“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive” – Howard Thurman. When I was young, a blizzard buried our small town in Maine. The high winds moved the snow around like a white hurricane causing six-foot snow drifts; burying houses and cars and fences and fields. Big wet flakes descended in sideway spirals, tree tops weighed heavily upon the ground as if curtseying, and power

When I was five, Mother pointed to a tiny cluster of stars, and said, “There’s the Little Dipper.” She shifted her finger slightly, and even more excitedly said, “There’s the Big Dipper.” Up until then, I didn’t know constellations existed. And when I was fourteen, "I stood at the kitchen sink starring at the stain-glass ornament that hung between the dingy drapes. I made it in art class by tapping on tinted sheets of glass with a hammer until they broke, and arranged them me

At an early age, I'd been seared by the hot iron of Rejection, and no matter how many times I put my thoughts through the spin cycle, the yellow-singed-triangle remained. I’ve had many bouts with it over the years, but this particular memory is the first that I can recall, and needless to say, I did what most would do—I dog-eared, stamped, and filed it away; just to remember, not to forget. For a long time, the rejection I suffered cluttered the pages of my subconscious. Cutt

If you’ve ever been sexually abused, you may find yourself struggling with the long-term and crippling effects of it. It took me years to realize that I was more than what happened to me. I am M.O.R.E than the bullies at school, or the title 1 classes I was placed in, or the preppies who denied me a seat at the lunch table. I am M.O.R.E than the shack I grew up in, or the food stamps that fed me, or the hand-me-downs I wore. I am M.O.R.E than the negative thoughts that took u