The Rev. Dr. David R. Kegley
Certified Cancer Journey Coach, Mediator and Trainer; D. Min., NCC, ACC
I am a survivor of Prostate Cancer. I feel so fortunate that the conversations we have as survivors and caregivers are of a unique and rich quality. We’ve come to understand how precious this life is. We’ve been awakened to what is most important! I am a coach, mediator and trainer. The common denominator that holds those disciplines together is that I love to help others develop their own personal agency—their own way of determining and acting on what matters most to them.
I am also a pastor with a 25-year career in the parish. I knew one day that there would be a time when I would finish my career as a parish pastor and create a new career. After a Sabbatical in 2015 where I traveled the world, I came back to realize that it was time to start that new career. One month later, I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and that put exclamation points at the end of the sentence “. . . time to start that new career!!!” Fortunately, post radical prostatectomy in 2016, I’m cancer free—so far—and able to be all in as a coach for others whose lives are changed due to major illness.
An interview with David:
What inspires you to get up in the morning? It’s the butterflies in my tummy when I realize: “I get to do this!”
What are you scared of? The poet Marianne Williamson said in Our Deepest Fear that we are often most afraid of our own power, “that we are powerful beyond measure” as she puts it. In my more honest moments, it is being just who I am, with all of the capabilities that I actually have, that frightens me. But, thankfully, her poem resolves:
“And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.”
People often underestimate the power of . . . being human.
I am in my power when . . . I’m simply myself and not trying to be anyone else.
If you could have one super power, what would you choose? I would fly. I would effortlessly stretch up into the air and fly . . . anywhere . . . as fast . . . or slow . . . as I wish.