Personal Legend
Personal Legend Insights
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Life wants you to achieve your personal legend.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Many of you know that I recently published a book, See You in the Sky: A Memoir of Prison, Possibility and Peace telling the story of my transformative relationship with my incarcerated father. What stirred inside my soul to write my book and get it out into the world, I knew, was how I could find and use my voice to reveal secrets, hurts and eventually the expansive healing power of love.
“Girls I don’t want you to tell anyone where your dad is. We’ll just keep that to ourselves. It’ll be our secret,” Grandma said tilting her head to one side and staring at me with her gray eyes. No one asked me what it was like for me to have my dad in jail, I wasn’t allowed to talk about how afraid I was or how sad I was. …excerpt from See You in the Sky
My writing changed me. It connected me with how pain becomes power. It paved a path known to the alchemist, one that helped me turn lead into gold, one that helped me grow from the gifts of the crucible. Then I finally understood how to see and follow omens.
Imagine a place where pain transforms into resilience and those who were once silent and stigmatized lift their voices. This is POPS (Pain of the Prison System) the Clubs, a non-profit organization that provides a safe, peer community for teens with incarcerated parents to gather, support one another, express themselves with creative writing, art and heal from their shared experiences. For over a year I have been on the POPS’ Board and offering pro-bono life coaching to youth in the POPS programs.
I found family. I found myself in them and they in me. I found budding alchemists inspiring the world with their voices because of POPS.
Can you hear us now?
To My Higher Self by Joslyn Stevenson
I’m sorry
I don’t know how to
Love you
I can feel you longing for the love
You deserve
Yet,
You still choose me
I’m sorry
My emotions are always at a tug-a-war
At times
A standstill
Yet,
You still love me
Ever so radiantly
Keep Your Heart Open by Karen Arellano, Valeria De La Torre, Bianca Lopez and Mireya Sanchez-Annibali
Keep your heart open
Even when you’re mad.
Defy all odds
We are easily blinded by how brightly we shine.
They say the strong survive,
We know the strong strive.
The ability to overcome and talk
About what has been done
Overrules holding your tongue.
To release is the best treat.
Unknown by Amy Medina
We will always run and look for happiness
In the hands of those who break us
Because only they know how to put the pieces
Back together
al·che·mist
/ˈalkəməst/
noun
a person who practices alchemy.
o a person who transforms or creates something through a seemingly magical process.