Be brave!

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

NOT GRAFFITI -- A GIFT OF LOVE...

Check this link out, please...

Be BRAVE - More Than Medication

WE ARE MORE THAN OUR SORROW.
When i was dx, it was AS IF SOME DEAR SOUL HAD DONE FOR ME WHAT THE BOY IN THIS LINK DID FOR HIS SISTER. I saw it and felt its beauty and truth.

I pray for a VOICE DEEP INSIDE of YOU to say -- BE STRONG. BE BRAVE. BE DETERMINED. To urge onward and upward... It is my wish to transmit a few encouraging words here. Because I know -- words can maim, and words can help heal. I am asking you to believe in your personal empowerment -- your ability to self-heal, despite what doctors and books and looks communicate! Be bold. Trust your Inner Voice. Affirmative words promote well-being and recovery.

I choose my words carefully, KNOWING they can heal me, and others!! Words are the voice of the heart. They monopolize the message in your mind that is drummed into you all day. They effect how you will feel and how you will fare. And the good news is -- YOU have the power to reauthor that message.

Remember, your body is listening to all you say and think. It responds in kind. Stay strong, brave and determined...

With loving energy always,

[ElaineM]

This is beautiful. Thank you Andrea !!!!

[Bill]

Thanks, Andi, for another wonderful post! What a cool video. Lee's eyes teared up a bit. Thanks for sharing it and your inspiring words. You're an angel, Andi!

[harrie]

That was really good Andi! Thank you.

[Ellie F]

Thanks Andi
That was briliant.Still practicing positive affirmation but more difficult post treatment!
Ellie

[juanita]

thank you andi!

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

I so understand the challenge and difficulty of LIVING in a positive mode, especially post treatment.

Facing Taxotere (when I recurred in '98) was the battle of my life, for my life! I was focused on enduring the side effects which were so physically debilitating I was basically bed-ridden for 8 mnths.

I explain this is my thread --

From cautious remission to freedom... - HER2 Support Group Forums

... if you care to peruse those posts. I believe it was a really important thread and was so sorry to see it closed, never to be brought up (BUMPED) to the top of the HER2 forum page. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the ideas, experiences and input that is lodged in there.

Ellie, and others, I wanted to mention -- even during tx, I would get out of bed, shower, wash my face (which sometimes bled from the mildest of soap, it was that dry), moisturize EVERYWHERE (heels on up -- withered skin being everywhere from my Did I Just Walk On Hot Coals? feet to the top of my bald head). I'd brush my teeth. Put on makeup, a wig and my earrings (cannot forget those essentials) and a nice outfit.

Then Paul and I would meet friends for dinner. He needed to get out I felt, and we needed hugs, laughter, chatter and a chance to linger over happy memories. He'd always look at me half passed out in bed most of the day and ask, Do you want me to cancel? I'd always insist, No! I KNEW it would be healing, for both of us.

Everyone would say, You look great (thanks to makeup, natural normal looking wig and earrings). I would smile, which is a thing embedded in me. My Mother always had a smile on her face. It comes from one's Spirit, reflecting it's radiance, I think.

The sincere compliments made me feel better. If they'd seen my grey self hrs before, no eyebrows, no lashes, shiny skull, stooped and struggling, they'd feel sorrowful, empathetic and -- uncomfortable. I needed their love, not their pity.

But the light at the end of the tunnel, the end of tx, was a new beginning, of a new normal. There would be no returning to the old normal I would learn. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other...

I would listen to Andrea Bocelli's Romanza and become literally transported to another realm. I would close my eyes and envision my happy place. Me sitting by a small still lake with white trunked birch trees standing tall and thin and mirrored in the lake. The sun is glorious, the sky a magnificent blue. There is the loveliest of breezes blowing the tall green grass spotted by red and purple wild flowers. I love it in this special place. I go there daily. In my mind. I feel joy and bliss, serenity, gratitude for the beauty of Life. I am grinning with my face turned to the sun, feeling touched by something divine. I feel One With The Universe.

Post tx, it is necessary to maintain our health with the boosting of meditations and affirmations. This has become a way of life for me. Perpetually connected with my Spirit, which guides me, supports me, loves me and nurtures me. It gifts me with a sense of harmony and wellness, a wholeness.

Ever feel like SOMETHING IS MISSING? Well, I believe it is your Soul, and your awareness of it. Your sense of being connected to it is awesome. It is a sacred entity, given to us by our Source. A piece of that holy One is embedded in each us.

I am not Christian, but I have heard many say, What would Jesus do? I totally understand this search for wisdom. I would ask What would Moses do? The part of us that is full of the energy of God (our Soul) speaks to us all the time. Listen to your Sacred Self. I have learned to do this and it is quite awesome.

If you turn away from your intellectual arguments that are playing out in your head and instead turn to your Spirit -- you can be open to listening to its advice. It speaks to you as your Inner Voice. It is a strong sense that you should or should not do this or that.

We are each a mind, a body and a Soul. Once you begin to re-identify yourself in this light, a world of possibilities open to you.

Personal Empowerment is a grand thing, our birthright. Yet many, regardless of their religion, fail to claim this power granted us. The power of our thoughts when guided by our Spirit rather than our intellect (or our ego as Eckhart Tolle calls it) changes everything! How you feel. And how you fare.

YOU are not the voice in your head. YOU have the ability to alter the messages playing out in your head all day. Especially if they are filled with fear, worry, doubt, uncertainty, vulnerability and the like. You deserve better than that.

I try to keep reminding myself -- I AM WELL AND HEALTHY AND I INTEND TO REMAIN THIS WAY. I AM HUMBLY GRATEFUL FOR THIS BLESSING. I FEEL MORE ALIVE THAN EVER BEFORE.

I try not to HATE. It is so very tempting to hate this disease, for example. It is quite despicable, erratic, cruel, not to mention potentially lethal. But I KNOW it is best not to HATE. So instead I try to put my energy, my focus, on being victorious and holding on to that. Tomorrow is promised to no one. With bc or not. Such is Life. I try to remain grounded in The Moment and feel the wondrous mystery of just BEING...

Thought I'd share this with you all, as we all are struggling, even post tx. Sending loving energy, as always, to every one of you...
Andi

If you feel you can, please add your perspective and experience here, for all of us to contemplate. WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU THINK TRULY MAKE A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE!

[GemmaG]

Thanks Andi! It's so nice.
Yes, I am strong, brave and determined!
I am strong, brave and determined!
I am strong, brave and determined!
I am......

Hugs,
Gem

[freyja]

Andrea, and everyone,
If you liked that video you must read this story. http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lastleaf.html
The Last Leaf by O. Henry. I'm pretty sure whoever made that video must have read it. I read it in high school and presented it at speech competitions, then in college choreographed a dance solo inspired by it, which I plan to develop further someday...I'll post a video when I do.
Love Celeste

[alicem]

I love O'Henry's "The Last Leaf". It's one of my favorite short stories.

[Ellie F]

Andi
Just what I needed to read the night before taxotere number 5!
Your post has been one of those funny coincidences that sometimes happens,things appearing at the right time when you need them!
Would be grateful to any sister for prayers and positive thoughts for tomorrow as the last cycle hit me really hard
Love Ellie

[alicem]

I will add you to my prayers tonight Ellie. Be sure and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I hope this cycle is better than the last!

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

I hope you know that I think of all of you daily. I pray for you. You're my Sisters, and you live in my heart.

Gemma, I have been trying to keep current with your good news and bad. I am cheering you on. Can you feel it?

Ellie, you do seem to pop up in my life at special moments as well. I am just off to California to visit my daughter, SIL and 2 grandsons. I miss them all so, and it will be the littlest one's 3rd Bday! So I will have to catch up in another wk or so.

But, Ellie -- Taxotere! A part of me wants to say it was a greatest enemy, yet the wiser part of me reminds me that it helped to save my life. When I was under its rampaging through my body, I just kept telling myself -- JUST THINK WHAT IT'S DOING TO YOUR CANCER CELLS. (That was my Spirit talking me, or the mindbody me.)

Can you tell us specifically what problems The Freight Train created, maybe we can offer some tricks we learned!

I think Life's goal is to have all those parts of ourselves MERGE. That's what I've learned. And when it occurs (through meditation, contemplation, silence) we feel transported to a sacred place. Connected to the Universe. A part of the Oneness. Sorry for getting all spiritual, but tis my nature.

Anyway, if Taxotere, or whatever, hits you hard and you are down for the count, so to say, it is the perfect time to do some meditating and getting in touch with your True Self. Personally, I spent many a day, week, month unable to do anything but that. It is a superb time to go deep inside yourself and get yourSelf together. Body, mind and Soul.

Blessings to each of you... And love too, of course, as always...

Freyja -- I am going to check out the link you posted. Get back to you on that. Crazy busy packing -- the worst job ever known. I hate this chore. Mind boggling...

Andi

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

From my heart...