Respect is essential and there is a lack of it everywhere. It’s a “nobody wins” conversation at this point sadly as the energy of the world focuses on “If you don’t agree with me, I will make it a mission to destroy you with words”.

Loving everyone, I believe, is what makes a great team and that is not staying neutral, but rather about rising above and using one’s voice to be of logic and reasoning. Taking full ownership and responsibility for our actions, speaking words of love, and respecting each other, should be at the forefront and used consistently.

I find that when accusations are aimed in my direction or other’s are screaming at me that I am a racist, stupid, trash, or anything that doesn’t reflect my true nature, that I just simply shutdown and can’t listen.  

As a society we have to stop assuming that we know each other’s story. I feel and listen when asked with love to hear another’s point of view. As a Mystic and Healer, my heart hurts when any human being is treated less than or more than another. The violence of our words against each other needs to stop with us. If we truly see and believe in any sort of a God consciousness, we should all remember that if we can all see each other in the image of the God above and the God within, then we should be seeing each other in love. Why can’t we focus on solution based resolutions instead of attacking or shaming one another?

When change comes at the cost of getting closer to equality for all, then we are moving further from the truth we need to see. This is just a temporary fix designed to make some comfortable in their story, to conform with an alignment to ego, and away from where it truly needs to go.

I am the child of a mother who is First Nations, and have lived the effects of her pain, but I did not live in her story of it and that is the difference. My choice to go inward and heal myself opened me up to love her on a whole new level, becoming mature enough to listen to her stories, instead of living in my perception of how she treated me in the past.

I learned to consider what she was trying so hard to do, which was to be the best she could with what she had and continuing to keep doing better. Working her ass off to be sure I would be the strong, courageous woman that those before me could not be. She taught me to love and respect all, but because she did not love and respect herself, she left me frustrated at always trying to make her “see” the love in herself, as I watched her allow the abuse and disrespect from others to be lashed upon her.

What I could not see at the time was that my desire to “save her” and to push her to see her worth, was actually hurting her more. My desire to see change (an intention done in love) was truly reflecting out in anger instead. The frustration of wanting her to change had me yelling, screaming, making accusations, and not listening. I was supposed to be the support she needed but I just could not see through my own pain.

I was there for everyone else and spoke of how I was a “good human” but in truth I was so far away from it. My tantrums and the blend of our trauma was destructive to our relationship, that was originally created of love. It was a valuable lesson to truly understand that you can not destroy anyone or tear them down because they are not doing or living the life you want to see.

When I changed me and truly began to learn, listen, and be present, our relationship drastically improved. I stopped editing out what I did not want others to see and started to call myself out on my actions. It was no longer about having others choose sides, to force the change I wanted to see, but to respect the others ability to change themselves of their own freewill, and to also accept them for where they currently are on their own journey.  

We are only responsible for our own behaviour, and to see change we need to become the change, “Through the eyes of my so called enemy I saw the monster I had in me!”

Violence is violence, pain is real, emotions are stories, but the feeling is real, and when we feel attacked and fall into a fight or flight response, this serves no one.

Choosing respect, love, kindness, and compassion will set us free, and it begins with asking for forgiveness of our own behaviour first.

Photo Credit: Michel Kwan – Pixaby