Tolle says that pain only feeds on pain, not joy, so I try to find joyful moments, things to be grateful for right now.

I thought what I craved was approval and praise, but it’s simpler than that. I craved acceptance. For all the different

thought it was genius at the time, but that’s another symptom of addiction—thinking you’re smarter than you really are.

“Sometimes a part of our soul fractures off. It can happen in early childhood or during trauma. I can go in and retrieve it.”

charm husband who shows me every day just how magical and exhilarating steady love and support can be. You make me feel safe. You make me feel loved. You adore me at my quirkiest, and support every single crazy idea I’ve ever had. You have no idea what a gift you are just by being next to me.

“I stand in the rain because you never know when you won’t be allowed to feel the rain on your skin. I don’t ever worry about the weather.”

There is freedom in owning all the parts of me—the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. I made the conscious choice to create an identity out of the worst things ever said about me, and now I choose differently. It was always my choice.

Every day I walk away with some new nugget about the way I want to live my life—in service to others, accepting that I am always a work in progress, being more compassionate and more forgiving.

I don’t yet realize that what I am doing is honing my empathy—the superpower of all great ghostwriters.