I'm Better For It Friday...Kate's Story

HAPPY FRIDAY FRIENDS!

Today, the lovely Kate has courageously

stepped forward to share her story with us.

(and wow!  is it inspiring!!!)

Thank you Kate...

Her Story, Her Words,

Her "I'm Better For It."

How Did I Get Here...?  

Stop...Rewind.

Forever 27

[A story of new life]

27 years go by

Allowing layer after defining layer 

to creep in and solidify...

I AM :

"A taurus", "mid-twenty-something", "a nurse", "independent" and  "self-sufficient", "hard working” “dependable", "healthy", "organized" and “very, very busy”.

[All serving a very specific purpose in their own limiting way]

Daily rhythms, marching to the background beat of the sound track of a life, playing on loop in an empire that had taken 27 years to build. 

[Focused and unsuspecting in my safe, heavy trodden path]

Safe.   

Until Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 5pm. I AM ‘blind-sided’ at the driver’s side door.  

Inattentive to life in the present, I positioned myself perfectly as the bulls-eye.

[A-ha! The one thing I couldn't have planned for...] 

For an instant soul ripped from body, quickly reconsidered, 

and stuffed back in again. 

‘I’ wriggled  free from the wreckage of air bags, crumpled aluminum, 

and all definition of life as I had known it.

A few blows to the (left side) of a 'hard head', 

later to be diagnosed as a traumatic brain injury, 

suppressing reason, thoughts, language, learning and memory…

["Cracked open" would be, to state it quite accurately]

cracked open, yet preserved

held together by a nervous system of  frayed live wires

Jolts like electric shocks shake me... "wake up", "wake up"

As a daily reminder: it's time to rise up, time to move higher

  Days passed by, turned to weeks and then months. 

the old 'me' slips away as new versions take it’s once established place.

I have become the silent witness of the buzz that I too had known as life,

as it marches on by, day by day, without skipping a beat. 

[As it turns out, life does go on: whether you meet your deadlines or not…]

Stripped of all previous definitions of ‘myself’, 

I am left in the quiet, to sit (and get friendly) with myself, emptiness, loneliness & space.

S  p  a  c  e

What is left when you’re shaken free of all that you've grasped to fill yourself up,

[trying to avoid]

The answers that come from the inside.

whispers...[You know what to do]

 "Let go of fear. Do what you love. Be You"

Some people say "I'm sorry that this has happened to you",

However, I believe they will eventually see 

"how fortunate for you".

A second chance, with a clearer view. 

An entire lifetime given to payback the world with my gratitude.

A Life lived to it’s ‘fullest’, has been ended,

To make room for a new life that was always intended.

Although the path is not always clear, 

the answers have been present for 

as long as I can remember.  

(Literally) Stumbling and Stuttering 

through the next steps, or how to even begin, 

I decided to make one simple commitment to myself,  

that is to reconnect and to share.  

That commitment has become become 

my journal (blog) and artwork. 

Although I currently spend my time healing... 

full time, I know that I am and 

will always be 'better for it', 

as it is in our darkest hours 

that we find our greatest strengths.

My life from this point will be lived 

with the hope and intention that 

through my actions, art, and practices 

others too will connect with 

their own inner guiding light, 

no matter how buried it may be.

Thank you for letting me share.

om shanti om

(peace)

Kate is an artist and yogini living in

central new york.  

You can go visit her HERE

and share with her what her story has 

meant to you.

it takes guts to share these stories 

and i cannot say how appreciative

i am to those of you that do.

i feel every step we take in dealing

we are aiding in our healing.

"we have to deal in order to heal"  

                               - me

THANK YOU!

ox

kolleen