life-lessons

your abuser tried to map your life for you. But he does not own you, and you have the freedom and the power to overcome and transcend the (negative) associations. You deserve to be happy, to be free of any feelings of shame or guilt or fear. You have the right to a completely satisfying sexual life. You are a righteous young woman. If you can get in touch with the feelings and consciously change the awful associations, you can re-map your life.

I think most people are just trying to be happy, and that most of their actions, however misguided, are in line with that goal. Most people just want to feel they belong somewhere, want to be loved, and want to feel they're important to someone. If you really examine all the wrongheaded and messed-up things they do, they can most often be traced back to that basic desire. The abusers, the addicted, the cruel and unpleasant, the manipulators --these are just people who started this quest for happiness in the basement of their lives. Someone communicated to them through word or deed that they were undeserving, so they think they have to claw their way there over the backs of others, leaving scars and creating damage. Of course, they only create more misery for themselves and others.

If you are busy focusing on the falling bricks, you will never realize that they are truly stepping stones you need to cross over to the next phase of your life.

Living a lie is painful, and doesn__ do anyone any good. I had to be true to myself, because, either way, God would know if I was lying.

Love is the only answer to every question. It is the only thing that will serve you in every situation. It is the route and the destination. It is medication, liberation and should be at the heart of and expression of your vocation.

You don't have to be in hurry in life. Everything happens in sacred-time.

Choose the body to live in.

Love yourself and the beauty of your uniqueness.

Why play small? Let your greatness be evident to all.

You must befriend a few skeletons before you'll find your deepest self.

Do not forget to love yourself.

Everybody's got skeletons in the closets. Every once in a while, you've got to open up the closet and the let the skeletons breathe. Half the time, the very thing you think is gonna destroy you or ruin you is the very thing that nobody cares about. My advice to people with skeletons is to dust them off every now and then-- as long as your closet's aint full of them. It's not good to have more than two or three.

What I have learned in this life is you can never be ashamed of where you come from.

The point is , if i'd known all this years earlier, maybe I would have put some thought into how I actually wanted to dress, look and behave because I would have understood that I didn't need to be constrained to playing the part of the platonic, misunderstood friend. Unlike Ryder, I wasn't actually cast in that part by anyone, other than myself.

I'll let you in on a secret ...How to avoid taking a wrong turn. I speak from experience. Don't blame the world around you. The world is very much larger ...than you realize. Large enough to embrace all of you.

Just do what makes sense.

If you think someone is humble, never tell them so. You will unknowingly rob them of the very thing you admire.

Set the goal, adjust the goal when needed, and stay locked in on the goal.