Spirituality in my life.
Religion
My mom grew up catholic. She went to a catholic school, prayed before she ate and went to church every sunday. Despite living such a faithful lifestyle, her religion really didn’t mean much to her. She was just going through the motions. She’s said to me before that she always kind of felt it was her parent’s religion. My dad grew up completely unreligious. Neither of his parents belonged to any religion and so that the way he was raised. My parent met young and had me by the time they were 20. When it was my turn to go to school, the public vs. catholic school debate was pretty heated. My mom’s parents were furious at the suggestion of me going to a public school, but my dad wouldn’t have it any other way. Much to my nana’s dismay I went into public school as soon as I could. My mom’s religiousness fizzled out as soon as she became her own person, separate from her parents. I didn’t grow up knowing nothing about religion. Quite the opposite actually -it fascinated me. I would pull information about religion out of anyone I could. My grandma, my cousins, my muslim friends at school. Anything I could. I even went through a period where I listened to The Bible as an audiobook on my mp3 player. I loved learning about different religions, asking questions and ultimately -questioning myself. My parents encouraged this curiosity and always let me know that I was free to choose my own beliefs. I don’t necessarily feel that spirituality is based on religion but I do think it is a good example of it. Questioning your relationship with the world and the people around you as well as your existence is a way to find yourself and discover who you really are.
Learning who you
are, and
how to be OK
are, and
how to be OK
The teenage years take a toll on all of us. People seldom make it threw without some sort of identity crisis. It’s hard, I know it was for me. As you grow up you change as a person and you slowly come to terms with who you are -which can be rough. It seemed to fast track for me from grade 9-12. If you told my grade 9 self about who I was in grade 10, 11, or even 12 she would be shocked. My goals, beliefs and feelings changed so much, so quickly that I didn’t know how to handle it. I began to resent myself for all the conflicted feelings I was having. Right around the end of grade 11 I found friends who inspired me, things I was passionate about and I really learned how to deal with what was going on with me. I discovered positive things to focus my energy on and I fell in love with how I was feeling. To me thats what spirituality is all about -positive personal transformation.
This is a small video of footage I captured when I was experiencing pure bliss and happiness with people I love. These are moments that I've felt proud of my spirituality
Maya's Poem
I decided to include this poem that a good friend of mine wrote. Maya Amoah is one of my best friend and her ambition is a great inspiration to me. This poem is about feminism and being in touch with yourself as a powerful women. I find it very spiritual and I'm very proud to call someone so in touch with their emotions and their relationship with the outside world, a friend.