The words for this song started from a teaching by Rev. angel Kyodo williams - a teaching that brought me to tears, although I could not say why at the time.

Her teaching, while not explicitly using this phrase, was about “both/and.” It was about the importance of standing where neither side in a conflict is right or wrong, of how important it is to acknowledge and integrate multiple perspectives rather than forcing a choice between opposing viewpoints. And, of course, like so many of Rev. angel’s teachings, it was about so much more than that.

Through the process of turning the seed of Rev. angel’s words into a song (working with the amazing Brothers Koren) I worked on the song and the song worked on me. Beyond countries and conflict, the ways in which we, each of us, are not generally accepted as we are along with the ways in which we feel we cannot be fully expressed became a key theme of this song.

It is human nature to create a mental narrative ascribing meaning, often irrevocable and immutable, regarding our circumstances, environment, situation. When we look at someone, we start to form a story about that person - sometimes positive, sometimes negative, and never fully encompassing all of who they are. The stories we make up - about ourselves and about each other - do not include all of us.

Most of us have forgotten the whole truth of who we are given the myriad of masks we wear to navigate social situations, workplaces, relationships. Some masks help us navigate life, protect our emotions, give us the strength to move forward… The masks we wear shape how we interact with the world and how the world sees us.

Similarly, we never know someone’s whole story or the whole of who they are. Over time we can get to know someone well and even with our most beloved companions, there is always a part of them that we do not know fully, that we cannot know because we can only see through the lens of our lived experience.

As I dove into the words and meaning of this song, I realized so many of the ways in which I have shape-shifted and contorted myself to fit into dominant culture. I also recognized some of the ways in which I used masking to make me appear “just normal enough” to blend in when I should have been asking for accommodations so that I could flourish. Of course, until very recently, I didn’t have the language to define, the experience to understand, or the permission to acknowledge differences in our lived experiences outside the dominant culture. And I certainly didn’t understand the value of truly diverse and divergent perspectives, including my own.

The practice of returning to ourselves and our true nature, of cultivating deep knowing and listening to our inner wisdom, is thousands of years old. In returning to ourselves, coming home to ourselves, being with ourselves and what is - without judgement, without bias, without expectation - we allow ourselves to be at home in our own skin and we allow others to do the same in our company. And it’s a practice…

Originally this song was titled, “Room for Us All” because of the chorus and how the song started. As the song evolved and the deeper truth of it being about making room for all of us and for all of who we are, the title changed to “Room for All of Us.” I played with changing the chorus to fit the title and that didn’t feel right in my mouth. So we wrote a little outro and the Brothers came in to sing a beautiful closing that brings it all together.

Creating a video to go along with this song felt important - partially to hide behind (yep, still wearing masks…). Even more important than hiding was to bring forward diverse faces - many of them friends or acquaintances, some stock images. I invite you to receive each image and notice the label or story or meaning you’re ascribing to each face. The people in this video that I know personally are complex, multi-faceted, beautiful individuals who are so much more than any label or narrative; I am confident the same is true of the people that I do not know.

The ways in which we, each of us, are not generally accepted as we are and the ways in which we feel we cannot be fully expressed breaks my heart.

“When I see you can’t be free, I am reminded of my own chains. I yearn for your freedom, ‘cause I yearn for mine.”

My wish for each of us is that we emerge more authentically and are accepted for our inherent dignity, value, and beauty each day.