Maria Shriver at CA womens conference

wow, if you have time go read all of this coverage of her speech. i love this lady.

"I realize what's been keeping me from doing it full speed is fear - that's what keeps us from becoming what we want to be. Keeps us frozen in old beliefs. Makes us give up our own power, or worse, prevents us from realizing we have power in the first place. Convinces us we're not capable of doing what it takes to live our own wild and precious life. So many people speaking today learned that themselves by acknowledging their fear and forging ahead."

"From fear to freedom - that's how they got to know who they are or who they could be. Not suggesting any of us overthrow the government or fight the Pentagon. Staying in fear ensures you will feel bad about yourself. If you let fear stop you, you buy into the old message that you are a failure and you're too afraid to be happy."

"I am afraid of the unknown. I'm learning to live with that fear, to keep my mouth shut and watch how it unfolds."

"That moment taught me a really important lesson. You can't wait until the fear goes away to take the action. You have to take the action."

"Feeling afraid isn't weakness. It's the beginning of strength."

poem by Derek Walcott:

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.\

http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/2008/10/ca-womens-confe.html#more