Reading The O Magazine's Quote dated:
July 7, 2010
“The cow runs away from the storm while the buffalo charges toward it—and gets through it faster. When I'm confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment. I become the buffalo.”—Donna Brazile
Do you live in fear? Is your confidence wash down by uncertainty? Do you get that nagging feeling of indecisiveness and often left in a quandary, let alone in confusion of what to do next? Where to go and how to go about it? Don't panic, you're not alone. I'd been there before.
"O Magazine" stated that there are Four Things Women Should be at Peace with, according to the Author and political commentator Donna Brazile who revealed that she's no longer rattled by (and you shouldn't be either).
I am reposting this for sharing and get away with linking because I know one day, this issue will become obsolete and might not be available for the readers to click on per my own experience.
So that no one will miss out, I'd rather have these very informative piece be thrown out to you. ~BB
Fear is one of the worst, and most limiting, emotions in life. It's also a fact. We're all unsettled by something—after Katrina and all the hurricanes I grew up with in New Orleans, my greatest concern is rising water. But I think life is a process of moving items from the "scared of" to the "not scared of" list. So, you know what I'm not worried about anymore?
Failure. It doesn't exist. "Failure" is just what happens when we lose perspective. I thought I'd failed when I got fired as deputy field director for the Dukakis campaign. If I'd known then that I needed to go through that in order to be ready to manage the Gore campaign, I would've seen it for what it was: an unavoidable low point, no more or less important than the experiences I call successes.
Being taller than others. I used to slouch, but I never fooled anyone. Now I take up all the room I fill, instead of apologizing for it with my body language.
Accepting compliments. I thought acknowledging praise meant you were arrogant, but I've learned that knowing your strengths enables you to make use of them. Golda Meir was right: "Don't be so humble; you're not that great."
The "bitch" label. If everyone likes you, it probably means you aren't saying much.
Then she has 6 Rules to Live by:
1. Be the buffalo.
Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee nation, once told me how the cow runs away from the storm while the buffalo charges directly toward it—and gets through it quicker. Whenever I'm confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment. I become the buffalo.
2. Organize the small to make room for the big.
I am addicted to gadgets. Trouble is, I keep forgetting where I put them. A friend once said, "Our lives are spent in moments—how many of them do you want to waste looking for your cell phone or BlackBerry?" Finding a place for everything frees up time to pursue what you really want.
3. Go help someone.
My mother wasn't a very patient woman. If I complained about being lonely or bored, she'd tell me to go help someone, anyone. To this day, when I start feeling sorry for myself, I look for a good deed to do. But I keep in mind one thing....
4. Ask the turtle.
I'm proud to call Gloria Steinem a friend, and this advice came from her. While on a field trip in college with her geology class, she discovered a giant snapping turtle that had climbed out of the river, up a dirt path, right to the edge of a road. Worried it would soon be run over, she wrestled the enormous reptile off the embankment and back down to the water. At that moment, her professor walked up and asked what in the world she was doing. With some pride, she told him. He said that the turtle had probably spent a month crawling up that long dirt path to safely lay its eggs in the mud on the side of the road and that she had destroyed all that effort with her "rescue." Gloria tells this story to illustrate the most important political lesson she ever learned: Always ask the turtle.
5. Wear comfortable shoes.
Men don't wear high heels, and they don't make allowances for women who do. Tottering down the corridors of power in beautiful but crippling stilettos telegraphs your preference for style over substance.
6. Take care of your body.
This has always been a difficult one for me. I sleep too little, go too fast, and indulge too often in minor vices. But as my Grandma Frances said, "You can only go as far and as long as your body will take you." That's why I slow down to enjoy an occasional glass (or two) of finely aged single-malt scotch. I don't think it's what Grandma Frances meant, but taking that moment is what allows me to keep going too far and too fast the rest of the time.
Finally, she was being asked 11 questions which she answered for us to get to know her better. Maybe I should try to answer this questions myself to see how far everyone can get to know me better. Or do I really have to?
1. What's the quickest legal route to joy?
Eating raw oysters
2. What makes you still?
Being in the presence of greatness—standing next to Dorothy Height [the legendary Civil Rights activist]
3. What words do you live by?
The poem "And Still I Rise," by Maya Angelou
4. What's the hardest truth to tell?
One's current weight
5. What makes a person fearless?
Faith
6. What's left on your "To Do" list?
Everything! (Truthfully, traveling to India and China)
7. What do you ask yourself most often?
"What's my deadline?"
8. Favorite Quote?
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."— Eleanor Roosevelt
9. What's the most daring thing you've done?
Rode a moped
10. ...and the most daring thing you wish you'd done?
Rode a horse—though I did appear next to one
11. What are you an expert at?
Gardening
I like the number 3, 8 and 11 best.
As to the quotation above, hmmm.... I guess I have my own personal story relating to her words. Well, I was told of my courage, my strength and my resilience. It was very hard to accept those words those days. Until one day, my girls did pay me the same compliments and I believed them but not without tears in my eyes and tinged of pain in my heart. I silently muttered, "I wish it didn't happen to me."
Reading a subject in a familiar territory makes me feel like I'm facing a mirror and in this mirror, I am looking at myself. There are things that I am trying to find in the mirror which ones appear to me and which ones are missing. No, I am not looking at the mirror and ask her who is the Fairest of All! I cannot compete me to my ownself. Can I?
The moving on always come at a price. At least I move on. So must you.
Cheers!
