responsive-logo
  • Home
  • About
  • Keep Breathing
    • Keep Breathing: Introduction
    • Part 1
      • Stay Grounded
      • Keep Breathing
      • Gather Information
      • Feel What You Feel
      • Take in Support
      • Pray
      • Practice Surrender
      • Notice Your Reactivity
    • Part 2
      • Realize What Is Happening to You
        Is Happening To Everyone in Your Life
      • Take Inventory
      • Let Go of Shame
      • Extend Grace
      • Show Up
      • Learn Vulnerability
      • Make Amends
      • Stay Present in Times of Waiting
    • Part 3
      • Be Still and Keep Moving
      • Know You Are Not Alone
      • Ask for Healing
      • Seek Guidance
      • Meditate
      • Pursue Peace
      • Acknowledge Death
      • Grieve
    • Part 4
      • Express Gratitude
      • Stay Open to Joy
      • Make Room for Laughter
      • Celebrate Each Day
      • Let Yourself Be Carried
      • Be Who You Are
      • Know That You Are Loved
  • Desperate Hope
    • Shocked by the Diagnosis
    • Responding to Feelings of Fear, Anxiety, and Sadness
    • Ordering Desperate Hope
  • TLC Leader’s Manual
    • Group Leader Resources
      • Introduction to TLC
      • Meeting Format
      • Notes to Group Leaders
      • When a Group Member Dies
    • Strong Feelings
      • Understanding our Feelings
      • The Emotional Roller Coaster
      • Living With Fear
      • Dealing With Depression
      • Living with Anger
      • Grieving Our Losses
      • The Experience of Gratitude
      • Celebration and Joy
      • Experiencing Peace
      • Finding Hope
    • Challenges to Faith
      • Stretching Our Faith
      • Prayer
      • Examining Our View of God
      • Healing Prayer
      • The Lord Is With Us
      • God’s Healing Presence
    • Changing Perspectives
      • The Seasons Of Survival
      • Living Sanely in An Insane World
      • One Day At A Time
      • Positive Thinking
      • Accepting Our Need for Help
      • Building Friendships
      • Perspectives on Treatment
      • Coping With Pain
      • Repairing Our Self Esteem
  • Contact

Keep Breathing: Introduction

There are times in life when we have no idea what to do. It is as if we are stunned. Immobilized. It may be because things are happening so quickly that we can’t keep up. Often it is because a crisis has taken over our lives. Whatever the specific cause, there are times in life when we feel lost and confused.

Few of us will go through life without experiencing such times. Even those of us who are normally resourceful and resilient can find ourselves adrift and disoriented when life events threaten to overwhelm normal coping skills.

This book is about what to do in times like this—times when we don’t know what to do.

I have been a therapist in private practice for more than twenty years, and have walked with many people through times of crisis. This professional experience is woven into this book, but the book is primarily personal rather than professional. These meditations were written after being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer and they reflect in many ways the particular challenges I faced during this experience. This is not, however, just a book about dealing with a medical crisis. These meditations are also deeply rooted in my long struggle to recover from the shame and fear I carried as a result of childhood trauma. And they are connected to the deep learning that came from working to do my part during a particularly difficult season in my marriage. And, finally, they reflect lessons-learned from the struggle to face my codependency with respect to our oldest son’s drug addiction. Each of these very different crises involved times when I didn’t know what to do, and each contributed to the hard-won but basic wisdom you will find here.

No two people are the same. No two crises are the same. So, there may be some material in this book that doesn’t match your experience. The best advice I can offer about this is a bit of basic wisdom you hear frequently in the Twelve Step community: “Take what works and leave the rest.” My hope is that some of what I have to offer here will be helpful to you as you face whatever challenges confront you at this time in your life.

May God grant you the strength, hope and wisdom you need for your journey.

And may your roots sink deeply in the soil of God’s love.

Juanita Ryan

Share this page:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Quote of the moment

"One of the things that we tend to dislike about our feelings is that they are not always rational. We feel things that don’t make logical sense to us. . . But our feelings do not go away simply because we try to dismiss them as irrational. On the contrary, the more we resist them because we don’t want to feel them, the more they seem to lay claim on our attention and our limited energy. "
Juanita Ryan

Copyright © 2025 Together Living With Cancer · Disclaimer · Privacy Policy - Log in

We use cookies to ensure that you have the best experience on our website. If you continue to view the site, we will assume that this is OK. For details see our privacy policy.OkPrivacy policy