Today there is one thing and one thing only you need to do…VOTE!
Get out the VOTE – rock your VOICE
Yes, today you need to get out and vote; drive, walk, run swim, skip, hitchhike, crawl, do whatever it takes to get to the voting poles.
It is not a matter of question, but rather this is our right, or voice as American’s and citizens of this country to have our voice be heard.
You have all heard the saying “your vote is your voice” and that could not be truer. In the past, I have come across some who say they’ve voted, but sadly they weren’t even registered in the city or village they live, in to even consider voting on such a day.
When I go to the (yoga) mat, it becomes a place where my voice can be heard, on the mat, my soul is free. And over the past decade or so my practice has brought out my voice and shown me the value of it not through harsh words, or spur of the moment Facebook posts that cannot be undone; but rather through self-observation, being silent, being still and being present.
Learning about your voice through the eyes of yoga is not like one would think. In finding my voice through the eyes of yoga, I was first shown you why I felt I didn’t have one, to begin with. I was shown through being in postures I didn’t like for an amount of time longer than I would have chosen for myself why my voice and I didn’t want to be together.
Because for much of my life I was indirectly told I was a nobody, and sadly that eventually became my outlook on life. My voice didn’t think my vote (on anything) mattered.
But yoga taught me why first, and then gave me steps to discover what why meant in a very slow and uncomfortable way, a way to get me thinking, feeling, to get me out of the mindless decision making, moving through life with no real grip on it.
Ever look out into the world around you and wonder what people are searching for? Ever look out and question why people do what they do, see the way they see, “friend” the way they “friend” (a little Facebook reference)?
In a world that desperately needs individuals to get out and have their voices be heard, in an America that is flooded with voices, still, it seems nothing much is being said.
Today is not just about checking a little box about a person that you watched a few commercials on, it’s not about filling in a circle about a person that you read a few articles on or even watched on T.V. No today is a day where you consider the future, you ask yourself what do I want, how do I want my voice to continue to be heard. And sadly, today is a day where we all ask ourselves will our voices be heard when we choose to fill in that circle.
This post is not about who you should vote for, this blog post is not about what I believe in, who I will vote for, but rather this post is meant to question if you will vote, and why.
We are spoon fed so much information but very few sand-sift through it all to see if it is real or not. Sadly, this shapes and molds our reality, our freedom, or voice both now and future tense. From misread Facebook posts, to fragmented text messages and back up again to newspaper headlines, these are just fragments of what is going on in your world, pieces to a much larger puzzle that we must start to take the time to put together again in order to see the bigger picture.
Have you truly taken the time and invested in your own life? Have you taken the time and sand-sifted through what and who you have become, who you will become?
Yoga continually asks us to reflect on ourselves, to continually step back to step up. So, I want to ask you, what direction are you stepping in? Or are you stepping at all?
Results do not come from those who simply go out and do something, no, results come from those who go out and be somebody.
So how will you go out and be today?
Will you take the time to let your voice be heard?
Today your voice may not need to be heard from the mountain tops, but rather from your own front door.
Today, don’t use the excuse you are too busy, today don’t use the reason my kids had soccer, or my baby was napping, or my car was in the shop. If those reasons cross your lips today what your voice is saying is, you don’t wish to have one.
And those voices who have spoken up in the past, who have stepped back to reflect and then stood up with purpose and a mission-don’t matter. And to all those who will come after you, it’s a message to them as well that what their America will look like when they walk these streets-doesn’t matter.
I am very grateful that my practice continually pushes me into places where I wouldn’t otherwise go. It has aided me in the journey of self-discovery, asking me what do you want Hope? And then realizing you aren’t given it, but given opportunities to go out and create it.
Today, go out and create your world, go out and be a part of something, go out and have your voice be heard. Take time to learn about the box you will check, and ask yourself if you truly realize what that means to be able to check that box.
I go to my mat and am reminded how much is out of our control, how much of our lives is left at the hands of others, but when I go to my mat, I am reminded that step one to taking that back…. today…is to VOTE.
Today, please make it a point, that if you haven’t, go out and vote. Call a friend, call a neighbor, call your local city taxi. Whatever it takes because your vote today is your voice for years to come.
Namaste.