Something that has been coming up a lot lately with my clients is a need for belonging and community. We may be surrounded by well intentioned friends and family who truly care for us and love us. At the same time, we feel alone and/or lonely. That though they care for us, they don’t know how to meet us and support us.
Their well intentioned remarks to shield us from our pain or confusion end up making us feel bad about ourselves or that something is broken within us. Or, we just don’t feel like they can hear us and respond in a meaningful way.
Having loved ones, whether or not they can meet us in our challenging moments is still really important – to receive their love. We need to feel loved.
Similarly, having community – or as Buddha put it Sangha – is just as important. A community that is centered towards inner growth is in fact critical these days. Because almost everything in our culture and day to day is really taking us away from real ourselves. Not to mention when we are grappling with something challenging and wish for real companions who are also in the process of cultivating and living from their higher selves and with emotional maturity.
Part of it is that either we have the grace and guidance to seek out a community that is what we need. Or we go searching in many places trying to find what meets us – sometimes ending up feeling hopeless because it doesn’t seem to exist. Other times, we cannot imagine or conceive wanting or having a community that supports our real selves. We forget. Because we wished for it and didn’t receive it early on in our lives.
Yet, to have community that reminds us of who we really are….who is also oriented towards reclaiming our inner richness and not get lost in just worldly relationships and life…is deeply precious. To have community where we can see each others gifts and beauty AND struggles and challenges becomes a beautiful bouquet for our soul.
Wishing you support in all the forms you need — it really does take support in multiple forms to find our way back – to traverse a beautiful, joyous, precious return to ourselves amidst scary, difficult, and sometime grueling issues.
If your heart is seeking this kind of community — women oriented toward inner growth, reclaiming their real selves together — I’m forming two small groups:
There are 2 groups possibilities in my heart –
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Reclaiming our Inheritance – A group for South Asian and Middle Eastern Women
I’d love to hear from you if you feel your heart is really seeking a group.
I also work with individuals for psychospiritual integration. I offer a free 20-minute consultation for those curious about this work. Available worldwide.
If this resonated, you may also find support in these reflections:
- Spiritual Loneliness and Belonging — on the specific loneliness of the spiritual path and finding your way through it
- South Asian Healing: Reconnecting with Your Ehsaas — on the inner richness South Asian and Middle Eastern adults carry, and what it takes to come home to it
- How We Lose Ourselves in the Name of Love — on the unconscious loyalty that keeps fulfillment and real connection just out of reach.
- Rediscovering Our Feminine Essence — a small gathering for women ready to find their way back to themselves, together