a story | exercise #1 | an affirmation | exercise #2 7 minute read. |
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a story: i am coming home. |
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In the DBW survey, I asked:
“In 5 words or less, how would you describe these past few years?”
So many of you responded. Today, I share my 5 words:
I. Am. Coming. Home.
A key part of my journey (back) to myself has been my communion with the land. Here’s a little of my story… |
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Long before this moment, while still in NYC, I would ache whenever I’d pass the rare urban farm on the corner of a city block. I mean ache. Ya hear me? I didn’t understand then that my ache was my profound need to connect with the land. To carry forward many of the ancestral practices that have made my life and your life possible today.
Like so many of us, the grief and heartbreak of the pandemic cracked me open. Through that opening, this awareness was born.
Over the past 5 growing seasons, I’ve been nurturing my first farm:
Coming Home Farm. |
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What started off as the courage to listen and start small has transformed into a gift that keeps holding me, loving me and growing me.
Now, I grow over 75 vegetable varieties, 30 fruit and flower varieties, and 60 herbs. |
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I convert my vegetables and fruits into canned foods that can feed me and those I love for years to come. I also craft my herbs into wonderful medicines via my apothecary.
But, even more than anything I grow?
I am coming home to more of who I am. |
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This transformation has been life giving and saving.
And it’s just the beginning.
So many DBWs have shared how much transformation has been a part of their lives these past few years. If that’s true for you, my story today is to say “Girl, I understand.”
Because I do.
Let’s keep coming home, |
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exercise #1: reflect & free write |
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1. What’s something I ache for that seems totally off the beaten path of my life?
2. What is 1 small way I can give myself permission to explore my ache this week?
3. How can I use time with nature to support me as I take this small step?
Ideas: watering a plant, walking barefoot on grass, deep breathing outside, journaling in a park or by a riverbed, etc.
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sustainability spotlight: art inspired by my Coming Home journey! |
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Special shout out to our collaborator the Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.
Find art you love, at a price you love, by an artist who loves us! |
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DBWs with Amos at an in-person art sale! |
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an affirmation: My Black Girl Manifesto |
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“Sometimes I hesitate to stand in my light, but I rather blind the world with my brilliance than comfort it with my dimness.”
DBW Brandi |
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This is my black girl manifesto Sometimes I hesitate to stand in my light But I rather blind the world with my brilliance than comfort it with my dimness. There are many ways to serve the world and I have the right to choose which ways feel most in alignment with my own truth. because truth is: I am a chocolate-covered alien. My identity doesn't fit neatly into any, one, category. And I am okay with that. In fact, I embrace it. I glorify my inner-contradictions. I celebrate my unsolved mysteries. I thank God for the miracle that is my imperfection. This is how I love myself. and THAT is how I serve the world. |
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“But like the butterfly; I am aware that the darkness of my cocoon is but a space for metamorphosis. And honey, my wings are extraordinary… They grow when I stare at the moon, or glance at the sun. They grow when I eat living foods. ”
DBW Brandi |
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Yes, I doubt and I may feel unsure at times, but I am never foolish for following my intuition. Yes, I take huge risks and I may fail at times, but I am never a failure. Yes, I struggle and I may need to retreat from the world during my personal storms.
But like the butterfly; I am aware that the darkness of my cocoon is but a space for metamorphosis. And honey, my wings are extraordinary. They grow every time I dance or laugh with my lover. They grow when I meditate. Or every time I walk barefoot on grass. They grow when I stare at the moon, or glance at the sun. They grow when I eat living foods. They grow when I wear an ankh or when I rub on coconut oil. They grow every time I see myself naked. They grow when I honor my ancestors. They grow every time I give myself grace.
My wings grow with grace.
Change is inevitable but growth is a choice and every time I choose to love myself, even in a small way, I not only grow my own wings;
I help the whole world to fly. |
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exercise #2: reflect & free write |
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1. It is risky, even downright dangerous to “rather blind the world with my brilliance than comfort it with my dimness.”
What can support me in taking this riskier, but more fulfilling path?
2. DBW Brandi calls herself “a chocolate covered alien”.
When I give myself permission to describe my best self, I say I am: _______________________.
3. “I am aware that the darkness of my cocoon is but a space for metamorphosis. And honey, my wings are extraordinary. They grow every time I…”
What makes my wings grow?
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sustainability spotlight: art inspired by “My Black Girl Manifesto”! |
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Special shout out to our collaborator the Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.
Find art you love, at a price you love, by an artist who loves us! |
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Find art you love, at a price you love, by an artist who loves us! |
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DBWs with Amos at an in-person art sale! |
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