I finally got around to reading The Color Purple and it’s already amongst my top five reads. I would say favorite, but that word makes me nervous. I could go on and on about the book but I won’t. I’m sure that you’ve read the book and/or seen the movie.
Perhaps it’s because I’m a writer, but I like to point out the small things. Cherish and reflect on what’s often forgotten or overlooked. Sometimes I’ll read a piece, put the book down, and just think. I allow myself to do what everybody warns me not to do and overthink–above the page, beyond the book, outside the room, and beneath the moment.
The Color Purple (the book) is composed is a series of letters: most from Celie to God, some from Nettie to Celie, and a few from Celie to Nettie. Well, on this particular page, Celie addressed the letter, “Dear God, Dear Stars, Dear Trees, Dear Sky, Dear Peoples, Dear Everything, [and again] Dear God.”
As a reader, you know something good is coming next. Not just the regular day to day good either. The great kind of good. The jump-up-and-down, I-don’t-care-who’s-looking kind of good. The I-love-my-life kind of good because this is living. Being reunited with her sister and two children made Celie feel that kind of good.
What opens your senses? Brightens your spirit? Have you writing Dear God, the stars, the trees, and everything in between?
During my moment of overthinking, I asked myself what stirs my soul in this way? What makes me feel the great kind of good?
Whatever is your form of art, be an artist about it. As a writer, I wrote about it. I wrote about how happy it makes me when I can sleep in until about 9 in the morning. When I can take a nap halfway through the day. When I write. When I make money from my written words. When I make enough money to be comfortable and to travel. When I can help others, inspire others. When I have the energy to be–not Superwoman–but the best mama, wife, writer, and friend that I can be. When I can read, write, and play until the sky changes colors without regretting it. When I don’t have to spend 1/3 of everyday somewhere that I don’t even wanna be.
Living this ideal life is what my mentor calls Radical Self Expression. It’s my purpose. It’s my gift to my children. It’s my promise to myself. It’s what I both deserve and desire.
Desire: a want, though much deeper. I envision flames in place of pupils. A big ole’ bleeding, beating heart in the chest of a being that’s girdled in a red aura.
Desire.
I am my deepest desire. I, meaning myself. Trelani is my deepest desire. And if it is true that “the key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire and not on things we fear,” then the key to my success is to focus on me; to express me, and radically so.
What’s your deepest desire? What makes you excited enough to write a letter to God, the trees, the stars, and everything in between? What’s your plan to own it?