I heard from a friend today who is going through treatment for ovarian cancer. As challenging as this process has been for her, she has somehow maintained a sense of humour. I admire her tenacity. She also mentioned that she's been scanning my blog for relevant posts for a friend who was just diagnosed with esophageal cancer. And I spoke with another friend today who knows a woman recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I recommended to him that he share my blog with her. If you're new to Jenesis or familiar with it but trying to find articles on a particular topic, I recommend my Categories page, which organizes my posts by category and provides a brief summary of each. I still have many more posts to add to my Categories page, but it's a great place to start.

— "Sometimes," said the horse.

— "Sometimes what?" asked the boy.

— "Sometimes just getting up and carrying on is brave and magnificent."

~ Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

"Doctor’s appointments are always frightening. One never knows how the cancer is reacting until you speak with the doctor. It’s ok to be down even about good news and hearing about possible side effects. As long as you have that time to reflect but not to stay there."

~ A friend and Jenesis reader

So often in my life, I've met with doctors and received good news: the test was negative, your results are normal, you're ahead of the curve. Ovarian cancer doesn't seem to work that way. Discussions are sober, enthusiasm is restrained, hope is not volunteered. I get the drill, but I can choose to be my own cheerleader. I'm reminded of something that Mark Twain said: "If you can't get a compliment any other way, pay yourself one." Similarly, if others don't provide hope, I will offer it to myself.... I can still have hope.

"There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love.

When we are afraid, we pull back from life.

When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.

We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections.

If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create.

Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life."

~ John Lennon

"So you embed yourself so deeply in the measuring, and the pouring, and the mixing, and the rolling, and the shaping, and whatever else your recipe asks you to do. And by the end, you've got a little less stress and a dozen more cupcakes."

~ Sarah Weinberg

"Imagine a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the worst reality you can imagine. Like living in a war zone or being in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Maybe 9 is a serious illness that most probably will result in death. Perhaps 8 is something that will forever alter your life, like going to jail or an accident that puts you in a wheelchair. Let’s say 7 is something that temporarily alters your life like losing your job or having to move out of a home you can no longer afford.... Almost everything we freak out about is somewhere in the 1-2 range of dashed expectations. In other words, our moods and our stress levels are determined by events that actually matter remarkably little."

~ Peter Bregman

Yesterday, after my radiation treatment, I asked the woman who greets patients and visitors as they enter the Irving Greenberg Family Cancer Centre what her name was. I had memorized the names of my radiation technicians—the absolutely lovely Brenda and Dawn—but I had not yet learned the name of the screener even though I had already seen her half a dozen times. I couldn't imagine going to the Cancer Centre another 22 times and not being able to address her by name. She told me her name, and I shared mine. Now I'll be able to say, "Good morning, Patricia" every time I visit the Cancer Centre.

This period of radiation therapy reminds me of something Katherine May writes in her book Wintering: "We have seasons when we flourish, and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again." Last winter, I was undergoing chemotherapy treatment; this winter, I'm going through radiation treatment. I'm actually grateful for the timing: if I must deal with cancer, let it be during the quiet months of winter.

Being grateful doesn't mean pretending that everything's perfect. It means seeing the positives within a difficult situation.

Photos become more important as we age. They capture moments in our lives. They remind us of our past. And they reflect the many relationships we have developed over the years.

"You enhance your relationship with yourself by writing. Some people say, 'Well, write what? I'm not interesting. I'm not a writer.' It doesn't matter. If you start to write, the writing is like a mirror. It reflects what's going on in your unconscious, and things will come out if you write in journal form that you didn't know that you knew."

~ Phil Stutz

"There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither."

~ Alan Cohen

Many people see such career-based relationships as a way to get something, such as advice, connections and jobs. Fewer people recognize that giving to someone with whom they have a networking, mentoring or coaching relationship is not only a professional thing to do but ultimately the best way to achieve an ongoing association.