If being a journalist has taught me anything, it is that we ought to become general experts in as many subjects as possible. In storytelling, you encounter numerous details and perspectives that then implore you to do more research, interviews, and information gathering to bring the “whole” story together.
The truth is, you’ll never have the story in its completeness, there is always another angle that is not represented. Yet, through the collection and synthesis of information, you become present to understand the world and the interconnected nature of all things.
Our presence is determined by our awareness.
Awareness of who and what we are in relationship with our environment.
We build this awareness through input from our senses.
Then we synthesize that data into what will become our thoughts and actions.
The performer of those actions is the Body.
How we come to know our Body directly affects how we perceive other Bodies.
If you know not your own vessel, how are you to value the vessel of another?
As we read headlines about skyrocketing death tolls by viruses, racism, and police, what do the numbers mean? Those numbers represent the Bodies of people who were once alive.
“So, why should I care? They aren’t me, I am not them.”
The count reduces the power of the person into a quantitative statistic and eliminates society recognizing the inherent power of people in their individual personhood. The more we normalize a strictly numeral-based reference for human life, the more we lose our personal sense of sacredness.
I invite you to spend more time with your Body, and move to understand how and why it does what it can do. This may sound strange coming from a writer, but the wellness of the Body is essential to all other activities. A close relationship with one’s Body, mind, and spirit – informed with dynamic knowledge – centered on joy and justice – can only produce beautiful creations, no matter the medium.
I’ve been dancing since I was a child. The feeling of the Body in motion, in rhythm, in harmony, with people, place, and planet is immeasurable. It is simply life-changing. That level of connection can bridge the disparate arrangement of our communities and inform our awareness of one another.
Though we may be physically separate, coming to know ourselves in our wholeness will make us more prepared to be with one another again.
I was going to do a bunch of research for this blog and hyperlink everything I said with data and book references. But by now you probably assume I’m some kind of expert.
I am an expert in my experience, and so are you in yours.
An artist, journalist, and social entrepreneur, Dawaune Hayes brings people, ideas, and resources together for positive change. In 2018, he joined forces with The Omaha Star, Nebraska’s oldest Black-owned newspaper, and 101.3 FM Mind & Soul Radio to develop NOISE.
