She Could No Longer Carry the Weight of Other's Expectations

Sending out laughter and curiosity.  KAS

Glorious Diversity Makes Us Who We Are

I love this.  The glorious, exquisite beauty in variety and differences.  It's what makes us interesting--exciting even. So go.  Be different!   KAS

8 Rules

This bears repeating as Black History Month winds down because it's spot on.  What if the world actually abided by these rules??  For that matter, what if I, myself abided by them????  I hear my mother saying to sweep off my own doorstep.  I'm going to go sweep now.  KAS

We Die and We Do Language

I'm going to pay more attention to doing language.  It sure does beat dying!  KAS

Dreaming

I'm dreaming of a world where black and brown children (and their parents) never have to experience the cruelty of racism and injustice.  I'm dreaming of a world where wholeheartedness and mutual respect are commonplace.  I'm dreaming of a world where Mother Earth is treated as the rare treasure she is and all hands are on deck to save her. May it be so. KAS

Need to Uplift

We can each do this in our own unique way.  I will pay attention to where I can uplift others even in small ways.  I will focus on making those small steps rather than wringing my hands in anxiety over what is happening on the public stage. KAS (PS: my hands are worn out from all the wringing.)

You Have Nothing To Prove To Anybody

And just to round off that message, here's another in the same vein.

“At 70 years old, if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to use the words ‘f--- off’ much more frequently,” Helen Mirren

Takes Courage to Rest and Play

Ignore the pressure to perform.  Relax and recharge.  Taking a break for some cushion time is a wholehearted activity.  KAS

You'll Never Know How Amazing You Can Be

Be your amazing, weird, anything but normal self!!!  KAS

When You Know You Are Of Worth

These words cause me to notice when I do raise my voice and/or become rude--even if it's on the inside where no one but me can hear.  A wholehearted and enlightening exercise.  Thank you to Maya! KAS

Don't Have to Compromise Convictions for Compassion

To live in a country where the common good for all is the main consideration. Where we can disagree respectfully while maintaining civility and ethical behavior. Where "the game" is played fairly and with decency?  That would be a brave, new world.  KAS

Unarmed Truth and Unconditional Love

May it be so, with all my heart!  KAS 

Peacemaking

Sounds like a mighty tall order and something worthwhile to consider.  A third way.  Something to aspire to.  What one, small step can I take in that direction?  KAS

Use Your Anger

Reflecting on these powerful words from Maya I explore ways to use the anger.  I find myself impatient for true justice to be served to the fullest measure.    KAS

Give Your Hearts But Not Into Each Other's Keeping

May your V-day be happy and romantic and full of love and joy.  And if you are single, may your day be filled with love for yourself and your life.  KAS

How Decent Are We Really?

This is not an easy thing to consider.  None of us wants to face the truth of it; the history of it.  We have the power to change things. Will we use it?   KAS

Crones, Hags and Witches = Sages, Midwives, Healers

My mother turns 92 years old today.  I salute her holiness, honor her crown and always look to her for wisdom.  I reclaim the original meanings of the words crone, hag and witch.  Happy Birthday, Mom KAS

The Light That is You--Happy Birthday, Laney

Hat tip to a light who entered our lives on this day 18 years ago. 

This is a tall order...these strong words like intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally!  Much courage is needed and great practice is necessary.  Onward.  KAS

Spiral of Life--Happy Birthday, Chelsea

With love to someone very special who spiraled into my life on this day a few years back. KAS

Life Is An Echo

A rather tall order for this human being but a worthwhile and wholehearted endeavor.  KAS

Walk on Earth as Brothers and Sisters

I confess, as one member of a large, competitive, boisterous family who has its fair share of conflict and tension, part of me thinks we do walk this earth as brothers and sisters.  However, in keeping with the spirit of MLK, we, as humans as well as siblings, are still learning how to treat each other as equals with dignity and mutual respect.  We still have a long way to go.  KAS

Light The Torches of Others

Imagine yourself lighting the torch of every person you meet with your smile, your dignity, and your presence.  Something we can all do for each other to light the way back to sanity, truth, and justice for all.  KAS

Things Fall Apart-- Better Thing Come Together

This adds a spark of hope and even joyful anticipation to those times when good things are falling apart or falling away.  KAS

Box Full of Darkness

I'm sitting with these words and this thought.  As someone prone to visit the dark side; seeing it as a gift takes some adjustment since my goal is to seek the light.  This invites me to remember feeling and expressing the emotions of darkness is wholehearted exercise.  There is a rhythm between light and dark, joy and sorrow, hope and despair on this human plain. However, there is a giant difference between what is sorrowful and what is wrong.  Wrong is not a gift.  KAS

A Brave and Startling Truth

This is long.  And strong.  Take the time if you can.  If not, skip to the last two stanzas.  KAS

A BRAVE AND STARTLING TRUTH

We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth 

And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms 

When we come to it
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil 

When the rapacious storming of the churches
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased
When the pennants are waving gaily
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze 

When we come to it
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce
When land mines of death have been removed
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse 

When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets 

Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world 

When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace
We, this people on this mote of matter
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor
And the body is quieted into awe 

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines 

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear 

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

“A Brave and Startling Truth” was published in a commemorative booklet in 1995 and was later included in Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry (public library).

Anything Can Be

Let there be True Democracy.  True Liberty and Real Justice for All.  KAS

Own Your Power

I like to think we are all "great" already.  What does being "great" mean to you?  These words and the thoughts they invoke can serve to remind us.  KAS

Our Own Best Ally

We have to make sure we ARE our own best ally.  In my inner world, the harshest critic is most often myself.   Why?  I work diligently to catch myself and change the narrative to one of understanding, empathy, and forgiveness even when it feels super awkward.  Being kind to yourself is vital.  KAS