Sawubona from the Inside Out:

Sawubona means “I see you.” But to see you, I have to see me

Butterfly Monday – April 13, 2026
Healing Station Zoom: 6:00 PM EST
Join Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88324556318?pwd=QlNsT3lLWnc0alo3K09nN0JoaFNxQT09
Inside Out By Dr. Bruce Purnell
Looking outside and seeing shadows falling,
Time’s mirror reflections of Ancestors calling.
Sleeping through days with insomnia at night,
Praying to God to reveal the inner light.
But having the courage to look inside,
unlocking truths, letting my spirit confide.
When the dove inside can finally cry
The caterpillar is released to become a butterfly.
For dreams are whispers of what could be,
But awakening is remembering that it’s already in me.
I’m choosing to live and not watch life pass by
And birthing butterflies that have been waiting to fly.

If I see myself through a traumatic lens, how will I see you? How will I see us?
How will I interpret Love, healing, and transformation?
This Butterfly Mondays Buildshop invites us into the sacred work of reclaiming our sight from the inside out. Together, we will explore how unresolved trauma shapes our lens, how healing softens perception, and how Transformative Life Coaches and Healing Leaders create pathways for people to be seen in their full humanity.
This is not just about seeing others, but learning to see ourselves with Love, Joy, and Forgiveness.
Join us as we move:
• from a traumatic lens to a Love lens
• from reaction to reflection
• from being unseen and able to see to finally saying, and meaning, Sawubona
Sawubona from the Inside Out
Sawubona is a powerful Zulu greeting from South Africa. It means, “I see you,” or more deeply, “We see you.” It is not a casual hello. It is a sacred acknowledgment of someone’s humanity, dignity, and presence.
But the deeper question is this:
If I have not healed how I see myself, how will I see you?
If my inner lens has been shaped by unresolved trauma, my way of seeing the world will be shaped by it as well. A person who has only known criticism may look inward and see not sacredness but insufficiency. A person who has only known betrayal may see danger where there is tenderness. A person who has only known conditional love may struggle to recognize grace when it appears.
This is why Sawubona must begin from the inside out.
The inner lens matters and trauma shapes interpretation, what we call safe, what we call wise, what we call possible, and even what we call love. It can lead us to misread peace as weakness, connection as risk, and stillness as danger. When trauma becomes the narrator, our perception prioritizes protection over presence.
Carl Jung once said, “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
From a healing and transformation perspective, this reminds us that awakening does not happen by chasing answers outside of ourselves. It begins when we become brave enough to look within, to face what lives there, and to free what has been buried. This is inner engineering, emotional emancipation, and what we call spiritual sovereignty.
As our healing and transformation journey evolves, we will be able to say “Sawubona” more fully and mean it from a spiritual lens. The more we heal, the less we undervalue ourselves and others, and the more we begin to see ourselves as the phoenix rising, the butterfly effect, and a reflection of Love. It is much different to see “The Phoenix In You” versus “The Trauma In You”.
Our mission as Transformative Life Coaches and Healing Leaders is to help our journeyers trust love enough to embrace inside-out processes (Cocooning). We do not become whole because someone else hands us worth, but because we reconnect with the worth that was already within us.
Sawubona, then, is more than a greeting.
It is a practice of sacred seeing.
It is the new medicine for our sacred lens.
It is Love learning to look again.
Transformation and healing are not outside-in processes, but inside-out journeys. No one can hand us transformation, gift us healing while we remain disconnected from ourselves, or do our becoming for us. Transformative Life Coaches and Healing Leaders do not exist to perform healing for people, but to create pathways, brave spaces, and sacred conditions where people can reconnect with the truth already living within them.
We focus on transformation because there is no intention to return to the old self. Once a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it can never go back to being a caterpillar. That is what makes transformation sacred. It is not cosmetic, temporary, or surface-level behavior management. It is a fundamental rewiring of identity, possibility, and consciousness. Transformation changes the way we think, feel, choose, and see. It requires a kind of neuro-rewiring, the release of old patterns, and the building of new pathways. This level of transformation requires us to heal, and healing is integral to transformation.
Exercise
The Lens I’ve Been Looking Through
Step 1: Name the Lens
Complete this sentence:
Most of the time, I see myself through the lens of…
Examples:
• fear
• shame
• pressure
• survival
• performance
• compassion
• hope
• becoming
Write your answer.
Step 2: Trace the Source
Ask:
• Where did I learn to see myself this way?
• What experiences shaped this lens?
• What did this lens help me survive?
Step 3: Shift the Lens
Now complete:
If Love were my lens, I might begin to see…
Write what becomes possible.
Step 4: Sawubona Statement
Write a sentence beginning with:
Sawubona from the inside out means…

Quiz
What Lens Am I Looking Through?
Rate each from 1 (Rarely) to 5 (Often)
1`. I assume the worst about myself when I make mistakes.

2. I find it hard to believe people can genuinely care for me.

3. I often feel unseen, even when others affirm me.

4. I notice myself interpreting neutral situations through fear or defensiveness.

5. I struggle to receive rest, peace, or kindness without suspicion.

6. I am beginning to recognize how trauma has shaped my perception.

7. I believe healing can soften the way I see myself and others.

8. I want to learn how to see through Love instead of pain.
Reflection
• Which answers reveal survival?
• Which answers reveal awakening?
• What lens are you ready to loosen?
• What lens are you ready to claim?

We are becoming the “Social Architects” and “Social Alchemists” who will design our healing and transformation.  Let’s affirm and manifest our divine cocoons together. #WeAreTheButterflyEffect
See the Full Sessions and Subscribe to the Blog: https://welovemoredrbruce.com/ Please give Love More a Google rating: https://g.page/r/CYI0Pw3JjBrjEAI/review