No matter what kind of challenges or difficulties or painful situations you go through in your life, we all have something deep within us that we can reach down and find the inner strength to get through them.
Alana Stewart
Through a long and painful process, I've learned that happiness is an inside job - not based on anything or anyone in the outer material world. I've become a different and better person - not perfect, but still a work in progress.
Bitterness and resentment only hurt one person, and it's not the person we're resenting - it's us.
I used to think that divorce meant failure, but now I see it more as a step along the path of self-realization and growth.
I grew up in Nacogdoches, Texas... raised by my grandmother. We were very poor and had no indoor plumbing. My grandmother was a very religious woman, though, and she gave me a lot of faith and inner strength.
Our thoughts really do create our lives. They've done a lot of research showing if you're an optimistic, positive person you will be a healthier person than if you're a sad, depressed, negative person.
Being friends with anyone for 30 years is no easy task - people change, they drift apart, they move on.
I wish I had been a better mother and a more compassionate and understanding wife in both of my marriages.
I have a strong belief that there is a god or a higher power. I think that if you have a strong belief in that, then you won't feel alone in life and you will feel you can get through anything.
One hopes, of course, that a relationship grows and becomes a deep and wonderful marriage and friendship that lasts forever. But that's not always the case.
I sleep with my gun on my bedside table. I live alone; it is my protection and makes me feel safer.
I do get up in the morning and I try to spend at least half an hour meditating and reading something spiritual. I start my day with meditation and prayer, and I truly believe that all the stuff you do on the outside isn't as important as what you do on the inside.
I went to one doctor who told me I wasn't exercising enough. I was so exhausted, I couldn't raise my arm. When this doctor called it psychosomatic, I was enraged. To think the constant sore throat and swollen glands were all in my head was infuriating.
In my life, there have been people that I was convinced would be around forever, and yet, somehow they managed to drift away after a couple of years. Likewise there have been people who have begun as casual acquaintances but become more important with each passing year.
I first got sick after I had my daughter, Kimberly, 21 years ago. I'd always been energetic and never had any serious medical problems. Then I got very sick with a high fever. They told me I had mononucleosis. I became pregnant right away with Sean, and after he was born, I never seemed to recover.
Divorce is never easy, but it's even more painful when you find out your husband is having an affair with a beautiful model fifteen years younger than you.
I've aged well because I've had to take care of myself.
I don't worry about gaining weight. I'm fortunate in that I've never had to worry about that. Some people eat when they are stressed. I don't eat enough.
For anyone going through a divorce or any other painful challenge, the first and most important recommendation I can make is to find some kind of spiritual and emotional support.
I'm not searching for that magical Daddy, but I would like to find a partner in life, because I feel like finally I know what love is and what love isn't.
A Texas girl who grew up in terrible poverty, I ended up leading a pretty glamorous life.
Sometimes you just have to let go of the old and trust that something better is going to take its place, even if it's scary to face change and the unknown.
I grew up poor and used to look at people in big houses and thought they had everything. Then later on I looked at models in magazines and thought they had it all.
I've elected to age gracefully.
I don't regret either of my marriages - not for a minute.
I don't mind being single. In fact, I like it.
A lot of people would think I have led this easy kind of charmed life, or maybe even a fairytale in some ways. But it has been anything but that.
It bothers me when the Hollywood elite are all so against people having guns and want rigorous gun restrictions.
All the violence in videos and movies, you can't tell me that that wouldn't influence a disturbed person.
Young people don't really study the facts; they watch the skewed MSNBC and get a primarily liberal education.
I resisted writing a book for a long time because I didn't want to invade anyone else's privacy or hurt anyone or anger anyone.
One of the commitments I made to myself when I decided to write a book was to be brutally honest, particularly about myself.
Somewhere deep inside me was the will and determination not only to live, but to be a more present mother for my kids, instead of one who was emotionally unavailable because she was in so much pain, as my own mother was.
In retrospect, I'm grateful for the break-up of my marriage because it forced me to deal with all the buried issues I probably wouldn't have otherwise faced. I'm a better, kinder, happier person today because of the spiritual and emotional growth I've experienced.
For all of her influence on popular culture, and the remarkable performances she left behind, perhaps Farrah Fawcett's greatest legacy was her raw, intimate, honest portrait of a woman fighting for her life - against cancer.
We've all seen the media endlessly focus on the personal lives of celebrities. Most of it is gossip and tabloid fodder.
Personal trials are the great equalizer that continues to draw public fascination.
At the end of the day, I know that I would rather be alone and occasionally lonely and unhappy than in a miserable marriage and lonely and unhappy all the time. I don't mind being single. In fact, I like it.
Men come and go - God knows they certainly have in my life - but girlfriends are for ever. I have a lot of girlfriends but only a few very, very close ones.
People might have the impression I had an easy life, but it's been anything but that.
I grew up poor and used to look at people in big houses and thought they had everything. Then, later on, I looked at models in magazines and thought they had it all. When you have the ability to live that life, to some extent you find out that they don't have any magic cure for everything.
It bothers me when the Hollywood elite are all so against people having guns and want rigorous gun restrictions. But I am friends with a lot of them, and most have armed guards with them or outside their homes.
I sleep with my gun on my bedside table. I live alone; it is my protection and makes me feel safer. I have had to pull it out a few times when I have heard noises at night, but I've never had to use it.
It's fine to have armed guards, but don't then tell everyone else they can't own a gun.
I think that research is incredibly important and hopefully one day there will be a cure for cancer. They are making great strides.
I watch what I eat. I'm careful with exercise. I do enough to try to stay healthy, but I don't overdo, and I pace myself... Most important of all though, I try to think healthy thoughts.
