For a long time, something was missing in my life. A nagging feeling kept, well, nagging at me. I couldn’t identify it. Was it a woman that I needed in my life? No. Learned that the heart-breaking way. Do I need to find some sort of career path?
Who am I kidding? I’ve left slavery… I mean, employment, long ago.
I simply couldn’t figure it out. Something inside was constantly nudging me, telling me, ‘Hey, we’re missing something drastic here. You mind finding out what it is?’
I searched through various forms of therapy. And although I received a lot of answers for questions I hadn’t even asked, it still left me feeling incomplete. As though the update was missing a link. I recently found the link.
Menergy is a non-profit organization. It’s dedicated to bringing together men in a safe space, in the forests of Victoria, Australia, on the banks of the Macallister River, just on the fringes of the Alpine National Park. With sacred ceremonies, connection to the country, to land, to indigenous.
To man and being one means, in all its glorious capacity in a world so easily drawn to portraying men in such negative light. Yes, there are monsters out there. But you’d be surprised that the monsters do not outnumber the peaceful warriors. For it is these peaceful warriors that are leading the change.
200 men gathered in Licola to dive into workshops lead by facilitators that helped heal old wounds. Wounds that men never had the space to talk about, to express themselves. Men from all walks of life. Men who have walked hardened roads. Men who had the space and capacity to hold that space and allow others to release their hurt, their wants, their needs. To voice their vulnerability. Their passions. And all without judgment or the pressure to impress a fairer sex.
Entering such a space, I was injected with a boost of energy, my heart opened up like a lotus flower, receiving so much love, brotherly love, human love for just being. For sharing, for laughing, for crying. After three days with these beautiful souls, we returned to the ‘real’ world with renewed energy, with having let go or at least finding a path to healing of various wounds. Juiced up on positive masculine energy in an ever-growing negative display of it.
Menergy opened me up to new worlds, new possibilities, new ambitions. It has given me the power to reclaim mine from where it was lost. To heal the heart from its shattered and tattered remnants from an abusive relationship.
I learned to be a man. A man who isn’t afraid of whatever social judgment has been placed on expressing myself as one. A man not afraid to be vulnerable, to cry, to use anger in a positive way, to find outlets for rage that aren’t harmful to myself or others. A man not afraid to express himself. A man fearless of connecting to the emotions being experienced within. A man who can to turn to another man and simply say, “I love you, brother,” and hug and hold onto that hug, to squeeze and release that much needed oxytocin that assists in our healing path.
Menergy was that nagging sensation that I needed to go through. It sealed the last wound, patched up the last crack in the heart and boosted not only the immune system from all those amazing hugs from such beautiful beings but completed the update I so desperately needed.
I gained new brothers, grew my tribe and network and have found a path to pursue something that will change not just me or my fellow men, but I feel it will and can change the world.
Men, we need talking circles, safe spaces to hold for each other to be heard, to express, to talk about what we are feeling cause fuckin’ aye do we feel. Bottling up helps no one. And if you shake that bottle it will only explode. It must be opened gently, in the right environment.
Men, if you haven’t already, join a men’s group\circle. If conducted correctly, you’ll become empowered in a positive way that will better your relationship within every aspect of your life be it a son, father, husband, grandfather, uncle, cousin, brother, friend, colleague, employer, lover and MENtal health.
This is a revolution that won’t be televised. The times are changing. And we men are the change.
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