Cancer Conference, Bill Henderson & Sprained Ankle

The Sheraton in Universal City. It's a big step up from the thriftier Holiday Inn we Co-op gals are staying in a few miles away.

We're sharing a booth at the 36th annual Cancer Control Society Convention with Bill Henderson, best-selling author of Cancer-Free: Your Guide to Gentle, Non-Toxic Healing. We're featuring Co-op products that Bill recommends in his book, specifically Heart Plus, Green Tea Extract, and Greens Plus (we have a few new products in the works that Bill likes to recommend, like Beta Glucans, but shhhh, that's a secret that the kat wouldn't share just yet).

Meanwhile, back to the show. Teri, Tess and I arrived just after 7 am and found our booth location a bit spare. Tess made friends with the handsome guy setting things up and he promptly brought the missing backdrop and table drape and some hooks for our Co-op banner (he needn't have done this, as we're supposed to bring these things, but he and Tess were buddies already).

Our table is at the bottom of the escalator, so Teri is calling ours the "greeting station." Good heavens, Teri is beyond chipper well before the sun comes up. She greeted everyone on our way out of the Holiday Inn, as Tess and I were still waking up. A guy in the lobby asked in reply, "And how are you?" Teri's rapid-fire and cheerful response was, "Great, but the day is early and I haven't had a chance to screw anything up yet!" He cracked up, as did we.

I told Teri I should follow her around and "learn some things" about one-liners that brighten others days. Teri responded quite earnestly, "That's why people love calling me, they know they won't get the same old, same old, and they'll feel better than before they called." That's Teri's mission in life, infusing her sunny outlook in others. Teri swears that if she doesn't do her yoga stretching in the morning that it would all be a different story. Hey, whatever works.

I have yet to meet Bill Henderson in person (however, I feel like we've met as we've done a videoconference call through Skype and several regular calls before). I'd know his resonant voice anywhere!

Alas, I'm nursing a sprained ankle. A moment of stupidity compelled me to play tennis on Wednesday morning bright and early with the wrong shoes. Everyone knows that you never but never play a start-stop, skid-into-a-stroke kind of game with running shoes, which grip a hard surface and offer a nicely-cushioned platform,from which to roll one's ankle over when racing to hit a backhand. Sigh.

I do my share of stupid things but sometimes life likes to remind me to notice that my choices or actions are indeed stupid.

I take my poor sprained ankle and its scary bruises as a reminder to slow down and remember to be more mindful. My hope is that today, as a result of reading this, you will too. Although you'll never know what misfortune you avoid by being mindful, you just might notice how all sorts of beautiful things show up when you're not rushing.

For me, sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton with my leg up on a gray ottoman, facing huge floor-to-ceiling windows graced by oyster-colored drapes with a large chrysanthamum motif , I'm enjoying the music playing. As someone who is more visual than auditory, I can miss really hearing "background" music.

Gazing outside, I see how the wind moves the leaves on the decorative pear trees and tall palm trees out in the courtyard and my eye follows two tow-headed little boys in bright red shirts, who are buoyantly hopping around the pool's edge not far from their mother.

Sprained ankle and all, this moment could not be more perfect.

If you are curious about Bill Henderson and his ideas on beating cancer gently, listen to Bill sharing his perspectives and recommendations in an interview we did earlier this year. You'll hear what I mean about Bill's deep voice! :-)