Bright Thin 365

by brightthin365

* Life with metastatic breast cancer * Seizing each bright morning with purpose * Being open to the divine everywhere * Making a difference each day *

When I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer in August 2017, I searched for explanations of this new reality.  I found a way forward with others facing the same thing.

I owe a great debt of mental well-being to the wit and wisdom of the late Nina Riggs.  She wrote her wonderful book, The Bright Hour, while she was dealing with her own MBC diagnosis and her mother’s death from the same disease.  Nina was my first introduction to the world of MBC.  Her great-great-great grandfather, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1838,

“I am cheered with the moist, warm, glittering, budding and melodious hour that takes down the narrow walls of my soul and extends its pulsation and life to the very horizon. That is the morning; to cease for a bright hour to be a prisoner of this sickly body and to become as large as the World.” 

I have always appreciated the morning but love it all the more now. I know the brightness of this hour, have felt its power, and want to spend my days dwelling there as much as I am able. 

And while I continue to be a woman of action, I am more open to truly seeing key moments, the thin places, the feelings of God’s presence and the divine in all of us.  

What would you do if you had a year to live? Or a few years but you aren’t sure how many?  Bright Thin 365 is my answer to that question.  This is what I have chosen to do with the time I have left.  

I work to support others with MBC deal with this devastating illness.  I work with an outstanding foundation to raise much needed funds for MBC research and with another non-profit organization that provides support and advocacy services for others living with MBC.  All the while trying to stay present in each and every moment, to get done what needs to get done and not miss the beauty around me. Thanks for joining me.

Bright Thin 365 logo by Liv Garber

Website design by Cody Hughes

Featured artwork by Tara McKiernan Kovach www.taramckiernankovach.com