When I talk with someone and share some story from my life, trying to be empathetic and supportive, that in and of itself is rewarding to me. Writing or telling my stories makes me relive the experience, so when it’s a good story (like, pretty much every story that involves my parents, for example) I feel good in the telling of it. Granted, that’s not so great when some part of the story involves pain or heartbreak, but I know that without those lows we would never appreciate the highs.

The story I’m about to share is something I hear back from people on quite a lot; it’s why I have the confidence in myself now to believe all those people and think I actually CAN bring inspiration to people, and since that’s my life’s purpose, I’m glad so many people think that’s what I do!

Autism Diagnosis

One of my friends found out fairly recently that his little daughter has a form of autism. He wrote in our private CGW5 page about it, and we all gave him tons of unconditional love and support. It’s quite an amazing network to have, this group of 50 people or so that will be absolutely supportive of you no matter what you do. Not only that, but they help you figure out who you are in the process. Anyway . . .

A few weeks ago, my friend posted this:

“Two weeks back, my 7 year old daughter was diagnosed with a form of autism. I need to do whatever I can to provide her an environment to grow into a confident and successful young woman. I am seeing this challenge as a gift to help me focus on the only goal that matters!”

When I read this post, I was blown away by how loving and positive he was treating the situation. And since I had been on the receiving end of what I knew he was giving his daughter, I just had to write back:

“Wow, you have such a positive and loving understanding of the commitment you’re making as a parent, it’s just beautiful. I think it goes both ways . . . you will learn and grow into a much more kind, loving, and gentle parent as you raise your daughter, which is an opportunity for your growth and a positive outlook on the situation. On a more spiritual level, it seems your daughter will have much to share with the world in her experiences with autism and your love. I am grateful every day that my parents are the ones that adopted me (so in a way I’m grateful to the seven other couples that didn’t want me when I was a newborn) because the average parent pales in comparison to how loving and supportive my parents are. It warms my heart to hear how you feel about your daughter and how you will raise her, because I know how unequivocally wonderful it feels to grow up always receiving that kind of unconditional love. You just made my day, I’m going to go call my mom right now. Hug hug hug!

I felt so good after posting that. I did call my Mom right after that, and we just chatted like ususal, ending the call with “I love you,” as ususal. But it felt great to talk to her at just that moment. I’m glad she wasn’t out at one her gazillion volunteer or social activities.

Lots of other people posted really wonderful comments too, and the whole thread became pretty darn inspiring.

Helping Someone Clarify Their Thoughts and Approach

This friend and I were also both involved in a corporate launch that was going on, and he called me a few days prior to launch to talk it through because he wasn’t sure about how he would structure his public speaking because, similar to my situation, he uses his experiences to share a message. His message happens to be specifically related to spirituality, and even though I write about a lot of different aspects of that, my message is inspiration. The other difference is that he actually has a lot of solid advice and stories from building up his business career to where he is now, running a multi-million dollar organization. So he can reach out to business people, or he can reach out to people most interested in engaging in spirituality, but it’s quite likely these are two fairly discrete groups of people.

What my friend wanted to talk through was whether or not he should even work both angles, and then how to put that in a nicely flowing explanation he can put in a video on his website. After our talk, he said he really appreciated my help and now he has a pretty clear vision that he’ll be motivating business people and continuing his own development in spirituality and merge the two over time. Sounded like a good approach to me.

The unexpected call was good for me too, because in the process of talking him through that, I got the essentials of my own video laid out in my head, and I hadn’t had time to give that much thought prior to that phone call.

Now to get back to the reason this post is titled the way it is.

Having an Inspirational Impact

I got a message from him later that was another one of those affirmations that I take as an indication that I am definitely on the right path in life now. I love this message:

“Hi Cynthia,

I thought that I should let you know how some actions of yours have made a major impact on my life. I don’t have any words to thank you!!

1. When I shared the situation about my daughter, the words you spoke about you being raised in a loving family and how it shaped your life, touched my heart. Now, every time I hug my daughter and feel unconditional love towards her, I imagine you – as my daughter all grown up. You gave a picture of the future, that made me alive.
2. Thanks a ton for your thoughts on Wednesday. You gave me clarity and hope, which I really needed at that point.
3. Just looking at your picture on facebook – Your profile picture and your smile – just reveal a heart flooding with abundant love and kindness for the world. Thanks for being you.”

I truly appreciate your friendship and pray that all the happiness in the world fall in your lap.

It had felt good at the time to share a little bit about my life and growing up in the environment that I did, but then, to receive this kind of gratitude affirming the impact I had made, that’s just . . . wow.

He also made me think about the profile picture I have up on fb right now. Right before it was taken, I had just been sitting at the Aria waterfall for about 30 minutes, breathing in the clean scent of the water and hearing it’s flow and gazing in wonder at the artistic nature of the changes and shifts in its flow along its vast sweeping curve. I LOVE water, waterfalls, brooks and rivers, the ocean . . .

Capturing a Flood of Abundant Love and Kindness in a Photo

The photo was taken on that Sunday afternoon right before I was going to go hang out with a dear friend of mine, one of those heart-connection friends. So here I was practicing my energy of unconditional love like I had been doing constantly since CGW, having my vibration rise higher and higher the longer I stayed there letting the waterfall fill me with its clean outpouring, and I was on my way to hang out with someone with whom I can actually talk at a high level of consciousness, openness and unwavering support. All around, that was the best I had felt in my skin since some time before chemo. So, the best I had felt in more than two and a half years. That’s a long time not to feel a spark in your own eyes.

The thing is, before chemo, when I was dancing, I always had this brilliantly bright smile and excitement in my eyes when I was photographed. Because when I danced, that was always the look on my face, I just loved doing it so much. And during chemo, when dancing started to equate to pain along with everything else, my eyes lost their sparkle because of always being in pain. So to me, every photo taken since chemo, even as recent as Fourth of July with my family, has a deadness to it that I just hate seeing. Looking at my face with a nearly-genuine smile but lifeless eyes makes me feel lifeless, which is not something I like to feel. Other people don’t seem to realize that I’m covering up so much all the time (even now) and that my smile may be heartfelt but it’s rarely completely real (in my opinion) because underneath it is a mask for the neuropathy pain.

But on that Sunday, at that waterfall, on my way to what would surely be a wonderfully engaging and energizing afternoon, when my photo was snapped what was revealed was a New Cynthia, and a real one. I’m different somehow in the expression that goes with my smile now; I like how my friend in his message said my picture and my smile “just reveal a heart flooding with abundant love and kindness for the world.” What a beautiful thing to say to someone.

And there is one very important piece of Old Cynthia that had been lost, and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that this precious little element didn’t disappear forever. There’s a spark in my eyes again. This is the one post-cancer photo that I can look at and feel good about the person I see in the picture. The photo’s probably too far away for you to see the sparkle, but I know it’s there.  🙂