March 2019 - Kelly Inselmann

First things first.

After you have cancer, you begin to re-think your priorities in life.

Which relationships are most important? How do you want to spend your free time? What has been left undone?

What must you say “no” to in order to say “yes” to what really matters?

You may have some physical limitations: fatigue, pain, insomnia, other side effects. You may be dealing with “chemobrain” or struggling with anxiety or depression. Making adjustments so that you can get through each day.

After cancer, I became adept at looking through my weekly calendar and crossing out non-essential activities in order to have more unscheduled down time.

Because: first things first. I need time to just “be” and not feel constantly rushed.

What will enable you to live and enjoy the best life you can? It’s a good question for everyone to ask themselves, cancer or not.

Recently, Michelle came to our weekly yoga class and shared that she was feeling well enough to get a part time job. She was very excited for the new opportunity. But, she announced, she’d taken the job on one condition. She told her boss up front that every Wednesday she had to have a little extra time for her lunch hour so she could go to yoga class. Because she’s determined to prioritize her health and emotional well being and the weekly yoga helps her do so.

First things first.

Where can you set limits in your life this week to protect your energy and free up valuable moments of your life?

What would you really like to say “yes!” to?

I think of a safe place, where I am welcome exactly as I am. No need for performance. I can set down my burdens and extend my legs and catch my breath.

I notice what’s happening around me because for just a moment, I can let down my guard. No need to scan for danger.

I think of entering an ancient space, with cool walls and floor and with a cozy place to lie down. I think of a community sanctioned spot, a chapel, a temple, a park, or a safe house, a friend who is always home and has something cooking.

I know the people in the sanctuary are holding a space for me and devoted to a higher consciousness than we what I live in during much of life. I know the space is one that was created for safety and for aligning with a Higher purpose that includes compassion for the human experience and reverence for the sacredness in each of us.

I have the image of grandmothers taking me in, washing my brow and comforting me, caring for my wounds. Protecting me. A place to go when no one else understands. Here, they hold space for me to love myself again. Here, I surrender the need to know what the future holds and the notion that I must be in control.

Instead, I rest in a space of openness- to learn, rest, heal, care, and be.

First Things First

What is Sanctuary?