Once we recognize what it is we are feeling, once we recognize we can feel deeply, love deeply, can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy.
Interpretation
Recognizing our emotions empowers us to pursue joy in all aspects of life.
This quote by Audre Lorde emphasizes the importance of emotional awareness and the profound impact it has on our lives. By acknowledging our capacity for deep feelings such as love and joy, we become motivated to cultivate these emotions across all areas of our existence, leading to a more fulfilling and joyful life.
In practice
This quote can inspire a group discussion on emotional intelligence at a workshop.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
What do you want to avoid? Such an easy answer: sloth and unreliability. If you're unreliable it doesn't matter what your virtues are. You're going to crater immediately. Doing what you have faithfully engaged to do should be an automatic part of your conduct. You want to avoid sloth and unreliability.
The sage acts without taking credit. He accomplishes without dwelling on it. He does not want to display his worth.
Consider all the past as nothing, and say, like David: Now I begin to love my God.
It's always the idle habits you acquire which you will regret. Father said that. That Christ was not crucified: he was worn away by a minute clicking of little wheels. That had no sister.
I lived my life one way for 35 years, for me. And then the focus came in on what I really was.
There are two kinds of Europeans: The smart ones, and those who stayed behind.
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