One of my favorite quotes

This is certainly not a quote no one has ever heard or read before, but for those of you who haven't...

Dancer Agnes DeMille was struggling with a personal dilemma regarding her own worth. "I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be," she is quoted as saying.

And then Martha Graham said to her the following, and this should resonate with all of us regardless if we are 'artists' in the traditional artistic sense or not, whether you think your goal needs to be being excellent or to just live life as it happens:

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open....."

I have had this quote posted by my desk at work since 2002, when I found myself back to fighting a battle of depression with myself after my father died. I'll admit I didn't look at this quote EVERY day, and I still don't today. And I'm not saying that this was all it took to get me out of my depressive state (believe me, overcoming depression needs to come from inside you, not from something outside of you). But I do look at this quote from time to time, and every time I do, it helps me remember "I'm fine". I really am fine. No matter what I do, or say, or what happens that may affect me, it's all happening because it's supposed to. Plain and simple.

I'm fine.

And so are you.