I may have started out afraid, but I was able to find my center and push past it.

In so doing, I awakened the true heart of bravery, and smiled at fear.

#4: I had to understand that no one else was going to save me. If the memorial service was going to happen, I was going to have to be the one to arrange it. The responsibility was mine.

As Chogyam Trumpa has said, fear is not the enemy. It's actually the starting point.

#3: I needed to understand my basic goodness. To know, all the way through to my core, that even if I failed it would be alright. I would still have the love of my husband, my friends, my children. Nothing could ever change that.

And, perhaps most importantly,

#2: I had to stop protecting my heart from pain. Years of meditation conditioned me to feel the entire kaleidoscope of my emotions - including those I used to hold in check. This has allowed me to be comfortable with vulnerability.

#1: I needed to face all my undesirable parts and become comfortable with them. I have plenty of imperfections. But over the years, I've learned to accept and even love them.

How did such a shy wallflower as myself do these things?
I'm still in amazement.

A lot of groundwork needed to be done before I was capable of managing such a feat.

Here's what I needed to learn:

Until one day, I did it myself.

I organized, and led a funeral service/concert for my mother. It required me to badger my brothers, co-ordinate volunteers, and make decisions on the fly. Most astounding for me, I stood in front of an auditorium full of people, acted as emcee, and even sang a solo.

I used to think that people who were brave didn't feel fear.

They couldn't possibly. How could they accomplish all the marvelous things they did if they were afraid? I simply could not imagine feeling something as incapacitating as fear, and yet still find a way to move forward.

"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship".

~ Thomas Aquinas

"One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives".

~ Euripides

"The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness.....that is a friend who cares".

– Henri Nouwen

“A friend is someone who makes you laugh when you think you’ll never smile again.”

– Unknown

typeshare.co/restfulrebec...

What will you bring to life today?

"Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait".

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow