Maya and the Life Minimizers

I just read an interview of Maya Angelou. I don't consume Oprah and it's been awhile since I've thought about or read Maya so I'm feeling particularly blessed to have Oprah's Master Class series come into my path (in a rather haphazardly on-purpose way of the Universe). Maya's life principles exude the line of thinking and way of being that excites and energizes me at this very moment - so I'm gonna study her ways. My husband once said that he enjoys reading biographies of others because some of life's great lessons are found therein. So true. The interview is alive with well places wisdom and there are so many points to expound upon, however this one I have to speak on:

"Maya: That's right—all of my history as an African-American woman, as a Jewish woman, as a Muslim woman. I'm bringing everything I ever knew [and all the stories I've read]—everything good, strong, kind and powerful. I bring it all with me into every situation, and I will not allow my life to be minimized by anybody's racism or sexism or ageism. I will not. So I will take the Scandinavian story of the little princess, I will take the story of Heidi in the Alpine mountains, I will take the story of O-Lan in Pearl S. Buck's book The Good Earth, I will take them all. I take them, and I know them, and I am them. So when I walk into a room, people know that somebody has come in—they just don't know it's 2,000 people!"

I made the shining sentence bold because that's exactly where 'IT' is. Many years have been spent (but not wasted) hibernating inside a shell, focused on minimizations such as racism, insecurities and issues from childhood. Life minimizers is what I'll call them. And neither self-help books nor counseling from those who love me can bring me to the magic of alive-ness until me, myself, and I decide to love living; which I have. My husband was so right when he said (to paraphrase) that the best revenge against those who hurt us is to heal. Of course negatives still exist but we can remove their energy from filling the only moment we ever have – the present.