Unexpected Expedition. Ecology of self 2.0

Contributor:- Arushi Sharma
Reflections from: Ecology of self 2.0

Ecology of self was not just a program that I attended but was a beautiful journey that I shared with 15 beautifully diverse people. I find it very weird and powerful that set of strangers with different story, pain, laughter, prospective and god knows what else can be so different from one another yet can connect to such deeper levels with each other. “Community is a best gift one can receive” the reality of this phrase was brought to me through this session. The experience of this program came to me like ton of breaks. Every time someone asks me about the experience of this program, I fall for words to express the experience, to convey how special and exceptional this was for me. I realized that by the end of this session, I might have not got the answers to all my questions, but one thing I for sure earned was a community. A community of people who might have never experienced my pain but for sure understands the need and sensitivity of being there. The program started with all of us sharing our journey and from there we visited our inner child. Speaking from my experience, this was bit of a task for me to do. I never did this kind of an exercise before ever in my life. This gave me an opportunity to visit that part of my life that was miles apart from my conscious. After this I gained what my inner child is asking from me. I might take time to implement and act upon it but least of all I am now aware of its existence. After this we gained lot of awareness about the word “identity” and what it means for each of us.

Sessions

The week 2 of this program started with an interplay, where I learned that the human body experience a lot more things that is called energy and aliveness. I learned how some kind of playfulness helped me change the energy around me. 

The next session was about “community” and what this word means to us. This involved the awareness of the wat we want/demand from my community and what I can provide to them. 

The next session revolved around “family”.What importance this word holds in our lives and what affect this has on us.

The next session we had holds a lot of contribution to the change in prospective I had; it was on environment. I gained a lot of closure on how I have been taking environment for granted. How being in the comfortable spot has changes our consciousness in such a way that we completely ignore what price we are paying to get this comfort. How much the pre-existing system is ruling us and how we fail to question it. We fail to question the system about the source of the food that reaches us, we fail to question the system about all the things. This session continued with us picturing the natural system and how can we place the manmade system into the natural system. That session gave me the cognizance that how the person in power makes rules and functions accordingly. It forced me to think that no matter who in power, can we not really think and function according to everyone and not just one set of people? 

The term “ecological self” describes the wider sense of identity that arises when our self-interest includes the natural world. This is exactly what was brought to me through this experience. I got a clearer path of my inner self and the natural world around me. Living in this millennium world comes with lot of perks, but what we tend to ignore is that it comes with lot more cons. These perks force us to wear rose colored glasses which makes us mindlessly ignore the cons and enjoy the comfortable life this materialistic world has to offer. We ignore how we are contributing to dismantling of the natural world and eventually feeding off from this materialistic world. 

We often trust no one with the most miserable part of our lives, but during this journey I learned how to trust a stranger and hoe to be vulnerable in front of them. How to be a good listener and just receive what the person is sharing as it is, without adding my suggestions or take on it. I learned lot of new things about my self, one of which is that I never realized that I am capable enough to trust a stranger let alone a group of strangers with the deepest, darkest and most damaged part of my life. In this exactly one of the biggest thing I realized that we think a lot less about ourselves. Before giving it a shot, before not assuming and trying something new, we just assume that it’s not our cup of tea. 

We ignore that what if the thing life is offering is a lemonade instead, and we might enjoy that lemonade. We all are broken in some way or the other, but that’s life, it will do this to you. It will try to break you, it will try to suppress your power. What you do in that situation defines who u are. After being in conversation with all these people I realized that we all have our problems, we all have that damages part in our lives, the difference is how we all handle that part. This beautiful journey made me realize that its okay, its okay to not have answers. It’s okay to be miserable. I leaned how to listen to someone, how to receive things just the way the person wants to share. I learned how to be open to all about the resources u have and how to share.

“The Ecology of self” devised me to widen my believes and be more considerate to others. It sparked lot of questions about the demand my inner self has from me. Apart from this mammoth change I also received a community of beautiful people to whom I can reach out to in need and can provide the same safe space to them as well. In the end I would like to thank all the facilitators of YA team, for creating this program and this space that initiated such beautiful change and because of which I became part of this community. It was not just a program, it was a beautiful journey.