In my previous blog post, I touched a bit on this subject. Today, I wanted to dive into what ‘community’ means to me and how my life has shifted in so many beautiful ways from being in communities that are conducive to my values and aspirations in life.
This year, I’ve truly experienced the feeling of community in several situations and I feel so called to share how each significant experience has impacted my mind, body, spirit and my life overall.
This time last year, I moved to the beautiful little island of Oahu. This island is known to be “the gathering place” and that rings so true to my experience there. I made so many incredible friends within my first month of living there who created a family-like community and even went on to live together. However, I lived on the other side of the island from these friends and was really missing my own friends and family back home. So, in January, I moved back home to Toronto. Regardless of the fact that I moved back home in the dead of winter (the season I had been trying to avoid when I first moved to Hawai’i), I was so happy to once again be surrounded by the people I love most. This was when I first became conscious of the beautiful impact of having a sense of belonging.
I was home for 2 months before I set off on my next adventure. I packed as many belongings as I could fit into a 70L backpack and made my way over to Australia. One of the first things that stood out to me about the land down under was my ability to connect with so many like-minded people. It felt as if everywhere I went, I met people who were on the same wavelength and could dive into deep conversations with, within minutes of meeting them. In my last couple of weeks bouncing around Australia, I planted myself in Byron Bay. The thought of leaving this little surf town tore my heart to pieces so much that I spent an hour on the phone crying to my parents trying to figure out a way to stay, knowing very well the responsibilities I had waiting for me back home. Now, the town itself is beautiful but what truly made me fall in love with Byron Bay was the community. Within the hostel I was staying at, I felt right at home with strangers. I looked forward to sharing dinners together, catching up on one another’s day adventures, and making plans for the nighttime. I had even moved to another hostel for a few days and witnessed that same sense of community in this entirely different hostel environment.
When I returned home after Australia, one of my main goals was to create this sense of community in my hometown. I knew that there were like-minded people around and took it upon myself to create a space to gather. My way of accomplishing this goal was by hosting donation-based workshops and free meditation circles bi-weekly. Creating this community was honestly not as easy as I had imagined it to be. Turns out, your mindset about the people in your physical environment plays a large role in what you attract. For the record, I always thought Toronto was filled with only business and party people who didn’t care for mindfulness or improving their health so, the Universe matched my vibration and delivered only a few people interested in my events. Since then, I’ve shifted my perspective and have come to really understand the phrase “what you seek is seeking you.”
Towards the end of my time at home, I started getting a bit more clear about the people I wanted to surround myself with and attract into my life. I also started getting a bit more clear on my goals and desires. I wrote down and pieced together photos of what I intended to call into my life and let the Universe get to work as I worked to raise my vibration. Now, if you haven’t read my blog post about living at an ashram, I highly suggest checking it out for a bit of a backstory. But, basically, I was living in a spiritual community for a month which fulfilled my desire to connect with more like-minded people. From thereon, I’ve only crossed paths with people I genuinely have enjoyed meeting and spending time with. Living in a community that emphasizes the importance of clear and honest communication, encourages you to look within yourself for answers, and nourishes your body with delicious, healthy and plant-based meals that are eaten in silence to encourage presence while eating, has changed my life in so many ways. Having lived in this community, I use it as a point of reference for what I want to create wherever I go and, luckily, this wasn’t even my last positive experience of community that I had.
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a business- and self-development retreat on Maui. Over 150 of my 1000+ online co-workers gathered on this beautiful island to learn about ourselves through yoga, breath work, eye gazing, and the stories of some of the most successful, divine beings on our team. It was ineffable. Seriously, words cannot come close to describing what a pivotal experience this was for my life and business. However, I can say that it was beautiful to connect with an abundance of like-minded people, eating the most delicious, plant-based meals on an oceanfront property, learning about how we can all become our best selves while creating an abundant online stream of income. I was at this retreat for 4 days and there was not a single second that felt like this was about business or work. It felt like a 4-day conscious community gathering with family members from all over the world that also just happen to be my co-workers. I remember crying after our breath work practice in awe and appreciation; I felt so connected to every single person at this retreat and the love that we all share for one another. I still carry on this love and connection with these people as we continue on in our journeys and build our businesses together.
So, clearly, my understanding of and mindset toward ‘community’ have evolved greatly throughout this year. I started the year feeling lonely and needing to belong, to now being a conscious creator of my reality where fulfillment comes from within and I have a sense of belonging thanks to my business and spiritual development. I went from a feeling of lack to a feeling of abundance in regards to the amount of like-minded people in my life. And, overall, I have so much gratitude for the several experiences that have led me to where I am, the people I’ve connected with, and the people I continue to attract into my life and online “work” (I use this term lightly) community.
I have a few more months of travelling planned ahead and I am so beyond stoked to carry this newfound meaning of ‘community’ with me. I know that there is an abundance of like-minded individuals anywhere I go and that I can attract more of these amazing people into my life and business at any given moment. What I believe is most important when aiming to attract the right person/community, is to raise your vibration to match that of what you’re looking to attract. Some examples of how to do this in tangible ways: if you want to attract a partner who is a good communicator, work on your own communication skills; if you want to attract a friend who you can do healthy activities with, get your ass to a yoga or fitness class; if you want to attract a community of earth-loving individuals, start participating in park/beach clean-ups, etc.
Other advice for manifesting the aforementioned: Keep an open mind, be receptive, and always stay true to yourself (if you’re not being authentic, your connections aren’t going to be authentic either).
Moral of the story: I love the communities I have become a part of and wish this beautiful sense of belonging and love for everyone else on this planet.
If you feel intrigued at all to learn more about the business opportunity and online “work” community I discussed about in this post, feel free to browse through this page, this page, and this page
OR
reach out to me via this form:
Hokulani Wellness 