V shared a personal revelation —
she had come into an awareness of
her magnitude and design as a
spirit/soul
human/body
black + woman
in that precise order.
how necessary to acknowledge
being so much bigger than this body
and to cherish the fleeting human life span
of a woman
of hue and shape
of undeniable origins
giving refuge and expression to
a boundless and indestructible force.
to celebrate her blackness —
a unique dna of history, culture, biology, and expression
is to nourish her body —
mindful of its resilience and fragility
its cycle of consuming, creating, destroying, releasing, renewing
is to honor the spirit —
a source of radiance, wisdom, compassion
empowering a life with purpose
[january 2014]
reflection
To me, the connection V made is a powerful act of reconciliation. Since our gathering, I’ve sat in the energy of her statement.
My translation fuses what I heard and received that night with what I have experienced in my own journey of reconciliation.
I wrote this last year following a special mindfulness practice I designed for women of color to cultivate refuge in a safe, sacred space where we could see our lives in full scope, colour, and lustre and begin to integrate and embody the skills/virtues of wholeheartedness. Now, I’ll be extending this exploration within my cushion-to-community program, Toward Wholeness.
tscottmiller 