"Focusing on Today"

By Beverly Bradley

When you discover you have cancer, so much gets thrown at you very quickly. You need to make treatment plan choices. Plus you need to rearrange your life and schedule around medical appointments and tests. If you feel as if every experience is negative, may I suggest turning to journaling to discover exactly what the positive things are in your life at that point.  I am not suggesting you assume a “Polly-Anna” attitude, being cheery against reason.  A choice to emphasize the positive is simply that, a choice. When I began journaling, I was well-aware of the major negatives, including the fact I would have a long road ahead of struggles with chemotherapy and perhaps numerous set-backs. Instead of dwelling on long-term problems, I tried to find some delights in the present.

For example, I answered a journal prompt asking what I perceived with my senses. Listing my answers helped me to recognize I did enjoy the snuggly quilt on my legs, even though those legs were in pain due to a chemo-reaction. I liked the soothing sounds of classical music on the radio, playing softly in the background. I could smell a roast cooking which I didn’t have to prepare. Did these sensory observations take away my pain or fatigue? No, but when I focused on the music or the feel of my quilt, my mind was slightly eased. When I only focused on my pain, then pain was all I experienced.  

Really, I should have learned by now that one can’t borrow worries from the future. It was better mental health for me to think only of the “today.” There’s a Bible verse (Matthew 6:34) with that wisdom: “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Is that ever true! If I just get through the troubles of one day, I’ll be better off than trying to take on the (possible) troubles of the future.

Reflection

Do you tend to focus on the day at hand or is much of your thinking and worrying deal with the future?

Do you think writing down your concerns will bring you clarity on what is causing anxiety?

Preferably outside (if it isn’t snowing), list all the things your senses can perceive.  Were there some things you enjoyed among them?