In the final days of 2017, I returned to the cancer suite where I go every 2 months for Rituxin infusions that take about 6 hours to destroy my lymphoma. It’s a great time for a two-fold mindfulness practice: acceptance and gratitude.  

First is Acceptance—a work in progress. In Logosoma Training, the most critical mindful practice is to focus on the present as it is—the ‘what is’. I am living with cancer. My body is impermanent. The two facts are impossible to truly accept without stress unless one takes a ‘gratitude inventory’ for the ‘what is’. 

My Gratitude inventory starts with this wonderful immunotherapy that has provided me with a robust response in my battle against lymphoma—my blood is perfect, and I’ve never felt better since my first diagnosis with cancer in 2005. I practice giving daily gratitude to my body, with all its sensations, painful and pleasurable. And perhaps most importantly, I am grateful to be a human being endowed with consciousness. Some of my greatest joys arise from letting my mind wonder, explore, learn, play, and connect with others. 

For each of us, we do our best when we recruit our imagination in a creative response to stress. Wish driven action in a story of personal meaning holds a future of exploration and healing to the adversities of daily life.  

I wish for everyone to refocus on their own consciousness, in acceptance and gratitude for the ‘what is’, at least for a few moments each day, as a healing practice for the continuous negative emotional stream that barrages us all.