Dear Friends,

My beautiful, brilliant and very brave sister Debbie Ford made her transition Sunday night into the waiting arms of her ancestors and guardian angels.

She told Brian and me that she was tired and ready to go. She had accomplished her mission, even though she would have liked more time with her son Beau, her family, her devoted Julie, her gazillion friends and many beloved co-workers and community members.

Debbie wasn't just my little sister. She was my friend, teacher, biggest supporter, and sometimes unmanageable client. (She was always stubborn which served her well these past two and half years when she defied the odds of cancer. I'll never forget the day one doctor told her in September 2010 to get her affairs in order because she was ready for hospice. She told him to F-off, that there was no way she was dying.)

If I had to choose just one word to describe her I would say that first and foremost Debbie was a seeker.

In her teens and twenties, she was seeking excitement, parties, wild adventure and of course shopping.

In her thirties she began seeking to understand the mind, body, spirit connection in order to heal herself of addiction.

She was simultaneously committed to discovering her own spirituality while gaining a college degree in transpersonal psychology as she sought more and more understanding of herself, the divine, and the world. Debbie also earned two honorary doctorate degrees for her contributions to the field.

From her forties and beyond, she devoted herself to teaching and sharing her own powerful process of healing while always seeking new, deeper paths to wholeness.

Debbie innovated groundbreaking work around the human shadow and grew into her role as a teacher, sharing her insightful shadow work through her many books, lectures, workshops, coaching programs, TV and radio shows, and even a movie -- helping hundreds of thousands around the world transform their pain into "their best life." Debbie helped so many people go beyond their limited perspective of themselves and reconnect to the love, joy, and peace of their true selves.

Her legacy and work will live on through the programs she developed and through her loving and devoted staff at The Ford Institute for Transformational Training and her worldwide network of Integrative Coaches.

Debbie was also a giver. Her generosity is legendary and one of her proudest accomplishments was assisting Beau with his Bar Mitzvah project to build a school in rural Uganda. Through her Collective Heart Foundation in partnership with the Just Like My Child Foundation, several important programs to help women and children are now thriving including a Girl Power project. You can support this by visiting www.TheCollectiveHeart.org.

If you would like to post your memories and stories about Debbie, prayers for Debbie, or messages for the family, please share at RememberingDebbieFord.com

The staff of The Ford Institute for Transformational Training have planned a special Community Call about Debbie's passing on Monday February 25th at 5:00 PM Pacific/8:00 PM Eastern. Come to the call to connect, to share, and to begin to integrate this experience of loss. To register for your own personalized dial-in number and PIN or to register to receive a recording of the call, please register http://evolvingwisdom.com/artoflove2/event/#debbie-ford-seminar.

As a tribute and to honor Debbie, I've decided to make her seminar for The Art of Love Relationship Series available for people to listen to at no cost for the rest of the series. It was her last public dialogue, and it was so powerful that I really want everyone to be able to listen to it who might want to. You can listen to "The Shadow Side of Love: Finding the Beauty and Perfection in Imperfection" by clicking here.

Thank you for the ways you inspired my sister every day with stories of your own transformation. Debbie shared on her final Hay House Radio show last December that 2012 had been the best year of her life. I know there would be no better tribute to her than you having the best year of your life this year.

Love,
Arielle