Working as a counselor in an inpatient treatment facility they used to give me all the really crazy women. Who knows why. Maybe because I loved them or maybe because they felt I was crazy myself. Beside the point really. Every morning we would have a staff meeting at this 120 person facility. We used this time to discuss patients and patient care. What used to bother me the most were the times my fellow colleagues would speak harshly of my (any patients really) patients; demanding me to "get them under control."

See, in my mind it was important for me to let folks be who they were and suffer or celebrate the consequences of their actions and to challenge how well certain behaviors worked for them. All the while loving them exactly where they were and encouraging and enthusing (the origination of this word is so beautiful) them to dream and be more. I learned through my own experience that folks do what they feel they need to do to survive--especially at that stage of their lives. Their lives were a culmination of everything that had been... it was my job to find out what they had SURVIVED through (so they didn't have to feel alone any more) and then we could both be there to accomplish the LIVING.

Today may we pause, understand there is more to the other person's story and love the unlovable.

Have a grand day everyone.

Barbara Boyer
Courage of Fear, author