Long before suspected shooter Lee Loughner shot Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords point blank in the head and killed six others, Giffords had received death threats.

Her husband Mark Kelly quoted her as saying, "Someday, I'm really worried that  somebody's going to come up to me at one of these events with a gun."

But she never let that stop her from making herself readily available to her constituents at her Congress On Your Corner events, where she had no security. Even after a contentious race that landed her back in Congress, Giffords stood for what she believed -- including a pro-gun stance. People magazine quoted Arizona state representative Steve Farley as saying, “I’d ask her, ‘Aren’t you afraid?’ and she’d say ‘No, we have to stand up for what we believe in,” said Farley.

And now, she’s in a rehab facility after miraculously surviving a through-and-through gunshot wound to the head.

A few weeks ago I wrote about breakups -- not of romantic relationships, but with friends. There aren't has many conversations about friendship breakups -- sure, we discuss peer pressure when we're younger and sisterhood as we get older, but what do you do when you feel like there is a friendship in your life that no longer serves you? In my first post I discussed what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a friendship breakup. Today's post addresses the other side. This is the side of being the initiator -- the side that I believe takes a lot of courage but doesn’t win popularity contests. The side that says, “YES! I am committed to evolving into the greatest of myself” and the side that is willing to engage in the house cleaning necessary to this evolution.

Yes, this is also the side where outsiders may label you as cold, coldhearted, selfish, a bad friend, a wayward friend, self-centered, “she’s changed because of such and such”, or whatever else they can come up with to comfort the friend that was left.

Confessions of a breakup

A gift by any other name…

More often than ever before, my clients are asking me to help them find their most fulfilling life work or endeavor. Over the years, we have gone through various approaches to this fundamental question about our lives.

Dear Pinkies, please welcome back my Pink Mom Trish Rankin, here with some insight on heroes. Thank you, Mommy, for reminding us all that we are brave and powerful. Take it away ....