What if you took back your Mondays? What if they began with more than overpriced coffee and traffic? What if they began with being still for a moment to get clear on the energy you want to bring to your family, your co-workers, your world?

What if Mondays did not involve mindless meetings about how to do the work faster and cheaper . . . but about how to do the work better and with more intention and courage?

What would you focus on then? What would you put on your to-do list then? How would you start showing up differently on Mondays? (How would you start showing UP, period?)

"We long to be loved and we long to be free." - bell hooks

This sentiment applies to work, love and life in general. No matter who we are or where we come from, we all want to be loved. We all want to be free.

We all want to be heard. We all want to be admired. We all want people to smile and tell us we've done a good job. We all want to be able to decide our own destiny and have the freedom to do work that matters to us.

If this is what we all want...

How can we show up with more love for the world?

How can we support each other's ongoing quest for freedom?

Better yet...

How can we be more loving to ourselves?

How can we begin to pursue our own quest for freedom?

fall has come early

this morning, the air is cold and stiff

but the sun comes out anyway

emptying itself out in the sky

covering everything in reassurance

that the world is still here for us to enjoy

there comes a particular point
a sharp, breathtaking turn 
of events in your mind

when your heart becomes 
a full-on aha moment

a place of clarity
and wonder

how did you even get here
without a gudebook
without a cheering section 
calling your name 

maybe this is when you realize 
that there are only really
two options in life

to call or to be called 

or perhaps this is when you figure out
what you've been missing all along

a steady shoulder
a knowing eye
a lighthouse carrying you
safely home

daylight is magnificent in summer, it comes almost

early enough to ignore

creeping up past miles of tree and cloud

emptying itself into the sky

making everything golden

before you know it, the world is awake and

everything is brand new, everything is 

right side up again

"The ultimate goal of being ourselves in an authentic way is actually about loving ourselves in a generous way. If we truly love ourselves, most of what we worry about and even much of what we strive for in life becomes meaningless. We may still have some worries, and we'll definitely continue to have goals, dreams and desires. However, from a place of true self-appreciation and self-love, the fear behind our worries and the motivation for our goals dramatically changes from something we have to avoid or produce in order to be accepted and valued, to something we we're genuinely concerned about or really want to accomplish."

— Mike Robbins 

every week
grama takes me
down the street
to miss ernestine's
basement to get 
my hair pressed

miss ernestine's
house always 
stinks like old
people and sardines

and

why she always 
say lawd chile
yo hair so thick
like she done
never did my 
hair before

but i don't
talk back to 
miss ernestine
whatever she say
i nod yes ma'am
watching the hot 
comb blazing red 
on the stove
smelling like
burnt rattlesnakes
and licorice

miss ernestine's hands
are 1,000 years old
which is why
they never get burned

but her weak eyes
play tricks on her
thinking my ear
is a strand
of stray hair
the back of
my neck another
curl to smooth

i hold my breath
squeeze my knees 
cross my eyes  
dreading the inevitable
sizzle of heat 
meeting flesh 

the only thing more
terrifying than death
is telling the truth