Come rain, come shine, I am yours, you are mine

To stay alive, I must give to myself the means for emotional and physical survival. I therefore declare to myself that I am alive, that I am here, that I do love myself.

From people like Walt Whitman and so many of my friends (you know who you are) I have learned not to deny any aspect of my interior world, not to draw lines between one part and another, and not to make rigid oppositions among these parts. In this way, by knowing myself as a more and more integrated person, I can better locate where I need to be in a universe I already acknowledge as beautiful and ever-changing.

Then I am able to find my own strength and individuality, and relate to others without apology or self-limitation.

I see this as a means to fulfilling my task to become an aware, effective and respectful person.

Now, those of you who know me are probably wondering, how on Earth can somebody so willing to mess her life up claim to practice these notions? She doesn't appear to know or to love herself much.

Au contraire, I say.

As one lost friend used to say, "the proof is in the pudding."

My ability to write is one proof, the first one, I suppose characteristically, to which I refer you.

Another, I must say, is the inner calmness which I have lately been able to often claim as my own. If those around you are losing their heads, and you're not, then you are a .... etc.

Yet another, which I have long sought for myself, and which I think even the most skeptical among you have seen the inklings of, is "vibrancy." My own peer counselor, -- yes, a crazy woman -- said this about me.

But the strongest proof is the fact that in the face of a lot of trouble I haven't lost myself. I feel strongly that I am the person I need to be, and that the choices I make don't depend on external or fleeting circumstances -- though I admit I am flighty -- but are ones that I make because of who I am, and further that only I can (and do) make them.

When all is said and done, I love life and life loves me.

I love that line from the movie, Scrooge.

Be a person who knows what life has to offer, and then give yourself what you need.

Enjoy.