Okay, so I haven't written here for a while. Everytime I try something comes up and I don't get to finish it. I came to realize that the hustle and bustle of it all was more in my mind and less in my actions. I mean, yes, I have been "keep moving" and trying to get things done, but some things wouldn't have to be done now if they were taken care of before. For example, I moved to New York to pursue acting and artistry as a career. However, since I have never done this before, so to speak, I didn't quite know where to start. What I have learned, or re-learned, is that a career is exactly what it sounds like: a career. I have been jumbled up with work-for-survival responsibitilies, both pleasurable and not so pleasurable, since I came to NY and it is affecting my focus on my artistic ambitions. Although the places that I work for are respectable institutions with valid missions and credible curriculums, my tasks there don't fully further my ambitions. Now, to part ways or recreate relationships with them that are more in line with my vision for my future has taken me one day, one email, one conversation too long because I am a sucker for positive causes in the world. Yet, my personal cause is slowly fading into oblivion as I attempt to assist others with theirs.
Stepping into and up to your destiny is a personal decision that requires courage, confidence, persistence, and patience. I have to admit that I have been lacking in the arena of confidence to go at my career goal with full vigor and a one-track mind. I used to think that it was selfish to focus solely on what I wanted to do but I have changed my mind. It is not selfish. It is self-love. I am not hurting anyone by focusing on what I want to do, what I believe I have been put here to do. Nor am I hurting myself, as I have integrity and class when I approach my art. In addition, I have my own ideas of how to contribute positively to the world through the formation of institutions and/or foundations. Yet, they will never be realized if I don't actualize my intentions and stay true to their course of growth and development.
Joga Bonito. I play Capoeira Angola. It is a Brazilian-African dance-fight-game that requires a lot of athleticism, flexibility, and cunningness. The ones who master, or attempt to master, these traits in tandem with each other are known to play beautiful, or what we call joga bonito. Like in life and your destiny, you must approach the game of capoeira with courage, confidence, persistence, and patience. You need courage to try new moves, confidence in yourself that you can actually do them, persistence to keep trying, and patience to know when to try them. If you stay on this path, you should reach your goal of expressing yourself freely while still safeguarding yourself from threats and entertaining, more specifically edutaining, an audience at the same time. I guess this could be seen as one way to reach the people while still having fun
:-D.
So, in conclusion, this entry is about reclaiming your right to your destiny and taking control of it with the confidence you need to do it well. The whole world is a stage and people are watching. Give them a show. Be the example that they want to emulate. Be the example for others to learn from. Go back to your destiny and play this game of life with athleticism, flexibility, and cunningness. Express yourself freely. Have a little swagger, it's all right. Yet, still safeguard yourself from outside threats and be humble along your path. There is always someone bigger or better than you (God, for example) and they may not always be as nice as you are. However, when it's your moment to reap the rewards of the path you've sown, own it, flourish, dance, smile, jump, skip, sing, trick and sometimes treat, just never stay down if you so happen to trip. Just joga bonito, people, joga bonito.
Chike
P.S. The clip below is a demonstration of a joga bonito. After watching this last night and speaking to my brother this morning about approaching your destiny with confidence and a little swagger, I was inspired to write. Hopefully I'll capture more of these moments in the future and enter more entries into this online journal.
P.P.S. This is not me in this game. I don't have too many videos of me playing yet but I am becoming more conscious of the importance of seeing myself within the roda, not only to study my movements but also to record the history of my participation and contributions to this beautiful art form. Alright, enjoy.
