Birthday Weekend

It was my bff's bday on Thursday and I have been busy celebrating ever since, so I apologize for the radio silence! I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend. I found myself a moment of quiet this morning, while people are either working, skiing or sleeping, so I thought I would write a little to catch everyone up. I was thinking this morning about what it means to allow people into your life. My best friend Jane, would often "point out" that I have a hard time opening up and letting people into my life. She says that even as my best friend, it took awhile to really get to know me. She on the other hand is very open, and I would say is almost the opposite of me in that way. She has taught me a lot over the years of our friendship and I am so grateful to have someone so wonderful in my life! I read this excerpt, this morning and I thought it was pretty fitting...

Opening our hearts is not something we do once or twice. It is a way of life. How quickly life does things that make us want to close off, wall off, shut down, go away. But our commitment to staying open has little to do with what life does to us. It has to do with how we decide to live. Open. Loving. Safe. We're safe because we know our ability and our willingness to love comes from within us. It is the ultimate form of learning to embrace our power.

A long time ago, when you were young, you may have told yourself it was risky to love, to trust, to feel. You told yourself that everyone you trusted would in the end betray your trust. Your belief has many times been proven true. But it's time now to believe something else. It time to believe the opposite is true. It is risky to not love, not trust, not feel. -Melody Beattie, Journey to the Heart

I found this excerpt to be very true for me! And what I have learned over the years through life bringing wonderful people, teachers, and family to me, is that it is riskier to hold back. I have many times not allowed myself to be open and stay open, thinking it was "safer" to shut off parts of myself, but lately I've been realizing that I don't want to miss out on my life and love because I was too afraid to feel it. So, I encourage everyone to stay open, and feel it all. :)