Hello friends,
how’s it going?
Hope you had a fantastic weekend.
You won’t believe how this article came about. See a couple of days ago I posted a video of me doing Zumba on https://www.instagram.com/tdenchpatel/ . I got quite a bit of messages and comments. I even got people asking for tips on how to dance. You know what a friend said, “Is that you? What a contrast to how you are when we speak.” I took a good look and identified a few things and I guess it took a mastermind for me to look at this further.
I started asking, “How would a self-expressed person look when they are living in their power entirely, i.e., being fully self-expressed? Have we been taught half of the real meaning of what is it to be fully self-expressed?”
Luckily, I have experience at this because of my history with creativity and arts as you can see coming through on everything that I am doing on www.tdenchpatel.com as well but if you look at the trailers of the novels you will pick up quite a few things. Let me tell you how I bumped into writing and dance. If you’ve read the books The South African: True Colours and The South African: Roamer both books based on a true story, you will find that the main protagonist finds her passion for dancing at roughly the age of thirteen, and as the story escalates she starts expressing herself through writing at seventeen or eighteen years of age. Also, in the upcoming interview that I had with Gary on Gary’s Glorious Golden Nuggets, I explain something using these words “the psychology of my character”.
In both novels when I revisit the character Saesha there are pieces of repressing and holding back feelings, having no voice, pushed into a box (no blaming or asking for pity … just an awareness, because of the lack of being advanced in society all around the world during that time), apartheid has taken the voices of not only women the most but also of men in these “boxes,” black, coloured, Indian, poor whites, and gender. To have no say stood out as socially okay so can you imagine to have no voice in a home where external forces made products of people and circumstances? These external forces can be seen as apartheid, old cultural beliefs which created patriarchy that some things just get mixed with religion, social degradation, being left out of conversations like finance and business (almost like women in first world countries from wealthy families had to behave), and the one that is as silent as a smile meaning hierarchy, to be the youngest and least heard. Again, there is no complaint it’s a study, it occurs in many homes, in Indian families’ respect is engraved especially when it comes to hierarchy. It is why we have certain traits, and it is also the reason why we embody the personality or character we have. If you take note you see how the patterns play out in your life over time.
What about affirmative action in South Africa? Any different?
In the novels you will find that there was a time when I couldn’t write content, I had nothing to write about. You will find that I got really low marks in my compositions, there was a point where I was worried that I was going to fail English and what was scarier? To repeat and waste an entire year just because of English. The embarrassment took place in front of the entire class, that some voiced it was wrong for a teacher to have done that and some were instilled with fear. What was an introvert? No one taught you about yourself or even helped you with a clue. Eventually, the dream lived in the dancer, the voice came out in written poetry and being docile came out like an acting part especially in selected situations both verbally and through body language.
It was only when I got my first full-time job at the age of 19 that slowly an alignment started happening and then by the age of 22, now looking back I was expressing myself 55% in alignment physically, mentally and partly spiritually. Personally, until proven different I believe (from my own observation) to be fully expressed these 3 elements have to be aligned and work in coordination if you were to perform at your optimal best, day in and day out. It’s almost like you would have to work on opening all the four channels.
1) Physical self-expression:
When you can express yourself through your body, i.e., dance or art forms, body language and today I would even call these practices spiritual be it yoga, surfing, cultural dances, etc. Think about it, the attitudes you have as you speak.
2) Mental self-expression:
To be able to express your thoughts, acting on thoughts without holding yourself back or coming from any self-sabotage or physiological conditioning or conditions. To be able to freely express your light/superpower artfully.
a) Written self-expression:
I put written communication down here purely because it is another way to release mental tension or bottling up things via writing. This could be a skill that is also used in business through e-mail communication, content writing, or something that would stand out as a talent (perhaps even art) or skill.
b) Verbal self-expression:
To become a social butterfly, to be able to successfully voice or pitch an idea, to sing, to express your thoughts accordingly to your instincts in whatever scenario.
3) Spiritual self-expression:
This may come across as calm, self-composed, reserved, holding back certain emotions or releasing them according to your inner guidance/compass. The spirit of freedom or selecting the right timing. I believe intuition sits here as part of guidance. I will put the art of emotional intelligence in this section.
Can you imagine if you had all three of these channels open?
I think you’ll be fully self-expressed unless I find something that can be added to this theory or subtracted from this theory in future. Can you see that it has nothing to do with positivity and negativity if you do your practices properly? It makes you unapologetic, it makes you … you, it lets you take back the control and responsibility of your own life fearlessly, regardless of how the day started or ended.
Yours sincerely,
T. Dench Patel
P.S. Tip
After arriving in South Africa, it was a blessing to have me be pointed to the core of my nature that brought about natural joy, natural power in believing myself or my causes, my intentions even. A piece of me. Who was I truly before all of the last 19 years? I started to see me thanks to South Africans, South Africa, thanks to my family, and thanks to you through your commenting. When you can point out who you are before all that you think you’re supposed to be or are made to be … question it, yes, question it! It may serve you for the current trend, times but what you want, is to keep the “diamond” and that is the everlasting value not only to your benefit but for the benefit of all. Something that comes from truth and not just another thing for consumption.
Thank you for the comments and support. Thank you for offering to donate if there was a donate button on here. I prefer not to take donations. You can support by purchasing my books (Paperback or Kindle), The South African: True Colours, The South African: Roamer or my children’s book Light. These books can be found on Amazon mainly and other sites in your country.
The audiobook for The South African: True Colours is available on iTunes, Apple and Audible. The South African: Roamer and Light will be released soon.
Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to re-evaluate them.
