I’m back from Spain, where I celebrated my 60th birthday by walking the 490-mile Camino de Santiago. What an amazing 37 days.
It will take me a long time to find words to describe the wonderful people I met, the things I saw and all that I learned. What I can tell you is the Camino offered me just the experiences I needed to challenge my oldest, most entrenched fears. (You can’t hide from the Universe!)
There were some pretty tough days, and more than one moment when I wondered what possessed me to do this.
But there were also countless moments of sublime beauty, child-like wonder and warm friendship. Sure enough I made it to the end, knowing a lot more about how resilient and strong I am.
Over the next months I’m sure I’ll share lots of ups and downs from my trip with you. But here’s one story I want to share today…
I’m thrilled to tell you that before I left, you helped me raise $12,000 to help the New York City Ballet expand dance workshops for children with cerebral palsy and autism. I’m so grateful to you for opening your hearts and helping me make that happen!
On my way to Spain, I had the privilege of delivering our donations personally to Douglas Hamilton of the NYC Ballet (that’s us in the photo above – it was freezing in New York!) We both tingled with excitement thinking about how many specially-abled kids’ lives will change when they find out that that they can be dancers too.
But when I received the NYC Ballet’s thank you note, there was a big surprise in store.
Unbeknownst to me, one of the Ballet’s longtime donors had decided to match our contribution. So our donation of $12,000 suddenly became $24,000. We helped twice as many kids as I thought when I dropped off that check in New York.
I’m beyond excited about the doubling of our gift, but I don’t think it was just luck or a coincidence. It was a real-time reminder of something worth remembering: you’re always more resourced than you think.
Just when you think you’ve hunted down all the resources there are, the Universe is willing to bring you more.
Is there something you’ve been struggling with for a long time, not knowing what to do next to get the results you want?
Maybe you’re overwhelmed from trying to navigate life after cancer on your own, because you can’t get good answers to your very valid questions…
Maybe you’re dealing with cancer’s painful financial side effects, putting your dreams on hold while you chip away oh so slowly at a mountain of bills…
Maybe you’re wishing for a way to make the nagging fear go away, so you can enjoy life again without worrying about cancer coming back or getting worse…
Whatever the issue, there are more resources to help you than you can see. The trick is knowing how to make yourself available to them.
This isn’t just something that happens to other people. It’s happened for me many times.
To possibilities beyond your imaginings-
Dr. Shani