from "The Art of Comforting"

"Though he (my father) was the one with the illness - the one in pain - he gave US comfort by showing how much we meant to him. He strongly believed in keeping positive, not for himself so much as for others around him. He told me repeatedly 'If you are having a good day, you can make someone's day better. But if you are having a bad day, you can make someone's good day worse.' He taught me we had a great effect on each other's days, for better or worse, with just our demeanor, mood, and outlook. With this short life, he showed me we mattered by making others feel they mattered."

-Jeff Lewis, Nurse Practitioner, from "The Art of Comforting" by Val Walker p.46