Hello, dear reader. My name is Irena. I am so happy you are here. This first post feels a little daunting, to be honest. What do I say that properly introduces you to me, me to you, and my whole vision and mission to the world?
Hm, yea, that sounds like a lot.
Let me make my own life easier. Let me simplify.
Perhaps I can just focus on saying hello, and sharing a bit of my dreaming with you.
Really, my dream is to be a voice that moves people towards embracing more of their own humanity...all the messy, beautiful, soft, hard, flawed, sacred parts of what makes us human. It is my belief that when we allow ourselves to be fully human, we begin living in ways that are more in line with who we really are, what we stand for, and what we are here to offer to the world.
It is also my belief that when we give ourselves permission to be more human, we do the same for others. We start recognizing others' humanity, and we begin to live, parent, work, and lead in ways that allow for the full humanity of those around us.
This is how personal healing creates collective liberation.
Being a developmental psychologist, and someone who has been in the world of early childhood education for almost 15 years, we know what allows little humans to thrive - play, self-expression, creativity, learning through exploration, emotional validation, movement, connection to others and to the natural world, joy. The problem is, we live in systems that slowly but surely move us away from that when we get older, and towards productivity, compliance, efficiency, fitting in, pleasing others, and ignoring our inner world in favor of what the outer world wants us to be.
In some ways, it's necessary. As a species, we survive by fitting in, so many us learned to do that, and it helped us develop a sense of safety and belonging, which we all need. But it also hurts us, individually and collectively. It disconnects us from ourselves, from eachother, and from the natural world around us. It makes us less human.
This blog, this website, my offerings, and everything I do, teach, and aim to embody is my way of reclaiming our humanity. I believe we are meant to live in ways that are true to ourselves, to create spaces where children can grow and be affirmed in who they are, and to be in connection with the natural world, of which we are a part.
I hope that my words and my offerings serve that purpose. I hope that they help us, together, move towards healing, liberation, justice, and joy. <3
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