HBCN: Step 8 - Practice Being Thankful

Diane McLauchlan
Oct 28, 2020
3 min read

Yes, I can hear the questions now. I’ve been told I have cancer! How can I be thankful? Well, ask yourself. Are you alive? Did the sun come up this morning? Do you have a chance to heal? Those are all a good start and all are reasons to be thankful. Like many people diagnosed with this disease, I too became depressed for a while and did my share of

wallowing in self-pity. What helped bring me out of it was finding simple things to be thankful for. Hearing the birds’ dawn chorus as the sun is rising, appreciating the way the sun sparkles on a dewdrop or how good my morning cup of tea tastes. Learning to pay attention to and savor these simple things all helped me start feeling better about my life.

Believe it or not, putting a smile on your face, even if it is a fake one, can make you feel better. Go ahead, try it right now and pay attention to how it makes you feel afterwards. I think you’ll be surprised. Looking for the little every day things to be thankful for starts changing your mindset. It starts helping you have a more positive outlook on life and that more positive outlook can make a huge difference in

your ability to heal.

Of course, part of being able to be thankful in the morning, is getting a good night’s sleep. Sleep is so necessary not only in helping our body heal but in preparing ourselves for the coming day. Either a bad night’s sleep, or lack thereof, or a good night’s sleep can make all the difference in how you feel the next day. Please, make a point of getting to bed at a reasonable hour. No staying up all hours of the night watching the television or playing games. I try to make sure I’m in bed by 9:00 or, at the latest 10:00, each evening. To help get good quality sleep, it has been proven that we need to have our rooms as dark as possible. If you have a clock by your bedside which has a light on it, put it in a drawer. If there’s a street light outside your window, please get blinds which block the light. Not even a nightlight should be on in your bedroom. If need be, consider getting yourself a sleep mask. There is plenty of research which documents the importance of sleep in relation to our health and our mental outlook.

I’m sure we’ve all heard of the placebo effect, where a person given nothing more than a sugar pill ends up getting better, simply because they were told they would. On the other hand, we’ve all have probably heard about otherwise healthy people who have died,

simply because their doctor told them they were terminal. Our minds are incredibly powerful healing tools. Taking whatever little steps we can to help establish a more positive mindset and being thankful can and will help our bodies heal. Know that you are alive, that you are taking the steps to heal your body. Know that there is still joy to be experienced. Often, all you need to do is look for it.