Be Proud Today and Every Day

June is Pride Month, when the world's LGBTQIA+ communities come together to celebrate their strength, grace, and greatness. So what does it mean to be Proud? That's the question we asked Jamila Reddy, writer, meditation teacher, self-empowerment coach. And if you've been a Daily Shine listener since it began one year ago, a former host. Her answer, "Being proud to me means loving my full self and thus having a desire to be fully seen." To celebrate Pride and honor our LGBTQIA+ Shine members, we're bringing Jamila back on the mic today with a lesson we can all take something away from, to be authentic, our fullest and truest versions of ourselves and express that uniqueness, whatever that looks like for us. Welcome back, Jamila. (gentle music) Pride season is a time I reflect on the legacy that I have inherited. I feel so much gratitude. I know without a doubt that my experience in the world as a proud, black, queer, polyamorous, and non-binary person is a direct effect of the organizing, protesting, educating, and healing done by LGBTQIA+ people who came before me. I think of Marsha P. Johnson, and Sylvia Rivera, and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, all who supported the Stonewall uprising, all who gave of themselves in service of me and of all of us being able to live dignified, safe, beautiful lives. It is because of their loving compassion, their unwillingness to accept a world in which our humanity was denied that we celebrate Pride today. We have inherited a better world because of them. This moment we are in, this radical shift happening in our collective history, is a reminder that all justice movements are rooted in love. James Baldwin wrote, "The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see." Activism is a courageous, compassionate act. It comes from love, from loving human beings, and it is because we love each other that we work to create a world in which each of us can thrive and reach our full potential. Right now, we are in a moment of great awakening. People all over the world are becoming aware of the systems and scripts that are in place to maintain the status quo. I feel like a veil is lifting, like the parts of our world that aren't working towards the greater good are being exposed so that they can be transformed. And I've learned that it's in those moments when the veil is lifted that we can reclaim parts of ourselves. A few years ago, I attended a lecture by author, activist, and founder of "The Body Is Not an Apology", Sonya Renee Taylor, where she posed a question to the audience that changed the way I thought about the world. She asked us to consider, "Who profits from myself loathing?" When I asked myself, "Who benefits from me not loving myself?...