Recipe for Enduring Breast Cancer

Hope Strength Power Belief Courage Honor Determination

In order to survive Breast Cancer (and any other illness, tragedy, trauma) it’s necessary to collect all of your essential ingredients in order to endure the situation at hand.  A great dose of support is also needed as back up when your ingredients run low and you need a refill.  A quick jog to the store won’t suffice.  You need a team, a village, to count on and that’s where the internet, blogs, websites and support groups can wield a mighty sword to help you combat your ills.

A hefty dose of the above helps:

Hope

Strength

Power

Belief

Courage

Honor

Determination

In addition to a heavy handed sprinkling of

Humor, Love, Presence and Support.

Which is all fine and good as words, but how do you go about stockpiling these main ingredients when you’ve just been blindsided by your diagnosis and news?  I wish I could say it is easy, but it’s not.  That’s where your determination comes in.  You have to set your own mind to believing that you have the courage, the strength, the hope, and the inner power to endure.

You have all of this inside ~ you simply have to tap into it.  You must do the work.  There’s no way around it.  It is your mind that needs to have its power harnessed to heal your life.  Humor, love, presence and support may come from the outside from which you can receive the stores from others.  But you my friend, must believe that you are ready and worthy to battle and must prepare your mind, heart and soul to overcome the obstacles that are placed before you.

So how do you do this?  You harness your mind by feeding it positive thinking.  You eradicate negativity from your life, like removing rose petals from a rose, you gently pluck the negative thoughts from your heart and in place, you add the essence of the rose ~ the inner beauty and strength that comes from a rose simply being a rose.

Is this making any sense to you?  Do you need concrete examples?  Are you thinking I’m too pie in the sky for you?  Too Pollyanna and yippy skippy?  Not down to Earth enough?

Watch for it.  In the meantime, you need to get yourself ready.  Enjoy this day.  Get outside and look up to the sky.  Breathe.  Take 3 minutes to just listen to the wind, feel the earth under your feet and reconnect with nature.  Find a bit of inner and outer peace in being present.  You don’t have to do it for long.   Just feel the peace.

I’m holding  your hand.  You’ve got a friend in me.  Take your time.  Allow the grief and the healing to come to you and welcome it with your arms open wide.  You can do this!

Shine On!

xo

Receiving and Giving Gratitude in 10 Minutes

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude -a quiet joy.

-Ralph H. Blum

Thanksgiving is on its way and I want to share a little something I do that gives me great joy.  I have been taking a few minutes to send a card of gratitude to those precious people in my life for whom I am grateful.  Just a little note which says ‘I am thinking of you’ or ‘thank you for being you’ and sending it off with the touch of the SEND button.

I don’t leave my comfy home nor get out of my pjs to do it.  I simply log onto my computer, go to my site, pick a card or make one with my own photos or elements provided, write my message, click send and voila ~ I send real paper cards through the mail ~ I’ve even sent some delicious brownies and cookies among other fun finds.

The best part is that the cards cost me $.49 for a stamp which is normal and $0.62 for the card.  So for a total of $1.11, I am using my words to spread gratitude!  And yes, it’s that easy. ♥

I know I sound like a commercial, but truly, I adore what I do.  It makes me happy and it delivers happiness when I hear that a friend has received my unexpected card in the mail and is touched by the gesture.  Who doesn’t like to find a treasure in the pile of junk mail and bills?  To just know that someone is thinking of you is such a priceless gift.  I, myself, have been the recipient of many unexpected cards in my life and I can attest to the power of kindness and the amazing accuracy of a well-timed card in helping to raise spirits when you are feeling down.  And even when I wasn’t feeling down, just knowing that someone thought of me enough to write me a note and send it is priceless.

It simply raises up our loving vibrations  ~ for both the giver and the receiver!

In gratitude for your loving energy and support, please feel free to enjoy a card on me.  Just click here!

Shine On!

xo

Carpe Diem!

Ewe…are my favorite!

To me, it’s the little things in life which make me giggle, which tug at the sides of my mouth, pulling them into a smile.  This card above made me giggle this morning, on a day which is dreary, chilly and cold outside.  Mother Nature seems to be acting a bit tipsy lately.  One day the temps are in the low 80’s and a week later, we’re waking up to temps in the 40’s.

But I write today to remind you that it’s important to tell those you care about, that you do care about them!  It’s easy for us to get involved in the hustle and bustle of the day and to brush aside the moments that we can connect with our loved ones and tell them how much they mean to us.

It’s in seizing the moment ~ carpe diem ~ that we gain power and we give power ~ the power of love!

As you can imagine, my family hears it from me often ~ I show and tell them how much they mean to me, how much I love them, often!  So please, take a moment today to reach out in love ~ with a hug, squeeze a hand, give a kiss, smile, leave a note, send a letter, whisper a sweet message, bake a cake or make a call!  It’s never too late to send out love!

Remember EWE are my favorites! ♥

Big hugs to you!

Shine On!

xo