WHEN LIFE FEELS IMPOSSIBLE...

Dear Friends

Currently I am in a Social Media Co-Lab for BLOOMFEST – a new festival for creatives here in Ghana. 

In this co-lab we have been sharing our social media skills with each other.  Today’s task is for me to re-introduce myself in a new way to my friends, readers and followers by telling you about my craft.

This is my re-introduction to you.

MY NAME IS OLUBODE. 

I am A CREATIVE and the FOUNDER OF BLOOM. 

But, most important…  I’M POSSIBLE. 

Why do I want you to know that I’M POSSIBLE?

Because the circumstances of my life often feel impossible. 

And that’s okay.  

What I now know is that possibility and the experience of impossibility go hand in hand. So, I am learning to live well with life’s “impossibilities.”

Let me explain.

There is a poem by the writer Alice Walker (The Color Purple) that I try to remember at times when my well being and livelihood are uncertain. In it she imagines herself as a flower with a purpose. 

It begins with this line, “the purpose of this flower is to bloom…”  She ends the poem with this line, “…blooming for deserving eyes…. blooming gloriously for itself.” 

To see myself as possible in the midst of an impossible world has involved growing new eyes so to speak. I have had to find a new way to experience myself while in my body amidst the anxiety that is triggered when things happen that are not logical or ordered.

Today I know that the most deserving eyes are my own eyes. 

Holding the space for BLOOMFEST to happen in Ghana in the way we intend, often feels like the odds are impossible.  My journey towards BLOOMFEST has been teaching me:  how to see myself and in turn others, with new eyes.

On the face of it we are an under-resourced,  loose global network of creatives, who have never worked together before at this scale, creating events from scratch and working towards a goal to measurably change the lives of 1 million creatives in Africa and its diaspora by the end of 2022.

It feels impossible because it is not logical. Yet it is fueled by possibility, only because we have embraced the impossibility of it all.

We all have our impossibilities.

Currently the challenges before us as a species are impossible—climate change, political polarization, poverty, war, and ideological bigotry. 

Each is the product of our actions taken out of fear.

This is what we often do rather than face fears—we turn against ourselves as each other.

Fears reside in the province of the evolutionary biology of our species. Our fears are not personal, they were our ancestors’ and we have the same one’s simply because we are human. 

Being human has always been an impossible proposition. We are not a logical outcome.

Now we are destroying ourselves and the planet — a seemingly impossible fix.

Yet we have now evolved to the point where we can begin to see ourselves with new eyes. 

Today we can see and experience the possibility we are, and we can choose that possibility as our lives. You see we have survived thus far not just out of fear but because I believe we are fundamentally sourced from the possibility of loving creation.

We are the product of the same energy that fuels flowers.  Some may call this God, give it gender.

In spite of your circumstances you are the possibility of a life fueled by love.

And Ms. Walker in her poem, tells us that we have the ability to see this.

This is what happens when we face life’s impossibilities, we grow new eyes, new awareness of who we are. 

I believe we are all growing “deserving eyes” for ourselves. 

My best friend on his deathbed, shared with me a simple observation. Amidst the loud noises that came from the construction site next to his small apartment he found new awareness. When I asked, “Bobby, how do you stand the noise?”  He said simply, “I am grateful that I have ears.”

Today, as you face your own impossibilities may you find new eyes to feel and see the possibility that you are.

Here is the full text of Alice Walker's luminous poem:

the purpose of this flower is to bloom

rebellious living against the elemental crush

a song of color blooming for deserving eyes

blooming gloriously for itself.

 ~ Alice Walker

For me the "elemental crush" is the impossible odds of living, of surviving and thriving as a human being in today’s world. 

Yet being human is an evolving proposition that evolves only in the face of the impossible.

Today may you see yourself with deserving eyes.

I’M POSSIBLE

Olubode

_________

BLOOMFEST is a global gathering of African creatives working on "Big Impossible Goals." It is a gathering of the dopest artists, thinkers, entrepreneurs and change-makers of our time. We are coming together in the midst of great global challenges to celebrate our lives, learn from each other, share our stories and inspire each other for the road ahead. 

The Festival happens for the first time in Ghana, August 1-15, 2022.

CLICK HERE for more information and to hear how you can participate.