Embrace Your SuperPower

“Good people with hearts full of love can change the world.” - Former U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy

Last Friday I went to visit a dear friend. It had been a difficult week and I was struggling.

Gregg Cassin is someone I have known since college. He is funny, compassionate and filled with an energy that is infectious. I felt pulled to him immediately as have so many of the people he’s met along the way. It was Gregg, in fact, that created the Appalachian Volunteer program that took me to Clarksville, Georgia, on that service trip more than 40 years ago.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” he said when I plopped myself down in his cozy, waterfront condo.

A reflection.

It was the early 80s and the HIV virus was exploding across the globe. Cities like San Francisco and New York were hotbeds of suffering. Deaths were mounting. Fear ran rampant. Misinformation and disinformation was everywhere. It was a time of tremendous pain and isolation and the way out was anything but clear.

When I launched my podcast, From Sparks to Light, to share the stories of people who are making a difference in their communities, I knew Gregg would be my first guest. After all, he’d inspired me all those years ago, changing my life in immeasurable ways. I wanted others to hear his story.

It’s not something many of us think much about now. Current treatments for HIV/AIDS include antiviral drugs that stop the virus from replicating and those who are diagnosed now can live long and healthy lives. But in the early days of the epidemic, a diagnosis meant a certain death sentence.

A conversation to inspire.

It was in those early days that Gregg Cassin, his own HIV diagnosis in hand, did the only thing he could think to do, he gathered people together. In 1989 he started a group called the Healing Circle. He put signs around the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco and found a church willing to share their space with him. The night of the first meeting, he waited anxiously to see if anyone would show up. People began to dribble in. One, then another, then a couple more. He closed his eyes, readying himself to start the meeting. When he opened them, the room was full of people.

“It was about being in community,” he told me. “We practiced guided meditation. We worked on letting go of stigma… I was just going on intuition. I didn’t know anything about this stuff. I just loved bring people together and having this relief, this sense of healing possibility and hope.”

“When the world becomes too difficult,” says Gregg Cassin, now an HIV/AIDS activist and motivational speaker, “You can make that difference–with the way you hold yourself and the way you treat the person at the grocery story and at the post office … and it builds out from there.”

Gregg Cassin lives to inspire others to be there true selves. He recognized that calling as a young man when he grappled with his own coming out, learning to embrace his truth. Now he encourages others to do the same.

“Their particular light is their ministry, says Gregg, “Every shortcoming. Every experience they have walked through. Every challenge. Whatever is thrown in front of them is their hero’s journey.”

Gregg’s life has been a living testament to the power of embracing your spark and using it to shine your bright, glorious light into the world.

You can listen to Gregg’s interview here.

A simple act.

• How have the challenges that you have faced made you stronger?

• What lessons have you learned that might inspire others?

• What is your superpower? What gifts do you have to share with others?