This week I was asked to speak at Unitarian Universalist Church in Long Beach about how I answer the question: "Where are you from?" I was given an hour and a half to share my life story as a Spanish Indian growing up in New Mexico. I have spent my whole life trying to answer this question and always ended up feeling unsettled in my answer. But as I grow in age and my research uncovers more of histories horrible secrets, I have learned that my inability to answer this question has been designed this way on purpose. More than anything, I am learning instead to listen to my elders and how to match their stories to history. This process has helped me uncover the truth to my existence in a way that leaves me feeling like every other hero on a quest who has wrestled with ancient riddles told by great sages. The struggle to figure out life's purpose and who we are is one that many humans have sought after. And because of this I know I probably won't get much further than any other hero before me. Still, this opportunity has helped pushed me in a direction that makes my role in life more identifiable. It has also given me the opportunity to concretely tell my story so that my children and those in my family who follow me will have something tangible to hold onto. And that is much more than I could have ever dreamed. We are all important links in history. Start recording yours. The mundane, the important. Tell your story. Because one day there will be someone looking for help as they tell theirs. 😍 #teachlove
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Storytellers Forum
Welcome to my storytellers forum!
Before you read, please remember that writing is a sacred practice. In order to write, you first have to be willing to open up yourself up to an audience. This means there is a great level of vulnerability in the process. The writing process is not linear. Thoughts and feelings manifest themselves all at once. This forum is space for us all to try to place it in a logical order. This can be difficult and take many edits and adjustments within a conversation. Know that my work is one from the heart and not from an assumed professional expertise. My writing is based on my personal goals to share the voices that are usually not heard. Much of what I write can be seen as radical and aggressive by today's cultural standards. My mission with #teachlove is to share my words unfiltered, and often unedited, to help start conversations that will advocate for self-care and accepting differences to open up avenues in our communities so that everyone's story can be told.
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