Joy does not come in the absence of pain. It is not something we earn when we have finally smoothed out all the rough edges. No, joy is born in the very center of it all—when we allow discomfort to exist without resistance, when we find within ourselves…

Here’s the latest letter in my own current practice of courage. From my unfiltered and messy heart to yours…

Hi friends, near and far. I know I talk regularly about courage here. And this latest letter is a small piece of why. Step inside my own current practice of courage and witness a letter I wrote to many parts of myself — the littlest Tonyalynne, the young adult parts, the self-protective parts, the grieving parts, and to the one I am becoming. Maybe you’ll find a piece of your own truth in here too. Always with you in the genuine practice that sets us all free…

There will be days when fear will whisper that you are not ready. When hesitation will dress itself as wisdom and try to keep you safe in the known. When the world will hand you a script you never agreed to, hoping you will read the lines and not remember you were born to write your own…

The fear you feel is not a stop sign. It is the energy of transformation, the tremor before expansion. It is your body, your mind, your soul whispering, We are about to step beyond what we’ve known. It is evidence that you are touching the edges of something new…

And here you are, standing at the threshold between who you were and who you long to be. It’s not an easy place to stand, is it? One foot planted in the familiar—the routines, the roles, the relationships that once made you feel safe—and the other, hesitant and trembling, reaching toward the unknown…