Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity.
It’s your place in the world; it’s your life.”
~ Mae Jemison: engineer, NASA astronaut, physician.
Imagine if those words had been said and affirmed from kid-hood onward. Especially if they had been said by those that were the integral, pivotal people in one’s young, growing life.
Wow! Where would you be now?
Who would you be now?
What gifts would you have given your world ~ and the greater world around you?
More importantly, what gifts would you have given your Self?
Wow again.
I grew up within a society and ‘educated’ with the concept of “the school of hard knocks.” Not quite “life’s a bitch and then you die” ~ yet definitely viewing Life as a haphazard, if not downright difficult, road. There was minimal encouragement to Trust others. ‘They’ (be it individual ‘others’ or society-as-a-whole) would be the Ones who defined what one could or could not attain, be, envision or achieve. How many ‘fell in line’ and lived a life that was barren of real, deep, intrinsic delight and meaning?
If you raised your hand, You were robbed. Double wow.
Today, I am w-a-y past denigrating, or even resenting, those that raised me, and the societal strictures enforced. I today remember they were raised (and restricted) by those that raised them. And …. those that raised them-them. And, those …..ad nauseum. It simply was what it was.
Equally, for those siblings and mates, offspring and their friends, nieces and nephews and in-laws, as well as MY friends and cohorts. and yes, even my own parents, there is today recognition of how I possibly (…heck! Probably…) (…ok, honesty…Did) voice ~ or actually actively tried to restrict their ongoing imagination, creativity, curiosity. Their expansion into becoming (or changing) the life they wanted to live. Ah, the Power of those early repressive teachings ~ and the ripples that are made through and to lifetimes.
Sigh. (HUGE amends to you, one and all!)
Yes, true, it simply was what it was. (Doesn’t mean I don’t make amends. My awarenesses ~ and my side of the street.) Since, loverly, today I strive to live differently ~ first with and for mySelf, and next with Others ~ I am encouraged to think (and feel) I may actually be making a new difference. Wow, indeed.
Namaste’