This characterizes my past weekend. I participated in the Walk to End Women’s Cancers in Montreal Saturday and Sunday and on Saturday afternoon I attended the celebration of life service for a dear friend who recently take her own life.
The tears started at the opening ceremony for the walk as I listened to the stories of survivors and women still going through their treatments and of course as we remembered those for whom we were walking. The tears started a new at the gathering for my friend as I saw pictures of her in happy times, and listened to her family and friends remember the wonderful things we loved about her. Her sense of adventure, love of learning, compassion, beauty, kindness and generosity that knew no end. My tears flowed once again at the closing ceremonies as we honored the spirit of those who have left us and vowed to keep working towards the end of women’s cancers.
What stuck me about my two experiences that weekend was the tremendous challenges and suffering that my friend and all the women who have gone through a cancer diagnosis have experienced. I am humbled when I think about it, about the level of strength and courage they showed.
As a cancer coach, one of the things I help people do is to look for the blessing, or meaning or higher purpose of their struggle. With the tragic case of my friend’s death I felt the need to look for any lesson I could to help me be stronger, and learn and grow for having known her and having shared in her passing. The lesson that resonated with me over the weekend was a reminder about how fragile life is. I think if my friend could give us advice today it might sound something like this; go boldly forward and live life to its fullest everyday, pursue your dreams now, live your adventures now, laugh and love freely. But most importantly, I think she we tell us to learn to listen to our inner voice of wisdom, our intuition and to live the life we truly desire, not the life that we may create around societal norms or pressures to be or do something.
So the question I have for you today is; is there something that you are waiting to do? A dream or adventure that you can start planning or working towards? My advice is not to wait and over the next few posts I will explore this idea further.
Blessings and until next time be and love your true self!
Jackie