding of beliefs, values and goals. In NLP we can change all or any of these things. Anything is possible. I am sure that during your life, some of the things you believed to be true changed.

For example, let’s look at a belief that might change.

What if you didn’t do well in your English class? Your teacher might say to you that you are not good at English or say that you are lazy. You may start believing what you were told, especially if the experience is repeated more than once. This instils belief in you that your English is not good.

Then one day when you grow up, you get asked to write a story about an experience you had and that story gets shown to many other people and they tell you are really good at the written language – you may start to change your belief.

Or another example might be you don’t believe in God, but then you have an illness, near death experience or something similar that seems like a miracle that you survived – and this helps you change your belief.

So now you can see how, or why a belief may change, know too it is possible to change our values too.

So, when looking for a place for you to ‘fit’ into, to find likeminded people, it will be much easier when you know these 3 things about yourself. What are your beliefs? What are your values? What is your goal?

The world needs to change and maybe you need to make some changes to ‘fit’ into the new world. The saying, “change starts from within” is so true.

Maybe it’s time to look deeper into your ‘self’ to find what you really want and what makes you ‘tick’. Because when you really know and understand this, life can be so much better.

We are moving away from a life of success and showiness and moving forward to a world where showing your true authentic self-works best. So, when you know WHO you ARE authentically, it makes it easier to find your clan, your tribe, your community.

I hope this helps to clarify, why it would be good to move towards community and gives you some action steps you can take to make sure you are in the ‘right community’ for you.

If you need more help getting clearer, I will be happy to connect with you and if we see a fit, we can work together to help you reach your goals.

There is an African word – ‘Ubuntu’ (Zulu pronunciation: (ùɓúntʼù) which is a Nguni Bantu term meaning ‘humanity’. It is often translated as ‘I am because we are’, or ‘humanity towards others’, but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean ‘the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity’ or, more simply put – ‘I am able to be me, because of you’.

This is, in essence, what ‘Human Community’ is all about; learning to work and be together to bring about a sense of unity, bonding and connection. The challenge is – How do we do this on a planet that is so full of racism, political and religious division, fear mongering, warmongering and hatred against each other?

How indeed? There are around 8 billion people on the planet and, according to a UNICEF report, nearly half of the world’s population – more than 3 billion people – live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day. 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.

This does not seem to me that we, collectively, are working towards or with the principle of ‘Ubuntu’ or any sense of a Global Human Community. This seems like a shear violation of that principle. Unfortunately, through the ‘gift’ of free choice, humanity has not chosen a path of a Global Human Community. Instead the planet is controlled and run by a few very greed focused individuals who, it is estimated, control 90% of the world’s money and resources. That means that the vast majority of people (estimates of up to 95% of the population) share the remaining 10%! – and we, the people, ‘put up with it!’

That is like me eating most of the big yummy chocolate cake and leaving a few crumbs to my friends and family. And to take this further, someone else, other than me, would have grown, stored, sold, manufactured and worked to combine all of the ingredients to make that cake – and, of course, I would have profited from it all – at every turn! A simple analogy I know – but one that makes it quite clear on how things work in this world of inequality, greed and control.

So, it is obvious that the global community is not harmonious, so let us go to a smaller focus. Let us, for a moment, focus on a regional community. There are 10 main regions in the world: Africa, Asia, Central America, Eastern Europe, European Union, Middle East, North America, Oceania, South America, and the Caribbean. It all sounds a bit Orwellian, but that is the way the world is generally divided up.

Let us take a closer look at one of these regions, any one of them will do, so let’s take North America. Let’s take a look at how they are faring as a ‘Regional Community’ from the perspective of Ubuntu or a positive human community.

In North America at the moment there is conflict with religion (Christian and Islam), politics (just watch the news on President Donald Trump!), the Indigenous communities, ‘Black’ Americans, the pro-anti-gun movements and of course the involvement of the US military machine taking up positions in many countries around the world.

So, that is not really working either. Mmmmmmm … let’s go one level smaller. Let us look at one country. Let us take a look at the United Kingdom (it is where I was born), the home of over 66 million people and let’s see how they are as a ‘Country Community’.

Just recently there was much conflict and even civil unrest with the Brexit debacle with the country divided. The racial tensions in the UK are very tense. The poverty in many of the regions in the UK is staggeringly appalling. I would say, the word ‘United’ really has to be questioned.

We are going down the rabbit hole here a bit I know, but I want to bring our focus to this idea, this concept of ‘Community’ and to analyze it from several perspectives – from the global right down to the individual. The Cosmic, Universal Community I will leave until another time!

Down we go then .. into a city. Let’s go to London. This really, is just a microcosm of the UK, not much to really say other than, in London, in certain streets, it is where some of the Global decisions are made that keep the few at the top and the majority at the bottom and where ‘divisions’ are created and manufactured to keep everything ‘in order’ and to keep this machine going. On the streets of London and in the homes, factories and workplaces it will be similar to most other cities across the world – the statistics will only be fractionally different.

And now let us travel into a small rural town. I will choose one in Australia, as that is where I now live. Stanthorpe in Queensland will do. It has a population of around 6,000 people and has, for the past few years, been dealing with the effects of drought and bush fires. These events, have, for the most part, pulled the community together. People have been sharing incredible stories of support for each other. On the flip side, once again with big companies and money being the main factor, a division, with conflicting values is there.

A Piece Of Information Taken From The Internet – Written By Reporter Marc Bain:

… The regional council for Southern Downs, an area along the border of Queensland and New South Wales, signed off on the application by Joyful View Garden Real Estate Development to run a water-extraction plant on its large Cherrabah resort property in the area. The property’s owners had previously applied in late 2018 to set up the facility but abruptly pulled the request. Earlier this month, the plan landed back on the table of the regional council, according to a local paper.

Despite complaints by neighboring property owners, the council approved it—even as it prepared to implement extreme water rations in the area. In the nearby town of Stanthorpe, plans are underway to truck in emergency water, to ensure it doesn’t run completely out. Joyful View, meanwhile, intends to pump water out of the ground at Cherrabah and move it in tankers to a bottling plant on the Gold Coast. …

This caused quite a bit of tension in the community. And this sort of decision making and policy making is being reported in other communities. Decisions around fracking, mining and other industries seem to be more important to the policy makers.

So, in cases of emergencies and crisis it seems, people can, and do, band together. Perhaps that is how we get to a harmonious Global Community? Mmmm – I know, I am being hopeful. But I am, quite sincerely.

Okay, we have now looked at several factors, so now let us go to the family unit. Let us look at the family as a community. There are many ways in which families are united and connected or dis-connected and in most of the families I know, there is always a blend of harmony and dis-harmony, connection and dis-connection. This will depend on many factors including: communication, hierarchy, wealth and finance, political and social freedom, education, religious/spiritual beliefs, health and wellbeing and much more.

Perhaps take a moment to think about your own family and how things are for you and them. Would you say it is a harmonious community of people?

And now we get down to the couple in a relationship. The community of two. You can deduce for yourself what this has been, and is like for you. How is that community of two for you? How is that community of two for your partner (past and/or present)? Would you call that a feeling of ‘Ubuntu’?

And then there was ONE. The community of being with oneself – ME- MYSELF and I. The question here is can I live without a community – without others around me? And then comes the deeper questions. How am I in that community? How is my behaviour in that community? What can I do to improve my contribution to that community?

I know this article may seem to be quite a pessimistic viewpoint, but what I wanted to put into place was the challenge of moving past this, moving to a more positive future on the planet, and without calling out how things are and choosing to do things differently, not much will change.

This is where I want to leave you – with these questions. I have them for myself. I ask myself ‘Where, on each level of community do I belong? – and how can I contribute in a better way?

United we stand divided we fall, man is not an island, no one can do it alone, many hands make light work.

These are just some of the many phrases, clichés that have continued to move from one generation to the next. Each one reminds us that we are never alone in our life nor that we can do life alone or on our own.

So, what is community, the textbook version is two-fold

⦁ A group of people living in the same place or having particular characteristics in common

⦁ The condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common

However, there is another definition of community and it is the biological community, it means an interacting group of various species in a common location. This community is one that is reliant on each specie for the survival of the whole.

An example is the forest where trees, undergrowth, animals, insects, birds, soil with fungi and bacteria. This community can only survive through the interaction and the whole of each of the species.

For the most part we can apply the first two definitions to our lives, that would make a very simple community and it is the one that is common to the way of life for people. Because no one wants to be left out, so we find like people so that we feel accepted and liked.

In that we can be a community by finding somewhere to live where we are among people who have our same or similar characteristics in common or we could choose to find people who have the same interests and attitudes as ourselves and make that our community.

What I have observed is most often people have the same routine, group of friends, habits that they live day in day out and that is their community and really this is the definition of community as mentioned earlier.

When we take a closer look at the biological community it is much more about the coming together in unity to ensure the survival of the species of the whole.

To keep that in context of community let’s have a look at how we build a community that takes us beyond one just our own personal survival. We aren’t really much different to a biological community because each of us cannot do life alone, at some point we need support and encouragement.

We may need someone else around who believes in us more than we believe in ourselves so that we can achieve our dreams that we have for our life. Even though it’s for our own life, our dreams most often affect other people around us and most often our dreams are on a bigger scale, wherein we want to be able to bring them to life so that they help our family and our friends.

But we can go beyond that, by how we interact with our work colleagues with our neighbours and we build a community where each one of us has a contribution that means that we are contributing to the whole and therefore to the survival of the whole.

We are also reliant on the biology of our environment for our survival so this must also be considered when we are building a community.

When we are insular and everything that we do is based around just what we want for our life, for example, we may have our own home, our entire focus is on what we want in our home, we might wave to our neighbour from time to time, but we don’t actually have an interaction with them. This is not building a community. And it is not fitting to any of the definitions of “community”.

When we talk about our dreams and desires for the life we want to live and the quality of life that we would like to embrace and live each day we need to build a community to be able to achieve those dreams. So how do we build a community? Here we go back to those first definitions of community.

A place where we find people that we share a common interest and have similar attitudes. We would do this because it’s easier, we can feel more at home, we can feel more at ease being able to talk with people who share the same views. Who have the same hopes and aspirations in their life, then what we find is that we start actually bouncing off each other. We start finding ways that we can support each other, and this is what brings people together. But is this a community?

Throughout the world the indigenous races of people are known as “tribes”, these tribes are the strongest most powerful communities in the world. The reason I say that is because they are a biological community, they understand that their survival is reliant on the animals, the undergrowth, the bacteria and everything that creates the environment that they live in. They understand that they are part of that diversity of community that ensures they survive.

They understand that without knowing the way of the weather, rainfall, understanding the clouds, the wind, sun, and the moon, they are not able to survive. They show us the way of life in a biological greater community.

So, this brings me to a different level of the word community, can you see what I mean if we look at community as, “A group of people living in the same place or having particular characteristics in common. The condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common.” In that we are with people who are like minded, have similar attributes, similar interests it stops there, that’s it there is nothing in that, that creates a community, only that it is about survival of the self.

Whereas the indigenous tribes of the world live a deeply connected consciousness, they live as part of the biological community, they understand that they are a species in that community. There is no destruction of the environment, they do not take more than they need, or replace parts of their biological community with fake lawn, concrete pavers, rubble, gravel and the like. The food chain is not disturbed through taking more than is necessary for their survival.

When I look around me, I see several communities within the community as a collective. To a certain degree there is the community that is insular, habitual and self-serving. Then there are those who expand their life beyond the immediate community, these people seek to build a greater awareness of our need to be a collective community, more along the line of the biological community for the survival of the whole.

On a deeper level, if we consider that we are all made up of energy, and energy constantly flows and expands or contracts. Our energy affects everyone that is around us, even beyond those we can see nearby to us. So, for me the greater collective is the community that will ensure we are able to survive for generations and generations.

However, that greater collective must be more aware, awakened on a deeper consciousness and delve into the wonders of the energy that we all bring to the world beyond the walls of our home, the office and our neighbour.

To understand that our survival is dependant on us becoming a biological community rather than the self-serving community. To do that we must seek to know about the environment in which we are living and all that we bring to it, and take from it. For we are not an island, nor are we alone in our life. We are part of the WHOLE and our survival is dependent on how we live as a collective community.

Community to me is where we are one with ALL that makes up our existence, and so much more than the definitions that we began with…. “A group of people living in the same place or having particular characteristics in common. The condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common”.

What can you do today that will be a contribution to the collective biological community?

Our increasingly individualistic society is leading to higher prevalence of mental and physical illness worldwide.

Humans, like our ape ancestors, have always been social creatures. We have always lived in large groups, in which members depend on each other for survival.

Community can be described as a group of people that are connected by a core essence, whether that is nationality, blood, a shared interest or a goal. The benefits of belonging to a community extend to physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Importantly, being part of a community brings a sense of belonging. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs places universal human needs in a pyramid. Each stage of the pyramid must be met before the next need can be addressed.

Maslow places Social Belonging as the third most crucial need after physical needs such as food and water, and safety needs, such as financial and emotional stability.

Maslow describes Social Belonging as “requiring family, intimacy and relationships with friends or a partner.” It involves inclusion in social groups of any kind or size, from one’s family to being part of a sports team.

People are typically brought together in communities by a shared purpose, goal or interest. Religion, race, hobbies or work are all places where communities have the potential to emerge.

Speaking the same language or having inside lingo creates that much needed sense of belonging, which makes it easier to be accepted by, and connected to those in your community.

Social support and trust are important for psychological and emotional health. Without it. low self-esteem, self-consciousness, a shorter temper or withdrawal from social activities altogether can develop.

It can even affect physical aspects such as appetite, sleep and your immune system. We need the people in our community to give us outside perspective when we are feeling self-pity, they can also help stop the stream of negative self-talk that we humans are very prone to. They can see the beautiful parts of us when we may not see them ourselves.

One major benefit of community is the opportunity to learn from other people. Observing other’s mistakes or successes and talking through problems can be helpful when making decisions. I’m sure you can think of times when you have asked your spouse, parents, sibling or colleague for advice. These people are part of your community and can provide unconditional support.

Giving back to your community can be a deeply fulfilling part of your life. Whether you undertake a career that is devoted to helping others, such as in the health industry, or doing gardening for a senior neighbor, or volunteering in a soup kitchen.

I often say that giving is selfish, because the way I feel when giving back to my community gives me one of the most long-lasting feelings of fulfillment I have experienced.

Australia has shown the importance and benefits of a national community this summer during the terrible bushfires. People’s generosity with their time and donations enabled towns to start rebuilding and animals to receive care.

Volunteers and firefighters showed unconditional support by risking their lives for their community. Sometimes, it can take great adversity for a community to flourish and show the full depth of our connections to each other.

It is also important to remember that we are part of a global community and can form connections with people despite no shared interests or similarities. We are all part of a community of humans on planet Earth!

Being part of a community also teaches the invaluable lesson of accountability. Being held accountable of your promises or actions can be a strong source of motivation to push through difficult times or try new things.

Accountability also enables you to learn about the consequences of your actions or inaction. We are all accountable for some aspect of our community, whether that be paying bills, taking the kids to school, or getting a work project finished on time.

We rely on our community for every aspect of our lives, from our food to our education. Therefore, it is important that we all do our part to create a smooth-running community that everyone can benefit from.

All in all, it is clear that the benefits of community are numerous and that we are all part of various communities. If you feel that this aspect of belonging and support are lacking in your life, get out of your comfort zone and join a class for a hobby you’ve been waiting to try, or volunteer for a charity. I promise you will get back ten-fold of what you put in!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! WELCOME TO THE YEAR 2020

Well here we are in the new decade of 2020. If you think about it like I have, it seems a blur of years has sped by so fast. This is my sixtieth year coming up in April and it doesn’t feel like that number is relevant for me. Really, apart from the now revealing full head of my natural (no mixing bowl colours anymore, it’s totally free!) hair colour. I prefer to say it’s more a swirling texture of blue-black, metal grey, shards of silver, and white with a pearl shimmer. Who knows what any age feels like, it’s how we live our present moments that are our gifts?

That wouldn’t have been a statement that I would have said 10 years ago when I was 50! I celebrated that time with a huge girl’s weekend, (apart from my own family celebrations) that rocked on for 3 days. Clearly massive indulgence, being spaced out (from way too many martinis) singing, dancing, letting go, and without a care in the world!

My women friends are a convergence of all personalities, they bring something entirely different to our group and when we go away, you don’t have to please one another by being in each other’s pockets, you can just be… my friend community.

Communities Pulling Together

Over the last several months our country has been devastated by fires (I reflected on this in my last article). And now as I write this, the eastern coast of our country has been inundated by torrential rains, more rain in the last few weeks, than we received the previous year! The tv news broadcasting continuously showing the countless small towns from north to south that have been affected, losing homes, buildings, livelihood and in the midst of this devastation, we hear the word community. People bought together beyond their status, culture, ethnicity, and uniting when life is seen more than just separation, it brings back the true mechanism that reveals how we are here to pull together in times of pain, hardship and loss on a communal basis.

Are We A Community Within A Community?

Imagine for a moment, this planet we live on here. If you look from a bigger perspective, you could say we are one huge community. This planet that revolves around (have you seen the size of our planet in comparison to other planets… we are a micro dot!) in space. We are not the only planet in the Universe that could identify with us. I know there are countless other communities out in our Cosmos. Think of them as huge distant neighbours.

As a community, we seek to have a safe place to be, to surround ourselves with those that make us welcome. This is where we can connect, on a heart level, you have a physical feel to that connection, and deeper still you are kindred spirits, meaning that we are together as part of our journey. Communities can consist of 1 or 2 people, the local neighbourhood church, a village or a remote island.

Our Place As A Community Through Social Media

With social media today, we have developed little communities (groups) that we join that offer something that offers the values we seek, people that are like minded and provide a source of support and encouragement for what we need. We can feel at ease and not be looked upon like an outcast or weirdo.

When I was drawn into energy healing, and Forensic Healing. I discovered a group of women whose lives were shrouded in all sorts of stigmas from sexual abuse victims, physical and emotional violence against women, suppression of women’s rights, culturally, morally and ethical discrimination.

They came from all areas of life, and I was surrounded by deeply hidden and extremely raw pain, trauma and disconnection of women that I had not engaged with before. Being in this environment exposed me to how I engaged with my everyday friends, and yet I had never remotely seen these deep and personal conflicts and traumas before.

Observing this rawness, allowed me to acknowledge that what we hide from ourselves, we are hiding from others. I felt inspired to let go of my inner turmoils and I learnt how to find courage, connection, greatness and compassion through the community that understood where I was coming from. We have become complacent about what a community represents, as just being a place to meet for physical interaction, but this has gone beyond, and has allowed and offered far more opportunity to embrace and unite.

Community Is Connection

Community is the safety net we all need, not being separated from, but being united together. It doesn’t mean you have to feel you’ve got to be at the forefront of your community, in a projected way, or trying to be active on all issues or having to feel like you’ve got to front every support group that exists. That wouldn’t be healthy trying to give your time to every cause. You give where you can on whatever level. We can give back to Community by service, and this offer is how we raise the spirit overall of humanity, through our kindness and compassion within each and every community we are part of. As part of the team of experts for Global Healing Exchange, I am involved with a community that’s dedicated to sharing knowledge, wisdom and the pursuit of inspiring change for humanity one person at a time. My expertise in my field allows me to offer wellness from a holistic perspective.

Forensic Healing is a proven therapy system superior to all healing modalities, because it:

⦁ Profiles the client, identifying negative life patterns, archetypes, emotions, belief systems, and much more.
⦁ Clears curses, negative energies, rituals, and many other spiritual issues.
⦁ Activates spontaneous healing forces in the body for immediate changes.
⦁ Removes the negative conditioning stored in the DNA or cell memory.
⦁ Uses healing secrets from ancient healing scripts combined with the most-advanced scientific methods.
⦁ Utilizes healing pathways that use physical, emotional, energetic or spiritual elements.
⦁ Heals deeply at a soul level by targeting soul facets, fragments, DNA etc.
⦁ Places a blessing on the client at the end of a healing.
⦁ Educates and empowers the client to understand themselves so they leave with new information to progress in their life.
⦁ Includes new Soul Module which removes embedded implants, AI programs, mind control systems and disconnects souls from the corrupted Matrix.

See Yourself Having A Dynamic New Experience

I look forward to hopefully meeting you, joining your journey and helping you in any way to ride the waves of growth, new beings and this wonderful life we truly can find inspiring and inspirational!

Many Blessings, Love & Joy To You All

Most of my experience with community building and team building is in corporate and face to face live audiences as a facilitator of future freedom that meet up over various periods of time and also online.

I have been doing this for over 40 years so I’ve learned lots to share with you about what to do and what not to do because I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way.

There are stages to community building that are extremely valuable for creating online community too. This is not my generation, but guess what – People are very switched on today so if your core values do not come across to your tribe online it will never build momentum.

So, let’s get started into the:

Here Are Examples Of How To Get People’s Attention With My Brand:

Tired of Struggling Getting your Great Vision out there? Consider The New Opportunity . . . a likeminded support group.

Are you up and down in business? Did you know Invalidation is the cause? Let’s pull the plug on this pattern right now. We are here for You. Future Freedom Facebook group.

Stop standing in your own way! Yes, I do that but what am I doing wrong? Everyone has blind spots but we need to trust someone to help. How About Future freedom?

Did you know a combination of movement and stillness mobilizes your manifesting power? It is a learnt skill that’s a big aspect of The New Opportunity.

The New Opportunity – 5 Stages of Future Freedom

Is it time to Transcend the Old Version of You?

Next Steps . . . Best thing to do next is dream, dream, dream.

Picture your vision and purpose that swells way beyond your personal happiness or needs that are constantly in flux. Then go through the seven steps one day at a time and get lots of feedback. No-one can do something this big alone. Great luck on your journey.