It’s a way to make what the world finds mundane, beautiful, just on a simpler scale – for me. It’s a way to capture the beauty of what is hidden, maybe, behind canopy’s and folds and buried in pages of a journal written 50 years ago. It’s a way to put things together that are not visible to everyone else. There’s an image, a sound, a poem, a story in your head that lives there and you see it when the pain is too much to bear. This thing comes forth through your arms. Your shea buttered arms, your black don’t crack fingers.

There isn’t a direct line that you can see with your eyes that will show that this is the thing’s substance. The words flow from somewhere and the sounds are made so easily – energy passed from inside you. Creative energy. You, the creator, are able to bring something to life. Of course this name creator came after you created something. Before that, there was no label there, just the energy stagnant, swirling in pools of images and sound waiting for you, the unnamed, to make sense of this matter.

It could be a stepping stone to another place – your dwelling place. Many aren’t happy with you and your energy. They want to stall it, stop it, hide it, take it for themselves. Just like Jesus, you will feel this happening if someone tried to take your power from you. This dwelling place is your home, where your power lies. Your journey will encounter so many people who will try their hardest to stop this creative process, this journey towards your destiny.

“Avoid those people.”
-Wakadinali.

It isn’t a given that you will take this path of creativity. Many times you will want to give up. It gets hard, shame creeps in, you end up wanting a lot more than you did in the beginning, your world expands and you meet more people who share with you more about this gift you have. You fall in love and your whole perspective on life changes, let alone the fact that you experience love: fear tries to grip your fingers, you hands, your mind where your matter is made but you run, far, where you cannot be found, to your safe haven.

If you choose to take this path, remember to revere it. Remember what is sacred in the process of creation. Remember that you are part of this sacred process of creation. Trust your gut, trust your heart and be gentle with your hands. Place the sanctity of your studio at the centre of it all and remain true to your vision. Keep open the pathways of creativity and have an open mind for as long as you can. Fight for others, not just for yourself – this will bless you in return. Hone kindness in your heart for as long as you can because the world is sure to break your gentle heart.

It doesn’t get easier. The moment you realise that it is getting hard, life that is, it’s downhill from there. Getting stronger is an active choice. It’s not an easy one . . . it will never be an easy choice. Life isn’t fair that way. Life doesn’t at some point present to you flowers and rainbows unless you truly do align. Otherwise, you’re left in the trenches, fighting for the right to breathe or the right to rest or the right to live. It becomes an upward battle day in and out. It never gets easier, you simply choose to stay and fight.

So prepare for many times when you will collapse under the weight of what is on your shoulders. Prepare to relearn lessons many times until you get it right. Prepare to dodge traps lain by those closest to you when you have only but trusted them. Prepare for the hardest times to come your way and be grateful when they miss you by a sliver.
And create.
Always remember to create your beautiful world.