If we were meant to do this alone we would all have our own planet.
I've been to hell,
and made it back.
If you're there,
maybe I can help you
find your way out.
Check my site, spiritpathcounseling.com/ namaste...

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
Angela Monet

non-ballerina...

it has not always been
with the utmost of grace and coordination
that I have performed on this stage we call life
the critics have often been harsh
the reviews unfavorable
I, naturally, my own worst critic
but I am committed to the dance
for I have realized
that ultimately it is not the final performance that we live
but the unending hours, days, years, lifetimes of practice
that make us what we are...
so, all I ask, is that you not judge too harshly
as I practice my dance of life...
I will stumble, I will fall, I have, and will again
I ask you to look beyond the practice, to the commitment
to the intention, to the man, the soul beneath the performer...
for that is where my truth lies...
the dance has taught me many many lessons
and I continue to learn...
because my heart is open, I am willing to try
I am willing to fail...
I have come to know the truth...
I have come to believe in myself...
and if I never receive a standing ovation...
if I never receive the acceptance and approval
of those I seek to please with my dance...
those things will be reward enough
for I am a seeker, dancing on an uneven stage...
a nonballerina...
jeff a.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Often our true path is not the apparently safe one - but if we examine the "safe" path, it leads only to deadness and limitation. The only real safety lies in being true to our own self. What does your heart tell you is real for you? If you were to allow your authentic self to come forth, what would you be doing differently? The only quality of character that will guide you reliably through the many changes happening in and around you, is realness. Trust who and what you are, and the universe will support you in miraculous ways.
Alan Cohen

Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.
Margery Williams, "The Velveteen Rabbit"

You cannot be wimpy out there on the dream seeking trail. Dare to break through barriers, to find your own path.
Les Brown

To dare is to lose one's footing temporarily.
To not dare is to lose oneself.
Soren Kierkegaard

And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything,
you risk even more.
Erica Jong

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
Rumi