You, Too?

 It's so awesome when a set of words can meander into our lives and somehow stick... often resonating years later with deeper meaning than whatever profound meaning first occurred.  Anyway... several years ago, I heard something like that and it's stuck with me ever since.  One of my favorite artists is Lauryn Hill, who was once very famous as a mainstream musician.  One might call her pop, hip hop, or maybe even soul.  Possibly even R&B.  In any event, when she began to feel herself slipping away from herself, she took a voyage inward and years later released an album most refer to as "Lauryn - Unplugged." 

This album has many great songs, and is very rich in thought, reflection... and then some.  One of my favorite songs on the album is called, "I Get Out." It talks about living life out of the box, being free to just be.  Somewhere on that album, she talks (not in a song, just in a spoken interlude) about how nice it is to be free - be who God created you to be.  She mentions how it feels to put aside vanity and pressure to be perfect, flawless and fit some standard.  How neat it is to just let your belly out and then when you see another person who is also living free, belly out, unafraid to just be free, you can smile and say, "You, too?"

Too many of us are hiding.  Even if we have great reasons for hiding... wonderful respectable causes for our masks, disguises, and ahem... girdles...  it is my hope and prayer for all of us that we find the time and ability to love ourselves fully and completely enough, to let it all out, get out of our boxes, step firmly into each breath and step of life, meeting friends with the nerve to free themselves, and smiling....

"You, too?"

One You...

It's been a while since I stopped by my own spot, my little space for words and thoughts... mini-explorations.  So, here I am again.  And what's cool - time has lifted me to a new place, and the best thing ever is emerging.  I was thinking on my way home today... How nice it feels to be REAL.  If I could name my current voyage, the word authenticity would have to be in the title.  It is my hope to improve my authentic self as soon as humanly possible by all means within my grasp.

There is a scene in the movie Great Debaters where Melvin Tolson (Denzel) is speaking to the debate team (mostly to a troubled young man named Henry Lowe) and informs him it is his job as teacher and coach to help him "find and take back [his] righteous mind."  That is one of many favorites for me in that movie.  I love it.

I hope more and more people can find the courage to be free in truth, embrace reality, keep it Real, and hold tight to a very precious, authentic and righteous mind.  You only get one you.