In our current age of divisiveness, it feels to me as if we have somehow forgotten America’s motto, E Pluribus Unum, or out of many, one. Instead, our society appears to be increasingly splintered along fault lines defined by race, class, gender, party or hundreds of other attributes. In thinking about this issue, I’ve been questioning how we can work to regain a common sense of purpose, empathy and shared humanity as individuals and as a nation. One answer I’ve come to is for each of us to … [Read more...]
Feeling Gratitude Makes Us Healthier
Yesterday, I wrote about a Beatles’ song, “Eleanor Rigby,” which I’ve always connected with, at a visceral level, for the way it describes how I felt during a difficult period of my life. The lyrics of that poignant song so eloquently describe the secret world of isolation and hopelessness that many people who suffer from mental illness experience every day. They go about their day living lives of quiet desperation, invisible to the rest of us, their inner pain cloistered away from public … [Read more...]
The Season of Giving
In yesterday’s post, I publicly acknowledged my most recent struggle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Tomorrow I go for another chemo infusion. I am in awe of the other patients in the huge room who are getting their infusions at the same time I am. So many have more serious debilitating cancers than me and, yet, they are so courageous. In a special way we all have a common goal, to eradicate our cancer. We’re a band of people on a mission, grateful for our caregivers and those who love … [Read more...]
Embracing Beautiful People, Places and Things While on a Healing Journey
Dealing with a chronic disease can sometimes be like taking a Rorschach test – each person interprets the inkblot of their illness in their own unique way. As someone whose been undergoing treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia for several years, I’ve consciously tried to be positive. Last week, I spent four days at MD Anderson in Houston, ranked as one of the top two hospitals in cancer care every year since U.S. News & World Report began its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” survey in … [Read more...]
Choosing Gratitude
Gratitude is a powerful emotion that affirms the positive aspects of our lives as well as the people, community and world around us. However, consciously instilling in yourself a habit of being grateful for life’s circumstances can be hard at first. Like any habit, it takes practice. One way to start is by following the sage advice I received in the first alcohol support group I attended, which was to “Fake it till you make it.” At that point in my life, I wasn’t feeling particularly … [Read more...]
