Do I Dare?

"The most important thing in the world is to be willing to give up who you are for who you might become." - Nachman Bratzlav

I recently learned that Louise Hays was 58 years old when she published her best selling book, You can Heal your Life. Her life experience would bring her to her own healing, and her healing would bring her to her life.

In a nut shell, she was born to a poor mother, in October 1926, who then married a violent man; Louise's stepfather. When she was about 5, she was raped by a neighbor. At 15 she dropped out of high school without a diploma, became pregnant and, on her 16th birthday, gave up her newborn baby girl for adoption. In 1977 she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and she determined that its cause was her unwillingness to let go of resentment over her childhood abuse and rape. She could have been dismissed as "crazy" but she was determined to exercise her own power to heal herself. In 1976, Hay wrote a small pamphlet called, “Heal Your Body”. This pamphlet was extended into her book, You Can Heal Your Life, published in 1984. As of 2009, it is still on New York Times best sellers list! As if that wasn't enough, a year later, she started a publishing house (Hay Publishing House) which is now one of the primary publishers for people like Deepak Chopra and prominent others.

Why write about this? Beyond that it is impressive, I hope it is inspirational; personally. It is to me and quite frankly, we need a little inspiration in a time when it feels like things are breaking a part. This life story is but one example of many that it is never too late to recognize and act upon inner strength and wisdom. It is this wisdom and resilience that makes dreams come true in America. What falls a part must fall a part, it is the creative process and it is inescapable. That does not mean that we need to fall apart. Wisdom is accessible and we have the power to act upon it or turn from it.

"Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure; you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare?"--Joseph Campbell

“Acquire the courage to believe in yourself. Many of the things that you have been taught were at one time the radical ideas of individuals who had the courage to believe what their own hearts and minds told them was true, rather than accept the common beliefs of their day.” -- Chin Ning Chu

Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision."

-- Peter F. Drucker