how to be mindful about pride — beautiful, awesome, empowering

How to be mindful about LGBTQ+ Pride

First and foremost, it is time to address the elephant in the room: you. What do you know? How much do you get the struggles that LGBTQIA+ people face on a daily basis? One must wonder how to be mindful about gay pride when they have not addressed their biases, implicit or otherwise, and societal conditioning.

Before we go any further, it is important to note that Miracle Meditations is a safe space for all sexualities and genders and thus encourages queer folks to come into who they are meant to be. The initiative is to be all-inclusive, welcoming, and broad-minded to the ways in which we are all minority. Correct, minority even has a deeper connotation than race, gender, and sexuality. Thus, it is all-encompassing. We are all interconnected in this regard to say the least.

That said, this is the 52nd anniversary of pride month ever since the StoneWall Riots, a turning point in modern society for all LGBTQ+ persons and beyond. To be honest, regardless if you are gay or not, you can still become an ally. The same concept apply to race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. Because of this, despite how much progress has been made, minorities of all kind, explicitly sexual and gender minorities, still experience disproportionate levels of violence, stigma, marginalization, and rampant injustice. This is especially true in regard to trans community.

Accordingly, this article examines how to be mindful about LGBTQ+ pride today.

Spectrum Not a Line

As you can see, it is the circle of life for a reason. Or perhaps you can’t. Perhaps you won’t. Maybe this line of reasoning doesn’t readily apply to you. Bottom line: we all need greater transparency in our lives. Arguably, who is one-hundred percent of anything? Isn’t there fluidity in all of us? Why must we insist on treating identity and orientation as a line?

Everyone comes in all shapes and colors. For this reason alone, we must be proud of our collective individuality. No one falls square in the hetero normative cisgender box. At least not one-hundred percent one-hundred percent of the time. Quite frankly, anyone who disagrees is putting themselves and others into a rigid line. Why try to force a square into round peg?

Isn’t variety the spice of life?

So, yes, being mindful about pride month is acknowledging that you are pride month. In some way, shape, or form, you are of a queer lens. You are deviant from the straight line of the hetero normative patriarchy.

To reiterate, pride month is a time of celebration on the spectrum of joys and pains, wins and losses, breakthroughs and setbacks. We have pride about who we are. We must embrace all that is us. Indeed, we are a rainbow worth seeing.

For example, gay and straight, male and female are not the only two binaries. Other sexualities and genders include but are not limited to bisexual, demisexual, pansexual, non-binary, demiboy/girl, and genderqueer.

With mindfulness and meditation, we will see how we were blinded before. We will move past the walls we’ve put up and forge bridges instead. Only then can we see that sexuality and gender are a spectrum, not a line.

It’s Not a Choice

People who think that sexuality and/or gender is a choice are misinformed at best. They are certainly not mindful. Yet, there is still hope. On the contrary, it is a choice to remain blind to the ignorance epidemic, or should I say pandemic.

Anyways, no one chooses to be black, brown, or gay. This is simply who we are born to be. Only that person can determine who they are. Nobody else has the luxury. In fact, both gender and sexuality are based on genetics. The primary indicator of one’s probability to be sexually minority is primary. Environmental factors/circumstances are secondary.

As such, one does not choose a life of ignorance, discrimination, violence, and a lack of equality. This is a result of our mindless, tactless, insensitive world. Nonetheless, we are choosing to turn a blind eye to what really matters. This is, of course, fostering a society in which brings cognitive dissonance to the light. We must challenge our beliefs if they meet the following criteria:

• Don’t make sense
• Outdated or jaded
• Bring harm to ourselves or others
• Limit us from growth
• Discriminate
• Cause us to miss out

What is the use of believing something that isn’t true? Why fight for one marginalized group if not encompassing all?

Well, obviously, it is human nature. That’s the culprit. Yet, we are all suspect to these behavioral tendencies. Again, we need to leave this on the cutting room floor to evolve. But first, we must realize that life is not about choosing to be this person or that person.

No, indeed, life is about being. Life is about being yourself. Honor that with pride and dignity. Being yourself should never be a death sentence. Provided that authenticity sometimes equates to death, perhaps it is society that is dead at heart.

So, it is not a matter of choosing to be who you were born to be. It is about letting your being shine brighter than a diamond. Stardust to stardust.

Speak Your Truth (even if it shakes!)

Or twerks… I digress. That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how you move.

All that matters is that you are moving. Moving in your voice, convictions, and pride. What knowledge have you grown into? What is your intuition telling you about yourself? In relation to everyone else and vice versa?

Quite frankly, speaking your truth is how to be mindful about LGBTQ pride. However, this merely applies if you are being you. Not who society wants you to be. Not who your friends and family expects out of you. But, speaking the real you into the threshold of existence. You are who you are meant to be. If you ever wonder if you are on the right path, you are. If your life was a bed of roses, you wouldn’t have any truth to speak. Then again, I could be wrong.

I am under the impression that authenticity is the key to most accurately speak your truth. Just by meditating daily, you are tapping into the voice of your heart and the language of your soul. Sacrifice is well-worth the cause. So are you.

Do you want to know why? Being yourself is more than worth the fight. The fight to eradicate the lie that silence is at all mindful to the common cause. The fight to let love guide us without any barriers or limitations.

Above, speak your truth. Coming out is equal parts scary and exhilarating, but you are worth the investment into your most mindful, empowered, and present self. Essentially, you are worthy of speaking your queer truth. Queer-he, queer-he.

Let the Closet Come Out to You

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to always come out of the closet. Sometimes the closet must come out to you. Quite frankly, we all have closets burning inside of our souls. Because of this, we imprison ourselves in a web of deception. Self-deception that is. More importantly, we forget to be mindful about the snare of denial. We cannot have flow in our life if we cannot acknowledge the closets in our hearts.

Accordingly, we must allow the closets to come out in diving timing. This is because, naturally, the more we try to bring ourselves to the light, the more opposition we can face. Lifestyles such as mindfulness meditation are quite the coming out experience. Truth be told, we all have coming out experiences. For instance, even Jordan Peele came out as biracial, not just African-American.

Who knows maybe you won’t realize the extent in which you have code switched until you are in the middle of scripting your comedy skit? Perhaps, the script of your life will set your free from the closets on your heart. Let your heart open. Let your heart open to increased mindful living, awareness, and embodiment.

Indeed, we cannot force the envelope. We must let the envelope open. As a result, we can effectively decipher the mail of who we are. And perhaps who we have been the entire time. Again, it is a process. We must be mindful of this fact.

You don’t have to arrive at a particular destination. Just know you are on an invaluable journey to being the most you.

Above all, let the skeletons fall away. Let the closet open your heart and mind. Allow the light to emanate out of your sacred, divine, colorful being. If you are still wondering how to be mindful about pride, just look around. Observe your open progress.

Find Like-Minded People

Consequently, we must open our minds to finding like-minded people. More often than not, we think we are all alone. This is usually the result of less than favorable past experiences. But, the heart must go on in its eternal glory. What’s even better? Finding people who are on the same, if not higher, wavelength as you are.

Moreover, it would be a great idea to encourage LGBTQ mindfulness meditation groups (as evidenced below). The more, the merrier actually. After all, we need more positive representation of the community. We have straight, cisgender mindfulness meditation groups all the time. Why not demonstrate more variety, equality, fairness, and holistic practices?

You are not bound to live a life of secrecy and shame. Your vibe is way higher than that. Instead, you are destined to find Like-Minded people who bring out your very best. To be honest, meditation is one of the most effective ways to attract what you want and repel what you don’t. It gets you into vibration with the life only you were born to live — can’t nobody do it better.

No one can be better than you. Plus, when a collective sets their intention on a belief or cause, the energy is at least thousands of times stronger than one or even ten people alone. So, whether this is for five or thirty minutes, this is an excellent, recommended way to create a safe space and thus be mindful of LGBTQ Pride.

In the end, we all deserve to be surrounded with people who have our best interest at heart. Of course, these are the type of people who don’t discourage us from being ourselves. Instead, they encourage us to be even more like the amazing people we already are. Find your mindful LGBTQ tribe – within and around “The Village” bind. Likewise, you are refined.

Be an Advocate

If anything, choose kindness to be a neighbor to the LGBTQ community. I’m sorry not sorry. Is that too All-state for you. Well, couldn’t we be anymore all-encompassing — if the shoe fits! Just know that something doesn’t have to directly affect you for you to be an advocate. Except, it does. Whether you acknowledge it or not, gay pride does affect you. Who doesn’t have a gay friend, family member, or acquaintance. And if I recall correctly, approximately half of the post-millennial generation identify as everything but cisgender and straight. When else has gay straight alliances been more imperative to today’s culture?

Then again, I wouldn’t recommend someone to be an advocate if they refuse to be mindful of the circumstance. Then again, we are all a working progress. That’s what meditation is all about. Seeing reality as it is sans judgment. Pure observation. Matter of factly, the facts speak for themselves. Regardless of how we are minority, we all need to advocate for safety, guidance, equality, and a fair shot at life, not to mention how even Eminem said we all deserve an equal chance to be miserable [in the institution of marriage].

Essentially, this is not a proposal to merely act, feel, or think like an advocate. But, rather to be an advocate come hell or high water. The truth is we are all at stake here. None of us fit neatly into the status quo and its historically biased narrative.

So, why not be advocates united? Why not meditate on being an advocate as the new philosophy in how to be mindful about LGBTQ pride?

Whether it is the Trevor Project, the Born This Way Foundation, or Queer Mindfulness at LA Insight, the time is now to advocate for what truly matters: the sum and whole of the LGBTQ community.

Support is the new mindfulness. After all, united we stand, divided we fall.

Love is Love for All

God is love, right? That doesn’t exclude the LGBTQ+ community. That includes all people, all races, all genders, all sexualities, all minorities thereof. Quite frankly, love is genderless, race-less, and without a man-made agenda to discourage pride, truth, and authenticity. Love is the pride to be yourself and encourage the same in others. The real reason why we have a lack of equality in this world is because not enough people love themselves — every part therein. As a result, we have too many repressed, sexually and otherwise, individuals who don’t want to see others happy.

This is because they are not happy. By the contrary, happy people make others happy. How on earth (or whatever planets reside in the solar system) are people to be happy. They must be happy to be themselves. They must love themselves not despite who they are but because of who they are. The beauty of being born and honor of living are more than enough reason to be happy, to love, and go love being happy (and vice versa!). Thus, we must express gratitude for the rainbow inherently embedded in the human condition. The rainbow spectrum of what is love.

There is arguably no greater pleasure than the knowing one is free from the mask of identity. In other words, how to be mindful about LGBTQ pride is to finally get it. It is how to finally be more okay in your skin with every breath you take. Present in the heart of being the most you — the embodiment of collective individuation.

Imagine how legendarily awesome our world would be if we loved one another for being the most us? For being real, present, and ever so aware of all that is mindful humanity. In the end, love is for everyone for everyone is love. We are love. We are love and understanding and all things mindful, not hatred, bigotry, and darkness. And that’s how to be mindful about LGBTQ pride. Love is unconditional, pure, divine, and utterly shameless. Love is LGBTQ pride… and otherwise.

Why not make the world a safer, more enlightened and proudly authentic place? Why not embrace your queerness and minority charm? What if you meditated on such a state of love vibration?

You are wonderful, worthy, whole, amazing, unique, invaluable, and most importantly, greatly needed/valued by humanity.

Happy Pride Month!!!

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