SELF-AWARENESS IS A KEY

October is usually associated with costumes and candy; it is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. No, I'm not dressed for Halloween, pink has evolved into a full-on fashion movement encouraging awareness of breast cancer. Although this may not be the coolest look, thousands of women and men with breast cancer would cheer you on, because you are raising awareness for them directly and actively. No, you don't need to go to this extreme, I had fun with it after deciding to show support through fashion. I created awareness and educated family and friends. Total strangers received fact-based statistics like--"1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime and this plague is also prevalent in men."

Knowledge is power only if you use it! There are many ways to get involved: running, walking, lectures, and sermons. Honoring Breast Cancer Month is a great way to stay conscious of serious issues that affect thousands every day. Remember not just breast cancer but all forms of cancer are constant issues, and you can participate in supporting causes for cures.

My message today is that there is a difference between awareness and self-awareness. But do we as a society understand what it means to be aware? Awareness is being alert and conscious of your environment, and as a result, understanding what is happening all around you. It's also fueled by curiosity. The more aware someone becomes, the more they can relate to new environments quickly. Understanding an environment and acting in an environment are very dissimilar. It's the main difference between thinkers and doers, and consequently the difference between being aware and being self-aware.

For 30 years I got my mammograms every year religiously. Then I moved back home from Colorado to be with my aging mother, I thought I was coming home to help care for her, but little did I know she would help care for me. I could not get a mammogram without listing the place of my last mammogram. I gave two locations I had frequented in Colorado, but neither was where I had obtained my last procedure. It was the postcard advising time for my annual, that I found the correct location. To show how aggressive the invasion in my body was, a 7-millimeter mass was already stage two in that short period. God gives us wisdom; He also guides us. If I had been strong enough to place faith over the condition and heal myself as I have heard and witnessed, so many miracles of healing by faith, I would have. But that initial diagnosis was so unexpected, my prayers were praise, thanksgiving, and asking for guidance. God reminded me that He has also given wisdom, knowledge, and skills to the doctors. The breast mass and two lymph nodes from my right armpit were removed.

From August through December, every three weeks in 2016, I received chemotherapy for one hour. Everyone I knew who had received chemo and lost hair, regained their hair within a short time. If I had taken the time to inquire about what chemicals were being administered, I would have learned that the side effects of two of the chemicals I received caused alopecia. After my second treatment, sitting at the table with my mom and sister, my hair began falling out one braid at a time. We sat in stunned silence. Mom said she didn't know if she should cry or not. I think all three of us felt the same way. Nobody cried! I wanted to sport my new baldness with big hoop earrings but was told I was too vulnerable and needed to cover my bald head until after the treatments. January and February 2017, Monday-Friday, five days every week for two months I received radiation inside the tube on my back with my arms above my head for one hour. Even lying down, this was the hardest part of my experience.

I did a lot of talking to God in the tube. I also listened. God had allowed this and was already using my testimony. My radiologist was using me as an example to other patients. Now, let's not get it twisted, I don't study cancer, for we know that "thoughts are things" and what you keep your mind on becomes your reality. You become what you focus on! Study war, wars increase! Study violence, violence increases! Remember awareness is being alert and conscious of your environment. Self-awareness is one's ability to not only be conscious and alert in an environment but also the ability to understand your purpose within your environment. When you are self-aware, you become capable of manipulating your environment in your favor. those who have a high level of self-awareness typically end up taking more action than those who simply have awareness.

Those who are aware may even feel trapped or hopeless in their environment because they don't know how to change what's happening around them. All of this would be pointless if we didn't understand how to transition from being aware to being more self-aware. The way we discover self-awareness is by no longer being a spectator in our environment but instead interacting with it. The more we experiment with this, the more likely we are to start getting answers to how our environment can be controlled. Consciously expand your self-awareness. Feel the abundance of health, wealth, and prosperity. Be the person you were created to be. Encourage others to stay aware of their body, spirit, and mental attitude and become self-aware. Visualize, know that you're God's greatest creation. You're not a body, you merely live in a body.

I had breast cancer; breast cancer did not have me! Abundance is your birthright! Enjoy the abundant life you deserve from the inside out!