"Lessons from the Heart" (Dancing Lessons) To: "Cheryl Burke & The World"

I was inspired to write this blog entry based on a recent interview of Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke on The Dr. Drew show on HLN. As many Cheryl Burke fans know the talented dancer wrote and released her book entitled "Dancing Lessons" How I found passion and Potential on the dance floor and in life" A wonderfully written story about her life growing up and the trauma she's had to experience as a child being sexually molested to being abused by former boyfriends. In Ms. Burke's interview she was asked if she could ever or have forgiven her molester and her answer was and I Quote; "I don't think I could ever forgive him" End Quote." This struck a cord with me because as a christian woman I know that in order to be forgiven you must first forgive. In the message above it states that forgiveness is not so much for the person needing forgiveness but for forgiveness of yourself to get well and move on. I think we owe it to ourselves to forgive so that we can produce eternal peace in joy in our lives. I understand where Ms. Burke is coming from. I, too experience alot of abuse, low self-esteem, timidity, shame and embarrassment due to the things I've had to witness and experience and even endure in my childhood. My father was a monster who literally growled like some sick animal when abusing my mom threatning to kill her and us to. Meaning me, my sister and younger brother. He traumatized me mentally causing me to not trust anybody particularly men because all I saw growing up was abuse in my household and around the neighborhood. I only saw the bad that men do and not so much any good. Now I'm struggling to be in a relationship with a man because anytime one gets too close to me I push them away. It took me years and years and years to forgive my father for what he put us through but I knew I had to find it in my heart to do it or when the time comes around when I needed forgiveness no one would offer it to me, but most importantly God wouldnt forgive me. Also in the interview with Ms. Burke I picked up alot of pain, denial and holding back of emotion of her tears. Another problem for which I have. I've become so immune to not allowing myself to cry that when the time came where I needed to the tears found it hard to break their way through. I picked up alot of things Ms. Burke said in her interviews that contradict alot of what she's written in her book as well..Almost like she's trying hard to cover some other secret she's not quite ready for the world to know about just yet. I understand it's Hollywood and you are sometimes told what to say and how to handle certain questions that are thrown at you, but I hope at the end of the day Ms. Burke is truly honest with herself and her true feelings because as human beings we should cherish ourselves and be honest and open about ourselves. If not, who can we be honest with? There's a special guy out there waiting for her but she must first conquer as many demons she's dealing with before moving on. She owes it to herself or she's just asking for another doomed relationship. If there's a lingering problem from her former relationships then I'd suggest she go to that person and resolve it before pushing forward. Live, learn, love, forgive and let God handle the rest. I hope whoever reads this blog enjoyed it to the fullest and I can only hope I have been of great help to someone else out there dealing with the things discussed in this topic.

God Bless Everyone,

Peace & my love I leave with you,

-Tina