Hey Get Free Fam,

This is a little later than usual because I was trying something that, well, didn’t work. Anyway…

Before we do anything else… how are you? Like, really?

Same, Pedro, same.

It feels like every week ends with us saying, “Wow.That was a week.” And lately? That’s not small talk.

We’re seeing journalists arrested for bearing witness. People killed while exercising their right to protest. Workers taken while selling fruit on street corners.

Then we have the discussions in our group chats, alongside the texts, the DMs, the noise in our own heads. It’s a lot. It’s real. And it’s heavy.

So before we dive in, I want to invite us to pause.

Take a breath.

Close your eyes if that feels OK.

Drop your shoulders away from your ears.

Unclench your jaw. Unfurrow your brow.

Breathe in deeply and exhale on repeat as many times as you need.

I’ll add a guided meditation in this week’s recommendations. A worthwhile ten minutes.

While I hope you enjoy your Get Free gift, we’re going to talk about a different kind of gift: those unique talents we all have and how we get free and help others when we use them.

Scrolling Instagram (as one does), I came across an IG Live by musician Jonathan Singletary. During the pandemic, he started a series called Piano & Prayer. Faith-based or not, it was really about pausing, breathing, listening and being in community.

This week, he hosted Piano & Prayer in person. I almost didn’t go. There were a dozen reasons not to. But something in me said: go. So I did.

It was held in a beautiful warehouse art space in downtown LA. I didn’t know anyone, but it was warm, welcoming, and calm. The kind of room where your nervous system starts to soften before you even sit down. 

The gathering opened with a meditation and breathing exercise led by wellness educator Devi Brown, host of the podcast Deeply Well. Y’all, I realized I hadn’t breathed that deeply in months. Maybe years. I could literally feel my body unclench. Hands loosening. Ankles softening (yes, ankles get TENSE!) Muscles letting go.

The meditation asked questions: Who am I? How can I be of service? Big questions that need stillness to answer. 

Another speaker talked about how we use and share our gifts. Hmmm. Now THAT is a question.

Over the next two hours, people showed up - through poetry, music, song, lyrics - offering their gifts freely and generously.

It made me ask myself: How am I using my gifts?

We’re taught to think about gifts as jobs. But your job, the 9-5 isn’t always your gift. Your gift might be something quieter. Something bolder. Something that costs you nothing to give. And it doesn’t feel like work or obligation. 

When the world feels relentless, the instinct might be to shut down. To close the circle. To conserve what bit of energy you have. What I saw that night reminded me: even when it’s hard, we can - we must - open up and share our gifts.  That’s part of getting free.

Freedom doesn’t mean ignoring what’s happening outside. It means not letting it shake your values, your priorities, your kindness or your sense of self.

When we’re sharing a gift, it’s like breathing. When we inhale we take what we need from the air and we release the rest. When sharing a gift, we take our breath, our energy, our skills, our care and we offer it so someone else can take what they need at that moment. If we don’t share what we uniquely have, maybe someone doesn’t get what they really need. Remember, we don’t gatekeep here.   

Breathing is freedom. Using your gift is freedom. Choosing kindness when the world isn’t kind is freedom. Living your values is freedom.

Let’s keep it simple:

Breathe.
Make time in your day to breathe deeply and check in with yourself. Fill your lungs, expand your belly, fill as many spaces in your body with as much air as you can. Come back to your breath as often as you need. We need air!

Name your gifts.
Make a list of what’s uniquely yours. Not your job, but your gifts.

Share one.
Use a gift in a way that costs you nothing but means something to someone else.

I’ll share a small example. Last week I taught a young man how to get sound out of an instrument he’s been struggling with for a while. We broke it down to basics and within an hour, he was up and running. I give him the credit because he was open to learning! But in taking the time to make it fun, I used a gift I take for granted: connecting a problem to what people already know so it doesn’t feel so complicated. In our session we talked about how playing a woodwind instrument is all about transferring breath, and using the keys to confine or release the air. That clicked for him. His smile at the end of the session was truly a gift. 

As you slow down and take care of yourself, remember to download The Get Free Health Guide produced by our friends over at AfroLA with special thanks to Stephanie Capps for her health knowledge and expertise. Use the code GETFREE to claim your free gift. And if you know people who would like to understand more about their numbers or how to have conversations with their healthcare professionals, please share so they can download, too. We don’t gatekeep here!

🚀Get Your Life: Things to read, listen to, enjoy🚀

📚What I’m doing: Building in more time for quiet and deeper breathing. Check out this meditation for beginners by Devi Brown - 10 minutes well spent!

🎵 Soundtrack for the week:  It has to be Jonathan Singletary - his voice is as clear as a glass of pure water. But sharing this piano only track called “Freedom”

✨ If you’ve got a recommendation drop me a line. ✨

If you got something out of this issue of The Get Free Guide, give us a follow or a shout out on Instagram and share the love with a friend. We don’t gatekeep around here!

See you next week!