The Two River Theater and EvenFlow Yoga in Red Bank hosted AHAVA workshops led by Janice Taylor, the social tech pioneer-turned healing mentor, inspirational speaker, author, online safety advocate, mother and advisor. Taylor created AHAVA to disrupt the current methods of healing and uses a multidisciplinary approach to address each individual’s emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical issues so they can live a life of abundance and discover their true purpose.
Takeaways from AHAVA’s Discover Your Purpose Workshop
Several volunteers were guided through her 12-step process, first drilling down to uncover problems associated with early childhood traumas; and then redirecting the emphasis away from the problem itself and toward a life-affirming purpose actuated by the trauma.
Below are several takeaways from the workshop:
- We all have an inner voice that guides us through life. But this inner voice sometimes also plagues us and robs us of our soul and a greater sense of self-worth with thoughts like, “Am I worthy?” If we allow this inner voice to govern our thoughts, we also start attracting negative things to our life.
- We are generally looking to fulfill our own purpose, but we frequently have one foot lost in the past and only one foot planted in the future. If we don’t attend to our emotional needs, we can become emotionally stuck.
- Everybody has a trauma point from early childhood. Even though that trauma point is out of our control, we do get to pick our own counterpoint. We all have a North Star, and this affords us an opportunity to discover our purpose.
In many ways Janice Taylor’s AHAVA workshop was reminiscent of that great Parable of The Two Wolves about man’s inner struggle. In this parable, which has been attributed to the Lenape and Cherokee Indians, the chief explains that two wolves live inside of him. The first is dark and threatening, full of rage and vice. The second wolf is good and full of love and goodness. When asked which one will be victorious, they chief say, “whichever one you feed the most.”
