It takes courage to listen to your gut and act on it, even when your rational mind tells you otherwise.
 
It takes courage to voice your truth and the truth of who you are, even if you know you will be met with a lack of approval.
 
It takes courage to follow your dreams, even when you fear failing.
 
It takes courage to open your heart, especially when you’ve been hurt before.
 
It takes courage to say, “No, I will not allow this,” in relation to either your own personal boundaries, or something you see going on in the world. To put your foot down and take a stand is courageous. 
 
It takes courage to leave your comfort zone and venture into the unknown. That can be with a new job, relationship, place to live, or simply expressing a different opinion than what you had always been taught.
 
It takes courage to differ from your family of origin and to know that they may be disappointed.
 
It takes courage to proclaim to yourself that you refuse to live a life defined by anyone else’s rules or expectations, and that you are going to follow your own path one step at a time, creating happiness each and every moment. Finding what brings you fulfillment versus what your family/society/religion tells you.
 
It takes courage to find the answers within, versus acquiescing to, or parroting, everyone else's opinions and thoughts.

It takes courage to be truthful with how we feel, versus people pleasing. 
 
It takes courage to admit you were wrong, and do what you can to make it right. 
 
It takes courage to think outside the box and look at things from a new perspective, or to create something that has never been imagined before.
 
It takes courage to silence the loud ego mind, and to listen to/act from the still quiet voice within.
 
It takes courage to stop defending against your actions/reactions, and really look at your part in a situation/conflict.
 
It takes courage to forgive, when you want to punish. For ultimately, that is the gift that will set you free.

Speaking of courage, I encourage you to seek out and read perspectives and information on racism and the subtle and insidious ways it shows itself in the collective consciousness. It’s not always overt, the subtle has done just as much damage.

It’s easy to say, "I’m not racist," and dismiss what I’m saying, yet I ask you to look at it from a place of humility versus defending against your position.

It takes courage to say, "Wow, where have I unconsciously contributed to, or even been unaware of, the situation? Where can I learn and uncover my issues to do better and be better?"

​ It starts with you.

​
​

Music by J. Jessup

​

I have a bunch of blogs waiting to be “born,” yet nothing felt right this week. I think because it’s time to listen versus talk. 
 
I think we need to listen to the pain, to listen to the experiences that aren’t ours. To acknowledge and hold space for those whose voices have been diminished or ignored. 
 
Yes, it may be uncomfortable. You may want to fix it or make it better. Maybe you even feel guilt or shame.
 
Allow all of it. Don’t deny it by rushing past it. Give it space so you heal on a deep level, to ultimately be a stronger light for those in need. You can’t be a powerful light if you refuse to look at your own shadow. The old needs to crumble.
 
So this week, listen to those in the black community speaking their pain. Hold space for them. And listen to your own deep pain. Give it a voice as well. Heal your deep wounds so together, we can all create a world of incredible unity and equality. 

 
 

It seems that the worst of humanity is coming out right now. I’m watching friends get attacked for posts that are very calm and loving, people taking advantage of the protests by rioting, lots of shaming of others for trying to be supportive, and incredible righteousness over who’s right/wrong; it’s enough to make you lose faith…
 
I know many of you are overwhelmed. The energy is remarkably intense and destructive. 
 
And yet, in the depths of darkness, in the dimness of the cocoon, the caterpillar is being dissolved to allow it to become the butterfly.
 
Do not give your power to impotence, to thinking there’s nothing you can do. 
 
It may seem fluff, but the vision has to start with you; each of us individually owning the reality we want to see and then creating it, one step at a time, one election at a time, to create a revolutionary change at a core level. 
 
Each of us healing ourselves and our own violent anger, rage, and pain so that there’s less of those energies in the world. 
 
It starts with our individual hearts and minds choosing to see a reality of equality and inclusiveness. 
 
Now more then ever, it’s important to use your voice. Your voice matters, you deserve to be heard. Speak for those who cannot speak. Use for your voice for those who have no voice or whose voices have been silenced. 
 
You may not literally go out and speak, you can voice it through your art, through your acts of kindness, through the people and companies you support. Through the products you buy and the things you listen to. Through the love you send to the world. And through the declaration to the world, even if done in the privacy of your home, of saying:
 
“Enough! I refuse a reality of exclusiveness. I refuse a reality of domination. I refuse a reality of inequality.”
 
You may feel powerless but you’re not. 
 
Never underestimate the power of the imagination. If you can see it in your imagination, you can believe it, and then you can create it and live it. If you don’t create it in your world, how will you see it in the world?
 
I wrote a blog that I posted on Instagram on Sunday and in it, I said that what I do doesn’t feel like enough. I recognized the next morning that I gave my power away to a false idea. My form of voice and power may not look like the way others express theirs, and that’s OK. We need a contrast of strengths to lift each other up.
 
So dream. Dream big. Be powerful in your dreams. Own your visions. Join me and together we can dream into being a world more phenomenal than we can even imagine. 
 
Let’s be the visionaries for a new world. I’m holding the light of hope for you, will you accept it?
 
 
 


​ To listen to the audio version of this blog, click here.