Acknowledgment is a superpower. It invites people to love themselves and to extend love to others. Wherever it occurs, it lifts people up and makes the world a happier place. Moreover, good deeds and big accomplishments are not the only acts warranting acknowledgement. BEING, in and of itself, is worthy.
The acknowledgement of being is profoundly empowering: “There is no everything without you. There is no everything without me. There is no everything without everything.” Yet, as amazing as this superpower is, it is often difficult to give an acknowledgment and even harder to receive it. It's a lifestyle practice. The Voice Arts® Awards is a space for living into acknowledgment. When you enter your work, you plant the seed of self-acknowledgment and self-worth. You are living into the faith of possibility. Becoming a nominee is akin to your seedling breaking through the soil into the warm sunlight. Then, there is a blossoming of the soul when you are announced as the jurors’ choice. There you stand, basking in the light of humility.
Finally, in that light, your truth comes to fruition as overwhelming gratitude. Gratitude is infinite. You cannot capture it all in a speech. You cannot thank everyone. You cannot know the “everything” of what brought you to this moment. All that is available is humility - the reflection of acknowledgement.
