This video moved me. Lady Gaga moves me. The idea is empowerment, freedom, self expression, joy. It also reminds me of Marlo Thomas who created a slogan “Free to be You and Me”, which is a majorly empowering message that anyone—boy or girl—can achieve anything.
But in this context I’m reminding everyone here that no matter what your creative expression is– art, photography, being the best mother, or a fantastic father, or a chef or a mechanic or a bus driver– if it’s what you love you can do it and do it beautifully. Be Artful about it.
I am reminded every single day by either my own insecurities or those of others I speak to that we so easily hold ourselves back or we tell ourselves negative things about our abilities, we may give in to our need for perfectionism or we just give up and watch TV instead of doing what brings us the most joy.
What I love about the video is that everyone in it is just being themselves unabashedly. And they shared it publicly. And Chrome made the video. And I love how Lady Gaga embraces who she lovingly refers to as her Little Monsters. How can someone not love people who use her song to blurt out their own glory.
Which now brings me to the legendary Clarence Clemons who performs on sax in Gaga’s video Edge of Glory. Clemons said something so brilliant while reminiscing about his relationship with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
“Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for.”
Perhaps the message for the day is, if you haven’t already, find your own missing link. Find the link to your own joy, your own uniqueness. We don’t have to be perfect. We just have to do what brings us the most joy and allow it.
Uniqueness is clearly a theme in my own psyche so you’ll hear about that a lot. And I’m good with that. It’s THAT important. Go Be Art.
