EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS HONESTLY.
Cancer evokes varied emotional reactions.  Respect whatever they are honestly.  Above all, stay real, concentrating on what's best for you.  Don't try to please others by hiding authentic feelings in order to make others feel better.

LEARN TO LAUGH AND LAUGH TO LEARN.
Someone once said that laugher is the best medicine.  It is!  I've come to believe that a sense of humor is as vital as the first five senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing).  Having a positive attitude doesn't require smiling all the time, but there is a definite link between our basic attitude and our immune system that is too important to ignore.

ENDURE WHAT IS NECESSARY.
Yes, there's tough stuff in your coping with disease.  But never forget the patient who told me her mother always said, "From the day that you're born 'til they take you in a hearse, things are never so bad that they couldn't be worse."

BE OPEN AND FLEXIBLE...GO WITH THE FLOW.
Find meaning in the day-by-day doings because little things mean a lot.  Ponder the adage, "They who have a why to live can bear almost any how."  Cancer is a wake-up call that jolts us out of our complacency.

REMAIN IN CHARGE BY NETWORKING WITH FAMILY AND DOCTORS.
Work with doctors not as a victim but as a partner.  Trust your body signals for better or worse.  You have a right to retain an appropriate degree of control in what's happening.

ACCEPT AND FACE YOUR MORTALITY.
This can be a slow and painful process that takes time and effort.  Cancer does provide a new awareness of life's previous quality through its unique lens.  Death is certain for all of us, but how we live out our remaining days is up to us.

TREASURE EACH DAY AND EACH NEW EXPERIENCE.
No, I wouldn't have chosen cancer on the menu of health struggles, but I would not trade all I've learned, lived, laughed and loved because of it.  One marvelous side effect has been connection with incredibly beautiful people.  I believe you can turn your back on negativity that wants to drag you down.

EXERCISE BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT AS ABLE.
In the new book, Remarkable Recovery, by Caryle Hirshberg and Marc Ian Barasch, seven common factors among the survivors are discussed:  the will to live, acceptance of the disease but not the outcome, working with doctors as collaborators, having supportive people around, improving diet, exercising more, and finding faith important in recovery.

LIVE REMEMBERING THAT LIFE IS A MYSTERY TO BE LIVED, NOT A PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED.
As you search for answers, reasons, whys and why nots, remember there is a dimension of all this that remains a mystery.  Sometimes health struggles invite us to reverence instead of grueling analysis.

INVEST IN YOUR INNER RESOURCES: COURAGE, EFFORT, DETERMINATION, FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE.
All of these nurture the will to live and flourish.  Surprise yourself by opting to maximize who you are by practicing these virtuous behaviors.

FIND THE FUTURE IN YOUR NOW.
Maybe you've wondered if you'd make it today – you're here!  Select short-term goals as your ongoing link to life.  Meditate on the "Family Circus" cartoon that says, "Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift.  That's why it's called the present."  Sink your heart into that one.

EMERGE AS A WINNER – NOT A VICTIM OR MERE SURVIVOR, BUT TRULY A THRIVER!
Need I say more?  Onward and upward!

Reprinted by permission of Kay Cordell Whitaker © 1996, from Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Hanoch McCarty and Meladee McCarty.