Amanda Gorman: Words To Live By

I turned on the inauguration yesterday because I wanted to welcome a new era and celebrate the fact that we have our first-ever woman, South Asian, black Vice President (seriously, glass is shattered all over the place!).

But I'll also admit I was multi-tasking.

Until Amanda Gorman came on.

The second she started talking the multi-tasking stopped.

I was hooked on every word she said - and the way she said it. She was the very definition of presence.

And because this is what I do, I immediately thought not just about our country, even though that was the (very much needed and appreciated) message of her poem.

I also thought of you.

There were three parts of her poem in particular that I want you to take in on a deep level - both collectively and personally.

First:

Far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that is PERFECT, we are striving to form a union with PURPOSE.

I know you can get stuck in striving for perfection. You can get stuck in the fear of making a mistake or being wrong or failing or making the wrong decision.

When, in reality, purpose is ALWAYS greater than perfection.

Your life is not about perfection. Your career is not about perfection. Our country is not about perfection.

It is about moving in the direction of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. THIS is what we should be striving for.


Next:

Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished.

YOU are also not broken, but simply unfinished.

Our country has been weathered over the course of its lifetime - just like you have been weathered over the course of your lifetime.

You've experienced challenging times and trauma and mistakes and you may have felt broken (and maybe are feeling broken right now).

This is all true. And you are also whole.

You are not broken, you are simply unfinished. As we all are, every single day of our lives.

An unfinished work that is simultaneously completely and totally imperfect - and beautifully perfect, at exactly the same time.


Finally, the last one. The one that bore into my soul so hard I immediately wrote down the lines and jumped on my Facebook page to share them as soon as Amanda finished her poem.

There was always light if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to BE it.

The light is there. Collectively around us. And also inside of us. Inside of you.

This is a decision you get to make every day: Are you going to show up from a place of light? Or a place of fear?

How much different would your life be, would the world be, if we all consistently showed up as a light?

And not just AS a light, but living FROM light. BEING light. RADIATING light.

Your individual light will feed the collective light - and the collective light will feed your individual light. We are all intertwined.

So today, choose to be brave enough to BE light.

Do you feel disconnected from yourself?

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