This past weekend, I sat back and listened as my friend Tiffany Rae Reid shared her well earned wisdom at Circle of Miracles, which is one of my spiritual communities and where I spend most of my Sunday mornings. I had been eagerly anticipating her presentation, since I knew that folks would be in for a treat. Tiffany and I met a few years ago, when we were each doing a book reading/signing at Big Blue Marble Books in Philadelphia. We had an instantaneous recognition that we were kindred spirits who had met ‘before’. Thus began a friendship in this lifetime. Tiffany is a dynamic speaker, author and coach who specializes in multi-cultural diversity. She knows whereof she speaks since her parents were a bi-racial couple. Her book is called Color Blind~ A Mixed Girl’s Perspective on Biracial Life. She was raised by her white Hungarian mother in a suburb of Cleveland, not sure where she fit in, saying that she wasn’t ‘white enough’ for her white friends, or ‘black enough’ for her black friends which is a common occurrence for mixed race kids. In the service of acting like color didn’t matter, her mother didn’t tell her that her biological father was African American and it wasn’t until, at age 26, when Tiffany nagged the heck out of her mother, that she told her the truth. Tiffany then had the opportunity to get to know the man who had actually lived nearby her entire life, for the years prior to his passing.
She has devoted her life since then to working with multi-cultural families and educators to assist in spreading the word about the importance of inclusivity, open minded communication and respect for diversity. That was some of what she spoke about at Circle, addressing an important question that we ask weekly: “Who am I?” For so long, she didn’t truly know who she was, since her claimed identity wasn’t fully available to her and there were missing pieces of the puzzle. Now she proclaims; as many do that those two words I AM are among the most powerful in the Universe and that everything following them sets the stage for what comes next in our lives. If we wake up in the morning and state “I am tired, sore, exhausted….” we are owning those states for ourselves. On the flip side, if we firmly declare “I am eager, enthusiastic, grateful….”, we are putting the wheels in motion for that kind of day. I don’t know about you, but I much prefer the second.
Tiffany spoke about turning confidence into God-fidence which I interpreted to mean that all that was within us, all that we are about is connected with that Divine Source and by knowing that, I can step into world with the assurance that all is well. How would your life be different if you lived with that certainty?
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