Still I Rise
I am beginning a nice new writing project. I do hope that it comes along sweetly and full of inspiration. Oftentimes, when we begin all over again, we can be conscious of being led by the muses. We pray for their appearance, inspiration and guidance.
I think Elizabeth Gilbert did a wonderful TedTalk on genuis and inspiration. I’ll do a search for it and link it here.
I am inspired this morning, and always in life, by Maya Angelou. I am so grateful for the way that her life’s work touches my life. I have read her writing since my late teens and I feel that she and her writing has been such an inspiration for all the ways that we can be courageous and intelligent, creative and generous, and most of all loving and kind.
If you haven’t read any of her work, do yourself a favor and… do. I believe the first book that I read by her was I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
I heard her speak a number of times as well. She moved me when she spoke of her grandmother as she often did. Maya Angelou was open and generous, sharing the love and wisdom of her grandmother with all who were in hearing distance of her gorgeous voice or anyone that opened the pages of one of her books.
And even now, after she has passed on, she still touches our lives with the beauty and wisdom, passion and joy that she shared. She left a lovely and loving legacy. I believe we bless our lives by connecting with the art and wisdom that she gifted us with…
I also want to read again the book What I Know Now: Letters To My Younger Self. Here is one that Dr. Angelou wrote for the collection. It continues to inspire me.
Dear Marguerite,
You’re itching to be on your own. You don’t want anybody telling you what time you have to be in at night or how to raise your baby. You’re going to leave your mother’s big comfortable house and she won’t stop you, because she knows you too well.
But listen to what she says:
When you walk out of my door, don’t let anybody raise you—you’ve been raised.
You know right from wrong.
In every relationship you make, you’ll have to show readiness to adjust and make adaptions.
Remember you can always come home.
You will go home again when the world knocks you down—or when you fall down in full view of the world. But only for two or three weeks at a time. Your mother will pamper you and feed you your favorite meal of red beans and rice. You’ll make a practice of going home so she can liberate you again—one of the greatest gifts, along with nurturing your courage, that she will give you.
Be courageous but not foolhardy.
Walk proud as you are,
Maya
(photo via mayaangelou.com for storiart)