"Courage is the most important of all the virtues, without it, you can practice no other." It takes courage to be kind when others are not. It takes courage to be truthful when a lie might suffice. It takes courage to keep moving forward, when you'd rather quit. I've learned that courage, or opting for bravery, is feeling the fear and still doing what is necessary to overcome it. And in the very act of bravery you don't feel brave but just feel what is true and most real.
Ironically one of my most desolate moments, barely being able to speak in between sobs of despair, I called Maya looking for comfort and sympathy. Instead she sternly chided me, "STOP IT" she said. "Stop your crying right now and say THANK YOU!"
"Why would I say thank you for this?" I said. "Say thank you because you know God, and you know He put a rainbow in every cloud. The rainbow is coming. Say thank you even though you can't see it. It's already there."
So in the worst of times, I still remind myself of that great lesson and say "Thank you"…and then prepare to see the rainbow
"When you know better you do better."
Maya Angelou had said this to me once when I was talking to her about mistakes I had made in my youth .
And she was saying you did in your 20s what you knew how to do and when you knew better you did better and you should not be judged for the person that you were but for the person you are trying to be and the woman that you are now.
Maya Angelou - a great woman that is unrecognised by most of the world, some may say she is the black Mother Theresa but I say she is much more.
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