One of my favorite poems is by Maya Angelou, called “Still I Rise.” It reminds me that nothing can break me. It reminds me that my dreams are worthy ones. It reminds me to hold true to who I am deep inside and to embrace change. It reminds me to trust myself more then I trust anyone else.
Angelou was a powerful teacher of our time. She wasn’t swayed by the huge struggles she encountered in her life. She rose above the views of society and became a strong and powerful role model and teacher, poet and civil rights activist. She put herself out there in the most vulnerable ways – I can’t even imagine the courage it took to do so.Choosing to rise when we are met with rejection, immense self doubt or criticism – from ourselves or others – takes strong will. Choosing to rise out of heartache or pain takes a willful soul whose desire to live out their best life supersedes the desire to remain small. A will that when applied will carry you beyond your most brilliant dreams. When we step into our own power and visions of our strong self, we have the capacity to not only change our own world, but change the world around us.
We are in a time of revolution, inner and outer. Spiritual, political and social. It is not the time to remain small. It is time to become inspired by your own capacity to grow into your brilliant self, rich with strength that can survive any pain. You are here to rise above all your inner and outer challenges so that you can share your creativity, your ideas, your love, your visions, your dreams with the world. No matter how small or big your dreams are. Whether you dream of creating social consciousness or one of the many other important topics of our time. Or you want to create a business. Maybe you want to make change in your child’s school or in your workplace. It is time to put yourself out there, to push beyond the comfort zone, holding tight to keeping things as they are for fear that you will be rejected. If someone like Maya Angelou, Martin Luther king or Nelson Mandela can find a way to step into the impossible, we can each surely find a way to step into our own greater wisdom to be agents of change, no matter how small the advocacy appears to be.
Remember the time to RISE is now. The time to step into your greater self happens today. All it takes is the ability to take one small action today, then another tomorrow and again the day after. It takes the courage to speak your truth, to find ways to honour and support those who don’t have a voice. To use yourself for the greater good.
Remember, you always have a choice. How will you choose to RISE today?
Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise”
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 backyard.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.with love
Noelle
Your Capacity To Rise Against Challenge Is Amazing
