When the world looks scary, what should we do?
Well, Mr Rogers remembers his mum saying to him that we should ‘look for the helpers’ and that’s good advice.
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
But who else should we look for?
That’s easy….
- Look for the hopeniks, hopepunks and hopemongers
- Look for the cartwheelers and kite flyers
- Look for the hoisters of happiness
- Look for the Mental Health Philanthropists
- Look for the sparkle sculptors
- Look for the audacious Annies
- Look for the betterment agents
- Look for the captains of cheer
- Look for the codebreakers of courage
- Look for the narrators of niceness
- Look for the soul stirrers
- Look for the joke junkies
- Look for the jugglers of joy
- Look for the mixologists of mirth
- Look for the daring-doers
- Look for the grit spreaders
- Look for the silver-lining couturiers
- Look for the twinkle dispensers
- Look for the free-range optimists
- Look for the eye-smilers and eye-twinklers
- Look for the party planners of pizzazz
- Look for the magnifiers and upgraders
- Look for the cloud nine coordinators
- Look for the engineers of esteem
- Look for the force multipliers
- Look for the freerunners of fizz
- Look for the singers of sisu
- Look out for the dandy dudes
- Look for the confidence constructors
- Look for the funksters and boogalooers
- Look for the galvanisers of mettle
- Look for the merchants of moxie
- Look for the courageous upstanders
- Look for the nudge nudgers
- Look for the magic-weavers
- Look for the whizz-bang warriors
- Look for the real scrappers
- Look for the catalysts of ‘can-do’
- Look for the diggers of hardiness
- Look for the exporters of energy
- Look for the chuckle buckets and chortle mongers
- Look for the alchemists of awesome sauce
- Look for the pharmacists of fortitude
- Look for the positivity plumbers
- Look for the purveyors of belly laughs
- Look for the maestros of marginal gains
- Look for the mojo resuscitators
- Look for the stokers of strength and stubbornness
- Look for the springboards of resilience
- Look for the happiness hustlers
- Look for the photographers of fun
- Look for the choreographers of composure
- Look for the unswerving lionhearts
- Look for the threshold adventurers
- Look for the tenacious trailblazers
- Look for the funky firebrands
- Look for the pipers of pluck
- Look for the champions of chutzpah
- Look for the spark plugs of oomph
- Look for the sloggers of sticktoitness
- Look for the hard headed pioneers
- Look for the artful dodgers
- Look for the risk jockeys
- Look for the pyrotechnicians of pang-wangling
- Look for the good eggs
- Look for the jolly good fellows
- Look for the architects of playfulness
- Look out for the Hairy Ha-Ha
- Look for the animators of bliss
Then become one of them.
Then another.
And another.
Keep going!
When we start looking then there are whispers of possibilities all around us even when everything feels impossible.
When we start to see the powers of good, they provide the inspiration to take the next breath and the next step.
When we start looking, we give ourselves permission to trust that despair isn’t permanent and that we can enjoy a better tomorrow.
There’s plenty to look forward to when we really start looking. We don’t have to be scared.
But I know what you are thinking. Cancer is scary.
Of course it is.
It destabilises us and degrades us.
But, as unlikely as it sounds, cancer can also strengthen and upgrade us by inspiring courage.
Courage doesn’t just materialise out of thin air and getting cancer doesn’t just make it happen.
But it is there and we can look to others for it (see above!) and inspire us.
Courage inspires and breeds courage. Someone else’s courage can coax ours into the open.
Courage is anxious and frightened, but when it comes to his owner’s safety and survival, courage will stop at nothing and does what it takes to keep going. It might just need a gentle or firm nudge to get going.
It’s a myth to think that courage is the absence of fear.
Fear is very much part of courage and it sits at its very core. But then so does hope and that’s where the action comes in.
Hope is an active verb with a work ethic to die for. Hope is a doer.
Hope attacks the day with its sleeves rolled up and isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty. It keeps going in all weathers and is always busy finding ways to triumph over adversity.
Hope subdues fear and activates daring. This is the thrill of hope!
We have to have the hope to bring about courage and the courage to bring about hope.
Hope is a good strategy to have when confronted by cancer.
What else can we do when we are scared?
In the midst of all the emotional turmoil we have to keep hoping and we always have to keep looking.
Look for the helpers and look at all those that can make the world of cancer a less scary place.
Dabell your confidence!