Personal growth is challenging, especially when one is raised in a negative, dysfunctional environment. Throughout my adult life, I carried certain conditioned negative behaviours within me.  While fighting a battle of fear, shame, guilt, hatred, anger, loneliness, even hostility by those I should have been able to turn to, I realized many things. 

First off, I realized that I had been bullied all my life, so I got very good at bullying instead of healing myself, and others.  I was a mess, I was lost, I felt as though I would drift in the nothingness forever.

The biggest hurdle for me was acknowledging and accepting the behaviour I was giving to myself, and to others.  I needed to stop the behaviour and recondition myself.  It takes a lot of time and a lot of practice, but, it is worth every moment just to realize that life is only miserable if I make it that way.

I realized that I had been living in a veil of uncertainty, perpetuated by my personal environment, my work and/or school environment, and the outside world.  This led to a long travel of hardships. 

I had to recognize and accept that the life I was living was what I had been led to believe and accept as my comfort zone.  This was not a positive comfort zone, yet it was what my being perceived as correct – morally and ethically, even though it was not the correct way at all. 

I have fought this illogical thought process for many years, and I continued to do so today. 

A comfort zone needs to be a place where one can relax and enjoy what life has to offer.  I am gratefully finding this joy, a balance in my life, that was obtained by me taking the time to find out who I am, what I am capable of and how to control unwanted behaviours.

Thanks to many people, including my daughter and son, my friends, my trauma counsellor, and especially, Doctor Ramani of #MedCircle, Dr. David Snyder, and Jay Shetty #ThinkLikeAMonk (awesome book!), among others, who have been, and still are, truly inspirational to me.

Today I stand strong thanks to these strong connections I have made, at least on my end. I needed to reach out, and people I have met, and those I have not, showed me the way.  This is an example of Humanity at their finest!

Thankfully, I see now that I have always been able to find my way with help from fellow Humans, be them Italian, Greek, Jewish, Polish, Ukrainian, Indian, Pakistan, Canadian, etc.  Every culture seems to be represented in Toronto, where I spent thirteen years of my life, including my high school years, and acceptance of these cultures is quite mandatory if you want to succeed.

<p class="has-text-color has-background has-normal-font-size" style="background-color:#daf57a;color:#03151d" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="11" max-font-size="72" height="80">Through an open mind, I have always had a knack for seeing every culture with acceptance, because every individual and group deserve to be who they truly are (morally and ethically).  If everyone in the world were able to take on the responsibility for their own actions and behaviour, we may find an awakening happening on a global scale.  I will explain this another time.Through an open mind, I have always had a knack for seeing every culture with acceptance, because every individual and group deserve to be who they truly are (morally and ethically).  If everyone in the world were able to take on the responsibility for their own actions and behaviour, we may find an awakening happening on a global scale.  I will explain this another time.

For centuries, people have discussed their perception of morals and ethics.  What are your morals and ethics?  You are a Human Being of the Planet Earth in a certain region, in a certain country, who can make a difference simply by identifying with your inner self, which in turn will begin the healing processes necessary in the environment around you.  As you turn to your inner self, be sure to pinpoint exactly what you perceive to be the moral and ethical values for yourself, then, live up to them.