We live in perfectly imperfect bodies. While they do amazing things, they don’t always cooperate with our plans. We get a cold before an important presentation. Our back goes out before a vacation. Or worse yet, we develop a chronic illness that seriously disrupts our lives.

I’ve shared some of my personal struggles with chronic pain on this blog, and I’m working diligently to be more compassionate to myself, regardless of what I can or can’t do on any certain day.

This week has a theme. And for regular readers of my blog, you know I like themes! My inspiration and timing of the theme comes from Ashley Hasty, who I’ll write more about tomorrow. She has Crohn’s Disease and has a unique project that runs through April to raise awareness and money to support research into the illness.

This week I’ll be exploring questions such as:

• How do we make sense of suffering?
• How do we find hope when it feels like there is none?
• How do we be kind to ourselves when we feel sick and useless?
• How do we find meaning in the mess? (I also like alliteration)
• How can we reach out to others?

So, here’s the schedule:

Tuesday: A Passion for Purple (featuring Ashley Hasty’s story)

Wednesday: Coping with Chronic Illness…Compassionately (featuring an interview with Toni Bernhard, author of an award-winning book called How to be Sick)

Thursday: Cancer: No Single Path to Recovery, a piece I wrote for another publication, but it fits in with the theme, so I’m going to reuse it 🙂

Friday: To be announced… I have ideas swirling in my head. The title will likely involve a color name. (I’m thinking “Mysterious Mauve” or “Uncertain Gray”)

I’m feeling a little giddy thinking about color names, so I’d better go for now. See you tomorrow!