Written on retreat, on the last day, with love pouring out of me, for everyone.

some advice:
everyone is just like you, scared and frightened inside. everyone is as beautiful as you, even when their faces are twisted and snarling, they just want to be loved. just like you. some advice: whenever anyone hurts you, says a mean word or doesn't take you into account, remember, it comes from pain and hurt. they don't mean it, they're just scared. some advice: love everyone as if they were your sister or your brother, because that's all they want - love. some advice: in every situation you find yourself in, good or bad or inbetween, put yourself in their place, imagine their hopes and dreams, imagine all the ways in which they have been hurt, ignored, used and manipulated - their hurtful actions come from this. imagine what the best thing you could possibly do for them is, in this moment, and do it, whole heartedly, with all your attention, whether it's giving them a hug, making a cup of tea, giving them advice or just sitting with them, helping them to feel what is going on for them. some advice: get up every morning knowing that this will be the best day ever, force a smile, even if you feel like you're dying inside, and it will become real. some advice: tomorrow the world might end, you might get run over, how would you like to have lived your last day? with love and compassion in your heart, or with darkness creeping in? i know which one i would choose. some advice: open your heart, burn and destroy the walls you keep there, you don't need them. some advice: be open about how you feel, whatever you feel, but don't make the mistake of ever thinking you feel an emotion because of someone else's actions. you always, always, have a choice, and your emotions are your responsibility. some advice: write lists and lists of the good things in your life, everyday, if you don't you'll quickly forget how rich you really are. when you are sad, flick back through the pages, the golden yellow happiness contained there will revive you. some advice: love yourself with a passion that exceeds everything else, you are the most important thing to yourself. it's not selfish, it's logical. you are amazing and wonderful and fabulous and beautiful and terrific and utterly, completely, mind blowingly, irreplaceably, you. and that is the best thing you can be.