Eco-Community Call Out
Here is an exert from a shared document I wrote recently with a dear friend of mine Hannah who has big dreams of establishing a eco-community in Ireland.
Failté, my name is Aisling. Tá grá mór agam don gaeilge freisin. Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.
My story begins in January 1999 when I made it ‘earth side’. From a young age, I felt confused. I often wondered what this life thing was about. As an empath, I felt a lot for people. I was always trying to figure people out, observing, picking up on things. I would think deeply about things and found myself spiraling into similar despair that Hannah mentioned above. Although, I could never articulate my experience or emotions to anyone (or perhaps no one around understood) which I think caused me great anxiety. I didn’t know how to comfort myself from the influx of worrisome thoughts.
As I grew older, I got swept up in the conditioning, social constructs, comparison etc. and moved more and more away from myself and my feelings. I do remember bouts of confusion, overwhelm and fear but I was kept busy with the everyday events of a dysfunctional nuclear family.
That leads me on to my next point, growing up in a dysfunctional family. Now at almost 22, I’ve come to realise that many families are dysfunctional. That breaks my heart. I can’t really put into words the pain I feel/felt for my family. The tension that resides in dysfunctional homes is so incredibly toxic. Something I will mention that Hannah and I have spoken about before is how the typical ‘nuclear’ family doesn’t work. Children need a variety of adults and influences in their life. The phrase ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ holds a lot of truth. It’s too much pressure for two, often working adults to fulfill the needs of a little human. Communal living isn’t just a fun idea, it is essential. As human beings, we thrive on connection and community. We are not meant to lead solely individual self-focused lives.
My teenage years were turbulent. I came in and out of friendships, was swept away in an intense first love, tension built in my family home as my parents grew further apart. They hid their pain as best they could but I felt the dis-ease from a very young age. If there is anything I’ve learnt from watching my parents behaviour over the years is the importance of living your truth.
I never really understood the chaos and upheaval that happens when parents separate. Even as a teenager, when it eventually happened, there was this devastated child inside. I didn’t know this at the time but from years of therapy I can see what was going on within me.
I think this brings me onto the point of how little people know about emotions and how to deal with them. An entire family suppressing, projecting, blaming, shouting, crying equals mayhem.
So many families remain hidden behind their four walls, pretending all is well. I’ve since heard of so many people in similar situations to the one I grew up in. I believe this is why I too feel so called to live in a community/tribe. We need others to lift us up and support us when we cannot support ourselves. I formed a lot of unhelpful beliefs from seeing my parents suppress their emotions and pretend all was well. This is all too common. We need to create spaces where people feel loved and accepted to express their innermost thoughts and feelings. We all have them! You’re not crazy. You’re not alone. You’re not meant to keep all that you are inside and handle it by yourself.
Expression
Expression is essential. Expressing yourself and your gifts. We all have gifts, every single one of us. It’s your choice whether you decide to see them and use them. Unfortunately, many people have been taught that expression should be kept to a minimum as to not ‘show off’. BULLSHIT. That makes absolutely no sense. If you can sing, sing. If you can dance, dance. If you can cook, cook. If you can be kind, be kind. Express yourself. Express your divinity. It will most definitely be welcomed here.
Some of my interests include:
-Music,Singing, Dancing
-Creating things, macramé! Shoutout to my business @croicrogacreations
-QiGong
-Chatting to strangers.
-Child development/psychology
-Teaching children meditation
-Guiding meditation
-Playing, painting
-Reading non-fiction, writing
-Tea drinking
-Preparing meals for others
-Holding space for others
I have a deep passion for working with children. Since working with them the past few years, I’ve come to know and witness just how precious, intuitive and connected they are. Children are just mini humans. They are incredibly intelligent. They know what’s up! We must foster their beautiful joyous nature. So much of waking up is shedding the layers of conditioning and returning to the child-like wonder. I’m on a mission to preserve their sacred open minds. I believe we can cut the conditioning. I believe children deserve respect. Their tender hearts need our hands to lead and support them unconditionally. It is our duty to aid the coming generations to lead with their hearts, to have the courage to express themselves fully and authentically.
“Our children come to us whole. complete and worthy. They are happy with two sticks, a stone and a feather. But because we have been conditioned so deeply in an unconscious manner, so severed from our own sense of presence, wholeness, attunement and sense of self and abundance that we project a sense of lack onto them. We teach them to not depend on their sense of self for worth and value but to look outward”
-Dr.Shefali
Something I may add, is that I left school. Although school wasn’t necessarily the problem or why I left, after leaving I began to see the cracks, the messed up complexity of the system.
I believe there is a need for reform in how we educate our youth. I do think it is slowly shifting to a more child centered approach. I would like to possibly set up a forest school in the future, especially for young children but old too! Nothing grinds my gears more than forcing a child to learn to write at 3 years of age. There is plenty of time for that! Let them play, let them explore! Let them create. Let them be.
Something I recently said to a friend of mine was ‘I’m not looking for someone to save me, I’m looking for people to support me in saving myself’. This sentence sums up what this document is about. Togetherness. Community. Support.
That’s all from me folks, I look forward to meeting and connecting with anyone who feels called.
Love and light, Aisling.
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