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Breast Cancer Reimagined
The story you tell yourself about your breast cancer journey shapes your entire experience. Whether you’ve recently been diagnosed or are in the midst of treatment, Breast Cancer Reimagined is your podcast for writing this new chapter of your life.
Breast Cancer Reimagined
Uncovering Deeper Meaning
This episode explores how personal narratives shape the experiences of those navigating breast cancer, emphasizing the power of choosing joy and finding meaning through struggle. Shannon discusses practical methods for uncovering deeper meaning, including leveraging personal meaning strengths and recognizing defining moments within one's journey.
• Choosing joy despite challenges
• Importance of narratives in shaping experiences
• Two practices to find deeper meaning
• Exploring six meaning strengths
• Importance of community and shared experiences
• Steps to reflect on personal defining moments
• Encouragement to engage with personal journeys
The 6 Meaning Strengths:
- Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence
- Curiosity
- Gratitude
- Perspective
- Social Intelligence
- Spirituality
List of 24 Character Strengths
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The story you tell yourself about your breast cancer journey shapes your entire experience, whether you've been recently diagnosed or are in the midst of treatment. Breast Cancer Reimagined is your podcast for writing this new chapter of your life. Hi, I'm Shannon, your host, and I'm so glad you're here. As a proud two-time breast cancer survivor, I'm on a mission to help women like you reimagine how you navigate your breast cancer journey by helping you shift your mindset, activate your strengths and uncover deeper meaning in your journey. I'm creating future episodes to address your unique challenges, but I need your input. What are your biggest questions or struggles when it comes to your journey? Share them with me by completing the Google form that's linked in the show notes. Your voice matters and together we can create something truly powerful. I can't wait to hear from you. Create something truly powerful. I can't wait to hear from you. Welcome to the Breast Cancer Reimagined podcast. Hi, I'm Shannon, your host. Thanks for joining. I'm a proud two-time breast cancer survivor and I'm on a mission to help women shift their mindset, activate their strengths and uncover deeper meaning in their breast cancer journey.
Speaker 1:What if your breast cancer journey wasn't just something to endure, but an opportunity to uncover a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in your life. Today, in Episode 5, we're exploring that question. I knew there was a bigger purpose behind my journey. How did I know? Because I declared 2017 the year of joy and I made a bucket list of ways I wanted to create more joy in all areas of my life. But in September, everything changed. I went in for a routine mammogram, followed by a biopsy. A few weeks later, on October 16, 2017, I got the phone call no one wants to get my doctor called with the result of the biopsy and I heard the words you have breast cancer. Wait what? I didn't have a lump. There was no family history and it was supposed to be my year of joy. Breast cancer was definitely not on my bucket list, but in that moment, I realized I had a choice. Do I cancel the year of joy because I have breast cancer, or is it still the year of joy even with breast cancer? I chose joy Now. Choosing joy didn't mean that the journey was going to be easy, but holding on to joy helped me persevere through the toughest moments. It reminded me that I still had power. I had the power to grow and I had the power to uncover deeper meaning. In this experience, what I discovered is that meaning isn't something we stumble upon by accident. It's something we create through our choices, our mindset and the way we show up for ourselves each day.
Speaker 1:Today, we're going to dive into two practices to help you uncover deeper meaning in your breast cancer journey. The first practice is leveraging your meaning strengths, and the second practice is recognizing defining moments. Breast cancer brings uncertainty and difficult questions, but uncovering meaning isn't about finding perfect answers. Uncovering deeper meaning in your breast cancer journey means finding purpose, growth and personal insights through your experience. It's about shifting your focus from why is this happening to me? To what can I learn from this, and discovering how this challenge can shape your life, values and relationships in meaningful ways. Uncovering deeper meaning can really help you to take back control by focusing on what you can do, and it can also help you to feel stronger by seeing your growth through your challenges. So let's take a look at how you can start uncovering that deeper meaning today by diving into the first practice leveraging your meaning strengths.
Speaker 1:Now, all of the 24 character strengths can help you uncover deeper meaning. All strengths contribute to a fuller understanding of who you are and what truly matters. However, meaning strengths are specifically labeled as such because they inherently nurture a sense of purpose and significance in life. These strengths encourage you to look inward and to reflect on your values and beliefs, helping you to clarify what is truly important to you. These strengths also help you to make sense of life events and to understand their significance in your personal journey. And, lastly, they help to motivate you to grow and learn from challenges, turning experiences into opportunities for personal development. So here's what I'm going to do next, I'm going to walk you through the six meaning strengths and then I'll share with you why these particular strengths stand out as meaning strengths. Then I'll give you an example from my breast cancer journey, and then I'll offer a practical way for you to start using these meaning strengths. Okay, so here we go. These are the six meaning strengths, and I'm going to share them in alphabetical order.
Speaker 1:The first one is appreciation of beauty and excellence. This strength is about appreciating beauty and excellence in the world, whether it's in nature, art or people's actions. It helps you to connect to something bigger, bringing feelings of awe and gratitude that make life more meaningful. I'll never forget on the day of my lumpectomy in November of 2017. There was a beautiful rainbow outside my window. It brought me a sense of hope and reminded me that even in the hardest moments, there is still beauty to be found. It helped me to focus on joy and awe, regardless of what I was facing. The second meaning strength we'll look at is curiosity. Curiosity drives you to explore new ideas and experiences which can lead to discovering greater purpose. Now, for me, starting this podcast came from following my curiosity, wondering how I could share my journey and help other women feel more empowered through theirs. By exploring that idea, I found a meaningful way to connect, support and inspire others.
Speaker 1:The third meaning strength we'll look at is gratitude. Gratitude helps to shift the focus to appreciating what you have, helping to create a positive and meaningful outlook on life. Now, the day I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I felt a whirlwind of emotions, but gratitude became the most prominent feeling, and here's why I was grateful for the simple act of a friend driving me to the doctor's office. I was also grateful for being able to quickly schedule an appointment to meet with the surgeon. And, most of all, my day ended with me being surrounded by my husband and friends over an impromptu dinner party. It truly was a powerful reminder of what really matters. It truly was a powerful reminder of what really matters.
Speaker 1:The fourth meaning strength we'll look at is perspective. Perspective allows you to see beyond individual events, providing insight into how experiences fit into your broader life story. Now I was re -diagnosed with breast cancer in October of 2021. And I remember saying to myself you asked for this. Now, don't get me wrong. I didn't ask for breast cancer, but I asked the universe for opportunities to build my resilience, and breast cancer is what showed up. So in that moment I knew this journey was about building my resilience.
Speaker 1:The fifth meaning strength we'll look at is social intelligence. Social intelligence enhances understanding of others' emotions and also your own emotions, and it also fosters deeper connections and meaning through empathy in mind. When I was navigating breast cancer was thinking about my husband, because I knew he had an experience of me as his wife having breast cancer, and so when I kept that in mind, it really helped me to better understand his experience and to put myself into his shoes, because if he had been diagnosed with cancer, I would also have my own experience and I would have to navigate that as well. So by putting myself in his shoes, I deepened my empathy for what he was feeling and going through, which really helped to strengthen our connection and added more meaning to the journey. And lastly, we have spirituality. Spirituality focuses on beliefs about life's larger purpose, offering guidance and a framework for understanding life's events. So one way I create meaning for my breast cancer experience is by helping other women navigate their journey, and this quote really sums it up. It's by Adam Grant their journey. And this quote really sums it up. It's by Adam Grant.
Speaker 1:When people go through hardship, they're not just more motivated to help others. In many situations, they often want to help people in exactly the way that they have been hurt. Helping people through the trauma that you've faced is not only something that gives your life meaning, it gives your suffering meaning. Oh, I love that quote and it also just got me thinking about how other people have created meaning from their suffering. I'm going to share two examples, and I bet you have heard of both of these causes. Here's the first one 13-year-old Carrie Leitner was killed by a repeat drunk driver in a hit-and-run accident 1980. This tragedy led her mother, Candace Leitner, to found Mothers Against Drunk Driving, to fight drunk driving and support victims. And the second example I think this one will hit closer to home. The Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation began in 1982 after Susan Komen died of breast cancer at 36. Her sister, nancy Brinker, started the foundation to honor Susan's wish to help others fight breast cancer and improve awareness, treatment and support. Fight breast cancer and improve awareness, treatment and support Such beautiful examples of creating meaning out of suffering.
Speaker 1:Now that we've explored the six meaning strengths, let's look at one way that you can work with these strengths. So step one is to read about each of these six meaning strengths and to do this you can refer to your character strengths profile if you've taken the VIA survey, or you can look at the list of 24 character strengths. The link to the VIA survey, if you want to complete that, to have your character strengths profile, and the link to the 24 character strengths are in the show notes. So once you read about these strengths, select the meaning strength that you want to work with and then ask yourself why you want to work with that strength. Asking why makes this more powerful. Because it really forces you to think about why that strength is important to you, which can lead to better understanding and personal growth. And the third step, once you've selected the strain is to determine if the strength is a signature strain. Is it a middle strain or a lesser strain? This will help you determine how you will work with this strength. I'll explain more about that as I share the example.
Speaker 1:For the examples I share, I will use the meaning strengths of curiosity and gratitude, because those two strengths are two of the most widely recognized character strengths worldwide. What does that mean? That means many people connect with and value the positive impact these two strengths have. Okay, so we're gonna start with curiosity. If you've taken the VIA survey and you have your character strengths, profile strengths one through five on your profile are considered your character strengths. Profile strengths one through five on your profile are considered your signature strengths.
Speaker 1:So take a look to see if curiosity shows as a signature strength on your profile. If you don't have your profile and you're looking at curiosity on the list of 24 character strengths, ask yourself is curiosity, does it feel energizing to use? Does it feel essential to who you are and is it pretty easy for you to access? If you can say yes to that, that would imply that curiosity is a signature strength for you. And so if you're working with curiosity as a signature strength. The idea is to focus on activities that naturally spark your curiosity activities that naturally spark your curiosity. So, for example, you might consider a daily curiosity practice as a way to use this meaning strength. And what this looks like is say each day you ask yourself one new question or you explore something you're curious about. This can be something small, like researching a topic or asking someone about their experience. The key is to notice how this opens your mind and brings fresh insight.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to take a look at curiosity as a middle strength. If it's a middle strength on your profile, it will be numbered 6 through 19 on your profile. If you don't have your profile, think about curiosity. Does it feel like a supportive strength for you? If so, utilize it as a middle strength for this exercise. So for curiosity as a middle strength, the idea is to start with simple routines, start small, so you may decide to engage with a weekly curiosity exploration, and the idea here is to take time each week to explore specific topics, find support or try new coping strategies, and you might want to take notes on what you learned and how it challenges your thinking. And so now we're going to look at curiosity as a lesser strength On your profile. It will be a strength number 20 to 24. If you don't have your profile and curiosity is a lesser strength, that means that curiosity may feel less natural or it might be harder for you to access. If that's the case, you can develop curiosity by using gradual effort, and so what you might do in this case is engage in a daily curiosity reminder. So, for example, use daily reminders to ask what, if or why questions about your situation. The idea is to start small, like wondering about a new habit or a new way of thinking, and really just letting your curiosity guide you.
Speaker 1:Now we'll take a look at gratitude. If gratitude is a signature strength, it will show up as strength number one through five on your profile. If you don't have your profile, gratitude would be considered a signature strength if it feels energizing, if it feels essential and if it feels easy for you to access. For gratitude, you want to focus on activities that naturally bring out your feelings of gratitude. So, for example, you might engage in a daily gratitude journal, and what this looks like could be, each night, jotting down one moment you're grateful for and why it mattered, and then notice how this shifts your perspective how this shifts your perspective.
Speaker 1:If you work with gratitude as a middle strength, on your profile it will show up as strength number six through 19. If you don't have your profile, gratitude as a middle strength feels like a supportive strength. If you're using gratitude as a middle strength, you want to use simple routines. So, for example, you might want to use a weekly gratitude reflection and what this means is taking time once a week to write about experiences you felt grateful for and how they shaped your week. And lastly, gratitude as a lesser strength. And lastly, gratitude as a lesser strength. On your profile it will show up as strengths 20 through 24.
Speaker 1:If you don't have your profile, gratitude as a lesser strength may feel less natural or it might feel harder to access. If you're working with gratitude as a lesser strength, you want to ease into it using small, simple steps. So in this case, you might engage with a daily gratitude note and that means each day write down one thing you appreciate. Maybe that's a warm cup of coffee or tea, a kind word. The idea is to start small to build the habit word. The idea is to start small to build the habit. Now, if you're comfortable using AI, you can use it as a tool to help you come up with creative ideas for using these meaning strengths to uncover deeper meaning in your breast cancer journey.
Speaker 1:Now we'll move to the second practice, and this one is defining moments. Every life holds moments of meaning, even if they don't always feel significant at the time. While many moments pass unnoticed, some unexpectedly become defining moments, the experiences that shape who you are and how you see the world. These defining moments might come from moments of struggle, personal growth, connection with others or even small celebrations along the way. Recognizing these moments and reflecting on what they taught you is a powerful way to uncover deeper meaning in your journey. So I'll share with you a defining moment from my breast cancer journey. It's so interesting when I talk about my defining moment. I can just see myself there.
Speaker 1:I was on site at Google. I was a contractor and I was sitting at a table having lunch by myself. I was thinking you know, my contract is coming to an end, I need to look for another job. Contract is coming to an end, I need to look for another job. I felt completely overwhelmed. I wasn't sure if I was going to go through radiation therapy and go through chemo. Life in that moment just felt so unfair, as I saw people walking around campus and having lunch. I felt like I was the only one dealing with something so heavy like breast cancer and having to find another job. Eventually I got up and I was walking towards the trash and I froze. I saw a sign that changed everything. I took out my phone and I took a picture because I wanted to capture that moment. There's a link to the picture in the show notes. The sign said I live with cancer, I count. The sign said I live with cancer, I count.
Speaker 1:In that moment I realized that I wasn't the only one dealing with cancer. There's a whole community of people out there. I'm not alone. I remember going into the bathroom to cry. I'm a crier. I went in the bathroom and I just cried and then a few minutes later, I returned to my desk and I started chatting with one of my managers and she opened up to me and shared about how her son had been really sick. He'd been in and out of the hospital for most of his life. I think he was maybe five at the time and I had no idea that she was going through that and I had no idea that she was going through that. My heart just went out to her and we hugged, we cried and then I realized everyone is going through something, even if it doesn't look like it from the outside. In Some of the character strengths I used in this defining moment, one of them is perspective.
Speaker 1:Seeing that sign I live with cancer, I count gave me a completely new perspective.
Speaker 1:In that moment I realized that I wasn't the only one dealing with cancer.
Speaker 1:There's a whole community of people going through something similar. It reminded me that life's challenges are shared and I wasn't alone. That shift in my thinking was meaningful because it helped me to see my situation differently. I also used my strength of love. Connecting with the manager deepened my empathy and understanding for others' struggles. This is meaningful because it reminded me that everyone carries their own burdens and by showing care and compassion we can create stronger, more supportive relationships. I used my gratitude.
Speaker 1:Encountering that sign was meaningful because it made me appreciate the shared human experience and the strength found in community. I used my social intelligence. I listened to the manager's story and understood what she was going through. That moment mattered because, by connecting with her, it helped me to break out of my own isolation and to realize how powerful it is to show up, listen and to let someone know they're not alone. I also use my kindness because I gave myself permission to cry at work when I needed to cry, instead of holding it all in. And this was meaningful because it reminded me to be gentle with myself and to honor what I was feeling, something we don't always allow ourselves to do. And, lastly, I used my spirituality. In that moment, I felt connected to something bigger than myself. It was meaningful because it helped me to see that my journey wasn't just a struggle. It was a part of a bigger story of resilience, connection and finding purpose in life's challenges. Overall, seeing the sign made me feel less isolated, reminding me that I'm a part of a larger community of people facing similar struggles. This recognition has strengthened my sense of belonging and connectedness. Engaging with the manager highlighted how everyone carries unseen burdens, reinforcing my empathy and compassion. This defining moment influenced my self-view by encouraging vulnerability and honesty about my challenges. It taught me to appreciate shared humanity and resilience, allowing me to embrace my journey with a sense of purpose and strength.
Speaker 1:I'll walk you through these steps so you can uncover deeper meaning in your breast cancer journey. Step number one is to think of a moment during your breast cancer journey that had a positive impact. Maybe it was a time of struggle, personal growth or connection with someone. Just make sure you focus on a moment when you took action, even in a small way, that helped you move forward. And number two, list the strengths you demonstrated during this time. This is really key because recognizing your character strengths shows you how capable you are of handling tough situations, and acknowledging your strengths helps to boost confidence and it helps you to face future challenges with more self-assurance. And number three, reflect on how this moment has influenced your journey and personal growth. Consider how it has contributed to your sense of self and, even if it seems small, how it has affected your current self-view. By reflecting on your experiences, you discover how they've contributed to your personal growth and identity, revealing new perspectives and a deeper understanding of who you are Now. This wraps up the two practices to help you uncover deeper meaning in your breast cancer journey.
Speaker 1:Uncovering deeper meaning is about finding purpose, growth and personal insights through your experience. It's about shifting your focus from why is this happening to me To what can I learn from this and discovering how this challenge can shape your life, values and relationships in meaningful ways. Now it's time for you to put these ideas into action. This week, choose one of these practices leveraging the meaning strengths or recognizing defining moments and use it to empower you on your breast cancer journey. Creating meaning is vital, but what do you do when you just can't seem to find it, when the difficult emotions feel so overwhelming? There's a powerful way to navigate those tough moments, and we're diving into it. Next week, we're focusing on self-compassion. I'll talk with you in the next episode. Thank you for joining.