Transformation, Evolution & Growth

Transformation, Evolution and growth are absolutely unavoidable. Change is constant but it takes intention, mindfulness and a growing connection to the divine to bring me to a place where my actions are leading to my desired outcomes or better. I’m with fellow artist and alchemist Amai in this episode. Join us!

The Hot Girl’s Healing podcast is about healing in community and covers diverse topics, and how they relate to healing. 

Salenna Green (she/they)  is an organizer, creative, speaker, healer and leader. Salenna has a degree in Community Psychology and a background in nonprofit leadership and program development. Salenna is carving her own lane in the healing industry, promoting self love and relationship healing. 

The Hot Girl’s Healing podcast is one of the offerings through Salenna Green SPC (SGSPC) that promotes self love and relationship healing. This podcast is for everyone but centers Black, queer people as holding truly safe space for their community was a predominant motivator for creating this show. Salenna enjoys creating art, reading, leisure and travel in their free time. Follow them on social media to stay updated! @salennagreen #HotGirlsHealing

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:37

So welcome to the community. If you've been rocking with me for a while, hey, thank you. We're four seasons deep, y'all. Four seasons on the thing that I like never even thought I'd be doing. Look at how life we work in. That's why I just I be telling y'all, just do the thing, even if it's random. But anyway, today I am here to talk to Amai, y'all. Now, Amai is someone that I met in like the artistic community. You know, I have so many talented artists I've encountered, not only like in my own journey, but especially since starting the Hot Girls Healing podcast, where you know, artists, entrepreneurs, business owners, Black Indigenous people have a space to talk about our healing journeys, to talk about what is important with us. And this is that, okay. Um, this is an artist, this is someone who quite literally makes magic, a mother, okay. Um, she does it all, and I'm honestly impressed by her. I love her art. Like, definitely the creative spirit be moving. Okay. And there's enough creativity out here for all of us. Whatever is put on your heart to create, I think it's so important to follow that because no one's lived your life but you. So whatever you're doing, you're gonna do in a way that only you can do. And Amai be doing that, okay? So I'm gonna let Amai introduce herself because you know no one else is better than us, than ourselves. Once she does that, we're gonna jump into transformation, evolution, and growth.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

Yes, thank you, Selena. I first want to say how honored I am to even be on this platform. I've listened to some episodes, and everything feels in alignment and resonates with me. I appreciate what you do in community, and I'm just really happy to be here to share my story on this platform. It's very aligned and it's very appropriate for where I'm at in my journey. So thank you. Um, yeah, so my name is Amai. I am a multidisciplinary artist, I'm a mother, I'm a visionary, I'm a magician, um, I'm an alchemist, I'm a creator, I am a vessel for source to create through. Um I am, I am, and I am all that I am. And um I love this journey that I'm on. Uh, we're gonna be talking about is transformation, which is pretty much my main focus in life is how can I ascend to the highest level possible in this lifetime. And so um, that's what a lot of my work reflects. Um, I work in multiple mediums, and the story that I'm telling in multiple mediums is my growth and is my ascension, and um, yeah, that's just what I'm here to do is to grow and ascend and to inspire others to do the same.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Oh, I love it. Yes, and you did just now what I love to do at the top of the episode, which is define what we're talking about, right? Because anyone can say transformation, what does that really mean? What does it mean to evolve? What does it mean to grow? And so I love that you said that because yeah, that's what it means to me too. It's it's this natural progression of you, it's not natural for us to be stuck or one version of ourselves for our entire lives, despite what you know somebody may say. It's okay to change, that's what you're supposed to do. We are living, breathing, evolving beings, and that's what transformation means to me. It doesn't mean necessarily me, you know, going out and re establishing my life and doing it all different and scrapping the board and starting over. When I say, you know, I'm about to pop out and it's gonna be a new me, see imagine a more evolved version of me. Know that I'm still in there, you know. I talk a lot about, you know, my inner child, or I talked, um, I did another episode on another episode of the Hot Girls Healing Podcast. We talked about origin stories, and the origin version of myself is also someone that I honor. So when I'm trying to change, I'm not saying that the core of me is bad or wrong or I'm just this inherently messed up thing that needs to be made right. No, part of me evolving is going back, part of that evolution is reflection, you know what I mean? So transformation and becoming another version of yourself and allowing yourself to evolve doesn't, in my definition, mean that you know the other versions of yourself weren't worthy because those versions of yourself are why you're here, those versions of yourself wanted you to be who you are now and also are connected to who you will be later. So when I'm talking about transformation, it's all of that.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Right, right. Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

I think that um transformation, I'm just gonna touch a little bit on that. I love what you said about going back and reflecting. That's that takes a lot of looking within. I think that we're always worthy at no matter what state we're in in our journey. Um, however, it also does take self-reflection and accountability because sometimes versions of ourselves be preventing us from being our best selves. And when you can't look at the truth of that, it was very hard to evolve. So, and you but also while looking at the truth of that, you gotta forgive that version of yourself and love yourself through that, you know. Um, sometimes we don't know any better, but once we are able to look at those parts and we're able to make an assessment, an honest assessment with ourselves, then we can evolve fully. Sometimes we be holding ourselves back.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yes, oh my gosh, yes, and walking ourselves into situations we know we didn't have no business in, and all of that, and so for me it's like you know, it can be like a nugget or a seed that's growing in you. Maybe at first you are repeating a behavior, and you know that behavior ain't for you, but it doesn't start off with you being like this ain't for me. It just starts off with like that feels weird. I don't know, there's something that lingers when I do that behavior or when I find myself in that situation, and you just start to notice something, and then you you start to think about that reflection. It's right, right. You gotta spend a little bit of time with the thing that makes you uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Yeah, a lot of time. Yes, yes. And what I've what I've observed is that that is what holds a lot of people back from growth is that fear of being with the parts of themselves that they're not comfortable with, you know, the truth of ourselves. And um, I had to do a lot of work around that, and um, and I'm happy that I was able to do that. But um, I feel like that also, and I love that you use the analogy of planting a seed because the evolving body of work, my my series, internal growth, is literally utilizing that analogy of planting the seed. We are the seed, actually. So um, we're the ones that are growing, and we are the ones who are growing these things within ourselves, and so I think about that for me when as as the seed, in order for us to grow, we have to be planted in dirt, we have to be planted in soil. That is darkness, you know, and that is where you meet yourselves, and that's where you receive your gifts too. So once you can um once you can conquer whatever's in that terrain, then you're able to rise above that to light, is what I believe.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

So so real. And it takes a lot of reframing, you know, and and what holds us back our environments, our comforts, you know. I actually I talk a lot about how you have to do what makes you uncomfortable, and being uncomfortable or only sticking to what was comfortable for me kept me in toxic situations. What if you're comfortable in toxic situations? Nice, you know what I mean? Like we gotta think about this because what I was comfortable with, I am not comfortable with now.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Same.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

So get uncomfortable. I mean, we were even talking about before filming, I'd be uncomfortable if I gotta drive somewhere new. Okay, like I would I would let that stop me in the past. It's new, I don't want to. It's scary.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

Yeah, and I think that from what I also have observed within myself and people around me, what's uncomfortable about the new thing is it's unknown, it's an unknown outcome, you know. So it's just more so a fear of what is ahead because you don't know what it is, and so um you just gotta move fearlessly, you know, and know that whatever happens is gonna happen. And sometimes the things that we want to happen, if they don't turn out the way they supposed to turn out, we are able to recognize things within ourselves that we didn't even know we had. Because when we're challenged, people we don't realize what we're capable of in situations that we have never experienced before, you know. You don't know what you can do, you don't know what your gifts are, your abilities are unless you're faced with challenges, unless you're faced with challenges that um force you to unlock your own gifts and your own potentials. And if you don't have those challenges, you'll just be stagnant. So that's one thing I've learned.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Those challenges do help. Um it's like you have tools, you know, as you're going through these changes, as you're evolving as a person and growing, you know, there's always tools I have. And I found that one of the tools that I actually had to strengthen was trust in myself to evolve. I had to know like what am I, what am I not? What am I willing to do? What am I not willing to do? Why? These were not things that I just was inherently thinking about. And you gotta be real intentional with yourself on this journey.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Yes, I love that you said trust yourself. We have a hard time doing that, and I believe that also has to do with society, what we're being told, what we're being fed, you know. Um, there's so much external noise that it's hard to hear the internal voice. And so for me, I don't know how you overcame that and how you began to develop that relationship with yourself where you're able to trust your intuition, but for me, it required solitude. It required solitude and exclusion from the world, from people, and just being within myself and you know, testing my gifts and my abilities and seeing the outcomes. Like, oh, it so when I do do what I say, this happens and I like that outcome. But when I lean on other things that aren't my own, it doesn't work out the way I want it to. So then doing that research in myself, I was able to be like, nope, I'm gonna go with me.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

There really is an evolution that comes with that because you're just not always able to identify what you can identify after some challenges, you know. We gain discernment, like if I'm talking about my tools, you know, trusting yourself then, uh honoring the balance of coming in and out because that's where you get that discernment and that trust in yourself grows. Like, yeah, I spend a lot of time by myself because there's a lot of influence in the world. And you can get to a point where again you don't know why you're doing this is this even me? Where did I learn this? Where did I pick this up? When did I start implementing it? These are some of the questions I was asking myself because we get caught up in just going. I've had situations in my life where I'm like, How did I end up here? Girl, tell me about you know what I mean? And it was in that balance of coming in and out of community because you know community is necessary, but you don't gotta figure everything out in community, baby. I don't even think that's appropriate. They're not even trying, they're not equipped. They can't only you can do certain things for you.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

Yeah, it's your own everybody has an individual journey. We all have an individual purpose, we all have individual uh reason for existence. So, you know, not everybody's uh and not everybody in community has that same journey. So sometimes they're working through things that you're not working through. But also, I learned this too during through this um evolution. You think you healed until you have to be with deal with other people in community? It's like, oh, I thought I worked on that, but you're bringing up something out of me that I need to work on. So I think that yes and no. So, yes, they're like you we need to be in solitude. We need to get to the root of the problem and do that root work in ourselves in solitude. Then once we're able to get past that and we've developed enough skills within ourselves, then it's time for us to kind of like test what we've what we've grown through and what we've learned in community because some people will bring things out of you that you didn't know you need to work on. And so um community is important for me in that aspect, and it's always important to be around, I think, like-spirited people too.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

And that can also be hard because rounding back to comfortable, everybody you're comfortable being around isn't actually vibing with you like that. They're not like I'm like sometimes the environments we come from, sometimes ones that we're used to being in, can really trip us up in that way. I'm fine. But if we're talking tools, I will say that another one for the the transformation and for the evolution has really been meditation. Especially in growing my knowledge of okay, what what is my inner compass and figuring that out meditation huge for me?

SPEAKER_04 14:41

Yes, I would say that is too something I cannot do without. Now, if I don't meditate, everything the whatever okay, this is what I've learned about me. Whatever's going on internally, it reflects in my external world. Like my house will be a mess, my car is a mess, everything's a mess if I'm a mess, right? So, like if I skip my meditations and I don't do it like I need to do it, I start having anxiety more, or I start having a lack of uh trust in the situation, my faith starts to waver because I haven't been able to be in that stillness. Meditation for me, and again, I believe that when people say meditation, it it looks different for everybody. I don't believe there's a one certain way to do anything when it comes to evolution or ascending. It is a tailor-made personal journey to you. So the way you meditate, Selena, may look different than the way I meditate. And what works for you works for you, what works for me, works for me. So for me, meditation looks like waking up at 4 a.m. Because I am a mother, so I think that a lot of times we make excuses of why we can't do things. You just gotta make a way. I have to be up at 4 a.m. because I am a mother and I need to have at least three hours of solitude and to be with myself in order to take on this day and to do everything else. So waking up at 4 a.m. And um, when I wake up at 4 a.m., I cleanse my house. I start with sage, cedar and cedar, I like sage, cedar, and battle santo. I play frequency music. I walk around my house with a sound bowl and I lift this the frequency in my home and I project and I say all the things that I want to have. My home is a live and breathing place to me. When I leave my house, I say, see you later, home. Hi home. I make my son speak to the house. This place has housed us, it gives us shelter. I I I'm grateful for my home. So it's very important for me that I put love into the space that has put love into me. So that's why every morning I give my home love and I clean it and I raise the vibrations. I play frequency music. And then after I do that, um, gratitude. Gratitude has been a very main component because there's things that there's so much to be grateful for. Breath, even, you know, like there's people who can't breathe on their own, you know, there's people who can't walk, there's people who can't, there's a lot of things, and just merely being able to walk. When I say I gotta pay the rent, that's something I'm grateful I get to do. There's people who don't got a rent to pay because of their live the the where they live in right now, they don't have rent, and it's an unfortunate situation. But the even the problems that seem like problems, I'm grateful to have these issues because there's other people who don't have them, and I'm just like I'm happy to be in the situation where I I'm able to pay my bills, I'm able to take care of my home. So I walk around my home after I've done my frequency uh raising the frequency with my Tibetan sound bowl. I walk around, I give gratitude. Thank you for my sun, thank you for the pillow, thank you for the hot water, thank you for my breath, thank you for the pain. Thank you that I could feel that pain and I was able to feel something that was not comfortable enough to make me move, God. You know, I I give thanks for everything without pain, without rain, I wouldn't have been able to grow. So I give thanks for the trials and the tribulations, and that I was able to find strength in myself to overcome that. So I give thanks for everything, you know, and so that has been one thing that has truly changed the way I perceive life. I gratitude, gratitude, gratitude has done so much for me. And the way I look at life is so different now because of my gratitude for life, my gratitude for this moment, this era that I was born in my existence. It was not a mistake. And so I would really say to anyone who is you looking at creating a routine for themselves, please implement gratitude. That would be the first place I would start. And sometimes it's very hard when you're in a lot and you don't know where where what dares to be grateful for. So um, and then after gratitude, I do journaling and I journal about you know what I would like or where I'm at in my journey. And then my meditation is sitting here at my altar and convening with source and surrendering and saying, Hey, whatever it is you want me to do today, I let you work through me. I'm happy to be a vessel, I'm honored, I am worthy. A lot of people be like, I'm not worthy. Thank you. So I'm worthy. I am worthy. I'm you you chose me to be here in this life and this time. I am worthy to do the work that I'm meant to do in this lifetime. So I am grateful for that. That and it's an honor to be in this position and in this role. So I sit there and I just and that prayer can go on for like 20 to 30 minutes or however long I moved. And then after that, that's my thought, that's my me time. You know, I'm drinking tea while I'm doing that, and um, I then I'm able to go and shower. Um my son is still asleep, so this is all just my morning. I'm able to shower, put my love myself when I put my oils on, get dressed, take my time, listen to some music. That is my meditation. That is my morning every day. And if I'm not able to do that every day, um, the world around me reflects that that I'm not grounded, if you know if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

No, it makes so much sense. And I love that you described how you meditate because meditation is something that I find can be deeply personal to how people do it, how long, how often, where. Um, I love organized meditation and routine meditation. I try to meditate, you know, actually not for very long. I I like to meditate uh with breath. So I'll take three breaths every morning where I am welcoming welcoming miracles and opportunities and um favors that I like to meditate throughout my day. For me, I definitely I'm called to the feel to honoring the feeling. When you said you do things until you know until the feeling tells you, you know, that you good, and that is me. I feel like I ride away um gratitude is a huge part of grounding me. I too be happy about paying rent, and that's actually something that's newer to me. Um, gratitude is something uh I practice that I've been able to do that. Um and it's been huge, it has been so impactful in my life to just be grateful. It brings you into the present moment and it slows you down, and that's the thing that helps me personally jump out of this system that has been built around us and into what is real, slowing down, then I'm like, okay, this is what is actual actual and factual, and then all this other shit is made up, okay? So we can then prioritize and we can respond appropriately and we can uh regulate as needed. And so meditation is something that I find myself doing throughout the day. I connect it to breath, I deeply connect meditation to yoga. Um, which is something that I'm studying deeper right now as I work towards my 200 hour teaching certificate. I've found through my studies with yoga that meditation is uh pretty root to the yogic practice, and that knowledge alone really is it shifted something for me actually. And so that I value meditation even more as a way to like cleanse, regulate, connect, expand, get to hear yourself, get to know yourself better, connect to the divine, get to know its voice clearer. Because again, there's a lot of influence out there, so you it's about choosing who and what you want to listen to, what you want to be aligned with, what you want to vibrate with, and meditation helps you get in alignment with that.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

Yes, definitely agreed. And um, one thing I want to add, um, because this ties into my internal growth series and with meditation. Um, so my internal growth series is a transmedia series, but um, the foundation of it started as a visual, it's a visual series, um, self-portrait photography, and then I utilized Photoshop to create these images of myself in uh full bloom, and that started with chakra meditation. So before I created this routine that I just shared with you, which is my own personal routine, I was able to develop that routine after unblocking each of my chakras, and then I did that, and then I was like, okay, well, I've done this now. Let me create something that's tailor-made to me. And so, what I did was, you know, we have seven the sh are you familiar with the chakras at all?

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Yeah, I'm not I'm not like deep in it though, and we don't know in the audience, so please do let us know.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

Yeah, so what the chakras are, they're um seven energy points within our body, they start at the base of the spine, all the way out through the top, which is your crown. The crown is what connects you to the source of life, all that is, all that will be. And in order for us to reach enlightenment, it is really important to work on unblocking those chakras because it does um positively enhance and affect the ways that we show up in life, how we experience life. And so, um, for example, the root chakra that is where we start at the base of the spine. A person whose root chakra is blocked may have a lot of anxiety in life, may be fearful and not know where they're going, they don't have any grounding. The root is what grounds you into the earth and into yourself, and so if that chakra is blocked, you're dealing with a lot of anxiety, you're dealing with a lot of fear, you're dealing with a lot of um uncertainty about where you're going in life or what you're doing. So, um, with that, with these meditations, I did a lot of chakra meditations, and there's seven chakras, so I did seven days on each one. So I'm like, I'm gonna just do this repetitively, seven days, you know. It takes about 30 days to form new habits. So I said, let me do this for seven days each chakra. That's seven chakras, okay, we'll figure it out. And so, but aside from that, what was coming up for me was things that I'm realizing, well, uh along with unblocking this and just doing this part, what else can I do to make sure that I'm really activating this chakra? So when it comes to grounding, I'm like, okay, I'm not grounded. So what I'm gonna do, and this is when it cut this is what this is what I mean when I say we're able to create things for ourselves. We're able to, and it takes looking inside yourself and seeing what you need to work on so you can create your own medicine, right? So for me, when it came for grounding, I was like, okay, so I'm gonna do the meditations, but I'm also gonna put a timer on my phone that says be still, no matter where I'm at in this life, if I'm on this, if I'm driving or if I'm running an errand, I gotta take a moment to be still. My alarm will go off and it says be still. And I did that for the whole seven days of working on the root chakra. And what I would do is I would just sit, I would feel where I'm at, the wind over my face. I don't care if I'm walking downtown. If it goes off, I'm gonna just stop on the side of the street and just be still and get grounded because that is a part of the root chakra, is becoming grounded in yourself. And so finding moments to do that. So I was able to tailor make a medicine that I needed because I had no grounding. I was all over the place doing everything. I'm a full-time mom. I was in school at the time. I needed to have those moments, and even as women and as people who are evolving and healing, and just as people in general, we don't have time for that. There's so much going on. So, in order for us to um realize that that is something that is a necessity and that um we deserve, you have to experience that. So I made myself experience that moment of grounding, and it feels so good to stop and just hear the truth, even if you're on on a busy street, to stop with your eyes closed, you hear the buses and the cars driving by, you feel the energy of the people, but you're still within yourself. And so that was what I did for the route, and then for um the sacral, solar, and so on and so on, depending on what those represent and what areas I seen come up that needed help, I created tailor-made challenges for myself that allowed me to truly transform that area and truly unblock it along with the meditation. So it's really just all about what we have to figure out what works for us. And so I did that with each chakra. And then after I did that and I fully unblocked those, and I really felt like, wow, I really unblocked these chakras. I went ahead and I created imagery that reflected that by taking self-portraits of the areas where those chakras are located in our body, and then using Photoshop to create images that showed flowers blooming from that area so that way you I'm and then also looking at myself in that light and in that way gave me confidence and encouraged me. It made me, I was able to truly see myself transformed, and that's another thing. It's very important to be able to see the changes that we make within ourselves. So creating this art is healing for me, and it and it encourages me to keep going and it motivates me, and I'm able to see myself. So everything that I create on with the internal growth series, it's always I always utilize myself as the subject because it is a true reflection of my healing and my evolution, and I utilize myself so other people can see themselves in the work.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

That is just so romantic.

SPEAKER_04 28:22

I love that you said romantic because getting to know ourselves is the most romantic experience. It's so romantic, it's so intimate to be with yourself, and I've and I really feel like when I'm with myself, I'm with the divine, and I think that's the most beautiful experience ever. And um, romantic is exactly the word I use.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Oh, yeah, felt, felt girl. Like, oh my gosh, it is from grounding to stillness to make it like one acknowledging ourselves as the work of arts that we are, and then building on that with your own art of yourself, like all of it is so deeply romantic and beautiful, and and it's it's rich and indulgent, and oh, I love it, I love it. Um my experience with chakras, I feel like I'm still pretty novice, but I have been working with just feeling my chakras, feeling the pools of energy within myself and aligning them. I'm um using my imagination and my inner eye during meditation and yoga to imagine my chakras in my body and how they're aligned when I'm in different poses, uh how they're moving with my body when I'm moving, making sure that that alignment is what I'm always coming back to. That's where I am right now. Now, in the future, I really do want to take some. Well, I'm already doing it with my yoga practice where studying the chakras a bit, but I want to take some intentional time to learn them. And then I'm also really interested in raiki. So that's something that ties obviously a lot to the chakras as well, that I intend to study more and implement into my personal practice and professional practice as well. Because I want a personal thing for me, like a desire that I would love to see fulfill is indigenous people getting back into more indigenous practices. And that doesn't mean like it can well, that can mean honestly, whatever it means to you, Indigenous people. Let me leave it at that.

SPEAKER_04 30:43

Yeah, we're indigenous for sure. Yeah, um, I want to say, first of all, Reiki, I commend you on that. See, I'm so sensitive, girl. I I can pick up energy just by being next to somebody. There's so for you to want to be in community and heal people because Reiki is you're literally moving people's energy and you're touching people's energy, you're taking that on. Wow, you know, and if you're called to do that, that means that you have the abilities and the gifts to do that, and there's something that you know is in within you that we need, you know, in healing for that. I'm not called to do Reiki. I I don't think I like so I commend people who do do that because that is a lot of energy work. You are carrying a lot, but also you're helping people who don't know how to heal themselves in those ways, and so I appreciate that and I thank you for doing that. You know, I I've had a Reiki session one time, years, years, years, years, years ago. And and it was interesting, the person who did it was a good friend of mine. We weren't good friends at the time, but we became good friends later. And what I will say is, yes, it really works. It really truly works, and I think that it also showcases how connected we are to something greater than ourselves, that we're able to we're able to allow this source, this energy to come through us and move the energy of something else out of someone else and help them heal. So I think that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

The thing about it is like I've never done Reiki, I've never seen it done on anyone else. I've just heard about it, and something in me said, Yeah, yeah, that's that sounds right.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

Yeah, you're supposed to be doing that. You're supposed to, you're definitely supposed to be doing that.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

It's just right at the back of my mind, and I know that when the time comes, it'll come. What I'm actually was more surprised about, even though I've been practicing since I was 11, was yoga. I never thought that I would get a yoga certificate because well, I just know it's not necessary. Like, you know what I mean? Like yoga is not a practice that you need a certificate for. You don't even need a yoga mat or a yoga blog. It's about the body, it's about the connection to the divine. But I was like, well, I have a business license and you know, I have all these other things, so why not just give it a certificate? Um but Reiki, like these these practices that are tied to knowledge, they're tied to you taking some time. No one no one, I want to say who probably practices Reiki in a real way does so by just waking up one day and deciding they're gonna practice Reiki. I think that to these long standing indigenous practices, you know, you feel that you need to practice this. You need to have, you know, a teacher, a master teach you the way. You know what I mean? Like for me, that's just how it feels. I know that when the time comes for me to take that journey, someone will teach me. And I'll take the time and I'll learn and I'll read and I'll study and I'll practice and then I'll get to where I see right now.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

Yeah, it's that what you're saying is very um reflective of that quote. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. So when it's time, when you're ready, it'll happen.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Yes, absolutely. I very much have been experiencing a lot of alignment in my life. The more that I do me. And and I was I was told that pretty young that doing that was bad, like making choices that were good for me, or not you know, not being the martyr, not laying it down. Like, you know how they're like, oh, if you're ever lost on social media, somebody has said this, mind you, so I'm not making it up. So it was like, oh, I told my kid if you're ever lost, like just go find a black woman. Like that's not I'm not out here to to be the martyr for the world. I'm not out here to be like, I'll save you and teach you, white people. Like, that's not that's not me. No, I just want to be clear about that. I am someone who I think my life would be fulfilled. I think that and this is gonna be, I don't know, it might sound away. I think all black people's lives would be worthy and fulfilled and doing just enough if we worried about our own healing and what was good for us and what benefited us and what built. I think that would be a wonderful use of time and energy. And I think that would change the world.

SPEAKER_04 35:40

And that, yes, I 100% agree with you. And that is literally what my whole entire body of work, internal growth, is about. In order for us to evolve as a society and have greater societal change, we have to be the we're all the society individually. We make up the society, so going out and doing stuff for other people and trying to uh make other people change, no, they have to be willing to see the errors of their own ways and see where they're stagnant at and wanting to have change for themselves, and then in turn, that change will inspire others to want to change. We can't change the world by changing everybody else, we can only change the world by changing ourselves, and that is very, very important. And I feel like when people if we have a movement of growth, a movement of internal growth, everybody's like, you know, I'm gonna I want to be better, the world will be better, you know. And I think that not to get into politics because I'm really not political, but if we're looking at the state of our world right now, if we're looking at the people who are in leadership, we have to understand that the only reason that they're in these positions is because there's other people who are thinking like them and are able to put them in these positions. So those people, because it's like this if a person is, let's say one person is uh being treated unfairly in a school, in any system, and there's other people who don't agree with that, the person who's being the bully or being the one who's treating someone unfairly, they're gonna become the outcast because there's a society who does not agree with that. Now they're gonna make you look like the outcast. And now nobody wants to be the outcast, but so they're never they're never gonna be able to come to power to any way. That's not that that behavior is not gonna be able to continue in a society like that, who doesn't condone it, who doesn't support it. But if you have a society of people who think like that person who's treating people a certain way, then they're gonna be able to continue to do that be that harmful behavior to people. So we have to understand it's not one person who's doing it, it's everyone who's allowing that, who's condoning it, who's supporting it with their wrong thinking, and who's not looking at their part in the problem. It's and I'm really I'm tired of seeing on the internet how everybody is pointing at their fingers at everybody else, and no one is looking at themselves. Everybody's looking out the window, but no one's looking in the mirror, and that's the issue. We need to look at ourselves and and we need to look at, and even like for me, this is how how I am a part of the solution is by doing the work to evolve and to grow and to change so that way anyone who comes across me, anyone who is experiencing me, no matter if you're right, wrong, whoever you are, when you experience me, you're gonna experience the divine, you're gonna experience love, you're gonna experience peace, you're gonna experience something that you may have never even known known existed because it exists, because I have created that within myself. And I think that's the most powerful thing because nothing spreads faster than word of mouth and energy. So if you're able to experience an energy that you've never had, you may want to seek that on your own and figure out well, how can I have that in my life all the time? Like I've never had that before, and then that'll hopefully inspire you to go on the same journeys that I had to go on to change and become who I am. And I believe that that is the thing that will make us all become better as a as a community, as a society, as a people, if everyone is doing the individual work.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Yeah, and we need to focus on ourselves, we need to focus on yeah, I think we're beyond the point where that's needed, and society is showing it. Somebody just lit a toilet paper factory on fire, and I'll tell you this, and I'll tell you this.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

I understand where he's coming from. His mindset is like y'all ain't paying us enough. Y'all not very clear.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

He was very clear. He asked you for a livable wage. That's not asking for too much, right? That's not asking for a lot. We are at a time where people they see and feel the exploitation. Some people, you know, mental health is bad, people ain't got money. You're you're taking away rights that we just got.

SPEAKER_04 39:45

Like our civil rights.

SPEAKER_00 39:47

Like, we just got those rights like 50 years ago. Okay, like rights was still new, still fresh. Like, what are we doing? You know, so yeah, we can see all of that, and there's multiple ways to respond to this. And I'm not saying that the way that I'm responding is the only way, I think there's a lot of right ways to do this. And I think that any way that is not rooted in love for community is at risk of becoming the same thing, you know what I mean? Because those those are games of exploitation, that's what we're all experiencing. And there's no one who's getting out of this game. We all being exploit exploitated up in this bitch, and so the thing about it is we all can re-respond in the way that is true to us. Whatever is on your heart, right? Mine is self-love and relationship healing. That's that is the hill that I'm building, that's the lane that I'm curving because I think that people who love themselves love other people.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

They're not organizing human trafficking rings if you love yourself. No, you are not out here creating food deserts if you love yourself.

SPEAKER_04 40:57

Yeah, I always say the way we treat others is a reflection of how we treat ourselves. If and if you know who you are and you know that you are connected to something greater, and you're able to recognize that in everyone. So therefore, any harm you do to someone else, you're literally doing it to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

Anyways, if you understand the inherent connectedness, yes.

SPEAKER_04 41:19

I know when I see you, Selena, I know that you're a reflection of me and I'm a reflection of you. When I see someone who does who's less who has less than I do, they are still a reflection of me. And if I'm able to support them and be there for them, I love people through everything they're going through because there was a time where I didn't know who I was and I needed someone to love me through it. And now that I'm on the opposite end of that, we have to love people through what they are growing through. You know, some people ain't growing through it, they just going through it. But we need to love people through what they're going through and recognize that some people don't know no better. You know what I'm saying? And you know, I also want to say people who are doing harm, a lot of them don't know better. And so for me, it's like you can only imagine what type of life they truly have. You know, if you're out here creating harm to people, I can only imagine how you talk to yourself and treat yourself. If you're out here hurting others, you're hurting yourself, and it's like your life cannot be as beautiful as it could be because you have no awareness of self. So I give compassion to those people, not a past because you're still wrong.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

But you go be accountable.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

Yeah, you're gonna be accountable. And if I'm not the one holding you accountable, there are powers that be that will hold you accountable, but you ain't getting a pass, but you will get some compassion because I understand that the life that you're living could not be as beautiful as the life that I've experienced because of my awareness and my evolution and my growth. So I have compassion for the loss that you are enduring in this life, you know, to not experience it as it could be. So um all I will say is um when we get to know ourselves, which is very important, we should start focusing on getting to know ourselves, loving ourselves, and giving ourselves compassion and growing and spending time with ourselves in order to see everyone as ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Yeah, yes. We have definitely talked about a lot of really good shit that I'm gonna be thinking about for a minute here, especially when it comes to transformation. Um I'm thinking about my last words on this topic. Um, and what's coming to me is that rehabilitation. Because we're talking about people doing wrong until you always have a little bit of space to be able to do. Sometimes you don't even realize you did something wrong until after you did it. Um so rehabilitation is a part of transformation. Okay. You you gotta do the work. You gotta acknowledge the wrong and do the work to get to that transformation. And it can look like different things for different people. Um My last word is you are responsible for your responsible for your growth. You are responsible for your and so we are members of community and we can support each other in our growth. We can be there for each other when we in the place that we all need to be in. We can encourage people to come forward, but we can't do the work for them. Some people you will have to leave them where they are. Even Harriet couldn't save everybody. Okay. That's not your job. We work on you, you'll be there for people who are there for you. And for people who you know are bolder. Yes, I'll be my last words on that.

SPEAKER_04 44:52

I guess my last words on this topic of transformation, evolution, healing is be fearless. Don't be fearless. The journey is it's unknown, but all possibilities and outcomes are capable or possible in the space of the unknown. So go forward fearlessly for that. And um don't be afraid to let go of who you used to be in order to become something that you've never been. Because who you've never been may always be who you were meant to be.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

No, literally. Oh my gosh. And isn't that an exciting thought? Like, I don't know, maybe that's just where I am today, but that is so exciting and invigorating about a thought that I'd like to give it to you. Just trust the process, trust your path, you know what I mean? So much power in it. You're worth it.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

Thank you so much for having this conversation for me. I with me. I I got so much from it. I'm just healing community. I really hope that this got to you when it was meant to.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

I hope so too. Yes. Thank you so much. And if anyone wants to stay in in contact, in touch with me, um, you can reach me on social medias. All social medias is Amai R T A-M-A-I-A-R-T-E. Um, website amaiarte.com. Anything that you uh want to find me on is just AmaiRta. So I hope to stay in contact with you all. I wish everybody the best on their journey.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

And yeah, yes, and Amai has a gorgeous exhibit so that she does like she puts a space together, y'all, and creates another world. So definitely go out to her shows to stop sharing her art. But y'all, oh my gosh. Thank you all for being a part of the healing community. Thank you for choosing yourself and wanting to be imagining with me a better world. I am Flaming with your host. And you can use the hashtag hot girlhealing on social media to join conversation. If you see me out in community, say hey. I'll see y'all next time.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

I got to my day, I got the other thing.