Martha Stewart and John Patrick Shanley

I am in the midst of finishing up reading, The Martha Rules, the book that Stewart worked on while she was in prison. Do you know how hard that was for me to write: “while she was in prison.” In retrospect it is so odd that MARTHA STEWART served time but I guess it “served” her well since her company is doing GREAT!

In Chapter 7 there is a quote that spoke to me at this time in my life:

“If you are resistant to change or if you refuse to change, you may as well call it a day. In other words, when you are through changing, you’re through.”

She repeats the 2^nd part of this thought a second time at the end of the chapter just to drive it home for me.

My life is at a fork in the road and is full of change whether I ordered it up myself, or not. It has been one of those cosmic things where I so desperately begged for and desired change but did not have the courage or strength to do it myself. Well, the cosmic universe ripped the carpet right out from underneath me and gave me a full platter of CHANGE and it tastes oh so good. Oh, it put a sour taste in my mouth initially, I won’t lie. In fact, I nearly choked on the suddenness of it all. But like ripping a band aid off a wound as quick as you can, it had to be done at some point or like Martha says above, you may as well have stuck me 6 feet under in a wooden box.

My life has been full of bouts of SUDDEN change over the past few years starting with the sudden passing of my father January 14^th 2006. I lost my very best friend and advisor so wise. I now talk to him late at night and wake up with his voice in my head and he guides me from far away.

I am a work in progress working hard at becoming a courageous person who is facilitating her own change instead of having it dumped on her lap unexpectedly.

There is a quote that appears in a forward to the play, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, written by John Patrick Shanley that came to mind after reading Martha’s chapter lucky number 7 that has always been a favorite quote and one that I used to strive to live by but had given up as fear built up inside of me through the years of living in a rut. Now that I am feeling more courageous in this great thing called LIFE, I am dusting this favorite quote off and giving it another chance.

“I am not a courageous person by nature. I have simply discovered that, at certain key moments in this life, you must find courage in your self, in order to move forward and live. It is like a muscle and it must be exercised, first a little, and then more and more. All the really exciting things possible during the course of a lifetime require a little more courage than we currently have. A deep breath and a leap.”

-John Patrick Shanley-

There is plenty of “leaping” left for me to do so I better start working out….a little and then more and more….."it's a good thing"...or "thang" when my Texas accent comes out to play.