How do you survive here as a copy when nature only supports the thriving of itself in renewed perspectives?...

Wrapped up in the doing
Wrapped up in the memory of this morning, synthesis relays its myriad advances to me
I am no more mad than it
Or, I am no more reluctant to grasp how I am still standing on my mismeasurements
The question is not how to live here but how to keep from perishing
But how to prevent living in assimilation
How do you survive here as a copy when nature only supports the thriving of itself in renewed perspectives?
You do not
It shan’t •

It can be easier than we think to be authentic. Living in your world can do that for you. Drowning out the chatter from within and without. Noticing that quiet voice, that inspiration that exists behind the pandemonium — and without pressure, giving it full autonomy.

Focusing on the ever-present moment. Watching our hands perform their repetitive actions. Breathing in tune with our daily steps. Finding pleasure in soft music and delightful scents and the endeavors that bring our hearts contentment. Instituting nightly rituals of ablution and moisturization. Finding solace in silence. These are the practices we can initiate to form and allow authenticity.

Simply listening to what is within, whatever it may be, without judgment. Simply allowing the tears to form and fall when and where they will. Simply refusing to force it. Simply being. These are the ways we can both find and accept authenticity.

We are the only purveyors of our inner worlds; there is no one in our minds with us. We are the only ones who can define and refine who we are. We are the only ones with access to this knowledge, and thus we are the only ones who can fabricate the rules and regulations. And therefore, we can accept that we are both the beginning and end of our happiness.

Profoundly — what you want, you are the only one who can make it happen, and there is true joy found when you can make what you do yours, through and through. True, indeed.

Therein lies the blessing of individuality — you are the only you that will ever be in the perpetuity of existence. Make your world yours. You will indisputably be happier for it. •

Poem from Four Years in Chrysalis
© Aisha Tariqa Abdul Haqq Publishing
Follow @AishaTariqa for more original poetry and merchandise •