Ishka Massey

HAI - Human Awareness Institute has yet another meaning to me, it has given me Hope And Intimacy.  Having always felt like a misfit and outsider throughout my life and preferring the company of animals to humans because it felt safer, I remember leaving my first HAI workshop in 1995 and feeling loved for the first time.  It seemed whatever I did, thought or said, I was still loved and accepted.  This reality has continued to grow for me and the HAI community has definitely become my family of choice.  It has given me Hope and then fulfilment of feeling I belong somewhere on this planet and over years of testing and re-testing this feeling, I finally know what Intimacy really feels like.  It is my willingness to let others see in to me and being able to trust that once they know me inside and out, I am still loved, loveable and accepted.  It has changed my life like nothing else and I credit the communication tools I learned there,  for my still being on this planet and for healing many difficult relationships, particularly with my family of origin - and I've tried many, many other avenues.