trying to pick

she asked me what my top three favorite bone sighs were.

what a great question to take out on a walk, i thought.

the first one's easy.
it had to be the first bone sigh i ever wrote -

i matter

it was when she first dared to see

her truth, that the winds howled.

after a time, it strengthened her

and she spoke her truth

and the earth shook.

and when finally,

she believed her truth –

the stars rejoiced,

the universe opened,

and even her bones sang her song:

“I Matter!”

okay, that was easy.

that's the backbone of my business, it was the start of my finding myself,

it is THE bone sigh that changed my life.

second one was a no-brainer as well.

it's the one i struggle with constantly, think is the most important

thing there is, and feel like i may never quite get -

strength

strength lies in the

opening of the heart…

i love that one. it's so short, but packs the biggest punch ever.

and it reminds me over and over again to work on building those

muscles of opening.

but the third one.

ohmygosh.

how do i just pick one?

what would the third one be?

and i walked and thought about it.

this one immediately came to mind -

the whole

she could never go back and make some of

the details pretty. all she could do was move

forward and make the whole beautiful.

i remember the day i wrote that.

it means a ton to me.

but that wasn't it.

nope.

then this one came to mind.....

my little girl

i went back and got her today.

the little girl that is me.

I coaxed her to stand,

to drop the blanket,

and to pick up her beauty.

she’s walking with me now,

and leading me to wholeness..

and i started thinking about my inner child.

she's gone missing.

i think the walks will help me find my way back.

that will feel good. i've missed her.

i remember writing that one. i remember the powerful

inner child work i had been doing.

man, i gotta make my way back there, i thought.

and i kept thinking of quotes.....

maybe this one....

your truth

it is your truth.

your power.

your soul.

guard it with all you have.

don't let anyone's misconceptions steal it.

including your own.

i wrote that for one of my sons.

i remember what sparked that.

and i know how important it is for all of us.

and how i need to remember it.

bone sigh after bone sigh went thru my head.

it was such good therapy for me.

it brought me back to memories, showed me how far i've traveled,

reminded me of things i needed to pay attention to.

but which one would you pick terri???

i was pretty sure it was going to be this one.

this is one of my favorites. always has been -

perhaps

perhaps power is letting go of the grip of the past

and standing empty handed facing the future.  

until i thought of this one -

the fist

and the fist became the open hand.

she refused to beat herself any longer.

speaking words of kindness,

she gently touched her hair,

looked into her own eyes and

took the first step towards love.

the tears came to my eyes.

and i knew it was this one.

yeah.

this one.

it feels like this one gets overlooked a lot.

but i love it.

it seems so important.

and it's such a reminder.

and as i walked and thought about it,

the tears just rolled down my face.

yeah, i think i've been forgetting that lately.

and i think i really really need to remember this bone sigh.

so that was my final pick.

what a cool walk thru the past ten years for me.

what a lot of work it's been.

what a lot of growth.

and what a total honor.