Kay:
Hey there Questers, Happy Monday! Welcome to Episode 86. Today’s quote comes to you from Gloria Gaynor in her song, “I Will Survive”. She says…
Kay & Shi:
(*Singing*) “I will survive. Oh, as long as I know how to love I know I’ll stay alive…and I got all my life to live. I’ve got all my love to give…”
Kay:
Okay – so it may be just the first sentence of that, but we took it a little ways down the path because we know it would have walked down the path in your mind anyways!
Shi:
And I think this is A LOT of people’s anthem right now.
Kay:
Truly, truly everyone’s anthem. I mean we’re in a global situation of life and death.
Shi:
Yeah. Literal life and death. And it’s something that the world hasn’t seen for a hundred years. The “all businesses closed”, and hospitals on restriction, and grocery stores out of things…. I mean, talk about a crazy time to live. A lot of people are in survival mode in a lot of different ways right now.
Kay:
Well, what we love about what Gloria Gaynor brings to this idea of survival is that she says that, “as long as I know how to love, I know I will stay alive”. And what’s so cool about this is that you can pretty much love all the way to the end, and you begin loving all the way from the beginning.
Shi:
And if you’ve been a beacon of love…if you’ve given and received love, even when you die, that love lives on – in the relationships that you’ve built and the legacy that you leave. And so, the more you love, the more legacy you leave and the more you live on, even after your physical body dies! And this is such a great part of this quote and of this song lyric because it truly is an anthem. It’s kind of one of those things you just have to incant to yourself, right? Like incanting, “I will survive. I will survive”…You say it over and over to yourself. But the second piece here – “as long as I know how to love, I know I will stay alive” – now we’re getting some actual mentorship! Even in this great disco song that’s helping us have an anthem when times get tough. But the secret is there: As long as I know how to love, I will stay alive. And we have seen this anthem lived out by people like Viktor Frankl, who was in a Jewish concentration camp and still survived, and still came out the other side to do some beautiful work and things. And, he said – you know – I’ll survive and I know that love is the answer. And that ability to love and appreciate the human spirit is what makes us endure and live on no matter what!
Kay:
Well, Gloria Gaynor still looks fabulous AF! I mean, this chick is 70 years old, and she’s still out there singing that she will survive on stages, and on TV, and in concerts…I mean, she’s still going! So maybe she’s figured out not just the secret to happiness, but the secret to immortality…
Kay & Shi:
(*Laughter*).
Shi:
Good job, Gloria! And, that secret is love, right?! I mean, even as your body ages and looks much, much older – those people who are loving – who are kind – who are being this embodiment and beacon of love – they are attractive!
Kay:
They certainly are. I mean we’ve all seen a person who isn’t necessarily physically attractive but they just exude this energy that is undeniable. And, those people are often the people who are just so filled with LOVE. And you know, love is SO important. It’s such an important emotion that even some religions have gone so far as to say that God IS love and that the very essence of who we are, and everything that we are, really centers around love!
Shi:
Well love is kind of this umbrella term for all of the positive emotions that we have, because under all of them is ultimately a place of love. And so love comes in many different shades – from happy, to joyful, to grateful. But under all of that, the base emotion really is love. They say when (at the macro level) you boil it down to two emotions, it’s love and fear, right? It’s love, and the absence of love (fear)! And so, all the different shades and ways that we see that and express it and feel it and have it live on…I mean it’s INFINITE in its positivity and in its ways!
Kay:
Well, I think something that you just said is really important there Shi – where you said it really comes down to being just love and fear – and, thinking about how love comes FIRST. It’s love and the absence of love. It’s love and “I’m afraid that I’m going to lose it”. It’s love and positive emotion OR it gets taken away and now I feel this bad thing because I am separated from that love…And so, the BAD stuff even comes from love. That’s where it all originates. Which means that it can’t really be created or destroyed, and THAT means that as long as you know how to love – I know that you will stay alive 😉
Shi:
Well, and that of course, brings us to the quest today! So your quest on this motivation Monday is to: go to your nearest mirror. Look yourself in the eyes and sing yourself this song: “I WILL SURVIVE! As long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive.” That’s all you gotta do! You can do it!
Kay:
Even if you just say the three words, “I will survive”, there will be a noticeable energy shift in your body. So feel it. Lean in, and get questing!
