I have a friend named Pat who lives in Pittsburgh and is a first-class artist.  We actually only met a few times over the course of a few days when we were in London with our husbands who were there taking a legal deposition.  We had dinner a few times and she and I immediately connected on so many levels.  Pat has recently and successfully completed treatment for breast cancer- she is a hero to me and although we now mostly stay in touch via Facebook the connection we felt those days in London is  still there.  Earlier today, in preparation of some pieces she is working on she asked those of us of Facebook for, “…words that inspire, comfort and uplift…and which words would we choose?”.

The choices are as varied as the lives we all live and the circumstances that we face each day.  They all resonated with me and I could probably choose any one of them at any given  time during a particular minute, hour, day, week.  These are  the words that were shared, which ones call to you and what would you add to the list?

“Be~ Perspective~ Courage~

Hope~Faith~ Peace~ Believe~

Perseverence~ Grateful~ Unrelenting~

Spirit~Wisdom~Grace~

Patience~Bliss~Breathe~

Power~Strength~Gratitude~ “Be Still”

Of course, for every positive and affirming and nurturing word there are those others that call to us and try to pull us into the darkness- words like “hate, anger, despair, doubt, envy, grief, greed, etc.  I am guilty of sometimes wanting to hold onto those hurt feelings and have myself a little ‘pity party’.

I believe that in and of themselves those  thoughts have the power to transform us and turn us back to the light- they are feelings and reactions that we have as humans to situations and events in our lives and in our world but first I think we have to honor them and give witness to what happened to cause us to feel as we do. It is then that we have the choice to stay as we are and fester in the negative energy or  match them as best we can with the words that Pat asked us to share.