Values of Wild Wonder Wellness

My vision is to support everyone who has felt the call to be of service to others to be well and grounded in presence. And I believe that wellness is the fruit of being Self-led (i.e. the ability to navigate through any life circumstances with grace, self-compassion and presence). By being Self-led, I hope that instead of experiencing burnout, emotional fatigue and hopelessness/ helplessness, those who are dedicated to serving others will be able to continue serving from their heart with courage, compassion, creativity and clarity.

I recognise your inherent worth and dignity just by being you. You do not have to work hard or ‘earn’ your worth. And that means no more hustling or attaching our worth to our work. Instead, we welcome just BEING.

Most of all, we are all deserving of care and support regardless of how much we do, and so we need to take turns caring for each other in a cyclical way. We cannot be effective changemakers when we are feeling worn out and weary at heart. 

It is okay and even necessary for us to slow down and rest in stillness even when or especially when there are urgent cries for help from the world (or our service participants). This may seem counterintuitive but constantly reacting to our clients’ crises leaves both us and our clients in a cycle of survival. We need to take the first step to break this cycle and move beyond survival.

Each of us was created to be unique, whole individuals - as unique as our thumbprints. I believe that we all have a core or essential Self, that is whole, worthy and infinitely resilient. I like to call this our Soul, and all our souls have the qualities of clarity, perspective, courage, creativity, compassion, patience, connectedness, curiosity, playfulness and more. 

All of us also have parts which can be protective in nature or vulnerable. Our parts often have a narrow vision/ perspective and they all hold positive intentions for our well-being. However, when exposed to highly stressful/ traumatic life situations, our parts can take on extreme roles that may result in unhelpful or even harmful behaviors. But it is possible for us to transform these behaviours through activating the compassionate presence of our Self (Soul) and welcoming all parts of us, thus embracing our whole selves.

In fact, our best work as a purpose-driven professional is done when we can bring our whole selves into our work. And we live our best life when our work gives us a sense of purpose, meaning and heart fulfillment. This is why I do not believe in trying to create work-life balance. Work is part of life, and for many in the care/helping roles, we do this work because it is also life-giving to us (or at least it started out this way). The idea of work-life balance creates a false dichotomy between work and life or the professional and personal realms. What we need is not work-life balance - if we try to search for this, it will be like a dog chasing after its own tail. What we need is more Self-leadership and savoring of both work and all other aspects of our life. This is how we celebrate and share our wholeness with the world.

Diversity in race, religion, culture, language, thought and more is not a threat to defend against, but a wonderful gift to be honoured. Having grown up in a culturally and religiously diverse home and society, I learnt to respect and welcome diversity of all nature into my life. Through my lived experience, I have also learnt that diversity exists even in groups with seemingly shared identities, and all of our differences can be a strength to the collective if we allow them to be.

It is important to me that as I am building Wild Wonder Wellness from the ground-up, that I continue to respect the diversity of people who might be attracted to the vision and mission of this collective, and to remain culturally humble and curious about others’ lived experiences.

I recognise that what I may teach and share through my different channels and services may not always resonate with everyone or may not match their lived experiences and personal beliefs. And that is okay. In all my interactions with people, I hope to model the value that they have the right to their own beliefs, values and thoughts, and that they can choose what they want to take away from our engagements.

Wild Wonder is not just a business - my priority is to remain as authentically present and connected to each and every person who walks through my virtual door as possible, and to find different opportunities to create a platform for connecting purpose-driven professionals across the world to each other. After all, the vision of Wild Wonder Wellness is larger than any one individual. If collective care is the goal, then we need to band together as active collaborators in changing the dominant cultural narratives around what it means to be a changemaker dedicate to being of service to others, and in showing the world what is possible when we have more and more people who are serving from a calm, connected and courageous Self.

Contrary to what you might have heard, self-care is in fact, a collective responsibility not just an individual one. While we are each responsible for our own well-being, the systems we are a part of have a responsibility to create the space and support to care for our well-being too. That is the overarching goal of Wild Wonder Wellness - to create a platform where purpose-driven professionals of all kinds, can gather in solidarity and hold the systems they are a part of to account for collective care for all. Both individuals and systems have been firefighting and powering their way through crises for far too long, and it can only get us so far. What we need is to create space for inner reflection and crafting a plan of responsive action to prevent an epidemic of burnout and disempowerment among those who have been called to be of service to others.