TENDING TO THE GARDEN OF YOUR SOUL

Let’s open the door to a difficult and uncomfortable but immensely important conversation. 

I want to talk about oppression and, in particular, how it manifests itself in our souls, our lives and all of humanity. 

It was entirely intentional for Dr Jaiya John to be my first guest on the Soul Surgery podcast.

It wasn’t a coincidence. It wasn’t by chance. 

I deliberately CHOSE for it to be the opening episode. 

Why?

Because we simply cannot intend, visualise or aim for freedom – both for ourselves and each other – without being willing to look at, with open hearts, what has blocked and is blocking our freedom.

Freedom externally and internally. 

Jaiya’s work is about stirring the soul to remember itself, which movies me deeply when I first heard it.  It invites so many levels of healing.

‘To remember’ is a reminder that deep within us, there is a wisdom that knows who we are, beyond the noise and fears in our minds. We are far greater than the stories that we identify with.  

And the more wounded we are, the more lost we get in our stories… the more we forget who we really are.

So how do we heal at the deep core roots within us?

The roots that we are carrying from our ancestors and that have taken place at the hands of oppression are deep.  We turn that oppression onto ourselves first, and if it stays unhealed in our unconscious, we then oppress others and the world.

This is not an easy thing to hear, but it is fundamentally important and true.

We cannot heal what is unconscious, and to be conscious, we must first bring our insight and awareness to it.

So let me say it again.

First, we receive the roots of oppression, then we oppress our own souls, and then we oppress the world. 

And the patterns continue for the generations to come.

This is why we must unravel the shame that comes with oppression.  We cannot simply blame others.  We must look deep within ourselves and intend to heal.

These roots are continuing the separation in our world, and it is up to us to be responsible for our own healing.

First, we must recognise that we have forgotten who we are – that we have been asleep and lost in blind spots.

Then we must look at where we are blind and bring light to it.

Carrying these unhealed wounds can take us far away from the shore of our true selves. But each of us, whether we are conscious of it or not, long to return home to the shore to safety.

How can we do this?  

We often look externally for salvation in the form of gurus, teachers and influencers on social media so we can distract ourselves from doing the one and only work that will release us from our long ancient internal suffering.

The gardening of OUR OWN soul. 

If we are willing and ready to take responsibility and tend to the inner soil within all of us – pulling out the weeds and planting what may bloom and nurture our soul – we can create enormous abundance. 

But too often we run away from tending to this through substance abuse, self-harm, shame, guilt, conflict, intergroup friction, antagonism, blame and judgement.

And we have the hardest time looking inward with love because we judge ourselves and beat ourselves up.  This, of course, feeds and continues the cycle.

Doing the inner work of tending to your soil doesn’t have to be punishing, in fact, it is only when we bring love and compassion to ourselves that real healing can occur. 

In this episode with Jaiya, we discuss how it is up to us now to step into our roles as revolutionaries and actively participate in the healing of our species and our planet.  

We can heal anything. We are here to heal. We are here at this time for a reason. 

To start your healing, I encourage you to ask yourself these questions:

What are the stories that are holding you back and limiting your evolution? How can those stories be reframed to be your greatest teachers? 

Where in your life have you been oppressed? How has that oppression changed you and caused you to oppress others? 

Can you find a way to look inside and tend to the garden of your soul without criticism, without being punitive, and with love? 

These are the questions that will take you deeper into your soul and back to the garden.

If you want to dive further into this topic, then be sure to listen to my inspiring conversation with the incredible freedom worker Dr Jaiya John here.

Endless love and healing,

Nicky x

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