Living with cancer means more than letting the negative go, it means finding a way to take in the happiness of right now. This cancer survivor calls it "Minute Mindfulness."
PUBLISHED July 02, 2019
Martha lives in Illinois and was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in January 2015. She has a husband and three children, ranging in age from 12 to 18, a dog and a lizard.
I keep a running list in my mind of the things that bring me joy or make me experience in the immediate now just how much there is to love in life.In the summer, the list expands ever outward with each walk I take with my sweet and lively dog, Iris. It grows longer with the airport pick-ups of people I love and the bittersweet goodbyes of those I sometimes feel I won’t be able to live without.
My list goes something like this:
- Wind blowing
- Robin on a rock
- Iris’ fluffy neck
- Neighbor’s newly planted garden
- Peacocks screeching at zoo a block away
- Strange and large cloud
- Garbage man waving
- Boys riding bikes
You get the idea. These are not earth-shattering, life-altering experiences of happiness. One of my daughters recently asked me what I was smiling about as we were walking. I don’t remember exactly what I said — I’ve taken a lot of walks — but I think it was something about how the hot, breezy weather brought back the feeling of lying in hot sand on the beach.
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