Hello magical being,
I have been thinking a lot about courage. The courage to have difficult conversations, stand against oppression and genocide, tell the truth, say the unsaid, act on our dreams, let pleasure into our bodies, trust, speak, create, commune, love, try, and be seen trying.
In my MasterClass on Sunday, I shared a powerful shift I learned from the book Restoring the Kinship Worldview. It has really stuck with me: that western/dominant worldviews tend to hold AGGRESSION as the highest form of courage; while indigenous worldviews view GENEROSITY as the highest form of courage.
Generosity as the highest form of courage… I find that astoundingly precious. I get chills at the kind of worlds this wisdom, if embodied on a collective level, could create.
In the past couple of years, I have greatly grown my capacity to be courageous — and my life has profoundly shifted in turn. Towards more magic, love, connection, purpose, alignment.
As a creator, I get this vivid image of myself as a goddess walking towards and through the fire of fear, again and again, merging goddess and warrior consciousness in one orgasmic state of being.
The universe recently reunited me with a wonderful quote by Maya Angelou, which I also shared in my most recent podcast episode:
”Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”
This brought me back to Audre Lorde’s stunning call to courage in Poetry is Not a Luxury:
“There are no new ideas… There are only old and forgotten ones, new combinations, extrapolations and recognitions from within ourselves — along with the renewed courage to try them out. And we must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply, and so many of our old ideas disparage.”
So I’m wondering: what heretical actions do your dreams imply, and how can we encourage you to attempt them?
There are so many ideas I have not had the courage to create or share, and many others that came very close to never being.
I now feel truly alive to my fears, which is perhaps all they were asking of me all along. To all my fears: I see you, I understand your view of the world — but I wholeheartedly choose not to share it with you. I have found that this dialogue, between fear and me, is its own kind of spiritual awakening. So, what is trying to awaken through you, and how can we help you to allow it?
Sending love my dear friends.
with love & gratitude,
Ayanda
P.S. Part 2 of my Free MasterClass on Creative Kinship is on Friday, July 12 at 11am EST / 3pm UTC. Register here (link fixed!). And if you would like to add more creative courage to your practice, consider Creative Activations. It supported me immediately before recording this YouTube video on the fear of your own power.
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