ART/LIFE
I’m convinced that our short-term memories, for most of us anyway, are more programmed to hold the things that hurt us than they are the things that have been incredibly moving, helpful—
Holy.
We need massive computer reconfiguration (which I can say from experience is totally possible with patience + attention!).
It hit me yesterday that I have done things in the past few years that I never thought I could do. I’ve created things I thought were “too hard” and “impossible.” Beyond my reach.
For instance, I remembered that three years ago, I believed that I could never write a play. That I didn’t have the discipline, smarts, the wherewithal to make that happen.
I remember admiring playwrights and admiring “people with discipline” and thinking that admiration would be my position for the rest of my life.
We don’t know what’s ahead of us—and that is/should be humbling, but if we keep walking, we find incredible strength. We find that the deepest desires of our hearts come forward and lead us where we didn’t think we could go. Often, we don’t think we can go there because in addition to forgetting what has already come through us, we also forget we’re not alone.
We forget that we walk with others who love us and who want to see us thrive. We forget to “go back and fetch it”—SANKOFA. Go back and fetch your memories of your accomplishments. Deliberately go through them in your mind and Honor yourself.
And honor your ancestry. Remember that they are the team, the line of humans that loved you before you existed. Remember that they thought about you even though they may not have known you would ever come.
If I truly sit with this thought I will invariably joyfully weep. Everything that it took to bring me here shows me that I belong here, that we belong here together.
Ache, my friends.
The Adinkra symbol, “Sankofa,” Western Africa.