By Robin Rouse (Maryland, USA)
11″x14″ acrylic on mixed media paper
“When I received my breast cancer diagnosis, ALL of the first thoughts that flew through my head were negative, terrifying, punishing. I felt doomed and I assumed my life was over … in every way.
Over the next few days, my heart settled and my mind calmed down. I began to listen to others, friends and family who love me; a team of doctors who truly wanted to help me; even all the articles I found by survivors. I began to actually hear them and to believe them. Their words needed to be repeated by me over and over so that the truth of them would become part of me because these positive affirmations are actually the truth and they serve so much better than those false narratives it’s so easy to fall into.
One day I sat with my pencil and my book and I created a circle of self-talk for myself. I painted it like a rainbow because, to me, a rainbow is a symbol of hope.
I hope that this Breast Cancer Survivor’s Circle of Self-Talk will help you or someone you care about to accept and settle into the positive truths that will make it easier to face all the days ahead, hopefully with a little smile. “
the Breast Cancer Art Project 
I have just discovered this Blog and feel so blessed to have found it! When I read “This is not my fault” in your circle, it broke my heart (in a good way!) because that is what keeps floating about in the back of my mind – that somehow me getting diagnosed with Secondary Breast Cancer in June 2022 – 9 years after previously having had Stage 3 Breast Cancer diagnosed in June 2013, that somehow it was my fault. I still feel this. Why do I feel like this? I was so glad to read it in your art circle xx
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