Maya Angelou taught me!

Published: Mon, 01/08/18

Monthly newsletter // issue 1
My Biggest Lesson in 2017:
Maya Angelou taught me!
Trust THE PROCESS, please.
bY: Aza Njeri
             
                       "All great artist draw from the same resource: the human heart"
(Angelou, 46).   Courage is the pulse of any devoted artist and our main objective is to make you feel something you never felt before. Contrary, being an artivist (artist and activist) is even more challenging but rewarding to say the least.  Here we are, highly sensitive to feel your pain and super courageous  to help fight your battles with our He(Art). Those duties along are superhuman! 


                  A challenge by definition is the situation of being faced with something that needs great mental or physical effort. My biggest challenge in 2017 was "trusting others and trusting the process". I can honestly admit, a lot of my hiccups and headaches could have been prevented if I just yielded, but that's hard to tell someone who thinks their "Super Human".  One truth is, things are much easier said- than done.  Artivist challenges are quite unique because we push ourselves mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically to convey a message.
It's innately in us to make you feel and think,

but what about trust?....

 "The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." --Ernest Hemingway


This quote by Ernest Hemingway is simple but hard for a lot of us to do. "Trusting people and the process" is more than a clever quote for me, its a mantra that I had to learn about the hard way.  My most anticipated book, my memoir was pushed back a year. I fought, fought, and fought  until I kept hearing the same phrase over and over by my mentors and editors;
"This is your book but you have to trust us on this". 
"Yo, don't get married to one idea! -Mk Asante

   Me and M.K. Asante, Maya Angelou mentee had a profound conversation that ended with him telling me to "take my time,  follow my heart and be original".


                     "Why you think I called you and we're talking about this?
"You gotta trust me! His words "You gotta trust me" echoed in my consciousness because my editor, my designer, my elders all have been singing the same song and it just hit me.  "No one can outrun their destiny, just let things manifest and unfold".  So this revelation has revealed itself and everyone on my team was right, despite my "Super human" complex.

Things happen for a reason and its called purpose and timing! 


 

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."
-- Maya Angelou
 
In conclusion, Sade told us love is stronger than pride. I'm forever grateful for my team and support system that loved me enough to tell me the truth despite my feelings. I had to swallow my pride and listen, Finally!
 Going into 2018, I'm trusting and building more bridges. Maya taught me  courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently.
Ase' pour some water and say her name "Maya Angelou" may your soul rest in eternal peace.

My Favorite poem by her: Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod 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.


 
Citation: Angelou, Maya. 2014. Rainbow in the cloud, Random House.
Read Maya Angelou's Books
 
Read M.K. Asante Books
 
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