Response Magic 
I visited
my friend’s office, and there I saw a framed entry from his grandmother’s
journal, dated September 16, 1977. It reads:
"Today
I’m sitting in my hospital bed waiting to have both my breasts removed. But in
a strange way, I feel like the lucky one. Until now I have had no health
problems. I’m a sixty-nine-year-old woman in the last room at the end of the
hall before the pediatric division of the hospital begins. Over the past few
hours I have watched dozens of cancer patients being wheeled by in wheelchairs
and rolling beds. None of these patients could be a day older than
seventeen."
He told me that the journal entry is displayed
in his office because it continues to remind him that there is always, always something
to be thankful for.
And that
no matter how good or bad we have it, we must wake up each day thankful for our
lives, because someone, somewhere is desperately fighting for theirs.
I was recently at a birthday party to celebrate
the thirty-fifth birthday of a friend’s childhood best friend. Four years ago,
she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer—devastating news for anyone, and
especially for someone so young. Thankfully, she’s now in remission and has
been cancer free for the past two years. When we were at lunch, she told us, “I
am loving my thirties so much more than my twenties. I’m more confident, I know
what I want out of life, know what my capabilities are. I know that life is
limited, and that I only get this one life, and I’m doing my best to make the
best of each and every day.”
Hearing those words from her was remarkable,
because it showed how her perspective on the situation allowed her to view a
horribly difficult time as an opportunity to understand what she wanted out of
life.
Her
example reminded us that happiness
is not the absence of problems, but the ability to use them as opportunities to
change your perspective for the better.
Think
about your own life. What joy and opportunities might you see more clearly if
your mind weren’t holding on so tightly to your struggles and disappointments?
Remember, it’s not what the world
takes away from you that counts; it’s what you do with what you have left.
Truth be told, inner peace begins the moment you
take a new breath and choose not to allow an uncontrollable event to dominate
you in the long-term.
You are not what happened to you.
You are what you choose to become in
this moment.
Let go,
breathe, and begin again...
