My Aunt passed away Friday, October 15, 2010. As I considered my feelings about her death, I thought also about the reason I am writing this blog. There was a lot of sadness in my aunt’s life; there were many things she never surrendered. I don’t know the details if her Pain, but I do believe the pain she carried was partly (maybe largely) to blame for her two bouts with breast cancer and the fibroids that resulted in the loss of her womb. The physical illnesses my aunt endured reinforced my belief that emotional distress can morph into physical ailment. We need sound minds to have sound bodies.

Women like my aunt are the reason I am writing here. If we don’t accept ourselves we can’t move forward past the pain that is inevitable in life. If we don’t accept ourselves we will never be free to follow the flow that directs us to the happiness that is also inevitable in life, as long as we are open to it.

The night I learned of my aunt’s death, I cried for what she lost by giving in to her pain for so many years. I cried because I know that I could have become her if I had not fought against my emotional demons. I am continuing that fight. I will never stop waging that battle. My aunt’s memory will fortify my drive to live my passion and to become my best self.-MBL