I HAD a dream . . .

I HAD A DREAM . . . . NOW I HAVE A PLAN!

We can dream about the future, or we can make a plan for the present – and then the present becomes our gift.

I have a plan ….. to foster kindness and inclusivity in 2022, now. It is one that involves inward and outward action. Because, action and change are what is needed. Saying it would be nice, or should, or could, or one day, or someone else can do it, will never have it be our present truth.

Inwardly I plan to not judge so much. This particularly comes at a time when the world seems to be divided into groups like never before, each judging the other group. Groups having nothing to do with colour or creed, gender or sexual orientation, rich or poor …. But rather - vaccinated vs unvaccinated. Boostered vs unboostered. Positive vs Negative. Had it vs haven’t had it.

Even declaring being judgemental, is a revelation, because I consider myself to be so warm and loving, that I wouldn’t ordinarily ‘consider’ myself judgemental … but upon introspection, I am. A lot has been engrained from parents – when you’ve listened to the 2 people you are supposed to look up to the most, for 4 decades, it’s very ‘easy’ to be subliminally brainwashed without realising. Their thoughts, their views becomes your normal. However, ‘their’ is poignant, because it’s not my - my views, my thoughts, my perceptions, and those are what need to be formulated critically, not handed to you on a platter from someone else.

So, I’ve started to watch the thinker, and I find myself judging strangers without knowing their story. After all, they say to assume makes an ass out of u and me (ass-u-me). I am now reigning back in that thinker when this occurs and not only removing the judgement, but also silently sending love and light to that person. I’m also more patient with strangers in public who may ordinarily frustrate me due to their dawdling etc … because I don’t know their story, I don’t know what they’re going through. Besides, do I really need to rush? Is the world going to end if I get up the ramp 1 minute later? No.

Outwardly, I plan and have been putting into action, more random acts of kindness and paying it forward. We all breathe the same air, and we are all linked. To deny another, is to deny everyone including yourself. So, I’m staying actively conscious to see and act upon opportunities to make other people’s lives easier and put smiles on their faces. Whether it be like the presents I put on everyone’s doorsteps on Xmas Eve in my apartment complex stairwell - signed anonymously other than ‘Love from Stairwell Santa’, to hanging seeded bells in the trees for the pigeons along the riverwalk, to paying the 93 year old lady down the road a very generous hourly rate to teach me to knit, to dropping off homemade food and sheepskin slipper boots to the homeless guys who live under the pavilion in the cold, to opening doors for strangers, letting people go ahead of me at the checkout when they don’t have much, to picking up the items someone drops when their arms are full at the market, to even smiling at a stranger – because sometimes that can be worth more than anything to them. I now look further and am even more open to spreading the love.

And on another outward level, I recently signed up to expand my knowledge and therefore services I can offer to help people. I am already a reiki practitioner and masseuse, and help people energetically and with their body aches and pains, and fulfilling the act of touch which so many never receive and crave so much. However, in coming months I will be a qualified hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner and Law of Attraction coach. Such services can be out of reach for many financially, so I am going to foster kindness and inclusivity by offering gratis services and token-payment services for those in need. I will also be helping people manifest what they desire in life, and showing them they already have the tools inside them and how to use them. This can give people hope.

Now that isolation is no longer applicable – I can finally sign up for ‘No one dies alone’ – a volunteer organisation whereby they organise one of their volunteers to sit with someone who is going to pass, who doesn’t have any friends or family who can come. It has been something I have wanted to do for a few years, but they previously ceased volunteer intakes due to the C word. Now I can be there with someone passing – someone from any walk of life – because we all breathe the same air. And I can be the warmth holding their hand, brushing their hair, massaging their feet, filling them with beautiful reiki energy setting the positive intention for their path over the golden bridge . . . until they take that last breath of air.