I recently began a new book called One Month to Live. The book focuses on living life to the fullest through Biblical principles. I am in love with it! The book is broken down into four parts - one for each week -and each part has a different motivational reading for each day. After getting into this book, and hearing your interest in the study, I decided I have to do a weekly feature sharing some of the great insights I picked up from each day. So, let’s get started!

PRINCIPLE ONE: LIVE PASSIONATELY

Don’t Fear What Excites You: Many people’s favorite day of the week is “someday” – meaning that we will put off our hopes, dreams, desires, and goals because we can’t get to them TODAY. We will also think life will not really satisfy until that day comes and lose appreciation for TODAY. The biggest thing that holds us back? Fear! Keep a God-centered perspective and those big giants that make our passions somewhat scary quickly become small ants from His viewpoint. Our biggest dreams require faith.

Use Time Wisely: Don’t live life frivolously. Time is our most valuable commodity and we should use it on the things that really matter to us. We must engage ourselves in the present and take a close look at our lives, our days, and what ways we waste our time. This passage instigated my one and only goal for the month of August!

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Stay Connected to God: For spiritual health we must remain connected to God through communication (prayer) and confession (so we can move past troubles). God can work through us and fulfill our lives. That is His responsibility. Our responsibility simply comes in staying connected.

Take Care of Yourself: Notice that the popular Bible verse saying the second top commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself”? Yea. That’s right. God wants us to love ourselves and care for ourselves. How you treat your body and spirit has a direct and lasting impact on the quality of life you can enjoy.

Don’t Have A Narrow View Of Life: God wants to work through us. We can’t get so caught up in trying to control our paths that we don’t see other possibilities and opportunities for growth that He readily gives. Stay open to God’s plans.

Live The Dream: Our dreams tug at our heartstrings for a reason – they are God given. Remember that when facing doubt or challenges or waiting periods in the dreams and passions you pursue. If it’s from God, it will find a way to work.

Failure Doesn’t Matter: We will have failures. We will have mistakes. However, God doesn’t view our mistakes and then shout “I told you so!” at us. He looks on us with compassion and helps us power through. The failures teach us something. They have a purpose and we can’t allow them to hinder living our lives.

Good stuff, huh? I will now leave you with my favorite quote:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. For what the world needs is people who have come alive”. – Howard Thurman

• Which of the seven days’ lessons struck you the most?

Time to grab a cup of joe (or bottle of ice water with this heat!) and settle in for another great self-love reflection and story. Remember, I am sharing YOUR strengths and stories now because you all are just so dang inspiring. This week comes courtesy of Alex from Fighting Cancer with Food. Her story gives me chills. So read it and then give Alex some love with a visit to her blog and/or a hello in the comments. You want to know this chick!

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Hey there! I’m Alex...

...and it is absolutely wonderful to meet you.

I feel a little uncomfortable writing this. I’m better at “It’s just what anyone would have done,” and then changing the subject. Possibly with granola. I’m really good at granola.

But if I’ve learnt anything from reading Tina’s blog, it’s that my triumphs are worth shouting aloud. My strengths and accomplishments are not average or every-day. They are mine and I own them. Own them with me? Let’s jump in at the deep end.

In April 2010 my Mum was diagnosed with cancer for the third time. First was Breast Cancer in 2002. Then secondary cancer in her spine. Third time’s the charm and she ended up with Advanced Breast Cancer that metastasised to her liver. It was as if the disease had finally reached its breaking point. It was pissed off and had come back with a vengeance. The first two times had some side effects, but I began to think that the world had been lying to everyone. Cancer wasn't that bad. Chemotherapy didn't make you ill.

Well, they weren’t lying.

I was in the final year of my degree, just 4 weeks away my dissertation deadlines (yes, plural. I was an absolutely geek and did two...it seemed like a good idea at the time). Despite all that, there was no way I was leaving her to go through treatment on her own.

It was stressful, tiring and incredibly emotional, but I don’t regret a single second of
it. I attended all of Mum’s early appointments with her. From the point when we were still hoping that chemo would shrink the tumour in her liver to a manageable size to the point when a nurse suggested that she stay at a local hospice for a few days, for what they called ‘respite care’. Little did I know that the next time she would come home, would be the week before she died - three short months after her diagnosis. We went through some truly horrific things at the end, but I was there holding her hand.

One thing we decided together was that we needed to kick cancer’s ass. It had obviously taken a liking to her body, so we needed to make her body as unwelcoming as possible. We began to look into the links between diet and cancer and discovered that there is so much evidence out there for what food can do to cancer cells. I researched big time, and we completely overhauled our diet.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save her, but it ignited something in me that I cannot forget. What started as a little bit of research became the passion that has managed to drag me through losing her. Learning about what I could do to protect myself against this destructive disease gave me something positive to focus on, and it’s completely changed my outlook on life. I love food more than I ever have, but I am also aware of how we can use it to arm ourselves against the things that feel out of our control.

Okay, deep breaths. That’s the background of it all.

Tina’s Sunday posts are all about self-love, and I wanted to shout out about my story for two reasons:

First off, because I never do. People tell me how strong I have been, and more often than not I will brush off their compliments. But you know what? I did good. I rocked my degree. I don’t know how, but I managed to come out with First Class Honours.It was pretty incredible that I did so well, and my Mum found out my results while she could still tell me how proud she was of me. I’ll never forget that look on her face.

I was at my Mum’s side when she needed me the most and I know how much she
appreciated the small things. Glasses of water after she’d been sick; laughing instead of
crying; hugs; someone to watch daytime TV with. It all mattered.

I am inspirational. This is the one I get most embarrassed about, but I hope it carries on. I started my blog Fight Cancer With Food as a way to tell people about how easy and tasty it is to live the anti-cancer lifestyle. While I don’t expect everyone who reads it to change their diet in the same way, I have received so many lovely comments about how amazing it is. And no, it isn’t all crazy health food – I like serious comfort food – I just know the simple ways to anti-cancerfy your favourites.

For the second reason, I simply hope that some good might come out of my Mum’s illness. I am strong because of her strength, so it feels right that I might go on to help someone else because of it. It hasn’t been easy, and of course there have been (and still are) some truly dark days, but I have come out stronger. Here I am, a year later, and I know that she would be incredibly proud to read this post.

Find the good in awful situations. Live with every fibre of your body. And somewhere along the way, fill that body with granola. Because life should be long and taste fantastic.

• What is something that has sparked your own healthy living passions?