This week, I finally watched “Hi Ren” thanks to my friend and web developer, Alicia.
And then I watched it again, and again, and again, and again, and again.
I recommend finding nine quiet minutes to watch yourself, before reading on.
To me, this work is a stunning and powerful expression of healing, acceptance, and self love. So many of us, myself included, go through life regularly trying to edit ourselves or our image: “I’ll be happy when I change X.” “I’ll be lovable when I fix Y.” “I wish I was more…””I hate how I … “If only I could … “If only I were …” “I can show you this, but not that.””I can express that, but not this.” We often put off peace, courage, and love, until we acheive some unattainable version of ourselves. Which is to say, we put off peace, courage and love indefinitely. In five minutes, Ren takes us on a journey from the internal war we all know (in our own way) to the only form of freedom I’ve ever known: Acceptance of the multi-facited prism and polarity of being human. Darkness and light, fear and love, despare and hope, and all things in between. In this song, his demon became his muse. This is a huge reminder to me that anytime I’m wanting to, in Ren’s words, “amputate” some aspect of myself, I may be running from the very thing that makes me whole. With Love, Leah  Note: if you want to read more of Ren’s story, he writes about it in the description of this video. Here is a 5-min meditation if you want to explore your own Inner Conflict |