Bravely Believe Bravely Live

My favorite place to teach at MD Anderson is in the simple wood Gazebo on the third floor of Clark Clinic.  It holds about eight chairs inside the Gazebo, and maybe another ten on the outside.  What makes it special is that the minute you step inside it feels like a sanctuary.  Yesterday, I held a morning and afternoon breathing circles in the Gazebo focused on helping patients, caregivers, and employees discover the therapeutic and emotional power of their breath.  After my morning session, I walked around and spent time promoting the afternoon session to departments that were within a short walk.  When I returned to pick up the centerpiece, I had created with a blue Chinese bowl and yellow flowers I found a husband and wife sitting and staring at the centerpiece. 

The husband looked up, “Was this my bowl and flowers?” I told him it was and described how I used it in my breathing circle exercises.  He asks, “Would I lead them through some exercises?”, and after a few minutes of conscious controlled and diaphragmatic breathing, I paused to see how they were doing.  The women said she felt better then ask me if I was a believer, I told her I was and she then told me she was a pancreatic cancer patient and she and her husband had just decided to stop her chemo and decline radiation or any other treatment.  “Her life was now in the Lord’s hands.”  My cancer journey has taught me that we need to believe in our cancer care team, but my importantly we need to believe bravely in our life choices, and bravely live with the potential consequences.  As she talked, I realized we were all looking down at the yellow flowers, flowers bursting with her joy and the reverence of the moment.  Bravely believe – bravely live!