Scott Stabile

If only I could spend all my days surrounded by people brave enough to open their hearts for real.

One of the most empowering things about being human is the fact that a single choice can change the entire direction of our lives. What are you choosing for yourself?

I stayed, to love you.I left, to love myself.

I looked at my life and for the first time felt like I could hold it all. That I didn__ need to let go of anything in order to be whole. That even those things I__ been clinging to had a place in my freedom. That every single thing played its role.

Friends...we can paralyze ourselves with the need to have all the details in order, with the desire to know all of the hows, with the reasons why we're not quite ready, and whatever other story we tell ourselves to keep from diving into the changes/dreams/goals we know we need to go after in our lives. At some point, though, we have to dive in. You'll never have all the details worked out, and they'll change along the way. You'll never know all the hows, and you don't need to. Nobody does. There will always be reasons you're not ready enough, and always fears that will beg you not to do a thing. Sometimes the only way we can overcome all of these obstacles is by starting, wherever we are, with whatever we have to offer in the moment. Really, just begin.

Sometimes my mind goes dark, and every single part of my life goes dark with it. Any happiness I thought I knew gets replaced by a sadness so big it must be for the whole world. I convince myself that I have nothing to offer, and that nobody has anything to offer me, either. I commit to hopelessness. In these dark moments I remind myself, ( because I__ be too lost without the reminder) that what I'm feeling isn't the full truth of the world, not by miles, and that though I can't see it, nothing is as dire as the nightmare my mind conjures, and that i, and the world, will be okay. In time, with hope. Slowly I come out of the darkness again. I reject my mind's devotion to misery and fear, and reroute myself on a path of acceptance and love. I focus on the beauty in our world, and in myself, and I remember that we are family, all of us, and we each matter. We each shine. Certainly.

How much longer until we finally figure out how to be with one another?How many times do we have to play out this pain?I__ ready for something different.Aren__ you.

We are powerful beyond measure,and we must stand powerfully in the face of injustice and hate.United.

We decide how much we want our past to be a part of our present.I stopped inviting the past into my life.It took the hint and stopped showing up.

Find people who can handle your darkest truths, who don__ change the subject when you share your pain, or try to make you feel bad for feeling bad. Find people who understand we all struggle, some of us more than others, and that there__ no weakness in admitting it. In fact, few things take as much strength. Find people who want to be real, however that looks and feels, and who want you to be real, too. Find people who get that life is hard, and who get that life is also beautiful, and who aren__ afraid to honor both those realities. Find people who help you feel more at home in your heart, mind and body, and who take joy in your joy. Find people who love you, for real, and who accept you, for real. Just as you are. They__e out there, these people. Your tribe is waiting for you. Don__ stop searching until you find them.9/30/16Then her heart opened wider than it ever had before,and all she saw before her, everywhere she looked, were people to love.

When we open ourselves up to feeling, we can't only open ourselves up to feeling certain things. The same is true when we shut ourselves down. The walls that guard against sadness also guard against happiness.

It__ easy to rebuke each other__ opinions, but can we honor each other__ pain? Can we make the effort to see beyond the portraits we__e painted of one another, and to connect to the humanity that thrives beneath our own assumptions? Can we be relentless in our desire to tear down walls, and to build bridges? Can we be brave and stay committed to the conversations that need to be had?The only thing I know about these questions is that I need to replace the we with I, and begin to answer them from there.One thing I know for sure: I want to become the example I wish to see in others. That's a good place to start.Another thing I know for sure: I love you. You're beautiful. You rock.

Making someone responsible for your misery also makes them responsible for your happiness. Why give that power to anyone but yourself?

I finally stopped seeking in others everything I could only find in myself.

No one determines your truth but you.You can__ paint your own self-portrait with someone else__ hand.

We can__ heal what we refuse to acknowledge.

I was still water, held by my surroundings.I am now a river, carving my own path.

When some things don__ work out, other things do.Some of life__ most memorable and fun experiences happen precisely because things don__ go as planned.