Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

 “When we deny our emotions, it owns us.” ~ Brene Brown    Grief.  Sadness.  Sorrow.  Suffering.  Heartache.  Anguish.  Pain.  Fear.    Every last one of these feelings and emotions turn up like some kind of a lemon, don't they? And by lemon I mean trainwreck. Implosion is probably more like it, right? Off the rails, through the roof, off key kind of hot mess. I mean we can throw humor at it all we want but a shipwreck is still a shipwreck. Kind of like a really bad adaptation of Inside Out.      Let’s be real. Most of us don’t like to talk about Grief or his not so content, very chummy bedfellows. I get it. It’s painful. Seriously, who in their right mind volunteers for pain? Grief can do a lot of things, good or bad if we’re honest. When we're willing to face it, grief can heal us. If not, it can tear us apart. The problem with ignoring our hurt and grief is the darkness it lets in. It eventually consumes...

You don’t end up with a meaningful life, you create it.” ~ Unknown      What is it about change that frightens us so much? Why does the evolution of our lives bring so much panic and dread? And how is it we crave this marvelous metamorphosis in our lives but can’t face the transformation process needed to make it possible?  I mean we all want meaningful, relevant and purpose driven lives, right? At some point most of us wish upon a star. Longing for something better. Dreaming and hoping for the beauty, grace, and prestige of being a butterfly. But sadly, we rarely understand the suffering, struggle or disruption required to sprout those wings, do we?     In nearly 50 years I’ve had to grapple with change over and over again. And like it not, for life to get better, it requires change. You know what that means. Hate it, love it, ignore it, or flat out run from it, change is essential. Change is how we learn, how we grow and how we eventually spread...

  “Grief is a nasty game of feeling the weakest you have ever felt and morphing into the strongest person you will need to become.” ~ Windgate Lane    Grief. One word with a powerful punch. It knocks us down. Lays us flat out on the ground. Then turns around and does it all over again. The thing about grief is it’s not something we ever see coming. Grief is a living, breathing being. She just shows up one day and makes herself at home. Most of us think grief only comes with death. But that’s just not the case.  She visits every day. The difference is some days we simply ignore her sitting at the table. And the other days she boldly walks through the front door expecting a glass of tea sweetened with our tears.     Personally, I’ve found grief to be bittersweet. She’s complicated. A lot like we are. Grief is sadness, pain, fear, anger and joy all wrapped up in one package. Grief can make us feel weak, inadequate and fragile but that’s not her goal. Not ...