0 Attitude with Gratitude … It's Contagious!!

Yesterday was an exceptional day and I spent time with several cancer survivors. They all reminded me in different ways how our attitude can make such a difference in our lives. These women all have such amazing strength and are so very courageous.

One of them, an eleven year breast cancer survivor, is turning 59 soon and is thankful. How many of us can actually say we are thankful to be getting older? She says she is ‘thankful’ because as she says “I never thought I would have lived this long”. I knew this gal when she was first diagnosed with cancer and she never has felt sorry for herself….she tirelessly works on fund raising for the American Cancer Society’s Relay of Life, and many, many other organizations in our community. She has an amazing Attitude with Gratitude.

Another very young cancer survivor is going through her second bout with breast cancer and is presently going through treatment. She does not know what the future holds for her at this time. She has a young son she is raising, and not once did we detect any self-pity. She is matter-of-fact, knows what she needs to do, and is her own advocate. She is amazingly strong and seeks out information about her treatment options and is making her own health care assessments on what will be best for her. She too practices Attitude with Gratitude and I am in awe of her.

The things many of us forget is that everyday may not be good, but there is good in every day and happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. Making a difference in the world, in your city or in your neighborhood will make us all feel better – it a great accomplishment and it will make you proud of yourself and it will make you happy.

So today I challenge you to have an Attitude with Gratitude. Forget your troubles and help someone else. As Julie has said many times, “there is always someone worse off than you are.” This is the time of the year when there are many, many breast cancer fund raiser walks and events.

I challenge you to join, connect, unite, bond, walk, jog, run, donate, give, contribute, bestow, support, help, assist, pledge and commit to help find a cure for cancer.

Think Pink!! I am listing several popular causes below that are near and dear to my heart – choose one of these or start your own – but please do something so there will be a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime.

Relay for Life

Seattle 3-Day Walk / Susan G. Komen

Young Survival Coalition

Susan G. Komen

We should all live by the words of Gilda Radner “The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had - you will have lived.”

I believe we should all strive for that legacy ~ many blessings, Jan