Tara teaches us.

Women are fabulous. Beautiful, full of heart, silly, strong, compassionate, life-giving. Women. Becoming who we are meant to be is a life-long process. Casting aside our insecurities, recognizing our self-destructive scripts, creating the person we want to be - is an ongoing process that takes years and is never finished.

If we are really part of that process, dedicated to growth and change, we must be brave. We must be willing to hurt and to cry and to feel pain until it passes - and then move on to the next challenge that life brings us, all the time knowing that the goal is never reached but that the road is worth the effort. We cannot do this work in a vacuum. We need partners in the quest for wholeness and love. We need each other.

Along the way, we are blessed with the company and love and encouragement of other women, like the women in our group. We laugh and cry, we share our failures and victories, and we are cheerleaders, nudging each other to participate in life fully, even if it hurts. It has been my quest for many years to live in the moment, to immerse myself in whatever life brings me, and to learn from my efforts. It's not always easy or pleasant, but I've always believed that the ability to feel joy must come with the willingness to bear pain. I call it existential angst, the pain of life.

Last night, at our monthly WOW meeting, we had the pleasure of meeting Tara Moore (the creator and sensual coach of www.simplyseductress.com). When Tara walked into my kitchen, I could feel her energy and instantly knew that this was a woman who radiated strength and power and love. Some of the younger women in the group shared with me their struggles to grown and know themselves, how they admire us "older" women and our strength and I tell them that we only got there by making mistakes and feeling pain and heartache and going on anyway. I know a few people who relish suffering since it allows them to play the victim role and get attention of people who people who feel sorry for them. Then there's Tara who experienced abuse and abandonment and real suffering as a child and has devoted her life now to helping women grow and love themselves and become healthy and whole - all through movement and dance. Through being still, we can connect with ourselves - through movement, we can connect with the "now" and be full participants in our own lives. Tara is beautiful and alive and vivacious and fully present - she gave us an evening we'll not soon forget.

So the message is to move forward. To feel. To be willing to hurt. To share yourself with others. To be available for others to open up to you. To be willing to experience whatever life brings to you with a spirit of joy and gratitude. This is life. Let's live it. Fully.