Maya Angelou dares to truly be who she is and its like every word she speaks and writes has been carefully curated for the moment. What a way to live, and what a powerful presence!
By the way, on the subject of “pleasing people”, did you know that Albert Einstein was akin to a failure in his father’s eyes as he had crappy grades and worked at a patent office. He always wished he could please his dad. His dad died before he produced the work that we know to be true genius. So, perhaps trying to please people and suffering for their lack of approval is needless? xoxo Dana
I needed to see this quote today! It’s time to turn off the internal dialogue. Maya is a true inspiration and I’m lucky enough to say I saw her speak at my college. Thanks for sharing!
This may sound morbid, but I read a study that showed people don’t “really live” full out until their parents pass away. I’m wondering if that was related to Einstein’s experience here. Just thinking/writing out loud, but I think we all need to live less to prove things to our parents and more for ourselves. 🙂
well, nathalie, I can’t agree with you more! i mean, personally, it wasn’t until my mom suddely passed away in 2011 (my dad died 10 years earlier, jeeze, both wayyyy too young) that I realized I had nothing left to be afraid of and nothing to lose. I can’t articulate it better than that, but I do know that I make a point in my work to emphasize the fact that we gotta do our thing, not someone elses thing 🙂