Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As we enter October, national Breast Cancer Awareness Month, be sure to schedule an appointment with your doctor to have an exam. Men need to remind their doctors, as well, as this is not just a women’s issue. Remind your close friends to do the same and schedule appointments for the same time so you can go together and give moral support. It is important for us to be educated about all forms of cancer and to take the necessary steps to stay healthy. Visit breastcancer.org to answer and questions you may have.

I am a breast cancer survivor and deeply grateful. I remember getting the diagnosis and just going completely numb. I was like a zombie going through the motions of my life, getting up and going to work, cooking dinner, trying to focus but all I could think was “I have cancer.” My friends and family helped me through it all. I also had a genius doctor who got me and understood that it would be a physical, emotional and spiritual journey. She was open to discussions about all that. I am lucky in so many ways, being free and clear for over a decade now. I bonded with my female physician, who asked me to stay involved in her practice as a counselor for the newly diagnosed. Each time I work with someone who has just found out they have cancer, I offer my story and all the success stories I have witnessed, while listening to their fears, dishing out lots of hugs, and helping them in any way I can. This is one of the best things I do with my life-using my wisdom to help another.

Turn Pain into Gold

    Everybody loves LL Cool J, but I love his wife, Simone I. Smith, even more. She is a cancer survivor who decided to give back in style: she teamed up with the American Cancer Society to introduce “A Sweet Touch of Hope,” a lovely piece of jewelry which I proudly rock every day. Not only does it look really good, but this lovely lollipop charm helps raise funds and awareness to help save more lives from cancer, a disease that affects everyone in some way. 

    In 2004, Smith was diagnosed with Stage III chondrosarcoma- a very rare form of cancer. Her treatment required an invasive surgery that altered the appearance of a beloved lollipop tattoo. “It literally looks like someone took a bite out of it,” she said. After her experience, Smith designed a lollipop line of jewelry that represents her journey to getting well and staying well. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Cancer Society, so Smith’s inspired example can be an emblem of hope for every woman.

Empower A Woman Across the Globe

Empower an entrepreneur with a loan through Kiva. This is truly a way to be a good in the world and help women make a living for themselves and their family. 

You can give as little at $25 dollars to entrepreneurs in developing countries to help eliminate poverty. Throughout the life of the loan, you will receive updates on the progress of the project and will be repaid by the borrower with Kiva Credit—which you can use to fund another project or withdraw. http://www.kiva.org/ I have bought some really lovely pillows baskets and bangle bracelets made in India by women whose creativity was sent soaring by Kiva!

Little kindnesses can mean the most

“Contagious Optimist” Colleen Georges taught me this: It's easy to judge others for their actions and take for granted those we love or meet in chance encounters. We sometimes get so caught up in our busy-ness that we forget others are busy too, they have rough days just like us, and they benefit from our kindnesses just as we do theirs. Go out of your way to smile at strangers, say good morning, say thank you, give a compliment, and listen attentively to someone who needs your ear. Do it because you can, because it feels great, because it makes someone else feel good. Don't worry about a subsequent thank you; let a thank you be a beautiful perk, rather than an expectation. 

Optimism trumps pessimism every time

This is your life, only you can truly control your choices, and choosing happiness is the best way to achieve being a good to yourself as well as the world. Here are some suggestions for how you can ensure simple joy in your life:

·  Be the best you can be by your own standards

·  Surround yourself with people who inspire you and make you feel good

·  Focus on what you have, not what you lack

·  Optimism trumps pessimism every time!

·  Smile often and genuinely

·  Be honest, to yourself and to others

·  Help others

·  Embrace your past, live in the present, and look forward for what is yet to come

Stop Interrupting Others When They Are Speaking

We have become a nation of interrupters as though what we have to say is more important than anyone else’s opinion or thoughts. Think before you speak.  If a friend is confiding in you and seeks advice, think about how what they have said makes you feel and consider how your words can truly help them. Many people interrupt or relate the problem back to themselves instead of thoughtfully responding to the person who is confiding in them. Reflect on what you have heard and then reply. This is not only basic politeness but also means a lot to the person to whom you are listening. I guarantee you will start to notice when you are interrupted once you have stopped. Listening is an act of love

Listening as an act of love

We don’t always have to donate time and energy to other parts of the world. Sometimes help is needed much close to home. Is a parent, sibling, spouse, or friend having a difficult time? Let them experience that loving feeling and help lift their spirits. Invite them to coffee or to dinner, surprise them with a simple gift, and take them somewhere they like. Lean forward and listen closely. Just listen.

Operation Gratitude

I learned about this from my mom whose church regularly sends cards, letters and care packages overseas to the armed forces. My mom and her fellow church ladies bake some of the best cookies in the world.  They gather up all kinds of goodies and treats and send them overseas where the taste of “down home” surely brings many smiles of satisfaction. Those who are less gifted in the baking department, such as ME, can make $15 donation to Operation Gratitude, which pays for one care package for one serviceperson. Operation Gratitude has end over a million of these kindness kits around the world!

Go to www.OperationGratitude.org and get involved. Your cookies might not be as spectacular as my mom's but I bet you have something equally excellent to share.

Commit: Be Willing to Go Out of Your Comfort Zone for a True Friend

Just how far would you go for a friend?

One of best friends in the world is named Lily. She is also the most brilliant person I know (and I know a lot of very smart and special people). Her brain works like no one else’s. When we first met I noticed her (how could I not?) because she was dancing alone in the student union of our college wearing a white lab-coat to which she’d attached letters spelling out schizoleptic. I introduced myself to her and asked what the lab-coat letters meant. “My dad is a paranoid schizophrenic, and my mom is a grand mal epileptic, so I figure I’m a schizoleptic.” See what I mean about her original thinking? That was enough for me to become best friends with her for life. A couple years after I moved from West Virginia to San Francisco she followed, and we had many wild adventures together.

The light behind the darkness

            I knew that Lily had had a rough childhood, with her dad institutionalized and her mother working three jobs to support the family. But I did not know about the pain and guilt that had scarred Lil when she had visited her father in the institution, which sounded like a medieval nightmare. 

Sometimes Lil would “go dark.” On the rare occasions when she did, the pain and fear of it all came spilling out.

            One episode in particular haunted her. It had happened when she, as the oldest daughter, was assigned to visit her father in the institution because the younger children could not handle it. The male patients at the institution had to leave their rooms during the day and wait in the hall of the dank, jail-like ward. They either wandered around like zombies on Thorazine, or they lay down on the cold, hard floor, trying desperately to sleep. When Lil visited, she said she had to “step over the heads” of the men. “Other people’s fathers, too,” she added.

            After a really bad breakup of a long-term relationship, Lil started talking more about these visits, so much so that I began referring to them as “head-stepping episodes.” She would wail and cry and scream about it while I searched desperately for the right words to say. Suddenly it came to me that role-playing might help. So I lay down on the floor, and we reenacted what had taken place so many years before that had cut Lil to the quick. As I lay there and Lil stepped over my head, saying what she used to say to her dad, somehow, I knew exactly what her dad would have wanted to say to her if he had not been medicated to within an inch of his life.

            I said the words for him. “I love you so much. You are my brave daughter and I am so proud that you come here to see me. Lots of the other families are too scared to come, but not you. Even though I am in here, I am okay. I had lots of good years with your mom and you when you were little. I will never stop loving you. You are so special to me and my gift to the world.”

            Lil’s shoulders shook as she cried, walking slowly over my imaginary ward mates and me. That was the last head-stepping episode. Lil

has gone on to become a remarkable success, a hugely talented guitarist and a beloved and excellent teacher. And I learned about what a profound difference we can make when we reach for another with the eternal power of compassion, deep friendship, and love.

Creating your path to inner peace:

Maggie Oman Shannon Champions the Importance of Creating  in a Busy and Often Chaotic World:

The author of Crafting Calm and interfaith minister shares her philosophical take on beauty.

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Maggie Oman Shannon, author of Crafting Calm

Ultimately, connecting to our creativity can help us connect to our spirituality. In other words, crafting can become a spiritual practice."

— Psych Central

(PRWEB) June 11, 2013

Interfaith minister Maggie Oman Shannon claims that cultivating and noticing beauty is far from frivolous. In her new book Crafting Calm, she relates personal stories and step-by-step how-to's on DIY projects that help people get in touch with their spiritual side. As she explains on Inspire Me Today, "There is always something lovely to be found, always; and the search for it or deliberate creation of it is never frivolous. John Keats was right: Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty." When most of the world is determined to shut down creativity in favor of being "realistic" or practical, Maggie Oman Shannon's is one of the lone voices encouraging people to put busyness on pause and focus on small, simple moments of peace and beauty.

Oman Shannon has also recently appeared on the the popular podcast Tranquility du Jour with Kimberly Wilson. The two experts discuss how to make time for crafting in the midst of a busy schedule, and talk about the importance of finding a few moments for peace. As a mother with a jam-packed schedule herself, Oman Shannon knows from experience how hard scheduling time for calmness can be. But, as she so boldly states, the active and mindful focus on beauty is a "political statement" and a "spiritual practice," and the inner peace it can bring is well worth the effort.

Rev. Maggie Oman Shannon, M.A., is an interfaith minister, spiritual director, workshop and retreat facilitator, and author of five books, including Prayers for Healing and A String and a Prayer: How to Make and Use Prayer Beads. In 2000, Maggie Oman Shannon founded The New Story, a coaching and consulting business focused on helping people create deeper meaning in their lives. Shannon currently has the honor of serving as Spiritual Director of Unity Spiritual Center of San Francisco. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and nine-year-old daughter.

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