A Conversation on Body Image
Truth is best served at the table. When we sit together, in our shared need for connection and community, something beautiful happens. When we are willing to be honest, vulnerable and curious, magic happens. These conversations create change, moving us further into compassion, which is love in action. Plus, who doesn't want more meaningful encounters with others?
The world is starved for time at the table.
We eat the news, social media, and Netflix like it's our full time job; we are addicted to our phones, tablets and laptops, and we need a place where we can actually look a person in the eye, and have a thought provoking, compelling conversation.Because of my passion for truth at the table, I have loved Red Table Talk, with hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, her mom, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, and her daughter, Willow Smith. They say all the things people are thinking anyway, and it is incredibly empowering to watch people bravely share their stories and experiences without shame and judgment. Also, the generations... that's my favorite part, and as a mom and a daughter, I love thinking about us gathering together to discuss difficult topics with grace and gumption.So, imagine my surprise when I received an email a few weeks ago, asking me to participate in the Red Table Talk Day Event! My jaw fell on the ground. Like, with the real Jada? Is this for real? Are you sure you meant this email for me? They actually did mean to email me, and invited me to create my own red table talk with friends (see below on body image), and to join the room with other incredible truth-tellers doing the dang thing.
Here we are having our own Red Table Talk with Jada and Adrienne.
Jada and her mom, are as wonderful, kind, funny, and real as they seem. We each got to ask a question, so on behalf of us all, I asked, "From the outside, it appears that you have a level of integrity in every space you enter. You seem to be the same person wherever you go. How have you remained grounded in who you are, even with all that you have been given?"Jada shared that her mom would snatch her up pretty early on, if she started acting snotty. (This is why we love people who knew us when.) At the end of the day, Jada said, she is a girl from Baltimore City. Staying in touch with where she comes from, and connected to community, with people outside of the celebrity bubble, helps her stay true to herself. Staying grateful was another key for her. Adrienne agreed that remaining thankful keeps them humble.
Gratitude and wonder are two sides of the same coin.
Facebook Watch gave me the opportunity to host the Red Table Talk on Marriage, Divorce and Relationships, for fans of the show, and wow, these stunning women were open, and I left with wisdom I needed. (I hope they did too.) We left no stone unturned, and this goes down as one of my favorite spaces to serve.
Love my husband - he's always encouraging the truth teller in me.
My dear friend Kamala, who invited me to this table. Humble, real, and keeps encouraging all of us to get outside our glass houses and love others.
No one told me to wear something other than H&M, but hey, come as we are always, right? That's the point of the table.
When's the last time you sat with someone you love at the table?
Sharing sacred space, where we suspend judgement, in order to be honest and present, accepted in our brokenness and loved as we are, on the way to who we are becoming - THAT is transformative and redemptive. Friend, I hope we continue to cultivate a love for truth at the table. We need your storytelling, your experiences we can learn from, your struggles we can share. Let's keep creating safe space for each other, so we can grow and change, and become who we were created to become. I pray we get honest about who we are, and where we are in our lives, always as a reminder that we are not alone, and that we all have a seat in the grace and goodness of God.
Check out our Red Table Talk on Body Image.
[embed]https://youtu.be/bSECzSg598k[/embed]I love and treasure these powerhouses, and want you to know them, and hear their voice. Dawn Sadler, Nicole Amoako, and Nicole Smithee will bless you as we tackle our favorite body parts, how social media impacts how we feel about our bodies, and the most drastic thing we've ever done to alter our appearance.#redtabletalk #redtabletalkday