by Humble the Poet, author of Unlearn

“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.”
― Dorothy Allison

I loved him like a brother, and he treated me as such. He told me I was a genius and that the world needed to hear my music. He was a ball of passion, and when he spoke it always felt like a battle cry to fight for a better life. I was working as a teacher, spending my summers with struggling artists who gave me that energy and community I craved. When I met him in Toronto, I felt like I found new family in my own hometown.

His family wasn’t so abundant—his parents struggled with addiction and were trying to take the earnings he made producing music. It was killing his spirit, and I could sense it. So without consulting my parents, I invited him to live with me. He was the brother I never had.

We got matching tattoos and promised each other that there would always be two of everything. We [Read more…]

“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
― Maya Angelou

It is what it is.  Accept it, learn from it, and grow from it.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done; what truly matters is what you do from here.

And what you need to remember right now is that you can’t heal yourself in the same exact environment where you got sick.  You need to surround yourself with situations and people that push you to heal and grow.  Less drama, less mess.

Because the truth is, you won’t always be a priority to others—or to the world’s agenda at large—and that’s why you need to be a priority to yourself.  Learn to respect yourself, take care of yourself, and become your own support system.  Your needs matter.  Start meeting them.

Don’t wait on others to choose you.

Choose yourself, today!

Choose to live your life today not as a bystander—not as a prisoner to the old environments and beliefs that sometimes keep you stuck.  But to instead live as an active participant, engaged in the new possibilities in front of you.

That’s your choice!  YOUR choice!

You are choosing right now… [Read more…]

This is a new day.  A new beginning.  And things will change.

This morning I was jogging along a nature path near my home when a woman I had just passed began screaming for help.  I turned around to see that her husband had fallen to the ground and appeared to be unconscious.  I ran over and checked his pulse.  He barely had one, and he was not breathing.  The woman called 911 on her mobile phone while I performed CPR on her husband.  Somehow, miraculously, I got him in a more stabilized state before the paramedics arrived.  And although I have no idea how this couple’s story will end, I’m optimistically hopeful.

Now I’m sitting here reflecting on the whole incident, and especially on the words the woman repeated over and over through heavy tears as I was attending to her husband:  “It’s not [Read more…]

Everyone dies, but not everyone truly lives.

Last week, at my dear friend Alison’s celebration of life, her husband stood up to deliver a eulogy and said, “Life is the leading cause of death, and Alison truly lived her life, passionately.  She died doing what she loved.  If she never did what she loved, she may not have died, but she wouldn’t have truly lived either.”

His words immediately reminded me of the opening lines to one of my favorite entries in Marc’s grandmother’s journal:

“I have seen and touched and danced and sung and climbed and loved and meditated on a lifetime spent living honestly.  Should it all end tomorrow, I can positively say there would be no regrets.  I feel fortunate to have walked in my shoes.  I am truly lucky.  I really have lived 1,000 times over.”

What does it mean to truly live?  What does it mean to live 1,000 times over?

Perhaps to follow in Alison’s footsteps, and rest in peace someday, with zero regrets of how you have lived.

Which means, according to the beautifully and truthfully spoken eulogy Alison’s husband delivered… [Read more…]