This I Believe

This I Believe

I believe that my feelings are what make me who I am.
And yours should be what make you who are you are, too.
The actions we choose to follow-- the expressions that
our faces paint-- are all brought upon by feelings.
And I believe that we should do everything in our power
to embrace them as passionately as possible.

Don't be afraid to show what makes you tick.
Stomp your feet when you don't get your way.
Don't hold back sobs when the one you love leaves.
And if someone hurts your feelings, scream at them
and make a fool of yourself.
And then kiss their hands endlessly and beg for
forgiveness. Don't worry about who's gonna think what.
Do what you feel because what you feel is everything.
It's okay to look weak and to be weak.
There's not a problem with belligerence and stupidity.
When the feeling calls to you, bathe yourself in it.
Don't pay attention to what you're supposed to and
not supposed to do.

Drive as far away from home as you can and
never come back. Have an affair with a married
woman because her lips aren't just lips.
Look into your lover's eyes until he can't look away.
Smash the pan of lasagna you slaved the kitchen
to make on the kitchen floor because your parents didn't
show for dinner. Kick a hole in your wall because
everything was made to be broken and fixed and broken again.
Look up to the sky and question what's out there and if
it will all ever come back. Question what's being asked of you
and never stop asking and answering.

Speak in tongues and speak in beams of light.
Show every side of you.
The side that stays up all night crying
about if you'll ever feel okay again.
The side that throws bricks at windows to feel something shatter.
The side that gives and gives until all else is gone.
The side that smiles politely and laughs quietly.
The side you've never seen, figure her out, and then put her on display.
Feel and show and
breath and demand and
cry and bicker and laugh and
scream until everything is drowning
in your voice.