We are first aware of our physical body, then our mental body and then OH, NO! what are all these feelings here for?? and then we begin to recognize our true selves.  Some people refer to this as our soul or our spiritual selves, our higher self, our knowing or intuition, our connection to God. Whatever you choose to call it is perfect for you. 

 I saw myself for many years of my life as this physical body.  I thought as long as I maintained this physical life with success, my life would go smoothly.  Through time many aspects of my physical world and life began falling apart.  I didn’t understand what was happening.  Everything was happening TO me and I didn’t see the connection. 

Often when we are faced with a cancer diagnosis, other disease, loss or any crisis in our life it shocks and rocks our world.  All of a sudden everything about our lives we begin to question. We question why, who, what, where, and how………………………..

We wonder how we have gotten to this place.  It as if something just carried us to this point and now we woke up and said, “how did I get here?”

Through my cancer support I hear stories of individuals and how cancer, disease and other losses rock their lives, but also how the experiences helped them heal and often woke them up to a new life.

I am gathering stories of healing and lessons learned and how people took the lessons to their new life.  I would love to share them on my weekly radio show Truly Alive, with permission of course.

Your Inspiration:  Never Forget

Your presence is a gift to the world,
You’re unique and one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be –
Take it one day at a time.

Count your blessings, not your troubles,
And you will make it through what comes along.
Within you are so many answers,
Understand, have courage, be strong.

Don’t put limits on yourself,
Your dreams are waiting to be realized.
Don’t leave your important decisions to chance –
Reach for your peak, your goal, and your prize.

Nothing wastes more energy than worrying –
The longer a problem is carried, the heavier it gets.
Don’t take things too seriously –
Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

Remember that a little love goes a long way –
Remember that a lot goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment,
Life’s treasures are people…together.

The root of all human suffering is the belief that “I am not good enough”.

This was one of my most profound lessons as a cancer survivor.

Yet the core of our being, our soul, is LOVE!

We lose ourselves in this thing we call life. We forget who we are and what we came here for. We begin to believe we are all these experiences we are having. Through our experiences, we form beliefs and then we live out these beliefs over and over.

But we are not our thoughts, beliefs, and experiences. They exist outside of us.

We have a choice every moment to love and accept ourselves and create the life we choose. So many of us spend our time hoping, wishing, planning and scheming for our lives to be different than what they already are. We have used so much energy and time trying to create situations other than the one that we have, and end up missing the life in front our noses today.

Finding meaning in cancer or any loss in your life……………………..

Write your thoughts and feelings down in a journal. This is incredibly healing for you.

Keeping a diary or journal may help you understand and find meaning in what is happening in your life.
You are free to write about anything you like this is your private sanctuary.

• Feelings
• Relationships
• Hopes and fears
• Your life after treatment
• What it means to you to be a cancer survivor
• Your plans for the present and the future

Writing your thoughts and feelings helps you release that energy that is stored in your body.  Now that energy is freed up to be used for something new and allows for something new to come into your life.

You may find the process of journaling helps you recognize areas in your life that you can feel good about and areas that you want to change.

Because you are bombarded with so many new things,  it is almost impossible to figure it all out.  The emotions you feel are different.  This fear is new because now you are facing your mortality.  Probably something you have never looked at or experienced before.  The people you are dealing with are different.  The words and terms used are different.

How do you know what to do?

You must have someone help you.  There are millions of options available to you.

Each of us have our own very unique journey.  Each of us must choose what path we want to take, what option we want to choose, what treatment we want to do, what doctor we want to work with.  Many many choices.  But YOU do have a choice.

Each of our journeys together, can then help all others on their journeys.  And that is why we are here.  That is why I am here!

                                     ” When I appreciate

                                     I feel so very good.

                           Appreciation is the secret to life.

                         Become a person who appreciates,

                                    and you will thrive;

                                    you will fulfill your

                                     reason for being.”         Abe…..

Following is the Emotional Guidance Scale from Jerry and Ester Hicks.

Being grateful is #1 the highest state of our being.  When we are in this state we have the highest vibrational frequency and feel the best.  Where do you fall on the scale? 

Identify your feeling at any moment.  Find where you are on the scale and then think, say or do whatever it is that can raise you to the next level.  You may go for a walk in nature, sing or dance, pray, tell yourself wonderful words, or imagine yourself in the most beautiful place.  Whatever it takes raise your vibration!

As your cancer survivor speaker, I feel obligated to tell you what I have learned from 14 years of traveling the road of cancer.  This is my experience and I hope it can help you ask the questions and learn more faster to help you heal all of you.

There are many paths to take in your cancer survivor journey and different treatment options.  Choose what feels right for you.  Not one path is the answer for everyone.  Not one path works for everyone.  There isn’t one answer yet to cure cancer.  But whatever you do and whatever you choose, choose with knowledge and wisdom.

I had surgery to remove an orange size melanoma tumor from my ovary and at the time they thought it had spread to all my organs.  During one conversation with my oncologist we were discussing the size and mitotic rate of my cancer.  They estimated 60 million melanoma cells and a very high rate of growth. 

As your cancer survivor speaker, I am compelled this morning to speak louder!

After speaking with several people the last few days about cancer, one thing kept ringing in my ears louder and louder!  And the doctors are still not telling the millions of people with cancer!!

We trust our doctors and listen to them and believe they are doing everything they can to help save our lives.  This is true in most cases.  But my experience tells me they don’t have all the tools.  And if you don’t have the tools, you can’t use the tools, and if you don’t have the tools, you can’t share the tools.

Speaking from personal experience only, I know when I asked the most obvious question to my team of doctors, their faces dropped and they said, I don’t know how!!

Fall in love with YOU!

Make lists of  all the wonderful things about you. Keep adding to it every day.

These are simple words of wisdom from a cancer survivor that knows it is part of any healing.

Know that you are perfect. Do not think any negative thoughts about you.

Know that you are worthy and deserving of anything and everything you could possibly want in your life.

This isn’t something we were taught and socialized with.  But we can remember that feeling as a very young child.  Can’t YOU?

Every single relationship you have is a reflection of how you feel inside about you. You are a magnet attracting to you all things, via the signal you are emitting through your thoughts and feelings. Every relationship you have and every interaction with every person, is a reflection of your own thoughts and feelings in that very moment.  Jaffee