Outskirts Press, INC.

Make Every Life Moment Bountiful

In 1993, by many standards, Kelly Killough appeared to be a fit, healthy, forty-seven year old male. He actively traveled the U. S. offering his art work at festivals and events of every type. His art sold well. He fully enjoyed the travel, the people he met along the way and felt generally upbeat about the career choices he had made. Every journey has challenges and change is said to be constant. For Kelly, the outside appearance was one of success. On the inside, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was growing throughout his body and spreading in his bone marrow. His challenge had become survival and everything had changed. In “Draw Me LIKE an Angel”, Kelly offers an opportunity to increase awareness of the tools we all have available for experiencing a bountiful existence while living fully at every moment of our journey. His N. E. A. T. toolbox contains no silver bullets or magic potions. NUTRITION, EXERCISE, ATTITUDE and TRUST are the only tools in the box but all come with unlimited accessories. These tools and all of their complementary elements are available to every person. We need only to ENHANCE our AWARENESS and ACT. By putting these tools to use consistently, any moment may become bountiful, regardless of circumstances, and some challenges may even be prevented. Challenges Offer Opportunity. Opportunity Leads to Knowledge. Knowledge Leads to Action. Act Now to Make the Next ‘NOW’ Bountiful.

PREFACE: To respond as an angel might. To interact with another as angel to friend, to do for yourself, what an Angel might do. Any or all of these are possible. My first awareness of attempting to perform as an angel came at the request of a young child. Her request was simply, to draw her “like” an angel. I know that I am not an angel and I knew that the child’s real desire was to be drawn to look as an angel might. But, that question changed my life. The bits of material compiled here touch on the wealth of information and experiences that I credit for my existence today. There is nothing flamboyant. No magic bullet, single philosophy or spiritual path alone gets credit. It is a gathering of knowledge triggered by a child’s singular request. ATTITUDE Chapter 11: I was about four months into my chemo regimen and still adjusting to my baldness. I had accepted it as a normal condition for my current circumstances but sometimes felt a little uncomfortable when I wondered what other people thought. Did they think I was making a statement? Did they see it as an “artist thing”? Early on a day that I was happily displaying some of my art and occasionally drawing a caricature or two, a young girl, about 14, walked right up to me and said, “Do you know who you look like? You look like Ben Kingsley the actor!” I was stunned and pleased. Mostly, pleased. I mean really. Who wouldn’t be flattered by the comparison to an Academy Award winner? Of course I realized that my prominent nose, imperceptible eyebrows and bald head had encouraged her statement, but it sure felt good to hear. I reveled in that brief encounter for about three hours. Then another young person, a boy about 9, approached me. “Do you know who you look like?,” were his first words. I sat up a little straighter, tilted my head and marveled that a boy that young would know who Ben Kingsley was and he continued. “You look like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family!” Crash! Whoa. What a ride, from Kingsley to Fester. At that point of my journey, I had not “perfected” attitude adjustment but an uncontrolled belly laugh fortunately blocked any remorse. Our perception of circumstances comes with its own history, but we still make the choice in how our attitude will be affected.