Defying Gravity: Embracing Your True Self

She kept telling me for months you need to watch Wicked , you need to see the movie Wicked , you need to go see it . You need to go see Ariana Grande and Cynthia Rivo and Rivo whatever however you pronounce your name . She was like you need to see it . She went and saw it twice in a week . She's like you need to see it .

I'm like I'm just not the type to sit down and watch a movie for two hours and 40 minutes . That's just not me , let alone a musical . I don't really want to . I told her I was like I don't really want to watch it .

Well , anyway , we go back , we go to visit my parents for spring break and we're sitting there driving in the car and you know we listen to the Wicked soundtrack . I know every track . You drive for 10 and a half hours there and back and you listen to Wicked . You're going to know the words , right ?

So there's a song that came up called Defying Gravity , right , and this is the I actually . I think it was the Oscars or maybe the Emmys , I don't know , one of these award shows . Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo performed it and I was watching it because my wife was watching . I was watching like , damn this girl . She's out here hitting these bars .

She's out here hitting these bars , she's hitting

notes , she is singing . I'm feeling chills go all through . I said , man , this song is . This was months ago , right , but this song was called Defying Gravity and I told you in the last episode how , when I went back home , I was able to see that I was a black sheep .

I was able to see , like , how different I am and really owning that , and this is really the first time in my life where I'm fully stepping into another part of myself and owning this part to myself .

So I wanted to break down the song Defying Gravity and if you have not listened to it , please stop this podcast and go and listen to the song Defying Gravity . It will change your life . Listen to the song and then listen to this podcast .

Or you can listen to this podcast and then go listen to the song , but at some point you need to listen to it because this song is the anthem of awakening . This song is a spiritual initiation . I'm telling you , this character , elphaba right , this is the one who was green . Right , the wicked witch who was green .

And then you had the other one who was Galinda . She was who , ariana Grande , the one who was pink . That's the one right this song defying gravity . And in the last episode I kept talking about being unlimited . See , that was a little segue . I'm working on my show business .

But when you start to realize that this story was a perfect metaphor for the spiritual and energetic process of becoming who we truly are and owning who we are , you start to see that this whole story of Wicked and the Wizard of Oz , it was so profound . I might do a two-part series on this , I don't know .

But Elphaba is this character who's green , and I'm not going to ruin it just in case you haven't seen it , but I'm going to keep it on the surface just so you can understand . But anyway , she's green and she's not like anybody else and all the kids make fun of her .

Growing up , she's teased and she's made fun of , and her family , her father , because he disowned her , basically because it wasn't his biological child . But she was different . She was green , she wasn't like anybody else .

And I said how many times has this happened in our life , that we're not like our family , we're not like our coworkers , we're not like our spouse , we're not like anyone else ? And then we get taught to basically disown that part of ourself . This is our shadow self , the dark side that we suppress . This is what Elphaba represented .

So she starts singing the song at the last scene and she's going through this whole journey in the movie or the screenwriter play Broadway , of trying to be like everybody else . And then , finally , she owns who she is and she says something . And she's talking to Glinda and Glinda's telling her like why don't you just conform ?

Why don't you just be like everybody else ? And she says I can't just conform . Why don't you just be like everybody else ? And she says I can't , I can't do this , I won't do it anymore . She says something has changed within me , something is not the same . I'm through playing the rules of someone else's game .

I'm saying this to you right now Stop trying to be like everybody else , those who say something about your life . They're operating from a state of awareness that you shouldn't even be taking their opinion or perspective of you into account . Think about how wild this is . I'm going to listen to what somebody else has to say about my life .

Mother , you don't know what my life is . You don't experience life through my lens . Why am I going to listen to you ? So she starts to go through this awakening , through this movie , where she gets tired of being like everybody else . She starts , she stops , like feeling like I have to be like everybody else and she has these powers .

Everybody's like suppressing her . Everybody's saying you're different , you're weird , you're wicked , all of these things she says in the song . She says it's too late now . It's too late for second guessing , it's too late for

me to go back to sleep . And this is for all my people out here who are going through this awakening . This is for all my people who know that they're different and they see that they're different and they don't look at things the same way , and maybe their immediate family or anybody else . Society says what is wrong with you ? Why are you doing this ?

It's too late now . It is too late for you to turn back around . It's too late for you to go to sleep . Your butt's already awake now and everybody who else is asleep is trying to say why are you waking up ? What are you doing ? So this represents our unconscious living , running on autopilot . She's like I'm not going to run on autopilot anymore .

For so long I have been conforming to what you all want . I have been trying to do what you all want to do and it ain't working . I'm done . And she says it's time to trust my instincts . It's time for me to close my eyes and take a leap . You hear what I'm saying right now ? Do you hear the life that I'm speaking over you right now ?

It's time for you to start trusting you . It's time for you to start trusting that I know what's best for me and , while I may not get it all right , I'm going to take this leap . I'm going to take this leap of faith and follow the path that I feel as though my soul , my birth vision , my calling has been bestowed upon me .

This is why we call it instinct . Instinct is not called extinct . Extinct is on the outside . Instinct comes from within , so this is the moment that she surrendered is on the outside . Instinct comes from within , so this is the moment that she surrendered . She trusted in the unseen . She took the spiritual leap into the unknown .

She aligned with her intuition instead of logic , instead of the masses , instead of what the collective thinks . She chose faith over fear and Galinda society , the collective paradigm . The old earth Says I hope you're happy now . I hope you're happy now . I won't sing it because y'all will leave and get off this podcast , but I ain't gonna sing it .

She says I hope you're happy . I hope you're happy now . And Elphaba looks at her and says I hope you're happy now . I hope you're happy now . And Elphaba looks at her and says I hope you're happy now . I hope you're happy . See , this is the thing when you start to step into who you are , you ain't going to look down on nobody anymore .

You ain't going to do it . You're going to look at them and say I hope you're happy . I hope you enjoy this life that you're living right now . I hope you like the box that you have put yourself in . But I got to go . And the chorus starts singing and says it's time to defy gravity . She said I think I'm going to try defying gravity .

She says you can't pull me down now . This is the activation . See , gravity holds us down . You see what I'm saying ? Gravity was the metaphor for everything that keeps you small the limiting beliefs , the societal conditioning , the inherited trauma , the fear of failure , the rejection , the abandonment . This was what gravity was .

This is why I'm telling you , every time that you go back and heal , you will start to defy gravity . So Elphaba basically starts to reject it . She says I'm not doing this , I'm not doing this anymore . She's not flying yet by

any means , but she's at least willing to try . Good God , almighty , y'all ain't trying to hear nothing . I'm saying you may not get it right the first time , but at least try , at least be willing to try to be who you are , because your soul deep down inside is saying I know I'm more than this .

I know I'm more than this box that the world has put me in . I know I'm more than what these scouts may say that I'm capable of . I know that I'm more than what the coaches may say that I am . I know that I'm more than what my parents , maybe their limited perspective of what I could be . I know that I'm more than that .

So I think I'm going to try and defy gravity now . And Galinda said you can still be with the wizard . You can still be with the wizard . See , the wizard was what was going to grant all of your deepest wishes , your deepest desires . The wizard represented the collective Society makes you think if you play small , you'll get everything that you want .

That's a mother lie . Elphaba said I am through . Hear me when I say this , let this get in your spirit . She said I am through accepting limits because someone else says they're so . I am tired of being put in a box and living in a box because someone else says that I should See . This is where the temptation will start to come in .

I know , I went through this myself . I went through this myself . When you start to go through this awakening , you start to question who you are . You start to question why do I do this ?

And then society is going to try to get you , it's going to tempt you to try to conform , to get you to follow back into , fall back into the safe path , start seeking validation again , start seeking success in the external world . So the wizard symbolizes false power , the false power , the manipulation , the external validation , staying plugged up to the matrix .

So , elphaba , by this point , this last scene , she's stepping into who she actually is . She said some things I just can't change meaning . I'm not going to change society , I'm not going to change these paradigms outside of me . But if I don't try this , if I don't try , I will never know what I was capable of Meaning .

If you don't step out and be who you know you are , you don't want to get to the end of this life and be like damn . I wish I would have tried . I wish I would have stepped into this energy of radical self-belief , the fear of failure . Yeah , it's going to be there , oh my gosh . But I just have this desire to be so much more .

If I don't at least try , how will I know ? And then she steps out . Right , this last scene . All the guards from Oz are coming to get her and she hasn't flown yet . She can't fly . And she was trying to learn the spells of how to levitate . She was learning , trying to learn the spells .

See , levitation represented the energy of me being able to defy gravity . And when I start to levitate , that means those limiting beliefs , those external paradigms can't hold me down anymore . So she was trying to understand the code , she was trying to understand the process . She was trying to understand what is the program , how do I start to defy gravity ?

And she finally did it . She took this leap and they were coming . She jumped . The reason why I'm saying this is because sometimes life is going to come at you and it will force you to make the leap . You may have wanted to make the leap , but you didn't have the courage .

But then these guards , society , is going to say you're going to have to leap now . Maybe you lose your job . This happened to me back in 2014 . I got a call from the Harlem Globe Trials on May 14 , 2014 and said

you , charles , on May 14 , 2014 , said you are no longer needed here at this company . I knew I wanted to walk away . I didn't want to do it anymore because I wanted to be home with my family . I want to be home with my kids . But I didn't have the courage yet to jump out and step out on faith . I didn't have the code to be able to defy gravity .

So life said here , we're going to help you defy gravity , jump . So this is when she made this energetic breakthrough and she says this I'm getting chills . I'm not going to sing it , but I'm telling you got to go listen to this song . She says so , if you care to find me , look to the Western sky . Good God , almighty .

If you knew what the West represented energetically , spiritually , it was the declaration of sovereignty . The West , and spiritual symbolism , often represents transformation , slash ending , slash rebirth . This is where the sun sets . It's the death of the old self . You hear what I'm saying ?

So if we're going to really defy gravity , there's going to have to be a part of us that's going to have to die . So this is the point where Elphaba embraced her new identity , even if it's misunderstood , even if it's not accepted , even if they continue to call her names , even if they say that she's not enough , even if they say that she's wicked .

They said she's wicked , kill her . She said look to the Western sky , mother , meaning this is the new me . You might as well go ahead and say goodbye to the old me , because you ain't going to see her anymore . And she says , as someone has told me lately , everyone deserves the chance to fly . This is the birthright of your soul . You hear what I'm saying ?

The birthright of your soul is freedom of its expansion , its transcendence . This is the birthright of your soul . So do not let this society , this world , think that your freedom had to be fought for . Do not let this society think that your freedom had to be acquired or bought . It was your birthright . No human soul deserves to be enslaved .

No human soul deserves to be put in a container deserves to be enslaved . No human soul deserves to be put in a container . So the metaphor , the analogy of her flying was the soul's return to wholeness , good God , almighty .

So in order to fly , you're going to have to integrate all of yourself , including the shadow , including the part of you that suppressed the wounds , even the part of you that did not feel like it was good enough . It's going to have to embrace it . You look at the last verse of that song and she says I'm defying gravity and you won't bring me down .

You ain't going to bring me down . This is integration Meaning . She ain't asking for permission no more . When you start to claim who you are and you own who you are , you're going to start to see I don't need nobody's permission anymore . You ain't going to tell me how to do this and how to do that .

So we went to the WNBA draft and it was business casual . It was business casual . You got to wear a suit jacket . You got to wear a suit . I said look , I hear that , but I'm not wearing that . I don't want to wear that . That isn't who I am . I'm going to own who I am .

I was walking in my Elphaba energy and I was the only one and the only male in there who didn't have a suit jacket on . Now , don't get me wrong . I was dressed to impress . I was dressed to that moment . It wasn't what you did , it wasn't what you wore , it was how you did it . It was how you did it . Did you own who you were ?

Did you own what you were doing ? And that , my friends , is what beauty is . So I didn't have to wear a suit jacket to fit in like everybody else I could wear . I don't even know what it was called , but it was a nice coat . I got it from Nordstrom Rack .

It was on sale , but it was nice and I had my Life is Mental hoodie on and I put it on the outside . It looked like I was on a J Crew hat if you ask me , but don't ask me but I owned it . I stopped trying to be like everybody else . You see what I'm saying .

So when we start to look at it , elphaba was representing this own self , the part of us that was quote unquote too much or too emotional , or too spiritual or too intense . You think too deep , you only want to have deep conversations or you're not enough .

When you start to reclaim this part of you , when you embrace this dark side and stop seeking to be liked and stop seeking to be understood and stop seeking to be accepted or validated by society , this is when you start to defy gravity .

So this movie was , on a deeper spiritual level , to try and get everyone to step into this rite of passage , Every light worker , every

spiritual warrior that's on its path , this journey of self-realization . So hear me when I say this we all got an Elphaba inside of us and there was a point in this movie . Y'all stay with me , stay with me , stay with me , stay with me . If you've seen this movie , if you've seen this movie , you know what I'm talking about .

If you haven't seen it , just go Google it on YouTube , go search on YouTube . The last scene defying gravity . Before she learned how to fly , she jumped off of the building and she was free falling . She was free falling , she was free falling and she couldn't fly . Yet she took the leap of faith that she didn't know how to defy gravity .

She didn't know how . This is what's going to happen in your life . You're going to take this leap and you won't know how you will learn while you're falling and she's falling , she's falling . She's looking in this building that's right in front of her , in the glass , and she sees the reflection . She doesn't see the reflection of her falling right now .

What does she see ? She sees the reflection of her as a little girl , the reflection of her as a little girl . And while she's falling , she starts hearing all of these , all the kids making fun of her and people calling her wicked and calling her a freak , and all these things .

She's falling , she looks in the glass and she sees her as a little girl , the one who endured the trauma , the one who endured the abandonment , the one who endured the rejection , the one who endured the lack of societal acceptance .

And she looks at this little girl and this little girl good God , almighty , stay with me this little girl and this reflection reaches out her hand to Elphaba . Little Elfie reaches out her hand to the adult .

This , my friends , is what every version of us from the past is doing , that little girl inside of you , that little boy inside of you who just wanted to be whole , who just wanted to be enough , who just wanted to be seen . It is reaching out its hand to you saying come and get me .

Come and get me , please , please , please , please , come and get me , please . I'm waiting for you . I'm waiting for you . It seems like I'm gone . You may have grown up physically , but I'm still here . Please come and get me . And it reached out its hand . And when it reached out its hand , she reached out its hand , her hand .

And when she reached out her hand , what happened ? That mother broomstick came right in her hand and she defied gravity and flew Meaning .

When you go back and own the parts of yourself who was traumatized , who was teased , who was made fun of , who was told that it was fat , who had the eating disorder , who said it wasn't good enough , who said it was ugly , who said it was whatever that version of you , when you go back and you grab that and give it what it needs , what happens ?

That at that moment is when you defy gravity . Y'all ain't trying to hear nothing that I'm saying right now . So the reason why she was deemed wicked was because she was different . She was emotional , she was in touch with herself , she was powerful and , unlike anybody else in Oz , she went back and got that little girl , which is why she was so powerful .

And this is why , my friends , why she was so powerful , and this is why , my friends , everybody was so afraid of her . So , please know , when you step into your power and you step into who

you are , please know , please know , please know you were going to start to defy gravity , and gravity was the only thing that held you down , and gravity holds down everybody else . They're limiting beliefs , their inner child wounds , the lack of acceptance .

When you start to heal that , please believe that you won't be deemed different , because everybody else will be stuck on the ground and your butt's going to be flying up in the air . But this is the path to wholeness , my friends .

So Elphaba was just the voice inside of all of us that knew we were destined for more , we were meant for more , that we weren't here to live a small , controlled , suppressed , contained life . She represented the sacred rebellion inside of us , the subconscious rising to the surface , saying you ain't going to define me anymore . I'm not living by y'all's rules .

I'm reclaiming my power and I'm here to tell you this . Now , I'm here to tell you this when you embrace your inner Elphaba , when you become wicked , this is when you'll fly , this is when you'll defy gravity and you'll start to see how much this world needed those who could fly . So go and find her . Go and find him , embrace him , care for him .

I can't wait . I can't wait to see you fly and defy gravity . As always , I'm on this journey with you . So the fact that we get to share space and time , it's a privilege and an honor . It's a privilege and an honor . Go and defy gravity .

Go find that suppressed emotional pain , the unspoken grief , the heartache , the part of you that struggles to express how you feel , the part of you that struggles saying I love you dad , or the part of you that struggles saying I love you dad or I love you mom , or telling your kids that I love you , the part of you that has been being suppressed .

I'm telling you it's going to be . It is going to be a journey , just like it was for Elphaba , but you see that wicked was really where your power was , so keep going , was really where your power was , so keep going and , as always , I wish you nothing but the best on the pathway to your results . You .