Sometimes, when I step back and look at the big picture of where our world is, the hatred, discrimination, hunger, oppression, war, crimes against humanity (or simply our neighbor), it completely overwhelms me and boggles my mind.

All you have to do is sit down and watch 20 minutes of news to get a taste of what is wrong with our world and our people.

Then the thought creeps in, “it’s hopeless, what can *I* do to change all this?”

Many of us sit in our offices, homes and cars listening to news broadcasts and wondering just that. And this thought is often followed by “I’m just one person, I don’t know how to fix this.” And ya know, that is true. No one person can fix anything but him or herself.

We don’t even have to read a paper or watch the news to become overwhelmed by helplessness and hopelessness – a talk with a friend who’s in an abusive marriage, seeing a classmate of our child who has that haunted, scared look in her eyes, watching teenagers in colors gathered on a street corner, or even simply over-hearing another person berating and demeaning a fellow human being (whether they know that person or not). It’s enough to make a person throw up their hands and want to hide in the safety of their own home.

But we CAN all do something. The answer to the question, “Heal the World? Who? Me??” is a resounding and emphatic, YES! We cannot lead if we do not know the way. We cannot love if we do not know what love is. We cannot accept others if we cannot first accept ourselves. We cannot act and speak with compassion if we have not diffused the anger, hatred and resentment that resides within us. We cannot heal if we are not healed.

I can just hear ya’ll: “Ok, Dee, that sounds like all sunshine and roses and something some new age guru would say, but HOW do we heal ourselves and the world??

Well, although I’m certainly not a new-age guru and I very definitely do not hold the keys to the kingdom when it comes to world healing, I do have a few ideas on the subject, so I’m really glad you asked!

Here are ways that I try to implement every single day in my quest and pledge to make a positive difference in our world:

1) I work on me. I watch for ego, prejudice, anger, resentment, lack of patience, and a host of other ‘qualities’ that I am aware of in myself. When I see one, I try to figure out where it’s coming from, root it out and neutralize it. This isn’t easy – it’s work – hard work.

And there are countless guides from great spiritual leaders that can help you with this task. (Two I would recommend learning form include Deepak Chopra and Carolyn Myss.) I simply know that I will have a very hard time being kind to someone else if I’m resentful or angry. Or that it is impossible to truly give of myself to help another if my ego is up there saying, “wow, folks will think I’m a great person if I do this!” So, rule one, work on me.

2) I try very hard to watch what I say and what I think. Words have power! Suffice it to say that I believe that every thought, every word and every action has an equal reaction.

We, and our world, are made of energy (basic quantum physics), and each of us, each living being on this planet, is constantly emanating energy. We human beings have the unique power of choice as to what energy we send out. I try hard to make that energy positive and healing as much as I am able to do so.

3) As Carolyn Myss says, “Make time every day for the Sacred.” Whether that sacred time is prayer, the sending of compassionate, loving and/or healing energy, meditation, a walk in the beauty of nature…whatever your definition of sacred and Divinity – make time for it every single day. This is something so crucial to our own healing and spirituality that it cannot be over-stated. And it is, in my opinion, an absolute requirement in the success of points 1 and 2 above.

4) Listen, comfort and smile. One of the easiest, and seemingly least seldom employed, ways of healing ourselves and those around us (and thereby helping to heal our world) is to start right where you are and who you are with. Listen instead of talk. Accept instead of judge. Smile instead of frown. Encourage instead of berate. Start with your mate, your children, your parents, your friends, your neighbors. So simple and so very lacking in our world today.

5) Treat all you meet today with courtesy and respect. On the road, slow down to let someone over and simply grit out a “bless you” when they cut you off, causing you to nearly hit them and then they flip you the finger. Look a cashier in the eye in the check out line when you are saying ‘thank you.’ Respond to rudeness with a deep breath, a smile and quick prayer of ‘heaven bless you and make your day better’.

6) Watch 30 minutes of news or read a newspaper and for each hurt or obscenity against another human being that is reported, say a prayer for the victim(s), the family of the victim(s) AND the alleged perpetrator of the crime and his/her family. Why? Because whether we’re talking about a victim or the person who committed the crime, we are always talking about human beings – people with families, parents, brothers and sisters. Guilt or innocence is irrelevant in this particular action.

Trust me, I know how tough it is to say a prayer for someone who is thought to have kidnapped and murdered a child. Sometimes all I can make myself do is a breathe a “please, god, help them” whereas I can pray at length for the child and his/her family – and that’s ok. Hate the action, have compassion on the person. (Please note that I use the word ‘prayer’ a lot – and that is what I term it. But it is a word, please replace it with ‘healing energy’, ‘love energy’, meditate, or whatever term best fits your belief system).

7) Support a cause, a charity, sponsor a child, attend charity fund-raisers, join a community devoted to helping to heal our world – do whatever you can, what you can afford, what you have time for.

No act of kindness or compassion, no gift freely given – whether it be of money, time or yourself – is too small to have an impact.

Something to think about…

If every person on the planet stopped believing they could do nothing and began doing what they had the time and resources to do – what would our world look like?

Again, the answer to the question, “Heal the World? Who? Me??” is a resounding and emphatic, YES!

This has lain heavy on my heart for quite awhile now but I couldn’t figure out exactly what I could do to make a difference.

Well, this site basically is a community – a community of healers willing to give their time and expertise to those seeking help and a community of folks who can come and talk, have a shoulder to lean on, get advice, tips, and information on how they can get healthier and make their lives better. It has a ton of articles on ailments, conditions, healing modalities – even natural health and beauty recipes. It also has a forum where we can all go to talk and learn and share.

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, because I know you’re interested in natural healing and a healthy lifestyle (you wouldn’t be here to read this if you weren’t!) and I have a proposition for you as well. As part of the community I’ve set up a scholarship program whereby folks can get a course from alternativehealingacademy.com at NO cost in return for being active on the community site, helping others and making regular posts. That’s the only catch – you need to commit to being an active part of this community and AHA will train you in the course of your choice for nothing, nada, zip, zilch.

If you’re already in an AHA course, or have completed an alternative health course from another school, then this could be part of your continuing education – with the added bonus of making a difference for folks just like us. Oh, and all proceeds earned by the site will be evenly divided between http://www.htwf.org (heal the world foundation) and earthcare.org (Earth Care International) charities – EVERY penny the site earns will go to charity.

You can see the site and read about our mission here: http://www.HealingOurWorld.net/ – and, I’m also looking for folks who wish to work with me directly on making this site as big as we can possibly get it in order to make the largest positive impact on our world. So, if you have a bit of spare time and a passion for helping others, please let me know.

If you’re interested in the scholarship, please fill out the application on the site – and if you’d just like to help us, please email me back with your preferred username, display name (for on posts/articles), preferred email address .

Whether you wish to take advantage of the scholarship program or not – whether you wish to help out or not - please, please, please register for the forums and post a hello and check in every once in awhile. Our team is available to talk to, to listen, to share, to provide information and to simply make new connections and friendships – I can’t stress enough that EVERYONE is welcome.

Getting traffic to a site isn’t that tough, but what IS tough is getting folks to come out of their shells and post on forums. This site is *brand new* – which means no posts at this time – and, unfortunately, folks tend to only post on a forum when there’s already activity there. i don’t want to seed it with ‘fake’ posts – so I’m asking you to please help me by registering at the forum, posting a hello, a question, a comment, whatever. I would deeply, deeply appreciate it.

Again, the site is http://wwww.HealingOurWorld.net/ – and I would love to travel this road to a better world for all of us with you.

Many blessings,
Dee