Elizabeth Edwards Experienced Optimism at Time of Death

Dec. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- At the time of her death Elizabeth Edwards decided to control what she could control: where and with whom she would die.  In doing so she was acting according a core principle of optimism: Focus on what  you CAN control.

According to Madison Park of CNN, an oncology nurse all too familiar with death by cancer, Elizabeth made a conscious and courageous choice about how she wanted to die.  She chose to die at home surrounded by family; not in the hospital hooked up to machines that no longer could offer hope.

Elizabeth Edwards COULD NOT CONTROL the cause of her death, a cancer that had spread through her bones nor did she control the time of her death.  She could and did choose to be in the comfort of her home, surrounded by her loving family members.

In her death, Elizabeth Edwards leaves a legacy of optimism for us to learn and live by.  Here are a few of her inspiring words:

On fighting cancer:

   * "You know, you really have two choices here. . . . Either you push forward with the things you were doing yesterday, or you start dying; let cancer win before it needed to. I don't want to do that. I want to live."

On living for a cause beyond oneself:

   * "I'm not worried about me or what's going to happen to me. The fact that [people are] thinking of me and not health-care policy, or thinking of me and not global warming, that's bad."

On the problem of perfection:

   * "You didn't have to be perfect; you had to be open."

On being open to the public about her problems in the hope it might help others:

   * "There were a lot of ways to have this experience, but I only knew one, the one I had learned growing up - open up, let them in, and find out what we share.”

If we chose to follow the optimistic leadership of Elizabeth Edwards we will make the choice:

   * to keep trying and persevere in the face of incredible odds
   * to devote ourselves to small and large causes beyond ourselves
   * to accept our imperfections
   * to be open and allow others to share and learn from our life experience
   * to choose (if we are given a choice) to accept our mortality and live out our last hours in the joy of a home full of the love of family.

For more Moment-to-Moment Optimism go to: http://www.drrussbuss.com

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