Take a Hand

Are you one of my sisters? Those of us who have traveled the breast cancer journey are indeed a part of a sisterhood. So sisters – let me give you a hand.

No matter what kind of treatment you had or where you had it, you no doubt have some post-treatment issues. Big or small, physical or between the ears, don’t dismiss them. Rather, talk with your doctor or do a little research on line. There are support organizations and Survivor Care Plans just waiting to give you a big hand.

Am I Beautiful?

Even when their hair is gone, their boobs are gone and their spark is sputtering from fatigue, all women want to be beautiful. Breast cancer patients are no different from healthy women.

So what makes a woman “beautiful?”

It is the crinkle at the corner of her laughing mouth. It is the warmth of her loving hand. It is the light in her eyes when she’s passionate about something. It is the love she has for others.

It has nothing to do with hair or breasts. It has everything to do with what’s inside.

Do You Have Confidence Courage?

Here’s an interesting factoid: psychologists are now on board with the “fake it till you make it” concept. Furthermore, when you think you’re better at something than you really are, others tend to think so too. In a nutshell, recent experiments showed that people are easily persuaded by others’ confidence, even if it’s unjustified. You can read more about the experiments here.

How does that link to courage? I believe (and have actually seen exhibited) that if you are faced with a life challenge and take it on courageously knowing you will be victorious, your outcome will be favorable. Perhaps not always in the exact form you wish, but certainly with greater success than if you collapse like a deflated balloon at the outset.

Not convinced? Ah, here’s where history is our friend – monarchs, warriors, hot-coal walkers and more have been succesful because  they BELIEVED they could be. So how much Confidence Courage do you have?

The Mysterious Amelia

On July 2, 1937, 75 years ago today, Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra crashed into the sea somewhere near Howland Island.  Some hypotheses conclude she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, ran out of fuel, but others hold that they survived for some time or were even repatriated to the United States.

I confess I’m captivated by Earhart’s story: she quit school, took a flying lesson and bought a plane.  She was the first woman to soar 14,000 feet, the first woman to cross the Atlantic as a passenger and the first woman to pilot herself across the pond.

If I were to play the game which allows you to imagine a dinner party including the people you find most interesting, my table would certainly include Amelia.  She understood courage as few can, exemplified by these words,”The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.”

I Can Do Anything!

Who needs a dose of self-confidence courage?  It’s waiting for you on the You Tube video entitled “Jessica’s Daily Affirmation.”  It’s a wonderful lesson for all ages.  She’s not performing for the camera.  She’s completely unconscious of anyone else in the room.  It’s exactly who we should all be!

Je ne regrette rien …

The French sparrow, Edith Piaf, sang the now famous the words, “Non, je ne regrette rien.” Translation: “No, I don’t regret anything.”  An amazing way to look at life and according to Stefanie Brassen of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany and her colleagues, it could possibly be a key to successful aging.  

What the Brassen team found through experiments with participants ranging in age from their 20’s to their 60’s was that young people tend to fixate on their regrets.  Older adults, on the other hand, generally learn not to waste time wallowing in remorse about past circumstances they cannot change.

Brassen’s brain-imaging results suggest that stronger spasms of regret rippled through the minds of young people and depressed adults than through those of healthy older adults.

My personal experiences over the last year have caused me to begin to examine life in the same way.  Basically, stewing over our our life challenges won’t change them, so why not step outside of the situation and try to find a positive that could come from the adversity.

My family celebrated the long and wonderful 97 year long life of my darling Auntie Ethel last weekend.  She epitomized Edith Piaf’s words of no regrets.  How courageous and if it’ll get me to 97, I’m in!

Ice

I had a 2001 Toyota Tundra pick up.  She was black.  She was slick.  Her name was Eleanor.

I owned Eleanor 5 years before I made my December 2008 cross country move to Michigan.  In all that time she had been on lots of trips throughout the southwest, but never into weather below freezing.  So imagine my surprise when I hit the 32 degree mark (somewhere in Missouri), looked in my rear view mirror, and saw the word “Ice” glowing from the corner.  It was a feature of the truck I didn’t know existed – that of notifying the driver that it was bloody cold outside – as Eleanor and I had never been in below freezing temps together.

Hmmm … what interesting features are lurking around our chassies … things we’re totally unaware of until occasions arise that draw them forth?  True, some may be qualities we’d prefer not to recognize, but like Eleanor, I’ll be you’ve got some goodies that would surprise and delight you!

My Eleanor is gone now.  But I don’t think the lessons she taught me will never go out of warranty.