how could you look your magic in the face and turn away from it?
15 Jun 2022i was either listening to this iebyi interview or this episode on the emergent strategy podcast and someone quoted amb saying this line.
how could you look your magic in the face and turn away from it? — adrienne maree brown
and it just rang through so true. almost immediately, the next question came through: what could make someone look their magic in the face and turn away from it?
and then sadness showed up bigtime. i felt sad about all of the things that make people turn away from their magic. magic, in this context, i think can be described in many ways. i know i am watching someone be in their magic when:
- they are doing something that looks incredibly easy but i know if i tried it, it would be incredibly difficult
- i see a particular look of enjoyment… maybe it’s bliss
- someone feels like they are able to get lost (that slippery time experience) in something that contributes positively to the beings/life around them
i could go on, but hopefully that’s enough for now.
the sadness showed up when i thought about all of the moments where little kids find a door into their magic and when someone(s) tells them it’s not ok. i think of all the little queer kids who are finding their access to magic through pleasure and excitement and are told that what they’re doing isn’t ok. i think of all the little boy children who are finding their magic through their feminine parts/ways and are shut down from that. i think of all the little girl children who embody and find magic in their masculine parts and get that shut down, too. i think of all the nonbinary children who find their magic in their fluidity and have part of their access removed because of social norms.
i think of all the kids who open doors to their magic and are told they have to pursue money above their creativity. and all the kids who are told they’re not good enough at something so they should pursue something they are naturally good (rather than work to develop ability in the thing they love).
and then the sadness gets bigger when i think of how many times that happens over the arc of a childhood. and then into adulthood. all of the ways we are forced to choose financial stability over joy due to our society anchored in the assumption that each person must “earn” their living (an alternate assumption: every person has a gift to offer and them finding that gift and offering it is the most helpful thing to society. therefore, the society should support each person’s needs being met so that they are maximally free to find and hone their ability to offer their gift).
what a sad thing we are doing to each other/ourselves.
next post in this thought thread: what makes people shut down other people in these moments?
words / writing / post-processing
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