Celebrate Life: Living with Chronic Illness

by Kathleen S. Lewis, RN, MS, CMP, LPC

Illness is a personal experience, and if you've have not lived it, it's hard to credibly encourage others to keep on keeping-on. Kathleen Lewis lives daily with a number of rheumatic diseases and related disorders: systemic lupus erythematosus, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, Sjogren's, Raynauds, and others.

Due to her personal set of circumstances, she has been given the opportunity to counsel, write, and speak to people and their families who share similar circumstances.

Each illness translates into pain, fever, fatigue, and challenges with relationships. Kathleen knows what it is to try to maintain healthy thinking and beliefs everyday. Through the book Celebrate Life, Ms. Lewis shares invaluable information with others who are living with illness... not just suffering!

Choose life when faced with the challenges of illness.
Live with ongoing illness.
Cope when your illness affects your relationships.
Communicate with health care professionals.
Work through anger, grief, depression, and stress.
Assume responsibility for and take care of yourself emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Offers short and concise chapters on specific topics that you will be able to read and apply within moments. It addresses those issues that others avoid: for example, a full discussion of the challenges of success-fully living with an illness and how to "live to the edge of your limits" without going over.

Relays vital information for the person with the illness, family, friends, and caregivers. Explains the difficulties that spouses, children, and other family members may likely experience when illness becomes a part of your life.

Gives applicable tips for handling grief, depression, stress, and anger in illness and codependency, which you may be encountering due to your illness.

Confronts the practical issues that you face, such as how to dress creatively when a chronic illness affects your appearance and appropriate exercises. Discusses the connection between mind, body, and spirit and how to break the mind/body feedback loop with breath prayers.

Includes both academic, professional, and personal points of view about living with chronic conditions, encourages you, that despite the difficulties of learning to adjust to living with a chronic illness, you are not alone, and you can still live joyfully.

Breath prayers are a way of praying the scripture on your breath. The average person breathes approximately 16 times a minute, 960 times an hour, and 23,040 times a day. Breath prayers gives you a way to "pray without ceasing"" (11 Thessalonians 5:17); and "Take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6: 17).

Balance your out you negatives thoughts with positive scripture affirmations.
Combine 16 psychodynamic approaches to mind/body health and add in the Holy Spirit.
Create breath prayers that are a hand in glove fit for you.
Use scriptural affirmations to guide you through each day breath by breath.
Train the body to have a conditioned reflex to your scriptural affirmations.

Celebrate Life ~ Kathleen Lewis
Email Kathleen
Kathleen S. Lewis, RN, MS, LPC, CMP
2821 Penncross Dr. SW, Marietta, GA 30064
678-355-9784
www.letscelebratelife.com