To love yourself, truly love yourself, is to finally discover the essence of personal courage, self-respect, integrity, and self-esteem. These are the qualities of grace that come directly from a soul with stamina.

Of course you battle despair. It is often a day-to-day fight, but it's one that can be won.

We have converted our wounds into a type of relationship currency that we use in order to control situations and people.

I hold myself accountable for my contradictions.

Never blame another person for your personal choices - you are still the one who must live out the consequences of your choices.

We all share a type of physical body that becomes ill or heals for the same reasons. We also share emotional and psychological crises common to the human experience. Everyone fears abandonment, loss and betrayal; anger is as toxic within a Jewish body as it is within a Christian, Muslim or Hindu body; and we are all drawn to love. When it comes to health of our spirits and our bodies, we have no difference.

Your spirit is the part of you that seeks meaning and purpose. It's the part drawn to hope, that will not give in to despair.