Dr. Maya Angelou. Thank You. (My Tribute).

#RIP #DrMayaAngelou

Wednesday May 28th 2014 We lost an icon. An inspiration. A Phenomenal woman.

As we remember Dr. Maya Angelou, let Us remember Her inspiring words in times where we are at Our lowest. I pray her words echo in those moments where rage looks to seep in, where despair hovers over Our hearts or where anger looks to block out the warming rays of love. Let us remember Her example and Her inspiring words.
when We do not want to go forward, when fear tempts Us to be still or when darkness threatens to blot out Our light.

When We fall for the umpteenth time let Us remember to stand up and give thanks that We can say "Still I Rise." When we fail let Us remember that there is so much that "we can endure, dream, fail at and survive." When we come upon things in life that We do not like, instead of complaining let Us remember that "if you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."

Let Us remember that "courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently," and that "making a living is not the same thing as making a life." Let us remember to continue to shine bright, to be a light and "be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud."

I pray that We are able to remember that forgiveness is "one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself" and that "love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."

Let us remember that it takes courage to dream and "the desire to reach the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise and most possible." It is most possible when we care about others because "people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Know that "nothing will work unless You do" and that even as we pursue Our dreams that we never lose sight of what success really is: "liking Yourself, liking what You do and liking how You do it." I hope We remember that "surviving is important, thriving is elegant," and that We continually aim to thrive and "have enough courage to trust love one more time. And always one more time."

Thank You Dr. Maya Angelou for Your wonderful contribution and Your amazing inspiration. But it's no surprise, after all You were a woman. Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that was You.
Me.

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falling (poem)

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Love: Acceptance Required. (#LearningToLove)

One of the most difficult tasks that love asks of us is to allow ourselves to accept & receive it, to actually believe that we deserve to be loved & that we deserve to be in love. We tell ourselves all the reasons why a relationship won’t work instead of working on all the ways we can to make it work because somewhere inside of ourselves we don't believe we deserve to be that happy. 

“It’s too good to be true,” is one of those phrases that we routinely hear and it always baffles me. I mean, I get being aware but the adage that “if something is too good to be true it probably is,” has turned us into a society that mistrusts each other and lost faith in the fact that love really does exist. Don’t believe me? When You see Kim Kardashian and Kanye West do You think they are in love or executing a publicity stunt? If it’s the former, that’s amazing. I fear, however; that most of us think it’s something other than love and that’s sad. It’s sad that we have become so cynical when it comes to love outwardly because it wreaks havoc on our ability to believe in love inwardly which hinders our ability to believe in love for ourselves.
What if we were able to believe in love, believe in being loved like we believed we were destined to get hurt?! What if? What would be possible then? What heights of joy would we be able to find when we decided to stop protecting our hearts and instead used that same energy to defend our right to be loved by opening our hearts to receiving love?

One of the most difficult tasks that love asks of us is to let go of our knowledge of failure born from our past experiences, suspend our cynical belief, and to give up our impenetrable hearts. Love demands vulnerability, respect, honest communication and trust but most of all love, in order to flourish, demands that we receive it openly. 

Bless,
M.

#LearningToLove.

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"Cause In Life Class Is Always In Sessions" Or A Lesson in an unlikely classroom.

A little while ago I was working with a colleague, a fellow actor who is a veteran to the craft, on a project in pre production. What I didn't know when we began working was that he'd serve as my teacher as we navigated the latest scripted material.

The lesson began once we reached the editing room - I headed there to see the work that had been done for the day and to learn how to do my job better. I also went over there, and I'm going to be completely honest, for some of that praise we so often hope for after 'a job well done'. Ha! Was I in for a surprise.

So I get to the editing room and there is my teacher (and here I was forgetting that in life class is ALWAYS in session), as I entered the room the smile on my face - you know the one you flash when someone tells you that you've done great work? Yeah that smile quickly left me. "You need to keep that cup away from your face - there's no sequence to it" was how our conversation began. "See there? That was a great moment, but You followed it up with overt celebration of that moment - go after it right there and you really win that scene." If I told You that I wasn't a bit deflated I'd be lying. I was getting a lesson in acting and I wasn't quite ready for it. My initial response was a prideful defense. Thankfully I opted to shut my mouth and shut down my defensive walls. Instead I listened as I watched. He peppered me with some more lessons - and some praise but by the end of the session I was a better actor.

Sometimes what we need to hear isn't what we want to hear but that doesn't mean we don't need to hear it. Having the right people around us - people that are better at what we do than we are in some way - is a great way to become better ourselves. And it is through open & honest dialogue that these 'chance' encounters to learn become life long lessons. But that is always up to us.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some pointers to go and annotate my script with.
Bless,

M.

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