I recently finished Maya Angelou's latest manuscript
"Mom and Me and Mom". Weeks later, I still think about the book
night and day. In this book Maya Angelou continued her biographical triumph and
once again let us in. While reading of her tenacity and courage to stay her
course with her life
passion, "The Arts", I felt reassured that I
could live a life of passion and purpose, too. She held on to her love
for music, dance, and theater because they felt good to her soul. While
working as a performer, she had no idea that she would one day be "The
Poet Laureate" for the entire USA. Maya knew that her cues were in the
music and her passion would be more than enough. 
Life hands us so many wonderful opportunities, but time
after time, we just aren't prepared.
As a competition cheerleader the judges had strict rules;
here’s a rule that will automatically disqualify your squad: Bring 2 copies of
your music cued with no less than 3 seconds of dead time.
Why? Nobody has time to wait while your squad rewinds the
tape.
What I loved so much about Maya Angelou's story was her
ability to always be ready when the opportunity came. Once Maya got a job in a
record store (that is a store filled with circular shape vinyl things that have
music burned into them, before iTunes) paying enough to cover the 2 jobs she
had previously been working to support her son and a little extra. Maya was
ready when approached with the opportunity, because she was already an avid
music enthusiast and historian, as well as she just happened to spend at least
one day a week in the store before ever receiving the offer. Within 3 seconds
of having the call, Maya Angelou was having the job because her music was
already cued.
She was ...READY.
Maya continued to wow me with stories of impressive preparedness.
There was the time when she landed a gig singing at one of the city's most
popular supper clubs and Maya wasn't even a "singer". However,
she was where she needed to be, with whom she needed to be with, when she sang
a folk song that WOWED the room and had the seasoned entertainers asking her to
consider joining on as a singer. Once again within 3 seconds she was READY.
Why does that matter to me at almost 40? At almost 40, I
have experienced being prepared and cued up, and I have experienced loosing
revenue and opportunity because when it came, I wasn't ready. I needed more
than 3 seconds to be cued up and opportunity waits for no woman.
At almost 40 some of us ladies choose to pack up our
passions, but I am gonna keep pushing myself to be myself and reach my dreams.
How to keep your music cued like Maya?
1. Know what you are passionate about.
2. Be confident in your passions.
3. Never let anyone keep you from your passions.
4. Be a good steward of your passions.
After some wins and plenty of looses, I depend on my journaling to get my emotions out and keep my passion and purpose fresh. I know
that Maya Angelou journals. HOW ABOUT YOU?
See Maya Angelou:
See Maya Angelou:
- Biography Video of Maya Angelou
- Documentary Video With Her Picture
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