Dreaming in All Colors
Sometimes a powerful personal narrative is expressed with such poignancy you can not only visualize the scene but also feel its sorrow. This happened to me when I was watching a 60 Minutes interview with the incomparable Viola Davis. She was reflecting on her childhood and how it impacted her. “When you’re poor … it seeps through your mind. It’s not just a financial state, it’s an invisibility state, a worthlessness state.” Invisible. Worthless. Those words rang in my ears and reverberated in my heart. I could envision her as a child – and because of that, I could picture the countless others who are living in that state — whether through poverty, abuse, or trauma — right now. It strengthened my resolve to comprehend people’s lives at a deeper level, raise awareness of the challenges, and continue to bring the work of Soul Seeds forward in a meaningful way.
In recognition that we can be more aligned with our mission — honoring each person’s innate wisdom — when we can connect openly with other people’s perspectives and lived experiences, our Board and several volunteers will begin doing equity training this Saturday. (Thank you, Maggie McGlynn!) We’ll be talking about empathy, dignity, realities, and mindsets, all with the understanding that beginning to build these core competencies will support our work in the community. Everyone is ready to get started.
We’ve also been working on more ways to be of service. We recently launched a program consisting of small online gatherings hosted by individuals trained in our meditation techniques. Healing Our Community is designed to help people learn more about Soul Seeds by experiencing the meditation and having conversations about issues that matter to them. Hosts will choose their own topic. It might be community-specific (e.g. Tacoma, LGBTQ+), issue-specific (e.g. for the waters, for people who are homeless), or broad (e.g. for our nation, for peace).
I just hosted the first one. Mine was called Healing Our Community | Healing Our Hearts. I deliberately chose right before Mother’s Day to stand in solidarity with mothers who had suffered the unspeakable loss of their children in the past year. Though the topic was heart-rending, our focus was on sending out love and its transformational intelligence. The women in my group and I could feel the resonance of the energy and it gave us solace to know that we were putting healing vibrations into the world. In the coming months, you’ll be hearing more about opportunities to join or host these gatherings. It was such a touching experience for me, I hope you will be able to experience it as well.
The ability to heal; the breaking down of barriers; the deepening of understanding of one another often comes through widening our vision in ways that may be small, yet meaningful. The other day Victor Glover, the first black astronaut on the ISS, SpaceX responded to the question about being an inspiration for kids, “I think we all need to be able to dream in color.” Isn’t that a beautiful thought? Everyone dreaming in color with the chance to make those dreams come true. That feels like a big, spectacular rainbow of possibilities for us all.
Melanie Davis-Jones (she/her/hers)
Executive Director
In Case You Missed It:
Why Can’t I Find My True Love? | Blog and Video by Nancy Rebecca
Resources:
Charter for Compassion: “The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.”
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month – Why Talk About It?
The Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), organizes the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline, a referral service to local rape crisis centers. Call the Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or access RAINN’s online chat service.
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