As I awakened to my reality of being buried in a chin-high rubble of pain, limiting beliefs, and disconnection from the truth of joy, love, and pureness, I mustered, the best I can, the courage to dig and dive into the dumpster of my ancestral, familial, and personal filth through my own unique yet synchronistic process of decolonization work. Each moment, I uncovered each layer of truth, realization, and dysfunctional illusions that plagued my life. My experiences of depression, suicidal ideation, child sexual assault, grief from the passing of my father at a young age, recent loss of my mother, stroke incident of my brother and many others have sparked many questions about my life's meaning and purpose. As I faced the bitter truth, I also uncovered the remarkable truth of the pureness and innocence of my core essence and soul. I entered the dawn of a new understanding that many of the things that happened to me are not entirely my fault, but products of a long history of oppression that still manifests in the current afflictive systems today, allowing me to love and forgive myself and others for the consequent mistakes and mishaps I and others have done as a result of my own and others’ brokenness. As I trek through a path of witnessing similar realities and stories in other peoples’ lives, plagued with immense disconnection from their hearts, other people’s hearts and Mother Earth’s heart that is fueled by the turbulent environment we live in today, I also see their strength through their struggles, their teachings through their learnings, their light through their darkness, their hearts through their pain, and their gems through their rubbles. This sense of deep connection with others from all backgrounds further heals me in a much deeper way. In the end, the people I now serve inspire me with their resilience, grace, tenderness, and splendor. Because of my empowering, dignified, and benevolent view of myself and the people around me, I know that creating a world that we want and deserve is possible when we all join together in this journey of healing, blossoming, and growing magnificence. As many of us fight for many other equally important advocacies, the resistance against the advocacy for the right to feel joy, self-love, connection, and happiness is just as enormous. To heed the call to heal and empower our hearts, I invite you to join me and the community to enliven the suppressed positive intangible parts of our being and lives to make the world a livable place for us and the next generations. If trees can flourish from dirt, so can We. 

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Amaya Tala (Nina Magpili)

Flourishing Life Practitioner

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Published: 1/4/2020