This Day Won’t Come Again: Radical Presence and Life-Threatening Illness

For readers touched by Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air and anyone with a life-threatening illness seeking healing of body, mind, and spirit, a fellow patient shares her journey of choosing to have the best day of her life by working as though she will live and living every moment as though she might die.

Waking to the stunning realization she had cancer, Jocelyn Rasmussen’s first thought was that she needed a miracle. Her second thought was that she didn’t want to die with any unspent love or grace inside her. Guided by this principle, she entered treatment with faith that she could accept any outcome--from a complete remission to death.

As Rasmussen underwent chemotherapy and radiation, she plunged into the mysteries and certainties of life and death. All of creation, nature and humanity, became fodder for her reflections about healing, time, hope, dreaming, and loving. The deeper she went, the more she realized she was already living the miracle she’d asked for. It was being revealed in every sacred moment of her life--she simply hadn’t always recognized it. Life, she discovered, was radiant with the light of wisdom, the strong and gentle touch of caregiving, the gratitude for another breath, and the surprise of all that was arising.

Tender and uplifting, This Day Won’t Come Again will encourage you to trust your own radiance and allow it to guide you into the unique meaning and purpose that is yours to share as you navigate treatment or caregiving for life-threatening illness.

Jocelyn Rasmussen is a singer, composer, and teacher. Her first book, Meant to Be Heard, maps the human voice and its potential for transformation. She has recorded two albums of original songs, Just Love Away and Singing Is Praying Twice. For over twenty years she taught singing and executive voice coaching in seminars and private sessions in New York City. She continues that work in Toronto and London, Ontario, where she lives with her partner, Doug Thompson.