Today, my oldest child begins first grade. I can't tell you how sad and happy this makes me. I'm sad because I realize my first baby boy is truly on his way to growing up. School has him now; I don't. I can't help but predict he will need me less and less as he takes on the world in his own independent way. This makes me happy too. I am eager to see how he fares on his own, how he develops, grows, and soars. And I must admit, I am pretty thrilled about having five mornings per week all to myself -- my youngest little boy begins school today too.

On Friday, we went to six-year-old Joey's elementary school for a meet-the-teacher event. Joey was right at home. He sat at his assigned desk, did a little drawing, and snuggled up in a pile of pillows in the reading corner. I felt right at home too, after reading a parent memo about public school physical education.

Fitness has become an everyday ritual for me. Along with eating right, it's my weapon for staying healthy and keeping cancer far away. I want this same ritual for my boys. It looks like Joey will get to embrace this way of life not only at home but while in the care of his teacher too.

While visiting Tucson's Canyon Ranch health and wellness resort, I spent a few hours with a fitness instructor who evaluated my body composition, flexibility, muscle strength, and cardiovascular performance. After offering me a grade in each of these areas -- my muscle strength was average, for example; my cardiovascular performance very good -- he gave me all sorts of tips and techniques for reaching a high level of fitness. He armed me with a variety of options, and I now have a solid collection of exercises in my bag of tricks. One thing I don't have in my bag, however, is a need for a lot of fancy equipment or gear.

This fitness instructor told me he once knew a college football player who had the most gorgeous body he'd ever seen. He'd picked up not one weight in his pursuit of such beauty. He merely used his own body.

We are everything we need to get fit. Our bodies are tools. We can use them to do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, dips, squats, lunges, wall sits, planks. We can walk, run, sprint, jump, balance, and more. We need nothing more than our own body weight, really, to achieve greatness. So before you go out and spend a fortune on weights and bands and balls and other contraptions, try using what you've got -- yourself.

Thanks Canyon Ranch for the inspiring fitness wisdom.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, says conventional wisdom. But if it is broken, then by all means -- fix it.

Many of us have broken pantries. Pantries full of chips, cookies, candies, oils, sugars, and well, let's just name it: junk. Our pantries are broken because they don't work in a world where health and wellness and prevention should be on everyone's menu. They are ineffective, insufficient, and downright bad for us.

My pantry has been in disrepair for a long time. Now, however, thanks to a build-your-pantry cheat sheet I brought home from Canyon Ranch, it's on the mend. Yours can be too. Just borrow from this abbreviated list next time you're in the grocery store and in no time, your pantry will be lookin' good. So will you.

I am just back from four days at Canyon Ranch in Tucson. They were exhilarating, empowering, renewing, healthy, healing days. They were just as I'd imagined they'd be. And more.

Founders Mel and Enid Zuckerman say their commitment -- Canyon Ranch has been serving guests for 25 years and features destinations all over the country -- has set the standard for what has become a very large spa and health and wellness industry. With a focus on nutrition, stress management, preventative care, fitness, and a whole lot of pampering, the Zuckermans have inspired thousands of guests. I'm one of them.

I am spilling over with insight and motivation and wisdom I gathered at the Ranch. I want everyone to know what I know -- and I can't wait to start sharing my lessons for healthy living.

So the professionals at Canyon Ranch get the credit they deserve for beginning to transform my life -- and maybe yours too -- I will call my Canyon Ranch posts Worthy Wisdom. When you see these two words, you'll know the information that follows flows from the Arizona desert. I will also name Canyon Ranch in each post and will link to canyonranch.com where a wealth of wellness resources await you.

"Canyon Ranch measures its value by what you do after you leave the Ranch -- what you take home in new awareness and a sense of control about issues in your life," writes Mel Zuckerman in The Canyon Ranch Story: A Passion for Healthy Living.

What am I going to do now that I'm home? I'm going to spread the word.

I'd never met Lucy. And I don't know how she died. I do know she was a loving pet for my friend Adriene, a breast cancer survivor diagnosed with the disease at the same time I was told the dreaded beast was living in my body.

I've never met Adriene. We've communicated only through e-mail and letters and packages and holiday cards. Still, we have a friendship, anchored in shared experience.

Through our friendship, I've come to learn that Adriene and Lucy were the best of friends who relied on one another through good times and bad. Their love was mutual, strong, and evident to those who knew the pair.

Lucy passed away on Monday. I was notified by Adriene who directed me to a new post on her photo journal.

Think about this, a message from Adriene:

Lucy was sent to the heavens on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. I was lucky to have her in my arms as I gave her over to her spiritual playmates who will take care of her and give her the room to play and be the loving dog that she was here on earth. I was blessed to have Lucy as my constant companion. She traveled the U.S. trekking cross-country three times, traveled up and down the eastern seaboard, road the subways of Boston, and graced the pages of American Photography magazine not once, but twice. She was a famous dog who had a reputation for the devilish behavior she possessed. We all loved her for the spirit she was and I will always respect the gifts she gave me as she carried my soul from illness to wellness. Rest in Peace, Lucy. I will always keep you close to my heart.

Puja Thomson, counselor, healing facilitator, educator, and minister, has a newly-released book -- After Shock: From Cancer Diagnosis to Healing: A step-by-step guide to help you navigate your way -- that is just perfect for just about anyone dealing with cancer.

Thomson, surviving her own bout with cancer, offers practical suggestions to help others clarify their cancer journeys in this book that features topics such as reaching out for help, designing your own personal wellness program, crafting challenges into hopeful perspectives, and organizing financial records and medical paperwork in simple ways.

Thomson shares her own firsthand stories and borrows reflections from other fellow cancer travelers. She offers a well-balanced sampling of ideas from which readers can pick and choose as they create their navigation plans. She does it all because she knows cancer can come as a shock. She also knows life goes on after the shock.

There is a downside to cancer. There's the distressing diagnosis, the shocking realization that something evil is invading cells and tissues and organs. There's surgery and treatment and loss of hair, loss of blood counts, loss of energy, loss of wellness, loss of future plans and intentions. There's the fear of recurrence and the fear of death and the fear of surviving. Cancer is dark and dismal and daunting. There is no room for argument. There is a downside to cancer.

But there is an upside to cancer too. Really, there is. And a growing body of research suggests cancer changes many people's lives -- like mine -- for the better.

"Cancer gives some survivors a renewed sense of confidence and greater appreciation for their own endurance," says one professor of medicine and public health. "The adversity of treatment may give people the sense that 'I've come through this and I'm stronger.' " Yes!

This same professor says cancer also leads survivors to question their priorities -- and to better manage them. Yes!

She also says survivors tend to find the coping strategies they develop during therapy can help them handle other life problems. Yes!

Many cancer survivors and their families turn to helping others dealing with the disease. It's part of the healing process to give back. And it feels good. Yes!

Cancer almost always is a blessing. This may not be apparent while in the trenches of a cancer fight. But when the smoke clears and the dust settles, blessings emerge. Really, they do.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center teaches the art of aromatherapy to soothe and heal. Cherie Perez, a supervising research nurse, teaches a monthly aromatherapy class to answer questions about aromatherapy treatments to cancer survivors and cancer caregivers undergoing treatment.

Perez first became involved with aromatherapy to help those diagnosed with fibromyalgia deal with the physical pain and discomfort caused by the disease. She now shares her professional knowledge of the basics of aromatherapy in each hour long class. Her classes are offered free of charge at the wellness center at M.D. Anderson. The wellness center focuses on helping patients and caregivers deal with the non-medical issues of living with cancer. This is the first complementary facility to be built on the campus of a comprehensive cancer center.

In the future Perez looks to designing research strategies to examine how aromatherapy can be used to treat or heal burns from radiation treatments. She would also like to explore aromatherapy in the use of pre-treatment anxiety and also manage loss of memory issues in cancer survivors.

Why do some researchers believe that aromatherapy is beneficial?

Our sense of smell is 10,000 times stronger than any of our other senses. The receptors in your nose communicate with two structures that are imbedded deep in your brain and serve as the storehouses for emotions and memories. It is believed that the stimulation of these structures influences our physical, emotional and mental health.

To read more about the uses of aromatherapy click here.

In 1967, when Beverly Hlavka was 12 years old, her mother Naomi Poppe Kopke was diagnosed with breast cancer and given six months to live. She remembers how helpless she felt wanting to help her mother and not knowing what to do.

Earlier this year, Beverly lost a friend, Holly Elizabeth Remmers to breast cancer. Again, she had felt helpless because she did not know what to do for her friend as her friend struggled to survive cancer. This is when Beverly decided to create a way to help others help women facing breast cancer. Based on the Pay it Forward concept, made famous with the book and movie, she has launched Gift it Forward.

"If people have done nice things for you, don't give it back, Gift it Forward. This project is a way for people to give money to a cause, receive a fantastic piece of fabric art in return and help women diagnosed with breast cancer." From the money raised, individual women with breast cancer will receive a new mastectomy bra; visit to a wellness retreat; new wig; facial, massage, manicure or pedicure at a day spa; tank of gas to get to chemotherapy; some pretty jewelry; new outfit or makeup; phone card to call the grandkids or anything that puts a smile on her face.

Beverly's intention in Gift it Forward is to help women with the issues that surround keeping a positive attitude, self-esteem and concentrating on the idea of wellness instead of the disease of cancer. She includes instructions on how to make a fabric postcard and how to start a Gift it Forward project of your own. For more information, visit Gift it Forward.

When I first discovered Bella Lucce, I cannot say if I was more impressed with the quality of the bath and beauty products or Lela Barker, the woman behind the company. First, Lela's sister is diagnosed with breast cancer, and based on research, Lela begins making natural bath and beauty products in her kitchen to keep her sister safe from chemicals that might threaten to increase risk of breast cancer recurrence. She shares the bath and beauty products of her hobby with her women friends.

Several years later, Lela, a young mother of two small children, is facing a divorce. Needing to find a way to earn an income to support her and her children, and wanting to be a stay-at-home mom, she turns her bath and beauty product hobby into a business. The success of Bella Lucce has been phenomenal on a worldwide scale because the quality of the products are luxurious and affordable. Lela is socially conscious and gives back to the indigenous communities where she takes what is needed to make Bella Lucce products. Lela employs who she calls, "an amazing group of inspiring women." I find Lela to be an amazing and inspiring woman.

On the Bella Lucce website, Lela writes informative articles explaining antioxidants and a how-to bath and beauty product labels guide. Because identifying bath and beauty products that contain significant antioxidants in the formula can be a challenge, according to Lela, women need to educate themselves what to look for and she offers an overview of antioxidants to watch for in Antioxidants Explained. The article Labels 101 is an essential primer for women who want to learn the basics on how to decipher bath and beauty product labels. In addition, Lela wrote an article called The Dreaded Chicken Skin and The Keys to Healthy Summer Skin.

Five years ago, Mimi Barker, a young woman in her 20s, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her younger sister Lela, intent on understanding how her young sister could develop breast cancer, began researching possible breast cancer causes. What she found prompted her into reading ingredient labels of all the beauty and bath care products in her bathroom, and she was stunned to find most had the paraben ingredient researchers were suggesting increased breast cancer risks for women.

Lela advised Mimi to get rid of everything that contained paraben, and she did the same. Faced with the reality that the market did not offer many appealing natural and organic personal beauty care products, Lela began making her own in her kitchen. She shared what she made with her sister and her friends. Lela found she enjoyed creating soaps, bath salts and lotions that rivaled the commercial products in aroma and texture.

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott announced that the government has contributed a $10 million dollar grant towards the new Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre at Melbourne's Austin Hospital. Olivia Newton-John, a breast cancer survivor, believes in the need for a wellness center where cancer patients can find support, connect with other cancer patients, practice tai chi, do yoga, or receive a massage.

"Whatever spiritual belief you have, the mind has a very important role in healing. So if it is meditation, if it is prayer, if it is chanting -- whatever you believe -- as long as it is something you feel strongly about that can keep you in a positive spirit," Newton-John said.

The estimated cost for the new center is $50 million dollars in total. Olivia Newton-John has contributed $2 million dollars to the building fund, and can now add another $10 million dollars from the government grant. Olivia states that the total funds raised to date is about $25 million dollars, and she hopes work can begin in building the new center as early as 2008.

In the meantime, another project that reflects Olivia Newton-John's mind-body perspective on healing is the Gaia Retreat & Spa, located in Byron Bay near Bangalow, with its own sustainable organic vegetable and herb garden, orchard, and rainforest regeneration program. The Gaia Retreat & Spa describes itself as a place guests can renew, refresh, and restore mind, body and soul.