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| Photo: Instagram.com/Jaihudson_ |
By: Angela Mayah Solstice
"I was healing and I didn't even know it. It was happening just by my wanting to feel different...one of the reasons why many of us don't feel balanced and headed toward our soul purpose is because we are afraid of it."
from Healed with Style & Grace
If I could of written a book that related to what I call the
“Love & Hip-Hop” generation, a new book I’ve read Healed with Style and Grace would’ve been it. If I could chronicle what growing up on the South side of
Chicago was like for me, what Hip-Hop culture meant to me, what being
associated to the entertainment industry was like, and give the story of my family
dynamics, I would of tried with all my might to make it come out as this memoir
did. My biggest block has always been my lack of memory. Every time I’ve come
across a person who can story tell so vividly, I always think to myself, damn why can’t I seem to remember? When
you’ve had trauma in your life such as mine, you sometimes chop up memory loss
to a survival mechanism; not remembering helped me to cope. So how some can
recall their experiences, it is clearly a gift. Instantly as I
began to read the pages of Healed with Style and Grace, it took me to another world. I went with Jai and I went
with my younger self. Numerous times I began to weep and sometimes just to take a breather, but I couldn’t run away from it, it kind of takes you captive and
doesn’t let you go.
“I always thought that if I let
my emotions run free I might go mentally crazy. And I somehow started to attach
feelings and emotions with being weak. Which is so far from the truth.”
From Healed with Style and Grace
I had the privilege of seeing the author of the book Jai
Hudson recently after being away from New York the past four years. I had come over to reconnect and visit with friends when things quickly
changed. Just to
make conversation I mentioned to Jai that I saw she had written a book and
asked her if she had a copy on hand so I could skim through the pages while I
was there. As she readied the book for me I asked why had she written it, Jai instantly stopped, sat down next to me, stared me straight in the eye and
said, “ I decided to forgive my mother". I caught
on pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to simply skim through the pages; I was
going to go home, buy it, and read it for myself. And here we are.
So many are ready to tell their story. Many are being called to do this and let me tell you, if you’ve been
waiting for a sign, this is it. The
world hasn’t taught others to deal with us.
Us who know that things are not how they should be. That the life we endured
was not how it was suppose to be. And how we choose to deal with it, which is
to speak up, better ourselves in spite of, or to take the healing journey—we are thought of as outcasts. Our healing journey's looked upon as some alternative lifestyle, a hobby, an outlet—at it’s worse, someone
needing mental health services.
“Unhealthy emotions I was
experiencing were dimming my light big time. These emotions disabled my heart.
I couldn’t be the light I was created to be because these heavy emotions I was
holding on to darkened my light.”
From Healed with Style and Grace
Yet in the case of Jai’s story who came from the Brooklyn
projects, had a stray bullet come through her living room window—and was in
such a desolate place, wished it had hit her, had her head together more than
the adults in her life. She went on to
graduate high school and received a full college scholarship, and even
spearheaded and successfully brought the AKA sorority back to Syracuse
University. Jai traveled the world styling for some of the biggest entertainers in
the industry. But that was the not the meat of the story. That was not her
claim to fame, her biggest triumph that she self admitted, was healing herself.
And that is what blew me away. No society conditioned messages of education being
the key, or religious dogma, just straight up truth and healing. In a world where so many of us are searching for answers and feeling like outcasts because of
it, I believe we are the answer we
have been looking for. By sharing our stories we are healing each other and
ourselves. Miss. Jai you healed with Style and Grace indeed, I thank you for
answering your calling—I hope your story reaches all who are searching and
needing answers right now. Job well done.
“In life no matter how many
tricks you learn, or weapons you acquire, what brings you to victory is always
YOU.”
From Healed with Style and Grace
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