The bravest thing I've ever done was ...

Tell me about a time in your life when you faced adversity and acted with bravery.

In 2000, we went to the last Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayas - Bhutan. Their credo is "Gross national happiness". I was 'scited' - scared and excited. We visited a village at 11.000 feet that had never seen a group of Westerners. The women of the village sang and danced for our group. Then we sang and danced for them. The Hokey Pokey bridged cultures. After all, isn't that what it's all about?

The bravest thing I’ve ever done was

to begin writing my memoir four years ago with Alan Watt of LA Writers Labs.

I parked my pride and humility on the curb, while I learned how write the story of how my marriage and I survived unimaginable traumas and transformed as a result of post-traumatic growth, mindset and spiritual awakenings.

I ran from my family and life in Tennessee and moved to the West coast at age 24. I rejected my mother (the feminine) and embraced my father’s dream and beliefs around achieving the American Dream. But it was all an illusion I found out later in life.

It’s taken all the courage I could muster to stay in Al’s program.

I knew I had to be “willing” to suck at it in order to get better.

I had a knowing when I was in Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego seven years ago, as I recovered from a near-fatal car wreck, that I had to write a book to tell the story and what I’d learned as a result. I’d find helpers to hire or teach me.

The key was that I stayed in the uncomfortable place of acting with courage.

I was willing to be terrible until I was better. I knew NOT to compare myself to people Al attracts in his programs: award-winning writers, NYTs bestselling authors and established Hollywood filmmakers working with a few novice writers like me!

Through it all, I’ve never experienced a teacher as supportive and encouraging as Al.

Angeles Arrien said, “Everyone has an important stranger who appears in each decade that changes the course of their life.”

Before I was in Al’s programs, Byron Katie changed the course of my life with her form of inquiry called The Work.

What people don’t realize about me is that I was once phobic about writing.

It’s a huge relief to have written this manuscript. Writing this memoir has changed my life. I’ve been in decades upon decade of Jungian analysis, talk therapy, EMDR counseling, Byron Katie’s inquiry and now Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy.

Writing a memoir is deep but rewarding work. Al is a master of the human condition.

Now over to you.

The bravest thing I’ve ever done was …

Tell me about a time in your life when you faced adversity and acted with bravery.

I want you to know that what’s brave to me is different from what might feel brave to you. Take one small step and let me know what you’ve overcome.

P.S. Dear reader, please don’t compare your trauma to mine as you read this article. Each time I’ve gone through a trauma, people share their own story then minimize it in comparison to my experiences. All trauma is difficult. We all go through adversity in our lives.

“It’s not what happens to you that matters. It’s what you make it mean that matters.”

~Alan Watt, LA Writers Labs