on wholehearted living

Last Wednesday I was riding in the car with my brother, sis-in-law, and dear Mama. We were on our way to dinner. I ask one of my (sometimes too many) fave questions for this time of year:
"Mama, what's your intention this year?"

Without skipping a beat, she responds, "Too live."

And that pretty much sums it up friends. Earlier that day I was at the hospital with my Mom as she had a scan to see if cancer was rearing it's big nasty head again. As her surgeon (who we are eternally grateful for) had said to her eight weeks earlier after completing her treatment, which was two surgeries, two rounds of chemo, and 33 treatments of radiation....

"You've done all you can and we've (her team of doctors) done all we can. There's nothing more now we can do but have faith."

Later as I reflected on these words I thought of the two ways Patanjali (our yoga sage) says you can attain yoga:

Practice and nonattachment.

My mom exemplified both.

There was also the bit about "having faith". In yogi terms we refer to it as ishvara pranidhana. My Mama never gave up faith. Not one single time. I can't say that she didn't in her quietest, most fearful moments, but she never once expressed it to anyone around her.

When you witness someone you love with your wholeHeart, your entire being, fight a grueling battle to live.....

Well it changes you. I know no other way to express it.

So for this reason and others, I am choosing "wholeHearted" as my one word for the year, my theme, my container, my guiding light to help me to choose how to best think, speak, and act. How best to use my time, energy, and resources.

The day after that question and that dinner we learned that my Mama's scan came back all clear. No signs of cancer.

To say that it was an unbelievably, life changing moment is an understatement. This is the photo I snapped with my phone moments after we heard the good news. The photos below show more of our journey over the last 5.5 months.