The Red Shoes

This is directed to women of a “wildish” nature.

May you love yourself unconditionally so you can do the same for others.

I have been upset by the state of this world for a long time but so overwhelmed by the extent of the problems that I felt powerless to do anything.

However, I do not feel that way anymore.

I am still overwhelmed by the vastness of the problems we face.

I am not powerless to make a difference and neither are you.

Here is what I have come to believe about how we can change our world

(be patient it takes me a while to get there)…

We have the capacity for such greatness and yet we can be so painfully self destructive. We are resilient, but we can be tragic because it is not always our capacity for greatness that wins out. I don’t know why we are the way we are.

What I do know is the joy I feel when I see wild women shining and aspiring to be the best version of themselves.

“Though we would never wish the poisonous red shoes and the subsequent decrease in life onto ourselves or others, there is in it a fiery and destructive center, a something that fuses fierceness to wisdom in the woman who has danced the cursed dance, who has lost herself and her creative life, who has driven herself to hell in a cheap (or expensive) hand basket, and yet who has somehow held on to a word, a thought, an idea until she could escape her demon through a crack in time and live to tell about it.” ~ Women Who Run With Wolves

So what has my recent dance with the devil taught me?

I have learned life is precious and things you work very hard for can be destroyed with careless decisions made based on negative emotions.

I have learned that being confrontational is extremely dangerous.

There are a lot of wounded people walking around this earth.

I have learned the importance of standing strong and confident in your values but in a way that is not abrasive to others.

I have learned that none of this will guarantee I won’t get hurt.

I will.

But I have also learned it will be worth it.

Spreading love has the chance to start healing some wounds in a few.

In healing ourselves first, we can help to heal others.

And in helping heal the wounds of ourselves and others,

our world becomes a safer place.

It takes a powerful act to touch a wounded heart. One that is often not deserved.

The people that truly understood and lived this are my heroes and the ones who I believe have done the most good in this world.

“If we really want to conquer the world, we will not be able to do it with bombs or with other weapons of destruction. Let us conquer the world with our love.”

Mother Teresa