stronger

One Year Wiser

Twas' a happy birthday. I awoke to gifts wrapped in newspaper by my six-year-old. It was the sweetest thing. She wrapped every piece of jewelry she could find. The jewelry had been given to her in a bag of hand me down clothes from our neighbor. Absolutely adorable! I love my kids, they make me smile.

The age of 34 arrived yesterday, an age that once seemed really old to me. Instead, I’m a bit relieved. As I sat on the front steps last night I thought “It was my 30th birthday that I had my awakening and decided to no longer be married to an alcoholic. And after some  long, dark, and winding roads I have arrived safely at 34. It took four years, but here I am. Much happier, much stronger, and much wiser.”

They say a wise man never wishes to be younger, and I would have to agree with whomever spoke such words of wisdom. I wouldn’t take myself back in time to learn these same lessons. I wouldn’t trade what I know now,  for what I only thought I knew then. Instead, I will remain thankful to have a brain capable of learning, and health that will take me til tomorrow; and hopefully many years to come. So long as God allows these hands to type or this mouth to speak, I will continue to share the lessons.

“Cheers to 34, and being halfway to 68.

Every day that we are blessed with life,

is reason to celebrate.”

© Angela Bininger and The Empowerers, 2009-2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this websites author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

We Have Always Loved Them, Or We Never Did

“You never stop loving someone.

Either you always will or you never truly did.”

© Kait Staples 2010

There is nothing closer to the truth, than these words. When we have truly loved someone, that love never goes away. Although we may ignore that love, suppress it, or fight to avoid it; it is there. We may deny it, we may extinguish it, but eventually our true feelings surface. When we find ourselves, we find love.

Love has many levels in relationships. Despite the level change, it still exists. It may be stronger or weaker than it once was, but it is there if it was ever truly there to begin with. Often when passion has left a relationship, we think that love followed it out the door. We feel less connected to someone, so we feel out love is gone. Sometimes “we run into the arms of curiosity to find out what was there all along” as India Arie sings in her powerful song, Wings Of Forgiveness.

No matter what we do to avoid loving someone: if it was ever truly love it will always be there. And that, should give us all hope. So many search for answers when it comes to love, loss, relationships, marriage, divorce, affairs, who do you love, etc. In fact, heartache drives the most traffic to this website, among many others. It is heartbreaking having learned my lessons the hard way, to watch others as they receive the same lesson. I want to help them, and tell them “NO, don’t do it! It’s right beside you! That love you are searching for has been there the whole time!” But, as humans the more people warn us not to do something the more we want to check it out. We want to see for ourselves what all of the fuss is about. And more often than not, we let denial keep us from experiencing the true beauty of love. We let doubt keep us from experiencing unconditional love. We let low self-esteem allow us to run to someone else and doubt what we had. When we are broken people, love is complicated.

© Angela Bininger and The Empowerers, 2009-2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this websites author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Angela Bininger and The Empowerer with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.