Where to Begin

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Where to Begin Page 1

by Cleo Wade




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  This is for you.

  And me.

  And us.

  We are the builders who are building a world

  that has never been built

  before.

  Dearest you,

  When I started out this year, I had no idea I would write a new book. That was until one day in April I was randomly looking through Heart Talk and I opened it up to page 131 where a poem called “Tired” lives. All of a sudden I stopped in my tracks when I saw the line in the poem that read:

  I was tired of seeing evil everywhere / so I found the heavenly spots and showed my / neighbors where they were.

  When I saw those words, I knew it was time to make a new book. There was a voice within me that said with the utmost urgency that I needed to create a heavenly spot and show my neighbors where it was.

  I spent most of last year on the road in community with so many different people, all of whom taught me, inspired me, and made me feel so loved. If you are reading this and were one of the people who came out to any of my tour stops, thank you. You impacted me in ways I can’t fully express. As I traveled, there was one question I was asked, no matter where I went, a big city or a small town, a room full of fifty people or a room full of five hundred: it was “How do you stay sane when it feels like our world gets crazier and crazier?” Or if someone asked me for advice on self-care they would always end the question with “especially during these times.”

  This book is a collection of the ideas, mantras, and poems I turn to when I feel like I am losing it. I wrote this so that I could have them all in one place when I felt overwhelmed by worry, fear, anxiety, or helplessness.

  The words in this book are what stop me from walking away from the problems of the world during tough times. They also help me stay connected to hope during difficult moments and remind me that even on the days that feel the most daunting, I still have the power to show up and do something, somewhere, in some way.

  This book starts with and is named after the poem “Where To Begin,” which I originally wrote when I was asked to give a Ted Talk in 2017. I spent a long time thinking about what message was the most important to put into words for the particular moment in history we are living in. I thought about what words carry me through my worst days and what it would look like to put them into a love note for my friends, family, and the next generation (shout-out to Baby Thelonious).

  I realized if there was anything that I wanted people to know it was that change-making comes in all sizes. It doesn’t always have to be one big gesture or nothing. As my friend Jenna often says, “The big stuff is the small stuff.” Your big life is made up of a collection of all your small moments. Our big world is made up of a collection of all our small actions.

  Over the past two years since writing that poem, I have found myself returning to it over and over again almost as a meditation when the world around me felt frenzied and I needed to calm my mind and replenish my energy.

  The rest of this book is a collection of poems and ideas, some new, some old, as well as some words of advice from friends that I turn to when I need motivation to keep going. This section of the book reminds me that building a beloved community is a lifelong journey, one that requires tools for stamina and self-care.

  If there is anything I hope you will walk away with from this book it is that I hope you won’t walk away from it at all. I hope you will live with it, write in it, and even color in it. (There are a handful of pages where I outlined the letters so you could fill them in. I personally find coloring to be very relaxing, so I thought I would leave some room in this book for you to share that simple joy with me. I recommend colored pencils or crayons instead of markers.)

  I hope that this book can be a heavenly spot for you. I hope this book is one that reminds you that you are powerful and we are going to be okay. And most important, I hope this book makes you feel loved because I love you very much and I am so glad to be in this world with you.

  Love,

  Cleo

  WHERE TO BEGIN

  (a poem)*

  * this poem takes up the next 91 pages of this book. Reading it out loud is the most fun (in my opinion), but as always with my work, experience it however you’d like. Read it front to back, a page a day, pick a page at random when you feel like it, or color all over it. No rules. This book isn’t mine, it’s ours.

  The world will say

  to you:

  be a

  better person.

  do not

  be afraid to

  say yes.

  start by

  being a better listener.

  start

  by being better

  at walking

  down the street.

  see people.

  say hello.

  ask how they are doing

  and

  listen to what they say

  to you.

  start by

  being

  a better friend

  a better parent

  a better child to your parents

  a better sibling

  a better lover

  a better partner.

  start by

  being

  a better neighbor.

  meet someone you do

  not know

  and

  get to know them.

  the world will say

  to you:

  what are you

  going to do?

  do not be afraid to say

  i know

  i can’t do everything

  but

  i can do

  something.

  walk into more rooms, saying,

  “i’m here to help.”

  Give

  what you can give

  and

  do

  what you can do.

  give dollars.

  give cents.

  give your time.

  give your heart.

  give your spirit.

  the world will say

  to you:

  we need peace.

  find your peace

  within.

  hold it sacred

  bring it with you

  everywhere

  you go.

  peace

  cannot be shared or created

  with others

  if

  you cannot, first,

  generate it

  within.

  the world will say

  to you:

  they

  are the enemy.

  love enough to know

  that

  just because someone

  disagrees with you

  does not

  make them

  your enemy.

  you may not win an

  argument.

  you may not change

  a mind,

  but

  if you choose to…

  the world will say

  to you:

  we need justice.

  investigate.

  find truth

  beyond

  the stories

  you

  are told.

  find truth

  beyond

  the way things seem.

  ask:

  “why?”r />
  ask:

  “is this fair?”

  ask:

  “how did we get here?”

  do this

  with

  compassion.

  do this

  with

  forgiveness.

  learn to forgive others.

  start by

  truly

  learning how

  to forgive

  yourself.

  we are all

  more

  than who

  we were

  yesterday.

  we are

  all

  deserving of

  our

  dignity.

  recognize

  that

  your justice

  is

  my justice

  and my justice

  is

  yours.

  the world will say

  to you:

  i am violent.

  respond

  by saying,

  i am not.

  not with my words

  and

  not with my actions.

  the world will say

  to you:

  we need to heal

  the planet.

  start by saying,

  “no, thank you, i don’t need a

  plastic bag.”

  recycle.

  reuse.

  start by

  picking up

  one piece

  of trash

  on your block.

  the world will say

  to you:

  there are too many problems.

  do not be afraid to be a

  part of the

  solutions.

  start by

  discussing the issues.

  the more we talk about

  things,

  the more we see

  that

  the issues

  are connected

  because…

  the world will say

  to you:

  we need to end

  racism.

  start by

  healing it

  in your

  own family.

  the world will say

  to you:

  how do we speak to

  bias and bigotry?

  start by

  having the first

  conversation

  at your own

  kitchen table.

  the world will say

  to you:

  there is too much

  hate.

  love yourself

  so much

  that

  you can love others

  without barriers

  and

  without judgment.

  when the world asks us

  big questions

  that

  require big answers,

  we have two options:

  one.

  to feel so overwhelmed

  or

  unqualified

  we do

  nothing.

  two.

  to begin.

  to start

  with one small act

  and

  qualify ourselves.

  I am

  the director of national

  security,

  and

  so are you.

  sure,

  no one appointed us and

  there were no senate

  confirmations

  but

  we can

  secure a nation.

  when we help

  just one person

  to be more secure

  our nation

  is more secure.

  with just one

  outstretched hand

  that says,

  “are you ok?

  I am here for you.”

  we have

  the power

  to transform

  insecurity

  into

  security.

  we find ourselves

  saying to the world,

  “what do we do?”

  “what can I do?”

  the better question

  might be,

  “how am I showing up?”

  I ask the world for peace

  but

  do I show up with peace

  when

  I see my family and friends?

  I ask the world to put a

  stop to hatred

  but

  do I show up with love

  for not only

  those I know

  but

  for those I do not know?

  do I show up with love

  for those

  whose ideas conflict

  with my own?

  I ask the world

  to end

  suffering,

  but

  do I show up

  for those who are suffering

  on my

  street corner?

  we say to the world:

  “please change!”

  “we need change!”

  but how do we show up to

  change our own lives?

  how do we show up

  to change

  the lives of the people

  in

  our communities?

  James Baldwin

  said,

  “everything now, we must

  assume, is in our hands; we

  have no right to assume

  otherwise.”

  And this has always been

  true…

  no one nominated

  Harriet Tubman

  to

  her purpose,

  to

  her courage,

  to

  her mission.

  she did not say,

  “i am not a congressperson

  or

  the president,

  so how could i possibly

  participate in the fight to

  abolish a system

  as big as slavery?”

  she instead

  spent ten years

  making

  nineteen trips

  freeing

  300 people,

  one

  person

  at a time.

  think about the children

  of

  those 300 people,

  the grandchildren,

  the great-grandchildren,

  and beyond.

  whether it was

  hurricane

  Katrina, Harvey, Irma,

  or Maria,

  people did not say,

  “there’s so much damage, what can we even do?”

  they got in their boats

  and

  started loading in every

  woman, man,

  and child

  they came across.

  one by one

  they gave their dollars,

  they gave their cents,

  they gave their time,

  they gave their heart,

  and

  they gave their spirit.

  we spend so much time

  thinking

  we don’t have the

  power

  to change the world,

  we forget that the

  power

  to change someone’s life is

  always in our hands.

  we all have the

  power

  to relieve someone’s pain

  with our

  embrace.

  and

  lessen someone’s suffering

  with our

  kindness.

  change-making

  does not belong to one group

  of people.

  you do not have to wait for

  anyone

  to tell you

  that

  you are in this.

  you don’t have to wa
it

  around wondering what you

  should do

  get to work on what you

  can do.

  the time has always been

  now.

  begin.

  start by

  doing what you can

  with

  what you’ve got,

  where you are,

  and

  in your own way.

  we don’t have to be

  heroes,

  wear a uniform,

  call ourselves activists,

  or

  get elected to participate.

 

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