Because I am a one-legged, black, short, woman I had to spend every day of my life pushing against what society told me I should be. I had to sell my value every day of my life. Confidence is what enables us to push back on reality. Once you get good at that, you can use it to live your joy.

I was always interested in how to be more joyful. This goes all the way back to elemenatary school. I looked at what was going on around me and I wanted something better. Because my mother had so many ups and downs, I watned to know how to be "up" more often.

You have the strength to push back against what others are making you think or do. You use that muscle of confidence. In the same way, joy is from the inside out, and not letting the things on the outside define you.

When I am around someone who is a joy stealer, I say to myself, I only have to deal with you for an hour. That person has to deal with thinking that way every moment of their lives.

I spent a good portion of my life being unable to honor my feelings. When I started the process of having real friendships it was a huge change. I still struggle with it because it is not familiar ground.

I realized that I spent more time thinking about my problem clients than my great clients. I had to stop feeding the drama of the problem clients-and other problems in my life.

People are going through tough times. I want to say to them, "Live your joy." I know I can tell them that because I went through a lot of hard times. I had a choice of either succumbing to the hard times or figuring it out.