Know What You Want

I wasn't raised to set goals. I went to school, then was told I should pick a college. The whole time being asked that rechid question "So what do you want to be when you grow up?". I didn't have a clue and I didn't have much direction other than doctor, lawyer or you could be a secretary like your mom. None of these things sounded appealing to me so I drifted ... for decades.

A friend brought the movie The Law Of Attraction into my life when it came out and although it seemed a little foolish, it resonated with me. I can wrap up the whole movie in one phrase: Know What You Want. I guess it's not just knowing, it's being convinced it will happen and what it will feel like when it does. I didn't start really practicing this type of thing until I had my daughter about 9 years ago. I could write things down, daydream about them a lot and they'd happen. It's how the gallery was birthed and for the last year or so, because I've become busy with the day to day life of the gallery, I've lost sight of what I've wanted for it.

So for the new year, I got back to writing down my goals. It's a practice I learned from Questlove. Write down specifically what you want in great detail. Do it everyday and believe in it. A few weeks ago, I wrote down : "I will make deep connections and collaborations with the right people to help grow the gallery and my brand". I wrote it down and I believe it.

Last week an artist I work with a lot, Natalie Hope McDonald, dropped some new pieces off at the gallery. Now the back story is that last year, her and I both tagged Spike Lee in different posts and he bought both pieces. The piece he bought from me ended up in his exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum! Spike loves the Hip Hop culture so anytime I had pieces come in that I thought he'd be interested in, I sent him a text. Well he responded last week to a pair of LL Cool J inspired boxing gloves.

I had already made plans to go to Brooklyn that Saturday and told him I could drop them off at his studio. To my surprise he said yes and gave us an hour long tour in his massive art museum ... because that's what it is. It's better than any museum or art gallery I've ever been in.

What made it so special is that he took us on every floor (I'm not sure how many. There were a lot of floors and rooms) and explained EVERYTHING to us. Where he got the piece, what year, the story behind it and it was fucking incredible. I'd apologize for cursing but I'm not sorry because it's SPIKE LEE RELATED!!

He legit made my daughter, her best friend, Marc and I feel quite special. AND HE'S A HUGGER!! Like, he'd crack a joke and grab my arm like we were old friends.

The things that have been given to him simply because he's an authentically a good person are unreal. Lebron James first ever jersey. Signed. I'm not even a sports fan but DAAAAAAAAYYYYYYUUUUUMMMM that's something you don't acquire just because you have a lot of money. You're able to have things like that because of the quality of the relationships you have with people.

It's the one thing I picked up on while we were there : All of this comes out of setting goals and having good relationships with people.

As I sit here now typing this I still can't believe I was there. And I know my daughter and her bestie have NO CLUE how epic this experience was. I even cried. I did. Whenever I get flooded by emotions, I cry. They could be happy, sad, frustrated or excited and I'm going to shed a tear. When I saw the blue barber chair from Crooklyn, the floodgates opened. That was my movie. My little inner child wanted a big family, with a big house with lots of kids to play with when I walked outside. The Crooklyn soundtrack may or may not be better than the movie itself ... it depends on who you're asking ;) But yeah anyway ... I forgot to take a photo of the chair because of my waterworks timing.

I say all of this mainly to remind you to KNOW WHAT YOU WANT and BELIEVE that you can achieve them. I never used to think this way until I put it into play and random things just started happening. This, like everything else is part of creating a new routine or structure into your life. Make it a goal to write down what you want just once a week. Each week that reccuring goal will soon become a habit that inevitably just becomes part of your life.

I'm forever grateful for this experience

Jonene

xoxo