I AM-Inspired, Awed, Moved

Today is a sad day for me and for many.  Today the great Maya Angelou made her way to Heaven and left behind some of the most amazing written and spoken words of all time.

I don't exactly remember when I heard Maya Angelou speak for the 1st time...but I remember how I felt!  Inspired, Awed and Moved to my very core!

Below are just a few of the brilliant, touching, spirit filling words written and spoken by Maya Angelou.

The above is so very true for me!  I may not be able to quote every word I have ever heard or remember every impactful event I have witnessed....but I truly remember how people make me feel...that is a memory that does not fade.

This Journey has been filled with moments that have made me feel Inspired, Awed and Moved!!! 

I AM grateful!

This thought perfectly sums up my goal for this part of my Journey.  I have lived in survival mode way too long.  I want to make it my Mission to Thrive...I want to incorporate the Inspired, Awed and Moved moments of this Journey and make them my daily life...and I want to pass that on...share it...preach it...live it...breathe it!!! 

I love this quote...no truer words have been spoken...I believe in the power of the human relationship...I believe in the energy is creates...the power is possesses and the love it generates.  I am a believer in the impact of human touch, the gift of face to face interaction and the beauty of the spoken word.  I believe that if I take a step out of my own life and make a conscious choice to take a look at other's lives...I will find God's wisdom and grace just waiting to be lived! Understanding breathes life into each of us...

This...this thought is fabulous....If at the end of the day...the end of this Journey...if just one person remembers me in this way....my life would be complete!  I have these kind of women in my life...I have been and am blessed by the presence of strong, courageous, intelligent and wonderfully loving women...wonderful mothers, friends, wives, leaders...

These are wonderful words to aspire to for me...I need to read these EVERYDAY...

Here is the truth for me...Every day I know better...so every day I can DO Better!

There are many lessons for me on my Journey...there have been and will be many opportunities for me to overcome...to Rise Above...to face my demons and to embrace those I love....There will be many paths to choose from and many paths to cross and I will have what I need to Rise Above.  I will meet new faces and I will say goodbye to others...I will lose some battles and I will beat the odds.  I will cry some tears and I absolutely know I will laugh shortly thereafter...I am reminded every day of the greatest love...the Love of God and the magical, spiritual gifts He provides in my life in the form of other's gifts and talents...So today I thank him for beautiful words of Maya Angelou....a person I never met...I never touched or spoke to...but remember exactly how she made me feel.

Lastly, I want to share my all time favorite poem by Maya Angelou...spoken by her...in her own beautiful, unique, spell-binding way.  I hope you will take the time to listen.  Though they were written about her very specific experience...the words transcend the history and apply to all! 

Still I Rise-Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.           

As this Journey Continues....I AM...INSPIRED, AWED AND MOVED