Week 3

THEME OF THE WEEK: RELATIONSHIPS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

I invite you to reflect this week on how having cancer has impacted your relationships and your ability to carry through with responsibilities in your life:

—How is cancer impacting your relationships, in both good and bad ways?

—How has cancer impacted your ability to carry on with responsibilities in your life?

—How have people stepped up to help you?

Notice what emotions arise surrounding your relationships and responsibilities, and document these moments. Documenting can be in the form of journaling, capturing a photo of the moment with a short caption, or taking a quick video with your commentary. Please submit these as one batch per week to ellencookemd@gmail.com.

meditations for week 3:

These meditations are meant to help you foster gratitude for the relationships and helpers in your life, as well as bring to light the mindful attitude of letting go, thus allowing yourself some grace during this difficult time in your life:

1 Gratitude for the helpers (10 min)

2 Offering Yourself Grace and Patience (10 min)

3 Letting Go (12 min)

4 Mindfulness Meditation (5 min)

5 Lotus story (13 min)

Testimonials

“Dr. Ellen Cooke is a masterful physician and meditation leader. I started working with Dr. Cooke 2 years ago at which time, she was creating Circle of Hope. I was so impressed with the way she was able to encourage others to use meditation to improve their lives. She now has created a custom meditation program for my company. My clients are raving fans and Dr. Cooke is a regular at our live workouts where she ends the session with a customized meditation. She has allowed me to use mindfulness in my work and in my everyday life. Dr. Cooke is beyond gifted and I am so fortunate to learn from her.”

~Dr. Ali N. (Life Coaching for Women Physicians)

“I really like the “Meditation of the Week” each week…the centering thought, the deep breathing sessions, and the length of quiet time. Hopefully, with enough practice, I'll get better at being in the present moment. Learning to do so promises a way to handle what all of us experience (anxiety, impatience AND restlessness)! Thank you for these excellent, informative and useful meditation sessions.”

~ a loyal Circle of Hope follower!

“As a fellow healthcare provider in the oncology field, I have found Circle of Hope and Dr. Cooke's guided meditations to be invaluable in both my career and my personal life. A cancer diagnosis and the associated treatments are not just physically challenging, but emotionally challenging as well. I have been grateful to have this resource to share with my patients to help address the emotional challenges they may face. In my personal life, I have found meditation to be helpful in managing daily stress and feelings of being overwhelmed and stretched too thin.”

~Staci C.