PROGRAM OF CHANGE
We live in a harsh world. One where frustration, misery and depression lead to behaviours and choices that create pain and isolation. Because of this, many people feel disconnected and long for community but don’t know how to find it. We believe in the power of community to heal and transform. Our goal is to connect people and create a fluid and specific support system for one another.Our Program of Change is comprised of six Pillars to help guide us along the way. Each Pillar allows us to reflect and re-direct when needed and creates an holistic and harmonious approach to change
ACCEPTANCE
We live in a culture consumed with highlighting the “good” and hiding the “bad”. We create social media profiles that give off the impression that everything in our lives is fantastic and that we never struggle with anything. It is easy to get lost in the illusion and feel like we are failing if we can’t keep up with the image we present to the world.
Whether we experience loneliness, struggle with body image and physical health concerns or have anxiety around social interactions we need to accept the truth about our ways of being and embrace ourselves wholeheartedly.
This means we have to be honest with ourselves about who we are and what we want. It’s not easy but it’s possible.
Once we do this, change happens.
REACHING OUT
We live in an individualistic age. We tend to think of self-reliance as a virtue. Nobody wants to be seen as “weak” or in need of others. We work hard to become as self-sufficient and independent as possible because we were told that this is what it means to be a “mature adult”.
Self reliance is an important tool but we know from experience that it is not the only one. In order to bring about lasting change in any area of our lives, we need to seek the help of others; we need to build our network of support.
Real connection comes from sharing our struggles, not our achievements. The bonds that grow out of sharing with others who have gone through the same things as us are the strongest we know of.
POWER OF THE GROUP
We are social animals. We evolved in tribes and flourished in small groups for most of human history. The idea that we can live happily without any help from others is modern fiction that has done more harm than good.
We believe there is something magical that happens when we form small support groups (what we call Tribes) with others who share similar goals. The whole is larger than the sum of its parts – we can do things as a group that we could not accomplish on our own.
We are not suggesting that we need to lose our individuality. Just the opposite. We believe that we become our best selves when in a tribe. Being part of a tribe allows us to reflect on our personal struggle and growth with the safety and support of others.
Being part of a tribe and consciously connecting with others can hold us accountable for our own actions in a compassionate and kind way so that our individual healing becomes part of the group healing.
Health and Wellness
There is a deeply close connection between the mind and the body. If the body is treated with care the mind will feel better and vise versa.
Studies have shown that regular exercise and a healthy diet can do wonders for the human spirit. Conversely, if don’t look after our mental health we can feel the effects physically through muscle soreness, headaches and digestion issues to name a few.
Any plan of action has to take into account our physical health along with our mental wellness and that means paying attention to nutrition and exercise as well as our metnal health.
MINDFULNESS
Most of us today live busy lives. We have too much to do and not enough time to do it. As a result, our minds can sometimes feel like they are being overloaded with information, unable to process everything being thrown our way.
Mindfulness is an ancient spiritual practice with its roots in Buddhism. It has become fully secularized as Western scientists have begun to discover its incredible health benefits.
Essentially, mindfulness is learning to pay attention to the present moment. It allows us to turn off the noise from the world around us as well as the static in our own heads. Practicing mindfulness can reduce stress and anxiety, increase feelings of peace and comapssion and give us deeper insight and a better understanding of ourself.
HELPING OTHERS
Changing our lives is tough work.
We believe that the best way to create sustainable and concrete change is to continually ‘pass it on’. What this means is that we encourage our Tribers to seek others who they can help.
Helping Others works on two levels:
i) It is always tempting to leave once we’ve got what we wanted. However, doing so diminishes the role our own tribe played in achieving our goals. For this reason we encourage our Tribers to stay active in their groups and to continue helping others when they can. Additionally, our experience navigating our own harsh thoughts and difficult emotions can help us provide support for others without judegement or stigma.
ii) Regardless of the progress we have made and continue to make, we can, at times get stuck in our own struggle which usually intensifies the more we focus on it. By seeking to be of service to others, we have the opportunity to get outisde of ourselves, to give back, share and support. Helping others helps us get un-stuck.
Ultimately, it is in helping others that we cultivate a happier and more meanginful life!