Recognize Your Mastery 🌞

Author

Damon Brown
December 11, 2024

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Hi reader,

When I was younger than my youngest son, my mom would go around the house reciting Nikki Giovanni’s “Ego Tripping”. I memorized it. I couldn’t have been older than 7.

Giovanni, who died this week, was like an honorary family member.

This is how I remember her:

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat's meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...”

-Nikki Giovanni’s “Ego Tripping”

Whew.

Earlier this year, my mom was visiting and taught my eldest son the same poem.

He laughed, smiled, and blushed at the audacity, the gaul, for anyone to say such things.

And I was sure, when I was the young son, I did the exact same thing.

Turn myself into myself, indeed ♻️

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But my feelings around the poem evolved from my youth.

I always loved it. I always loved her.

That love switched over time.

From “I wish I had the freedom to be that audacious” to “These feel like quite reasonable feelings” to “Not only do I feel this, I want to serve in a way that everyone feels this!”

Where are you doubting your bad-ass-ness?

What have you mastered so well, you don’t even remember not knowing it?

How has life dimmed your own ego?

Yes, a massive ego creates a long shadow, but hiding in the darkness is just as unhealthy.

Are you ready to shine brighter in 2025? 🌞

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You are so perfect and so divine 🌞

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🙋🏾 I’m Damon! (http://www.damonbrown.net) I help side hustlers, solopreneurs & others like yourself bloom. As a bestselling author, 2x startup founder & 4x TEDTalker, I co-founded the popular connection app Cuddlr and led it to acquisition within a year while being a stay at home dad with my infant son.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏿 Today, my boutique coaching business Bring Your Worth supports hundreds through one-on-one virtual and in-person support, as well as behind-the-scenes services for TED, HEROIC, and other impactful organizations. You can catch this free weekly newsletter as well as the 18,000-subscriber strong television show BringYourWorth.tv.

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