A friend's cancer diagnosis would be bad... yours would be worse.
And finding out it's pancreatic cancer might top the list. We have been there. Those moments, the dark days, are forever etched in our minds and hearts. A legacy we would never have chosen...
Bad news. It might be a financial disaster, a messy divorce, a devastating diagnosis, a lost child... it's the news that shutters a heart... It can color your days and stall your steps.
But what if it doesn't have to? What if there's a way to live life best even in the midst of the bad?
He has been handed some bad news in his life.
In 2008, Neil's world fell apart, as he spiraled from a sudden divorce to the unexpected death of a close friend.
Dark colored his days and nights.
He found a way to turn his gaze from the grief he was experiencing to the joys, however small, he encountered in each day.
Out of his intentionality a movement of sorts was born. Neil began recording his experience at 1000 Awesome Things... finding joy and hope in sweet moments, such as
snow days
sleeping in new bedsheets
roasting the perfect marshmallow
hanging your hand out the window of a car
the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk
... for 1,000 days, Neil jotted down 1 awesome thing every day, no matter how big or small... as a way to jog the heart into seeing the good, the sweet and the hope even in the midst of the bad.
In 2010, Neil gave his first TED talk. It's only 17 minutes long, but it sure struck a chord for me. Perhaps you might find the hope in his story too...
The 3 A's of Awesome... A new way to approach living life well with intentionality.
If you're here, my guess is that you've had bad news at some point. You're looking for hope, for life, for joy... for a way out of the dark.
Neil offers a little encouragement as we travel these sometimes dark and stormy roads.
Change how you think... Determine to see the small pleasures in life... Choose to find the blessing intentionally...
Live right now...this moment... Make it count.
After all, it might be all we have.
Graced to Love you,
Always,
Jane
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