Heartbroken. This word pretty much sums up my feelings this weekend as I, along with the rest of the world, found out that “Our King” from Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman, shockingly passed away from cancer at 43.
My father would’ve been 80 years on this earth August 29th. I was already gathering pieces of my heart as tributes, pictures, quotes and disbelief about Chadwick’s death flooded the media. It was time for me to Feel, Find & Thrive.
That is what I promised myself at the beginning of this long year. Reeling from losing a close girlfriend and watching the pandemic spread throughout the world, I realized that in order to stay sane, functioning and joyful, I had to pivot my perspective and emotions regarding death. After doing my spiritual work, I chose to Feel, Find & Thrive when dealing with the inevitable cycle of life. I make space to FEEL the loss, emotions and memories that come up. I then FIND inspiration from the person’s life or situation to use as fuel in my life to THRIVE. In essence, I use the Japanese art of Kintsugi to mend by broken heart using the gold from my loved ones and enhance my life in the process.
Kintsugi -It means, literally, ‘to join with gold’. In Zen aesthetics, the broken pieces of an accidentally-smashed pot should be carefully picked up, reassembled and then glued together with lacquer inflected with a very luxuriant gold powder. There should be no attempt to disguise the damage, the point is to render the fault-lines beautiful and strong. www.theschooloflife.com/
I actually didn’t write this to share my process around death. I am writing to share the gold. In the hopes that it will break down the age-old paradigms in our minds of WHEN we deserve to experience passion, purpose and JOY.
There is no WHEN! It isn’t when you retire, it’s not just for the young, there is no perfect time and we can look at Chadwick’s life to see that you don’t even have to be in perfect health!
In my last post, I called you out about the goal, idea, or business you have placed on a pedestal because of the fear of failure. Now, I’m asking you to reply and tell me what small step you can take to honor what you’re being called to bring into the world.
What is one thing you can do that will light you up, blow dust off your goal and get you moving?
One step – small or large – comment below and give it to me!
In Spirit,
