Image courtesy of Logan Berg 2019. CC-BY-NC
The past year has been a great teacher 
No man is without struggles in this life, and I have learned that our shadow (childhood trauma) comes in many forms. I have struggled to come to terms with my internal battles when I find myself alone. I have witnessed how we treat each other in our communities and the competition for validation and acceptance that turn into conflict with people, places, and things in our environment that leads to the negative results we witness in our lives.
If someone is trying to take away your power today, I encourage you to understand why ‘hurting people hurt people. The ones who are out to hurt others are hurting and struggling with their own shadow. The ones who try and take power from you have experienced power taken away from them. Today, I want you to know that your healing is essential for growth. When you choose to heal you come to realise that we are all battling with past hurt and pain. When we choose to heal we begin to have empathy and compassion for those hurting others. Let’s love and let love be the winner in your life. Let us love like we want to be loved 
Let us go through life loving ourselves first, then we have the ability to love others. It’s a difficult mission, but the mission is to provide an improved opportunity to heal our lives and heal others.
We can be the best leaders in our communities, but if we haven’t dealt with our shadow we fail to make the much-needed difference in the lives of the people we serve. Be prepared to feel uncomfortable with your own healing process. In order for us to show up powerfully, we must allow ourselves to be authentic in our own healing – and grow from there
If you are being bullied, ridiculed, speaking negatively of, or feeling depressed, I urge you to show up by amplifying your struggles, pain and hurt. By doing so, I believe you give people the power to do the same and together we all heal. Love you! You are amazing. You are worthy. You are love. You are loved. You are powerful. You are special. Stay Blessed my people! #mentoringpeacebuilderssa