Foreword by Rev. Dr. Charlene Proctor


The power to lead a juicy life percolates in the present moment, not in yesterday or tomorrow, but today. Today is the first day of our journey toward authenticity. We can never experience freedom or bliss if we have no acceptance or appreciation of the present moment. The present moment is where the creative energy of the imagination resides, and we cannot be present with the joy of life that is ours if cannot experience people as they are without wrapping them up in layers of judgment or comparison. These old ideas about ourselves are made worse when we filter life through un-forgiveness. The hardest part comes from our inability to fill ourselves up with a sense of the Divine Presence, which is ultimately perfect in every way. A person who learns to work in conjunction with the Divine is authentic in every way. He or she is magnetic and expresses a level of confidence that inspires others. People who see the perfection of life are capable of seeing tragedy as a blessing. They can shift their perspective so that they can see the positive in any situation. It takes a lot of courage to override the mind’s ongoing commentary and make a commitment to stop struggling. When I read the stories in this book, I see women who have raised their consciousness. Their awareness of what is and their honesty with their struggles encourages us to re-examine our own human experiences. These women have experienced the full range of fear, and yet they rose above hate, insecurity, comparison, jealousy, anger, discontent, and pain. But rather than banish those emotions from their journeys, or worse, hang on to them as unwanted baggage, these women have given themselves permission to honor the gift each seemingly negative experience brings. In doing so, they have accepted Divine guidance and made themselves available to participating in a relationship with a higher power. They have chosen to be present. They have analyzed less and experienced more. They have invited grace into their lives. Linda Joy and I have a common bond. Our passages from emotional poverty to empowerment have shown us that it is just as easy to see life as a collection of old wounds that contaminate our relationships as it is to see life as set of ideas that contribute to our emotional and spiritual growth. We both know that when old wounds fester, we develop attitudes and behaviors to cover them—a heavy armor that


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