• PSYCHO-PATHS: Accepting What IS Makes Life Better

• TRAILMIX: County Fair Award-Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies

• LARRY’S LEUKO LOGBOOK: Part 3: A Taste of Death

Accepting life as it really IS presents a challenge! We are frustrated when things don’t work like we want. We can find a path of serenity and well-being using the skill of Acceptance so prominent in the Serenity Prayer. With the wisdom of this time-honored petition we can make choices which bring well-being no matter what we face.

Watch or Listen to the entire episode by clicking on YOUTUBE or PODCAST  

You probably know the words: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” The prayer is used today by millions who are in recovery and hangs on thousands of walls as a beautiful plaque. Today I want to explore this prayer for the spiritual and psychological truth it provides. Frankly, all of us need the skill of Acceptance to navigate these difficult days.

The prayer is traced to a well-known preacher and theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, an extraordinary Lutheran pastor, professor and social activist in the mid-20^th century. His teachings tried to find a practical balance between the ideals of Christian ethics and the evils of an unjust world. During the tumultuous world events of the 1930’s and 1940’s, when it seemed like all the demons of Hell had been loosed on the world in revolutions, wars, genocides and economic depressions, Niebuhr composed or adapted the prayer and began to use it in his lectures and sermons.

In the first phrase, we are challenged to “accept with serenity the things which cannot be changed.” Now, that’s a showstopper. The idea of being powerless and unable to change things galls us a bit. We don’t like to be told that there are things in this world that we can’t change. The Army has a motto, “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.” And that’s the way mankind has lived. We’ve rebuilt the earth, conquered the skies and space, tunneled under the mountains, abolished some disease, and lifted the quality of life for billions. Surely the past 500 years have proven Niebuhr’s prayer as unneeded. But our lives inflict a cruel blow as the years go by—we discover there are lots of things we cannot change. We may try until our souls and minds are bruised and exhausted, then finally we admit we’re whipped. Let’s be real and wise. What are things we cannot change? Let me suggest four unchangeable facets of life all of us will encounter….

Watch or Listen to the entire episode by clicking on YOUTUBE or PODCAST  

(Thanks to so many of you showing interest in my Leuko Logbook and the journey with Leukoplakia/Oral precancer. Here’s an excerpt from PART 3. You can read all of the episode on the my website with “Larry’s Leuko Logbook”.

A combined Part One and Part Two is now on Youtube or listen to a podcast version on Buzzsprout (or your podcast provider).

“Death. Not a thrilling subject, right? I get that--but my Leuko Logbook must be authentic. So, death is an honest topic that's on my mind. If you don’t want to read any further, that’s okay. I’ll have happier topics to discuss in other episodes.

During 2023, I wasn’t thinking about it either as my life hummed along. My only problem was the persistent painful sores on my tongue. I took extra vitamins, stopped drinking soda, used lidocaine laced mouthwash, yet still this problem wouldn’t go away. Finally, I asked the ENT doctor to do a biopsy in the search for answers. The pathology result wasn’t good: dysplasia. What? That meant those sores on my tongue had become mutated cells that would lead to cancer. Surgery was needed. What? Surgery on my tongue? That news wasn’t the kind of present I wanted for Christmas, 2023. But in February 2024, it was time to sharpen the knife against my illness.

I'm the last living member of my nuclear family. Mom died of cancer at age 72. Dad died in a car wreck at age 75. My sister, Judy, died of ALS complications at age 74. My brother, John, died of injury-induced dementia at age 74. Can you see a pattern that is disturbing? It seems to say being 72 years old in my family is a dangerous time.  

I’ll be honest: it shook me to hear that I had a chronic, prelude-to-cancer, no-known-cure illness. Ironically, my taste of death was actually slowly killing my tongue and tastebuds….”

There is much more to this story… Follow the links above for the entire story.

JanMaree’s kitchen produces extraordinary bakery quality sweets! Cookies disappear quickly when the family or friends arrive—sometimes as an appetizer before the meal! Enjoy this tasty treat soon!

 Mix together:

1 c. light brown sugar

½ c. sugar

1 stick butter Crisco (1 c.)

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

Then stir in:

2 ½ c. flour

1 t. salt

1 heaping t. baking soda

Then fold in:

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate morsels (half mini-morsels and half milk chocolate morsels is best.)

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes about two dozen cookies.

Interested in more TRACKS FOR THE JOURNEY resources? The TRACKERS FACEBOOK Group is for you! I’ll post questions, comments, inspirations, and other cool stuff that promotes well-being.

This week let’s discuss your reactions to my Leuko Logbook. If you have encountered chronic illness, long recoveries, or medical crisis, what has helped you make it this far? Your story is appreciated!

Join the TRACKERS Community with this link and let’s talk well-being!