The one fact I can´t deny in the end - Can you?!

Did you ever have an idea or came across an opportunity that made you feel all excited inside? this tingling in the belly. this gentle warmth spreading inside. This feeling that your chest is expanding, your heart doing something crazy between singing and crying out of happiness?
Shortcut: Did u ever have an idea and hear your soul saying "YES"?
I know we all do.

Since we all have the lovely friend called ego inside of us, I guess you know a second kind of feeling pretty well. The one coming straight after souls "YES": the crampy stomach, chest and heart itself becoming tight. everything getting cold.
That´s Egos "NO".
These physical sensations of those two stages might be slightly for you but I believe in general we all feel it quite similar.
Ego is a clever fellow, providing an enormous variety of No´s. "I can´t" "what will others think of me" "I don´t have the money" "it´s impossible" "i don´t know how" "i´m too stupid" "i don´t have time" "I would love to, but...."  "I´m not good enough".....-  so many phrases to hold us back. So many phrases to confuse us.  To keep us from connecting. To keep us from realizing it´s all only about one thing: FEAR


Let me ask you one question here. What are you so afraid of that you keep putting egos "NO" over souls "YES" over and over again?
Failing?!

What happens if you do? You loose money? Your job? A relationship? That IS SCARY. I have those answers myself and you can bet they scare hell out of me every day.

I also catch myself in finding excuses and giving in to the ego over and over. It sucks. It´s exhausting. It makes me wanna give up many times, indeed.
But there is one fact i can´t deny. No matter how suttle the voice may be......how hard to catch in the haste of cellphone social media century, thousands of distractions, running all daily errands, and society´s expectations of how I should spend this lifetime on earth.

The one fact I can´t deny in the end - the feeling of my soul saying: "YES"




I wish you a very special 29th of Feb. Keep in mind we only have it every 4 years ;)
Ly

[Poem] Still I rise

written by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history 

With your bitter, twisted lies, 

You may trod me in the very dirt 

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? 

Why are you beset with gloom? 

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells 

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns, 

With the certainty of tides, 

Just like hopes springing high,  

Still I'll rise. 

Did you want to see me broken? 

Bowed head and lowered eyes? 

Shoulders falling down like teardrops. 

Weakened by my soulful cries. 

Does my haughtiness offend you? 

Don't you take it awful hard 

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines 

Diggin' in my own back yard. 

You may shoot me with your words, 

You may cut me with your eyes, 

You may kill me with your hatefulness, 

But still, like air, I'll rise. 

Does my sexiness upset you? 

Does it come as a surprise 

That I dance like I've got diamonds 

At the meeting of my thighs? 

Out of the huts of history's shame - I rise.  

Up from a past that's rooted in pain - I rise. 

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, 

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear - I rise.  

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear - I rise.  

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, 

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.  

I rise. 

I rise. 

I rise.

Maya Angelou ist eine meiner liebsten Federführerinnen & ich kann mich auch nach Jahren nicht an ihren Werken satt lesen beziehungsweise hören. Sie ging 2014 von uns und dieser Verlust war zumindest aus meiner Sicht deutlich zu spüren. Als glänzendes Vorbild vor allem für afro-amerikanische Frauen hat sie durch ihre Resilienz einen Standpunkt, beziehungsweise eine Basis, für die weibliche Sicht - innen wie außen - auf die Geschehnisse dieser Welt geschaffen.

Ihre Autobiographie "I know why the caged bird sings" brachte ich mehr als nur einmal zum weinen, so schön und traurig ist es zugleich. Dies war nur der Anfang einer siebenteiligen Autobiographie Serie, die sich auch einen eternal Platz in meinem literarischen Herzen verdient hat. Ich kann es jedem nur empfehlen - ob nun Feminist oder nicht. Nein, ich maße mir sogar an, dass jeder bei klarem Menschenverstand sich mindestens eins ihrer Werke zu Gemüte führen sollte. Man kann dabei nur gewinnen.

Kennt ihr eines ihrer Werke? Habt ihr auch eine Meinung dazu? Wenn ja, dann würde es mich freuen eine Anekdote von euch zu hören :)

- Grace