Building Healthy Communities: Addressing the Needs of an Individual in Relationship to the Whole… This is something that I feel called to in life. It is something that we need for our stability, for our growth, and for our overall well being. I was very fortunate to have been raised by two great parents who knew the value of family and community. From a very young age we were taught the importance of having close loving relationships. While growing up we were surrounded by wonderful loving people who were a great support system for us. It is a great thing to have people there for you throughout your life—especially during the very difficult times. It took me a while, but now that I‘m older–I‘m able to really appreciate what a gift it was to have this type of support while growing up. My parents “got it”….they really knew how important it is to have good healthy relationships–and so they did their best to provide this for their children. I‘m really proud of everything that they accomplished. Though they came from different religious backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, and different ethnic backgrounds—still they actually shared so much in common…they shared the same core values; they shared values that were based on understanding our common humanity. Being raised in a multiracial family, I was taught to care about others regardless of caste, color or creed. We learned that it wasn’t our religious beliefs or the color of our skin that was important. We learned that the most essential thing is how we treat one another. My father’s motto was: “improving the quality of life with each succeeding generation”. He wanted us to learn from the past and to carry on the things that were positive and good–and to do better. The values they taught me are very much a part of who I am today—and it’s because of them that I feel a very strong sense of responsibility to do my part.

So…building healthy communities begins with the individual. Every child who comes into this world should have the opportunity to be raised in a healthy and loving environment. I know that this isn’t the reality of the world we live in but it is something that we need. When we have a loving support system this helps to provide a strong foundation and will foster our growth and our well being. Healthy communities begin with healthy individuals. By addressing the various needs that we have as human beings we can support our health and well-being. We are very complex individuals: we have emotional needs, we have physical needs, we have intellectual needs, we have social needs, and we have spiritual needs. When we nurture every aspect of who we are, we can grow and truly excel in our lives. So often children grow up without having a loving support system. There are so many people who have been neglected and abused. This is the reality of what is going on in our world today–and because of this there is so much healing that needs to take place. So many of us have been wounded in our lives and the pains that we carry oftentimes delay the healing process. It is essential for us to find loving, supportive people—people who are genuinely caring–people who want the very best for us. Healing is not always easy, but with support and love, it is quite possible. Through the healing process we can move past our painful experiences and have a greater quality of life–and when we heal we can experience true happiness and peace of mind. This will positively affect ourselves and everyone around us. When we are happy and healthy, people around us tend to become happy and healthy—and we become a strong foundation for others.

This feeling of wanting to be helpful to others comes quite naturally. We really are connected to one another. We are in relationship with every living being on the planet and we have an inter-dependent nature. This is an essential aspect of who we are. Because we have an intrinsic connection to one another— our actions affect all those around us. It’s just the way it is. We are coexisting in this world together—and everything that is provided for us is meant to be shared. When we live our lives in a self-serving way–in a way that disregards the happiness and well-being of others–things fall apart. It goes against our true (symbiotic) nature. The relationships that we have with each another are the foundation of our existence, so we need to find ways to help and support one another. If we are fortunate enough to have a good family, we can develop our relationships starting there, but if for some reason we are unable to have healthy relationships with our family members then we need to find good, close friends. Good friends are a real gift–and having such relationships will help us move forward in life and to become the best that we can be.

We are very fortunate to be living in a time where we are able to connect with people from all around the world using online social networking sites. They are great mediums that are allowing us to find people of like-minds; people who share a common vision; people who are awakening and remembering our real loving nature–and our need for true unity. Our Wise Folk Living group on Facebook is a wonderful group of people from around the entire globe–and from all walks of life; and even though we come from different cultures and different backgrounds, we feel a great kinship with one another. It’s pretty amazing. We share our life experiences, wisdom, knowledge, humor–whatever we feel might be helpful or inspiring to one another. We are able to provide support to each other as we endeavor to live a more loving and conscientious existence….it’s our Wise Folk family—and there’s always room for more so please feel free to join in. We’d love to meet you there.

“Each one of us is responsible for the whole of humankind. We need to think of each other really as brothers and sisters and to be concerned for each other’s welfare. Rather than working solely to acquire wealth, we need to do something meaningful, something directed seriously towards the welfare of humanity as a whole.”