"I remember lying in bed as a young teenager and deciding to hypnotize myself by saying these words: Be what you are, be what you are, be what you are. I said it hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times, the intention being to protect me from what I felt was going to take me away from myself. And to this day I still say that when I think I'm trying to fit somebody else's expectations."
- Kay Ryan, 16th Poet Laureate of the United States
How do we remember who we really are? It is funny since we are born knowing this very clearly... and slowly but surely, the forgetting begins. We learn to adopt attitudes related to what would be, could be, should be rather than what is. And forget some more.
And now that I am a mother, I am even more keen to return to source and re-unite once again with this BEing quality that not only remembers but never even forgot. A cohesive radiant wholeness that just is.
I want this for my son. He has taken to commending himself lately when he does something well by simply saying, "I am awesome!" and sweeping across the room into one of his graceful judo rolls. I want him to hold this when it is true and also celebrate him in it. Equally, I wish for him to know sadness when it is happening and feel it with equal vigor. That is less simple somehow...especially for a boy child. And we are both returning to the inspiring words of Kay Ryan to Be what we are whenever we can.
