Dear Brain,
Thank you.
You are the one who allows us reason and logic.
You are how we survive.
You are how I move my hands to write,
how I walk,
and how I kiss my loved ones.
Thank you for all that you do.
But you are not in charge.
Who is?
Within us are thousands of humans.
I see a man,
an old wise woman who looks like she makes potions,
a woman dressed in red,
a man dressed in fabric scraps,
a young girl who looks like me,
and an old woman who also looks like me.
When I look at them within me, I believe these are all my ancestors.
They are all sitting within me,
not saying anything
but watching every move I make.
And when my brain is quiet, I can see them.
Without my brain, I wouldn’t be able to see them
or even know they exist.
So thank you, Brain.
But did you know you go on tangents and talk over my ancestors
with your worries and fears?
Some people live their whole lives not even knowing these ancestors exist within them.
But the tangents, the worries, the fears
are not you, either, Brain.
They are just what you were taught to create.
Worrying is what you trained to do
from childhood,
from yesterday,
and from thousands of years ago.
Your experience have made you scared.
They make you think you must worry
in order to survive.
But we need you to release all your worries
in order for us all to live.
Nonetheless, without you,
I would’ve never realized that
or written this thought down
or would have been able to share it with others
and have their brains understand it, too.
So thank you, Brain.
From,
my ancestors.
Ali Walks Around 