Inspiring Women: Christa Gallopoulous: Journey with pain and fear to a beautiful now

Christa describes Carry It Forward as “A journey from here to there, pointing out little pieces of good along the way...”

What’s astounding for me, though, is following Christa’s journey from launching her site to acknowledging a painful personal history, as well as physical pain, to opening herself to what she’s experiencing right now:

“And I’m much more concerned with my own thoughts than what others think right now. I can’t tell you what a 180 that is. I’d be happy to give up a lot to just paint and write all day. Once upon a time, that would have scared me to death. …

I want truth. I want courage. I want bared souls and open hearts. …

And that wanting is somehow remaking me. I live with fear now, all the time. Maybe I always have. Now I greet it, pretty much 24/7, with open arms. I stretch my body and welcome its stories – the tales it has held for nearly a half century. I’m clearing it all out, taking a look, sorting what stays and what goes. I’m continually surprised, after years of doing my “work”, at how much is still there.”

(Looking at Christa’s tag cloud, fear appears but not as often as “a different way,” “hope,” and “incredible gifts.”)

She has an incredible eye for beauty, as you can see from her pictures that accompany her posts and also her gallery. The same openness about her experience Christa also manifests towards others she encounters upon her journey, especially with hard-wrought words of encouragement.

I’m grateful for Christa in my life today, she teaches me so much about fear, courage, resilience, acceptance, love and beauty.

Today (Response to Liz)

Since I need prompting, I've joined a 30-day challenge, #Trust30 on Twitter. I'll take any help I can get, of course I have to act on the help I receive. Liz's post asks me who am I today, in one sentence?

My answer is: I am happy and confident.

If I were to say more than one sentence, or why I would say that sentence, those words out loud, write them, it's because I know I'm not alone. I know I'm loved. I know I can be useful. I know I have work to do. I know I have inner resources. And I know I have priorities. I am at the beginning of something amazing, and not knowing, watching things unfold, even as I move within it, doing what little I can, but always taking action.

Rhere have been times when I've dreaded the day that comes with no escape, when I would have to do what I said I would, take a trip, move, face disruption, face reckoning. Can I live daily with some feeling of urgency, without the desperation, without the dread, with gratitude, not from fear but from purpose, as Mastin teaches.


And for me there is usually an undertone of anxiety or uneasiness which I need to learn to be with and then take action. Years ago I worked briefly with a man named Jose who said, to my incredulity, no harm can come to you, they can hurt you, they can kill you, you're still you. I don't know if my saying that to someone else will give that person comfort, but I am a small part of something far greater than me that will take care of me, that I matter and don't matter, am responsible for what I can change and powerless over what I cannot change.


And I am grateful. Perhaps not at every instant, I am not conscious every instant. When I consider the landscape of my life, where my feet have walked, where my body has stood, sat and lay down and risen up again, the greater part of my life has been and continues to be unmerited gifts.


Today I have work to do for my new job, work that demands my attention, meeting with my counselor who always starts me off with relaxation and a smile, and time with my children whose company I enjoy even if they are not always enjoying one another.


On my way to the interview for the job I was eventually offered and accepted, on the highway, I found myself following a cement mixer with the word "Advance," on the back. It became my word for the day and I found what I needed from within and I know not from whence it came and I am still advancing. And happy and confident.