Jacinte Blankenship: Allowing Myself To Be Authentic

Sensitivity leads to listening and hearing beyond thoughts and words. When we expand our sensitivity by softening our physical faculties so that we can clearly receive from our God-like perspective, then we begin to remember that there is more to us than our physicality. The undeniable blended expression of physical and non-physical that we all embody is sensed through the love we flow and direct to everything and everyone we choose to give our attention to.

Artist Jacinte Blankenship was recently honored with an Emmy nomination for her role as Jenaya on the short-form series airing on YouTube, Intersection, which she also co-wrote and produced. Blankenship begins, “I’m a very sensitive person. I feel first more than anything, and I’m a big listener. So, I don’t actually do a lot of talking. I really like to take in the other person’s energy and open the space for them. I’m hugely introverted. And I love all these art and creative lives as I get stimulated by really beautiful things the arts represent.”

Comparison and judgment are necessary for all of us to develop preferences for what we would love to experience. It’s a starting point for us to choose which direction we want to experience life. However, when we focus on comparing ourselves to others for too long from the perspective of fear, then we create a loop of self-judgment that becomes challenging to stop. No one can take from anyone unless we allow it. The mutuality that matches the vibrations that create worlds is always accurate. Creating from love and abundance means emanating and experiencing love and abundance for yourself, and thus for others. The sensitivity and awareness about how we feel, which reflect in everything we experience outside of us, will always indicate the energies we project from within.

“The comparison trap is real. I think that you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t experience it from time to time. So, I definitely will go there. But no one’s journey is the same. And you see people like you excelling, and you’re like, ‘I know there’s space for me, but for some reason, it hasn’t been created yet.’ Your mind starts to spin, and then you start to make up all these stories about why it’s not happening, or why a reality you want is not manifested yet. What I do is let the thoughts come, and then let them go. When I realize they’re not serving me, I try to speak life into myself, like opportunity and possibilities. Sometimes it happens immediately, and in moments it’s over. And then sometimes it takes me a day or two. But every day, I’m getting stronger, more confident, and knowing that my timing is my timing and that there’s space for all of us. So, what I need to lean into is being present for my opportunities and also being extremely, extremely happy for all of us. I think when you lean into the joy not just for yourself, but for other people getting their wins, it makes your world fuller, and it keeps you out of the comparison narrative,” Jacinte continues.

Change is inevitable. Through our quest to experience a fuller life’s expression flowing through all of us, Everything That Exists expands and becomes more. Without the asking and receiving dance, there is no movement, and without movement, there would be no expansion, and we would cease to exist—which simply can’t be. We often look outside of ourselves for the change we aim to experience. But when we look within and realize that we are the process of fueling and catalyzing the movement into expansion, then we can deliberately direct the energies that create worlds. When we embody and integrate what we desire, we will lead by bringing forth the life force that is in us and which we are. Then the ripple effect eternally moves outward in infinite expression.

Jacinte speaks about her process of integrating and becoming the change she wants to experience in the world, which eventually inspired her to create the series Intersection: “In my own experience, when I moved into the neighborhood that I live in Atlanta, I started to explore and see what had been there. My neighborhood is pretty diverse: there are lots of East Africans, Southeast Asians, and there is a pretty big Jewish community too. I explored the stores, mom and pops, and those small businesses that have been there, and I’ve started to frequent and get to know those people. The same thing with my neighbors—to see who’s been living there and introduce myself. So, that is my start: moving into a neighborhood and quote-unquote, integrating, settling into the culture and the energy of the neighborhood. That is a good starting point for anyone. And I’m speaking for myself, but it’s one of those things when you just reach forward to extend yourself and be open to making a connection, as opposed to if I came in, and I was only looking for the franchises or the chains, and to shop those only. I felt like my money needed to go to the businesses that have been there forever and have established themselves in the neighborhood. That was a good starting point for me becoming part of my neighborhood.”

Everything starts with us making a decision. Saying yes to our desires is honoring the divine that wants to express through us in any way we choose to. There are limitless ways to create and allow ourselves to emanate and integrate new and fuller ways of self-realization.

“Up until I became a part of the project, Intersection, I was taking a traditional route I thought I was supposed to take as far as auditioning. Even though I’m trying to get the credits and build my credibility, I wouldn’t be a series regular or lead or strong supporting actress in these big projects; I just really didn’t have as much contribution as I knew I was ready for. And they were all learning experiences that always gave me the best lessons from being on set. So, it opened my awareness about my agency in my career, that I have resources outside of that one path, and that I needed to reach out to those and explore them. It was scary for me; I didn’t think I had the skill to be a writer or producer. But once I got over the fear and telling myself that I couldn’t do it, then I tried it. And, as I said, it transformed me. I don’t think I understood how much power I had in creation outside of the instrument I have as an actor. It’s really wonderful, and I hope people who are doubting that path start to think about it—because there’s so much more opportunity and fewer obstacles. There are still obstacles as you have to shoot it, you have to find a team, and you have to see it through. But it is worth the experience of saying ‘yes’ to yourself, saying ‘yes’ to discovering the unfolding of your desire’s creation. I encourage anyone to start expressing themselves creatively in another way, not just as an actor. It made me think about writing or directing as an expression to explore other mediums within what we are creating. And it’s been super empowering and eye-opening, and I really hope I can do more of it,” passionately shares Jacinte.

She continues, discussing the process of becoming Jenaya, her character in Intersection: “I understood Jenaya so well. The type of person she is has been an example for me my entire life. I have two grandmothers who were incredible single parents, and incredible women who provided for their families on their own. With their and my mom’s example, and with the example of so many friends, and even just women who I look up to who I don’t know personally, I take with me a sense of real fortitude and strength. Things will not always be easy, you will have obstacles, but the black women in my life have such resilience; they push forward, and I know that somehow, when I don’t think I have much to give, I will find another step forward. As I reflect on those women and having embodied Jenaya in that same way, I carry that with me. And even further, it’s cemented in my spirit. I do hope that through my character Jenaya, people do see the adverse effects of gentrification. What happens to a lot of folks as this is happening? Displacement happens. I hope that the awareness grows around displacement. And the solution to that is to start asking questions about how we can prevent this from happening as much. I mean, it’s hard to be a working-class person in a big city, not make a living wage, and still live where you work. So, I hope that solutions come about for exactly what my character was going through. She’s a working-class person trying to live in the neighborhood she grew up in, and she can’t afford to live there anymore.”

Like with any vibrational mutuality we emanate, self-empowerment attracts more of that essence into our lives. Being empowered starts with oneself, and then we recognize the serendipities, blessings, and connections that we create from that state of beingness.

Jacinte felt empowered to see how a room full of talented women come together to play and co-create. She goes on, “Empowerment was in every sense of the word from the writers room experience to being directed by women, and looking at the shots that are DPs, our directors of photography, all these women were incredible…incredible. And it is an empowering thing to know that. Skills are not defined by gender. I hope I have the opportunity to create these opportunities in the future. I was so inspired by everyone I was working around. It was incredible. Incredible.”

We are the ones experiencing everything we create. No one can experience life the way we do. Even when we attune our thoughts to those of others, there is such a uniqueness and authenticity in our own memories, events, and life experiences that we only can assume what really the other person thinks and perceives. Allowing ourselves to embrace our unique vantage point of creation while being aware that from our wider, divine perspective, we all are one, we can live life to its fullest.

“I love to see authenticity. I love people being themselves. Once you get to letting go of what we think people want from us, or what we believe is right or wrong, once we just get down to who we are, that’s the most beautiful expression. There’s so much to offer as yourself. And so, when people are able to fully live and breathe as who they were created, that is the best for me, that’s the best to observe and interact with.”

Like Jacinte, are you allowing yourself to be your authentic-self and fully experience who you are becoming?

Photography // Rachael Humphries
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