Maria Menounos is opening up about her “scary” cancer diagnosis, and how shifting her mindset helped play a part in her healing.

While filling in for Kelly Ripa on this morning’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, the television personality told Mark Consuelos what she did to get through the difficult moments when thought she might not make it.

“When you’re in the moment and you’re diagnosed with something and you think you’re going to die, that’s not an easy thing to come out of. It’s scary,” she said. “But I started to choose wonder over worry.”

Menounos — who was diagnosed with stage II pancreatic cancer in January, six years after being treated for a benign brain tumor — gave an example of what she learned from her hypnotherapist.

“I wonder what it will be like when the doctor calls me with good news next. And he did,” she said. “I wonder what it will be like when I get through this surgery easily and I recover quickly. And I did.”

She continued, “Your brain is like a supercomputer. You can program it to do whatever you tell it. So I tell it, ‘Hey brain, send a message to my pancreas, I’d like to advance my healing.’ I talk to it. I talk to my body.”

Menounos made note that changing her mindset was “not easy in the beginning” — but insisted that “what you focus on is what you feel.”

Despite her health struggles, the E! News host, who recently welcomed her first baby via surrogate, told Consuelos that she’s “doing amazing” and feels “grateful for all the weird challenges” that have been thrown her way.

“There is a silver lining even to having massive pancreatic surgeries and all the things that have had to happen — brain surgery,” she said. “It brought me to this moment where I’m so uber-grateful for life and so happy to be alive and healthy.”

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. You can check out local listings on their website.