Is there anybody more unifying than Dolly Parton? Even in death, her timing was impeccable. Thank you, Dolly, for your iconic example of how to believe in our self and everybody else. We will always love you. 💞

I listened intently to Robin Hood* from his death bed, as he explained to a child how to use a bow and arrow. He said, “The secret to shooting an arrow is not letting go — you just stop holding on.” The words resonated. I believe in letting go. I also believe in the power of the right words, though! The right words help us to get our mind around a concept. They help us to see a picture. They light up the truth. And they provoke us to take action … or to stop taking action. Therein, lies the distinction. We don’t have to do anything to send the arrow flying through the air. We just have to stop holding it back. And so it is in life. We don’t have to make it happen. We just have to let it happen. We have to stop preventing it from happening. So, let’s stop holding on to what stays our arrow, dams our flow, stifles our freedom, restrains our greatness, compromises our integrity, and attempts to justify our fear. Love is here, pure, unabashed love, in a constant state of readiness. The first step, the biggest step, is to stop holding on to what opposes love; and the mother of all that opposes love is fear. May we let love displace fear. *in the movie, The Death of Robin Hood

We cannot see what we are afraid to see. We can’t feel what we’re afraid to feel. We can’t do what we’re afraid to do. And we cannot be who we are afraid to be–even if the person we’re afraid to be is our authentic self. But we don’t have to wonder if we are intended to be authentic. Our destiny is to choose love, rather than yield to fear. Our purpose is to reconcile our behavior with our essence of authentic love. And when we choose to trust love and act on love, we also displace our fear. 💞 Jan Denise Becoming Real … free, fearless, love