It’s been almost 7 years since I wrote a Song for Soul piece. But this song made me pause, reflect, and write about it because that’s what music does sometimes: it makes us ponder and wonder. As I listened and sang along over the past few months to Jill Scott’s “Be Great”, I couldn’t help but wonder more about Greatness as something more than a concept. Jill Scott sings about Greatness as something to be. So let’s talk about it.

Before I dig deeper into the topic of Greatness, let me just take a moment and thank Jill Scott for her AMAZING latest album: To Whom This May Concern. It’s a truly wonderful body of art to listen to. “Be Great” has been one of the songs on this album on repeat in my playlists these past few months. It’s SO GOOD that it made me wonder how I am being great.

If you are not familiar with it, this is how the song starts:

“All my life, I wanted to do good, wanted to be good, wanted to feel free of a history that made me cry, and stumped my stride, so I changed my mind; I doubled down on believing that the opinions of other people couldn’t light my light, nor deter my sight, nor wrong my rights, nor guide my life, or delay my flight.

I’m flying high now up above on the clarity of love. I only get what I put into it. I spend my sweet time where I deem fit. I got one life. I’ma let my glow show. Baby, look at this! The embodiment of soul glow, I admit. Paint my own pictures; gifts on gifts on gifts. Let the load lift, let the words shift. I ain’t here to live in fear or just plain ol’ exist. I’ma go ahead and be great, why not?“

“Imma go head and be great, why not? What you listening to them for? Born to soar, born to be more. Let them keep score if they need to. Imma go ahead and be great, why not?” – Jill Scott, Be Great

This is a very poetic piece—it was, in fact, introduced as a poem in the official lyric video below—that gives a glimpse into what being great means for Jill Scott. She shares that she doubled down on believing in herself and that the opinions of others have little to do with her greatness. She speaks of “the clarity of love” that she’s flying high up above—implying a much-needed clarity to be great. She further notes that she only gets what she puts into it, and speaks of letting her glow show. The embodiment of soul glow, more specifically. It’s a layered piece of poetry that I am fascinated by.

Listening to this song for a few months very frequently made me think about Greatness as a subject, as a topic of conversation, as a state of being beyond a mere concept. And I soon realized that I can’t be what I don’t know. What does it even mean to be great? How can I be great? Let’s talk about Greatness so that we, too, can go ahead and be great with our own understanding of what it means for us.

I will start by defining Greatness and then move on to Being Great—and what it means and takes. All this is my opinion, and can only reflect how I (intend to) move in the world. Thanks for the inspo, Jill!🤎

Now let’s dive into this…

Defining Greatness

Greatness is the state or quality of being great (Merriam-Webster dictionary).

When something is “Great”, according to Merriam-Webster, it can be several things. “Great” as an adjective has the following definitions: “notably large in size”, “of a kind characterized by relative largeness”, “large in number or measure”, and “remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness” are a few.

All these definitions point to something BIG. But being great is a state of being—”the state or quality of being great”—so by definition, it’s something that you are.

With this understanding, that 1) greatness is a state of being, and 2) to be great implies to be big, large, remarkable—what does it mean to Be Great in practical terms?

To Be Great

We are constantly being something. To be great is not a one-time decision. States of being never are. To be great, to me, is to allow myself to be all that I can be within my capacity.

Being great is the state and practice of holding space for ourselves to embody the largeness of Life Itself within us.

This includes our most brilliant and beautiful selves, our best ideas we have for who we could be, as well as the stuff that excites us and lights us up. It includes the understanding that greatness already exists within, so it’s not something to achieve as much as it’s something to allow ourselves to be.

To be or not to be—that’s the question. And we decide the answer. Our answer can only reflect our awareness of something. If you think that greatness is only granted to a few, you won’t allow your own greatness to be.

If you believe that greatness already lives within and is simply waiting on your permission, being great in the moments of now—embodying that state of being—gets easier with practice. If we do this often enough, we will see our capacity for greatness expand. We can see ourselves being great more often than not.

Being great, I think, starts with accepting greatness—not as something to achieve, but to embody. It is a state of being to hold and carry.

I believe that we are being great whenever we show up greatly in the moments of our lives; by doing something excellently instead of so-so; by owning our brilliance and depth; by showing up accordingly; by developing ourselves to meet our most remarkable self; by practicing more of the things we desire to master; by seeing ourselves as all we can be and being seen as all we can be while holding onto our belonging… By remembering that we, too, matter.

Hold space for ALL of it as often as we can. That’s BIG. And not an easy task. But it gets better with practice. Here is a question to think about as I reach the end of my reflections on Greatness: How would you show up if you were to allow the largeness of life itself to flow through you?

I’ve been practicing holding more space over the years for the Great One Within to be. Still learning to allow myself to be All That. But it started with believing that there is Greatness within me. And now, I’m allowing it to be more of what it can be. That is, Great. ‘Cause.. Why not?

Dare to be more of what you want to be.

With love,
Jun 🤎

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