How to Live Life Well in the Midst of the Storm

Bad news... we all will get our share.

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

The Fight Continues...

 Pancreatic Cancer is no respecter of persons...

It does not matter your social rank, your wealth, your knowledge... Pancreatic Cancer is a ravenous malignancy leaving trails of destruction, distress and suffering in its wake.

This week past we saw the trail of metastatic pancreatic cancer lead to the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network shared the following on their website shortly after news of her passing:

"The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN) is determined to continue fighting for progress for patients so that more people have a chance at longer survival.

'Justic Ginsburg's death is tragic, and it is yet another push for PanCAN to continue fighting for more research and better treatment options for all patients,' said PanCAN President and CEO Julie Fleshman, JD, MBA. 'Though the statistics are grim, there is reason to hope.  There is a growing pancreatic cancer scientific community, many new clinical trials that could lead to new treatment options, and information and resources for patients and families fighting this disease.' "

Justice Ginsburg's legacy is captured in her own words, and they seem aptly fitting here, in this place, in this fight for healing:

"Fight for the things that you care about,
but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."
    ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Yes, the Fight Continues... we will never stop pounding the doors of Heaven until the cure for this cancer's devastation and suffering is found.

We stand strong in the gap for those in the battle.  The days are numbered for Pancreatic Cancer's spread of distress, pain and heartache. 

Leaning into the Fight this day,

Always,

Jane

Learning to Make the Moments Matter