Five Things You Love about You

I’m borrowing this idea from Downtown Dharma, because it’s an excellent exercise in self-love.

Could you list five things you love about yourself?

I’ll go first.

   1. I serve and love the Lord

   2. I can draw and paint.

   3. I care so much about people and will help them if I can.

   4. Good listener, very kind hearted and loving ^_^

   5. I find myself funny, and love to make others laugh, and cheer them up.

What I found surprising is the lull that I experienced between points #4 and #5. Seriously, it took all weekend to write this blog. I’d like to think I have pretty decent self-esteem, but even I fumbled at complimenting myself.

You’d think it would be easy to be nice to yourself, but self-criticism and judgment just comes more naturally to some. It takes nothing to look at the negative, but the positive is always ducking behind a tree.

Remember a moment in your life when you look in the mirror and go: “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough and cute and pretty/handsome, people like me? It was funny and cheesy… but it was kinda on to something.

When’s the last time you said something nice about yourself out loud? If it’s been a while (or maybe never), you’re long overdue.

You can’t wait for people to notice the good things about you. You have to recognize and celebrate them for yourself. I mean, after all, if you don’t like you, who else will? Loving oneself is the healthiest thing a person could do, you must love yourself first and have confidence in yourself. Then relationships, friendships being great at your job, at school will be an easy process.

One of my mother’s many words of advice is: “Speak positive things about yourself everyday.” So go for it. Don’t be shy; toot your own horn. List five things you love about yourself and post it below.

Miracles!

Woman, 21, who was told she was infertile after battling cancer TWICE has 'miracle' baby 

Madeleine battled Hodgkin's Lymphoma twice in 18 months 

Has miracle baby with partner she met during chemotherapy

      A young cancer victim told she was infertile after having more than 300 hours of chemotherapy is finally enjoying motherhood after the birth of her "miracle" baby.

Madeleine Telfer, 21, lost two-and-a-half stone in weight after battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma TWICE in 18 months.

     She was devastated when doctors warned her that the constant chemotherapy had probably left her infertile and she would never have children.  But less than a year later she was stunned to discover she had fallen pregnant with partner Stephen Batey, 27, who she met during her treatment.

      Madeleine Telfer with her partner Stephen Datey and her miracle baby boy Harris who was born on November 27, 2011

      Now the couple are celebrating the birth of their "miracle" baby Harris, who is two months old.

    Madeleine, who is now trying for her second child, said: 'All I ever wanted was a family. It's something I've dreamed of since I was a wee girl.

    'And when the doctors told me I would be infertile I was distraught.

    'Of course, losing your fertility is a small price to pay to save your life, but I was devastated.

    'When I found out I was expecting Harris, I don't think I've ever been so happy.'

   Three sisters take drastic step of having their breasts AND wombs removed to avoid hereditary cancer death sentence that killed their mother at just 32

     In August 2008 Madeleine was a normal teenager studying child care when she began to feel ill.

    Her glands swelled up and she lost two and a half stone in just a few weeks.

  Her worried parents Robin, 52, and Careen, 49, took their daughter to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, Scotland, where a biopsy revealed she had cancer.

      Madeleine, 21, never thought she would be able to have children

       From January 2009 she underwent a four-hour chemotherapy session every two weeks for six months, notching up 48 hours of treatment.

     Madeline said: 'I was in my bedroom when my mum came in. She sat down, very calm, very composed.

    'She said I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I had cancer.

    'I had a lurching feeling in my stomach. It didn't make sense, it didn't feel real. It was overwhelming.

    'I was a very lively, bubbly person but during treatment I felt rotten for months. I had no energy but my family and friends were really supportive.'

    The treatment made Madeleine so weak she caught pneumonia but despite her illness she was given to news that her treatment had been successful in August 2009 and her cancer had gone into remission.

    Life returned to normal, Madeleine began to see friends and got a job in the clothing store TK Maxx.

    But on January 12, 2010, Madeleine's world came crashing down for a second time when she received the news a routine CT scan had shown the cancer had returned.

    She was rushed into 'salvage chemotherapy' and endured three gruelling 90 hour sessions in isolation - a further 270 hours. 

It was during her recovery in the weeks following her treatment that Madeline met her partner        Stephen, a postman, while having a quiet drink with friends.

     Madeleine, who lives in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, said: 'My friends wanted to take me out as a treat.

     'I had been in isolation for a long time during my treatment so we went a drink in Kilmarnock and Stephen was there.

'I had a wig on because I lost my hair, I told him my story and it went from there.'

    Following the treatment Madeleine was transferred to the Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow to replace stem cells destroyed during her treatment.

    Madeleine's brother Gary, now 24, and Carleen, 26, were tested and her sister proved a perfect match.

     But just weeks before the operation Carleen fell pregnant and couldn't donate.

     Madeleine Telfer during cancer treatment in March 2010, when she wore a wig

     Madeleine added: 'I thought I was cursed. Nothing was going right.

'I was happy for my sister because she had been trying for a baby for a while, but I was devastated that it meant she couldn't donate.'

      Madeleine was given the all clear at the beginning of May 2010.

She added: 'I was over the moon, I was just so happy.

'It also meant that stem cells that I had removed during my treatment, which we were saving, could be put back into me.'

      Madeleine returned home and enjoyed Christmas with her family.

     Her dreams came true in March last year when she found out she was pregnant, something she had given up hope on two years earlier.

     Madeleine was over the moon and gave birth to baby Harris on November 27 last year after just a three hour labour.

     She said: 'I couldn't believe it I did about five tests to make sure.

'Life is now just fantastic. I couldn't be happier. He is a little miracle.

    'I have come through a lot and as a result I am a completely different person.

     'We would love Harris to be joined by a wee brother or sister but I appreciate everything I have. Everything is wonderful.'

 (COPYRIGHT: Daily Mail - .dailymail.co.uk)

The Girl who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes

(Video of Severn's Speech)

Very inspiring, but has anything changed? We are destroying more than what we are saving.This is exactly what the world needs, to stop fighting wars and to build schools, hospitals and stop pollution, this girl is right, we must act together now, before it's too late! We are one world, one people and we must all live together on one planet.

Here is the full text of Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s speech before the UN Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil in 1992, made when she was 12 years old. Too bad the world listened, applauded, and shed an emotional tear, but did not do anything substantial for her, as the likes of George W. Bush decided it would be too restrictive on their accustomed way of life, and would cost their industrial cronies too much. (ssjothiratnam)

              Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The Environmental Children’s Organisation.

We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:
 Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.

         Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.

        I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.

       I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.

       I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it.

       I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day — vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.

        Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I’m only a child and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!

•   You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.

•   You don’t know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.

•   You don’t know how to bring back an animal now extinct.

•   And you can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.

If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

         Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or politicians – but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s child.

         I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil — borders and governments will never change that

        I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

           In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

         In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.

        In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter — we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.

        Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.”

         If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?

        I can’t stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

       I’m only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:

•             not to fight with others,

•             to work things out,

•             to respect others,

•             to clean up our mess,

•             not to hurt other creatures

•             to share – not be greedy.

        Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who you’re doing this for — we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying “everything’s going to be alright” , “we’re doing the best we can” and “it’s not the end of the world”.

         But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do, not what you say.”

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening




Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental and social justice work ever since kindergarten. She was twelve years old when she gave this speech, and she received a standing ovation. Now 23, Cullis-Suzuki spearheads The SkyFish Project and continues to speak to schools and corporations, and at many conferences and international meetings. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.  (ssjothiratnam)