Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and Cancer

Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and Cancer

Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude, especially if your life has been touched by cancer. Along those lines, let me share some recent encounters of the cancer kind.

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Take a moment to share your kind thoughts with someone dealing with cancer. Become part of the project.

Cancer: Prohibited Topic

I had a most interesting conversation the other day. I was introduced to a woman who was not very enthusiastic or curious about CancerRoadTrip.

This alone is an anomaly.

The usual response is a shared cancer story, either one’s own or that of a friend.

She went on to reveal that she had had a mastectomy and it wasn’t really such a big deal.

But her doctor was excellent. She had excellent care. Her doctor, she insisted, was the best.

They didn’t get clean margins, so she had to do radiation she said. Then 5 years of estrogen restricting drugs.

It wasn’t a big deal, she insisted.

Her doctor was excellent.

Her cadence was flat. Her affect lacked depth. She was impeccably groomed. A handsome and attractive woman, 60 something I would guess.

Her response to me was so blank, I had to ask:

Do you ever worry about recurrence?

“I’m 5 years out”, she informed me, as if this magical line in the timeless sand spoke volumes that needed no explanation.

“Although they are now saying you want to be 7 years cancer free,” she added.

It really wasn’t a big deal.

My doctor was the best.

The conversation was over before it had even begun.

I’ve met people like this before. Cancer was a blip. It’s gone, never to return (fingers crossed). It’s filed away with other unpleasant thoughts, buried deep, not to be resurrected.

EVER.

NO MATTER WHAT.

I think I envy them their certainty. Their ability to disregard their brush with mortality as if it never happened. Their seeming lack of morbid imagination.

Or do I?

Is denial as good a way as any to deal with this retched disease? Is there any value in reflection, in integrating the experience into one’s life for the lessons learned and the perspective gained? And to what end does an examination of one’s scars finally lead?

Is recognition of limited time “good” or “bad”? Can a binary answer even begin to address the recognition of mortality?

For many, cancer brings a deep seated appreciation of life. Can one have this wonder of the moment without grasping its fragility?  Like a photograph, the magic of light and composition is so fleeting, made of nothing but pixels of shadow.

cancer is lonely

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely every hundredth of a second.”
Marc Riboud

Walking the Cancer Walk

Another conversation, this time with a woman whose friend was dealing with bowel cancer.

“We used to walk every day,” she said.

Cancer

PhotoCredit: Max Conrad on Unsplash

“Now she has continence issues, so she can’t really go out for a walk anymore. I never see her.”

She went on to talk about all the ways her former friend had fallen out of her life. How she could no longer participate in even simple things.

I suggested she leave a note on the website, to be included in the film credits.

A cloud came over her. A darkness. She seemed, well, ashamed.

I wondered if this was the first time she talked about her friend and her absence from her life. If it was the first time she reflected on the loss, both for her and her former walking buddy.

My intent was not to make her feel badly, but to give her a positive way to reach out and perhaps release some of her emotion.

“I bet there’s a story behind CancerRoadTrip,” she responded after a brief pause in the conversation.

I started to tell the tale, but the speaker on the stage picked up the microphone and started introducing a panel. There was no place for conversation.

I gave her a card, thanked her for the conversation, and left.

I never heard from her. I wonder if her friend did.

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” -Mother Teresa

cancer, kind words

Photo by Ty Williams on Unsplash

Cancer and Caregivers

Another encounter, this time with a young woman who had taken care of two relatives with cancer.

She looks so young to have shouldered such responsibility. Her smooth face belies the experiences in her soul.

What do you say to someone who finds their young life consumed by death?

The daughter of one friend started a group called The Dead Parents Society. She was a teenager when her father died of cancer and she had no peer group. Her other friends couldn’t understand the depth of the loss she had experienced.

Another young woman interrupted her life and career to take care of her mother and two younger siblings. She is now in her early thirties, working to restart her young life. Loss, anger, isolation…she’s seen it all. To cope, she is giving back through cancer advocacy groups.

The stories go on. Everyone has a story to tell because cancer has impacted all of us.

This holiday season, please take the time to reach out to someone dealing with cancer.

Just say hi, send a text, show your care. Your kind words may mean more than you’ll ever know.

cancer, hello

Photo by Adam Solomon on Unsplash

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More Reading On Gratitude and Cancer

Gratitude: A Habit for All Times

CancerRoadTrip: The Film

Labyrinth Walking In Santa Fe

Traveling With Cancer: A One Year Anniversary

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Travel Minimalist: 17 Reasons Why Less Is More

Travel Minimalist: 17 Reasons Why Less Is More

17 Reasons for Going Travel Minimalist

The Unintended Consequences of #CancerRoadTrip

 

This post was originally written as I was about to take off on CancerRoadTrip. But for some reason, it didn’t come over when we redid the website in late 2018. So I thought I’d share it again. It’s interesting to see my outlook here, in June 2017, as I prepare to leave all I know behind. And then to read the adventure as it unfolds.

 

What is a travel minimalist?  You can only carry so much! And now that I’m in the final stages of packing, the ability to let go is flowing with more ease.

The most remarkable aspect of this is the freedom I am feeling.  Here are some of the unintended consequences that are defining the start of this journey.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #1: Hasta La Vista

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Travel Minimalist Reason #1: Hasta La Vista

 

“Hasta la vista, baby.”

 

After a wet winter, cheat grass is everywhere. Dandelions are popping up in lieu of lawn. The kale in my garden is already bolting. The good neighbor fence isn’t looking so good.

I want to leave the house looking good for the new owners, but frankly, this is partly why I’m moving on. I simply don’t want to weed, cut or clip anymore. I don’t want to paint, caulk or fuss. I want to walk the beach, swim with the Galapagos turtles and enjoy the Australian Open. Hasta la vista!

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #2: Say Goodby to Insurance, Utility and Property Taxes

 

 

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Travel Minimalist Reason #2: Say Goodby to Insurance, Utility and Property Taxes

 

“…but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

-Benjamin Franklin 

 

Every year my taxes increase with no added benefit; utilities never seem to go down; and insurance never comes through when you need it. Remind me why I signed up for this life? Travel minimalist means less overhead gives me more time and more financial freedom.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #3: Tempus Fugit

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Travel Minimalist Reason #3: Tempus Fugit

 

“Seize the day, then let it go.” -Marty Rubin

 

Living one moment at a time brings richness to life.  As I get older, time seems to move ever faster. And as I rush into the unknown, as time counts down, the precious quality of the moment becomes everything.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #4: Freedom

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Travel Minimalist Reason #4: Freedom

 

“Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose and commit yourself to what is best for you.”

– Paulo Coelho

 

Freedom comes in many forms.

There can be freedom from routine. Freedom from possessions. Freedom from dogma.

Freedom from competition was an eye opener for me. I found it fascinating that a part of me rejoiced from not being able to play competitive tennis anymore. I was actually tired of the need to compete and be measured, socially and athletically.

Both David Servan-Screiber, MD PhD and Paul Klanithi, MD commented on the painful freedom that resulted from dropping through the so called real world into cancer land. Both had to leave the social amour and status of their physician-white-coats in the waiting room, and face their diagnosis as a person and a patient, not a doctor. (See #CancerBookClub for more on this.) This unsought freedom offered both men new perspectives on their lives and on  medicine. 

“…through my illness, I regained a certain freedom. The obligations that had weighed me down…were swept away.” -Paul Klanithi, MD

With cancer, your standards are forced to change. The fluff falls away. What remains is so little, but so meaningful. And in this there is such great freedom.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #5: Lightness of Being

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Travel Minimalist Reason #5: Lightness of Being

 

“When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object.”

-Milan Kundera 

 

As the emotional and physical clutter falls away there is an amazing lightness of being. Soulfulness comes from the heart, and a life less cluttered lets your heart shine more.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #6: Curiosity

 

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Travel Minimalist Reason #6: Curiosity

 

“Curiosity is the one thing invincible in Nature.”

– Freya Stark

 

Unencumbered by to do lists and tasks, my curiosity comes to the forefront, to see the world with the eyes of a beginner. With fresh eyes and an open heart, new paths lead to wonder and discovery.

 

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #7: Presence

 

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Travel Minimalist Reason #7: Presence

 

 

Yesterday is history,

tomorrow is a mystery,

today is a gift ,

which is why we call it the present.

 

Simply being present is a wonderful gift.

 

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #8: Meaningful Experiences

 

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Travel Minimalist Reason #8: Meaningful Experiences

 

Collect moments, not things.

 

Moments of emotion and memory trump material goods. I am a collector of maps and various other things. Each material object is tied to an event or an experience. Yet the experience resides in me, not in the object. With my maps and whatnot in storage, it is only the moments that stay with me that truly matter. Do the moments outnumber the things?

We live in a world where the constant barrage of media and ads scream for attention, across multiple devices, 24/7. It’s terrifyingly easy to get caught up in the staccatos of society, to let the madness of crowds sway your path. Stop and listen to your heart, to your soul. What most matters to you? What energy do you choose to collect and carry?

 

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #9: Strength Comes In Many Forms

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Travel Minimalist Reason #9: Strength Comes In Many Forms

 

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”

-Ann Landers

 

Leaning out my life, I no longer need to carry what does not suit me, practically and psychologically. It’s an iterative process, discovering this, letting go of that. This next phase of my life, I will be traveling lighter, and, I can only hope, perhaps wiser, as I cast the past to the wind.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #10: Simplicity

 

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” -Clare Boothe Luce

 

 

 

 

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #11: Friends

 

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Travel Minimalist Reason #11: Friends

 

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

 

Friends come and friends go. A few stay the course. And a few new ones walk along side, for as long as they do. One of the most interesting facets of cancer, blogging and social media is that I have formed a global network of people who “get it”.  I am deeply grateful for these souls in my life. May we stay the course together.

 

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #12: Life

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Travel Minimalist Reason #12: Life

 

 

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.”-Henry David Thoreau

 

We’ve all been there. The dullness of routine, of duty, of necessity kills our soul, a day at a time. Habit and expectation guide our lives.

Is this life?

We need to see our worlds differently to choose differently. Our time is limited. What do we choose?

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #13: Joy

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Travel Minimalist Reason #13: Joy

 

Dance Lightly With Life:

Today is your day to

dance lightly with life,

sing wild songs of adventure,

soar your spirit,

unfurl your joy.

-Jonathan Lockwood Huie

 

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #14: Stuff

 

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Travel Minimalist Reason #14: Stuff

 

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”

-Michael Michalko

 

Do I need one more pair of shorts? More than one pair of black slacks? An extra pair of yoga pants when leggings will do?  Packing forces one to pare down and reconsider what is really necessary. What brings you joy? The simplicity that results from these choices is incredibly liberating.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #15: Organization

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Travel Minimalist Reason #15: Organization

 

“The way to find a needle in a haystack is to sit down.”

-Beryl Markham, West with the Night

 

I’ve been forced to stop and get very organized. Everything from how my power cords get stored to electronic integration between phones, watches, computers and cameras. There is no room for useless duplication. Everything must have a purpose. And the only way to do this is to slow down, and one by one, do what has to be done.

 

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #16: Possessions and Permanency

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Travel Minimalist Reason #16: Possessions and Permanency

 

“If everything I possessed, vanished, suddenly, I’d be sorry.

But I value things unpossessed.

The wind, and trees, and sky and kind thoughts, much more.”

-Dorothy Hartley

 

When I finished packing my books, I faced an empty bookcase and stacks of cardboard boxes. Are a stack of nondescript cardboard boxes the sum of my reading life? Can a dish pack of carefully collected plates share the stories of the dinners they hosted? And all the handbags and shoes in stacks of boxes. Will they even walk with me again?

It’s interesting that we have greater longevity and reach through our electronic existence than through the physical things we acquire. At some point, the possessions that have defined so much of my life will be scattered like dust in the wind. But the experiences shared in this blog might just live on.

 

Travel Minimalist Reason #17: Soulful Resonance

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ravel Minimalist Reason #17: Soulful Resonance

 

Find a place inside where there’s joy,

and the joy will burn out the pain.


– Joseph Campbell

 

Everywhere I go, I share the story of #CancerRoadTrip. And it resonates with people. Every one of us has thought of just chucking it all and walking off. Everyone of us has encountered events that set our lives on a different course. Every one of us wonders about the choices we make and the life that results. And every one of us has been touched by cancer.

Being forced to look at my own mortality; to think about what I want to do with the time I have left; being forced from my home only to find a different path–these are all choices and events that resonate with my soul. I am immensely grateful for this aspect of #CancerRoadTrip.

 

#Gratitude

#Soulfulness

#Kindness

 

 

More Thoughts From The Road

CancerRoadTrip: How It All Began

Weathering The Storm

Traveling The Timeline of Now

Thoughts On The Metaphor Of A Road Trip (This post won an honorable mention from the 2018 NATJA Awards)

11 Life Lessons Learned From The Road

 

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

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The Matrix: Wendy Wagner Part 2

The Matrix: Wendy Wagner Part 2

The Matrix is the set of daily experiences that experiences that make up our lives.

Can we change our perceptions to change our experience?

If so, what might we choose? 

 

The Matrix: Wendy Wagner, PhD

 

This is the second part of my interview with Wendy Wagner, PhD. The first part is here.

A cancer diagnosis takes many of us on a road trip into our own souls, to discover meaning, perspective and perhaps a new path for our life. My discussion with Wendy ranged over so many topics, that rather than try to segment each one in a short video, I decided to simply share the entire discussion. 

 

Wendy Wagner, PhD: A Road Trip Into The Psyche, Part 2

 

 

 

 

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable.

Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart.

But that’s okay.

The journey changes you; it should change you.

It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness,

on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you.

Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

Anthony Bourdain

 

 

Life is a journey. 

Cancer is a journey.

Together they are the ultimate road trip.

Where might we go and what might we learn?

travel, matrix
 

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More on The Matrix

What is the Matrix?

I call it the set of daily decisions and experiences that make up our lives.

Can we change our perceptions and change our experience? If so, what would we choose?

Here are some more posts contemplating life, travel and how we construct our matrix to view our world:

The Matrix: A Road Trip Into The Psyche

Healing Travel for a Better Matrix

Gratitude: A Habit For All Times

11 Life Lessons Learned From The Road

Traveling The Timeline of Now

Traveling With Cancer: A One Year Anniversary

Thoughts On The Metaphor of a Road Trip

 

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

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The Matrix: A Road Trip Into The Psyche With Wendy Wagner PhD

The Matrix: A Road Trip Into The Psyche With Wendy Wagner PhD

If you’re a film buff, The Matrix is the massively popular film starring Keanu Reeves as Neo. In the film, Neo discovers that his “reality” is a manufactured illusion. Nothing he perceives is real. And as he dives into The Matrix, his education begins.

In a similar fashion, this Matrix Series is intended to shake up some of our preconceptions and to explore a deeper, more meaningful and consciously created life. Through interviews with people across numerous disciplines, we explore the elements that make up our Matrix, those daily choices that determine our thoughts and our experiences.

I am delighted to introduce Wendy Wagner, PhD in this first interview for the new Matrix Series.

Meet Wendy E. Wagner, PhD

 

“My emphasis is on the correct use of the mind and mindfulness, choosing which thoughts to think.The art of thought, the art of choice.”

 

Wendy is a cancer survivor with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Tufts University, a Masters’ Degree in Transpersonal Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology from Summit University. She is also also certified as a Master Hypnotist, an Addictions Counselor by the West Coast Institute of Addictive Studies, and  a Mindfulness Coach and Doula.

“The source of most disease is in the spirit. Therefore, the spirit can cure most disease.”

–Nicola Tesla

 

Cancer is a traumatic event for most of us. If we’re honest, it’s a call to pay attention to our body and our soul. How do we use the trauma to grow and heal? What part does our psyche play in healing? How do we enlist the power of our mind?

Wendy and I had a wide ranging discussion about using cancer as a portal towards becoming more conscious. The interview runs over an hour, so I’ve cut it down into shorter segments. In this post are the first three segments.

 

A Cosmic Cattle Prod

 

Wendy talks frankly about her own cancer diagnosis, which she calls a “Cosmic Cattle Prod”. It forced her to go within to discover the strength needed to move forward with cancer.
Ancient cultures consider severe illness to be a portal to the soul. The experience is seen as a gateway, a narrow portal, being presented that opens to a totally different dimension if we take the opportunity.

 

 

 

Everything that happens is for your benefit

 

Wendy has had a number of influential mentors over the years. One posed three statements to ponder:

 

Everything happens for your benefit

The body is an effect of the mind

There are no neutral thoughts

One can agree or disagree, but each opens a fascinating portal for exploration and discovery.
If one were to approach life from a perspective of learning, what might one learn? 

 

Creating Your Reality With Thought

Science is beginning the explore the power of our minds and its influence on our world view. As Einstein once asked:

“Is the world a friendly place?”

Your answer matters.

If you answer yes, your life experience is one of relative security and curiosity.

If not, it’s one of fear and conflict.

Which path do you choose? Because it is a choice.

 

 

Visit Wendy’s website for more videos on her thoughts on the power of the mind.

“The Art of Thought, the Art of Choice.”

 

The interview will continue in a future post.

 

More Reading on Consciousness and The Matrix

Do We Live In The Matrix? from Discover Magazine
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose  by Eckhardt Tolle
The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles, and Belief by Gregg Braden
Healing Travel For A Better Matrix
Gratitude: A Habit For All Times

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

Follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and at Anti-Cancer Club.  Connect with me!  I may need a place or two to stay along the way!

Stocking Stuffers for Any Road Trip

Stocking Stuffers for Any Road Trip

Stocking stuffers have always been one of my favorite parts of the holiday celebration. Great things can come in small packages, and the thought and ingenuity to make that happen have always been great fun for me.

For my holiday celebration, a new website! I want to profoundly thank everyone who helped with this. The Guides whose generosity and patience are moving CancerRoadTrip forward. And the very talented Josh Woodroffe whose combination of design and tech savvy have made this possible. Not to mention his patience!

Namaste to all.

Stocking Stuffers for Soulful Travelers

While many people are dashing about this time of year, shopping, planning and partying, I tend to be a bit more still. There are a number of social events I’ll attend, but I usually use this time of year to reflect and to plan my travels for the New Year.

In my travels, I look for life’s lessons and wisdom.  The gifts I’ve selected are the perfect travel gifts for life’s journeys; they take no space and create no weight; they are of daily use.

They are the stuff of thought.

I recently came across Gary Hensel’s wonderful book I Am: Two of the Most Powerful Words For What You Put After Them Shapes Your Reality.

 

“The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between dreams and reality. Visualize your dreams.”

 

It’s a distillation of the wisdom across many disciplines. I find myself smiling, nodding and simply loving this book. What it doesn’t have in length, it has in wisdom.  For anyone who sees life as a road trip, and a spiritual one at that, I thoroughly recommend having this book along for the adventure.

 

 

A classic that must be read is Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. If you haven’t read this, you need to. This book is about the heart and soul of travel and dreams. While Paulo Coelho is known to many, I have to admit he is relatively new to me. My first introduction actually came through a quote on Twitter:

 

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal.”

 

This has since become one of my all time favorite quotes. The Alchemist is a favorite book in the history of literature. Make it one of yours as well.

 

 

The City and The Stars by Arthur C. Clarke is a bit obscure. It was written in the fifties and is perhaps more relevant today than ever. For years this has been my favorite book of all time, and it remains in my top 10. It is prescient. It talks about the homogenization of humanity through technology; about soul; and about adventure. If you’re looking for a good read, this is it. The perfect stocking stuffer: a tale of adventure and humanity, written in the past, about the future.

 

 

I am perhaps a broken record when it comes to my admiration for the books of Eckhardt Tolle, but The Power Of Now is truly a significant book. Through his own hardships, Tolle comes to see the magic and power of the present moment and how present moment living cures so many ills. Learning to be present, through mediation and discipline, has changed my life. May this stocking influence yours as well.

 

 

I first read Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha as a young person, and I’ve returned to it several times since. It’s a story, a metaphor and an adventure about materialism, spirituality and finding oneself. May this book find itself into your stocking.

 

 

Rachel Naomi Remen’s Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal is another book to take along as you tackle life’s journeys. She has a humble wisdom that connects with the soul. Through her stories, your soul will connect too.

 

Travel can be in your head and in your world. May your holiday season find a bit of room for both.

 

Stocking Stuffers From The Road: More Reading On Life’s Adventures

Gratitude: A Habit For All Times
11 Life Lessons Learned From The Road
Traveling The Timeline of Now
Traveling With Cancer: A One Year Anniversary
Scanxiety and Cancer On The Road
Serendipity: Life Lessons From The Road
Thoughts On The Metaphor of a Road Trip

 

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory! 

Follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and at Anti-Cancer Club.  Connect with me!  I may need a place or two to stay along the way!

 

Sound For Healing

Sound For Healing

Using sound for healing is an art thousands of years old. Sound, after all, is energy and it was discovered long before X-rays and sonograms and many other modern medical wonders.

And sound can heal.

A chance meeting brought a form of sound therapy into my life. In addition to the omnipresence of lymphoma always lurking in the background, I’ve been dealing with  Dupuytren’s Contracture which is causing my fingers to curl and become severely crippled. I am quite concerned about loosing the use of my right index finger, and thus the use much of my right hand.

The medical options include needle aponeurotomy, steroid injections, and enzyme injections. These interventions tend to last only for a short period of time. Surgery does not offer any good statistics or guarantees either.  

In short, these options address the symptoms, but not the underlying disease. Welcome to modern medicine.

So I’ve been on a lookout for options. That’s when travel serendipity struck yet again.

I was invited to give a talk about CancerRoadTrip. Afterwards a woman came over and introduced herself: Laurie McDonald.

Meeting Laurie is so Santa Fe. Here is a highly educated and accomplished woman with a resume that would kick butt anywhere. She has a BFA, from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; an MA, from the University of Houston; has studied sound therapy in New Delhi/Chennai, India with the Nada Centre for Sound Therapy (and earned a CNCMT); and is a Certified Acutonics Practitioner, in Santa Fe, New Mexico (www.soundtherapysantafe.com). And an author (Travel for STOICS). And a pioneer in working with sound therapy and vets for PTSD; and a film maker with clients such as the Whitney Museum of America Art in New York.

For me, the combination of acupuncture with the energy of sound made sense for a connective tissue issue. I’ve had superb results from acupuncture over the years. I’ve used it for tennis elbow; for general well being; to manage horrific chemo side effects.

As a result, acupuncture is among my first line choices for healing. Combined with the energy of sound, it made sense to me for a connective tissue problem. So I thought I’d give it a go.

Laurie warned me to keep my expectations low; she made no promises. But I’m a few weeks into this now and I’m seeing real improvement, particularly in my right hand. If I can just stay the progression, I’d be happy. But progress! Beyond my wildest dreams.

But it shouldn’t be. Over time, through travel and travail, I’ve come to look for healing disciplines that treat the cause, as well as the disease. It’s here that modern medicine bats .500. I’m on a quest for the other half of that equation. And sound for healing may be part of that equation for me.

To discuss sound for healing, let’s start with a look at acupuncture, because my current explorations are combining both.

 

Acupuncture

Mind/body medicine, sound for healing

Acupuncture

 

The history of acupuncture goes back over 8,000 years, long before modern medicine even existed. Think about the centuries of practice and experience in this tradition.  The Chinese use it for everything from healing to anesthesia during surgery.

The basic principle, derived from thousands of years of use, study and observation is based on Taoism which promotes a balance between yin and yang. Using over 2,000 acupuncture points that have been identified in the body, fine needles are used to adjust the flow of energy and restore health and balance. Acupuncture is also used in pain management, as one New York Times reporter learned from personal experience.

Richard Nixon’s opening of China opened the door for acupuncture to be introduced to the U.S. But is was when New York Times reporter James Reston  successfully used it for surgical pain during an emergency appendectomy while in China, and his ensuing articles about his experience, that mainstream America started to notice.

Over the centuries, acupuncture has become a vital part of  healing for many people. Given my experiences, the idea of accessing the acupuncture points using sound vibration made enormous sense. Particularly in dealing with the connective tissues issues in my hands.

Sound For Healing

Using sound for healing is part science, part art, and part ancient tradition.

Sound is simply the vibration of matter. And humans are systems of vibratory matter.

Matter tends towards harmony. The process is called entrainment. Entrainment explains why metronomes synchronize and why people can bond deeply over a conversation. Humans vibrate in resonance with their surroundings.

The ancient Tibetans and other cultures understood the importance of sound. The Tibetans used the deep rich song of singing bowls in their healing practices; the shamans of Peru use the repetitive beat of drums to bring on a deep meditative state. In our own culture Martin Luther King, knowingly or not, used the sound of his voice and the cadence of his speech to resonate with his audience.

Sound is energy. How do we use it? What impact can it potentially have on our lives and health?

From Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, MD

Sound can change our immune function. After either chanting or listening to certain forms of music, your Interluken-1 level, an index of your immune system, goes up between 12 and a half and 15 percent. Not only that, about 20 minutes after listening to this meditative type music, your immunoglobin levels in your blood are significantly increased. There’s no part of our body not effected. Even our heart rate and blood pressure are lowered with certain forms of music. So, it effects not only our soul and our spirit, but it effects us on literally a cellular and sub-cellular level.

 

Sound transcends time and traditions. It brings up memory and emotion.

And if both the ancients and the neuroscientists are to be believed, perhaps sound is a channel to the mind and the body’s memory of emotion.

 

Sound for healing, CancerRoadTrip

Photo Credit: Fancycrave, Manali, India

 

Sound and Harmony

Researchers have discovered that cells resonate at particular harmonic frequencies. When these cells are healthy, they vibrate at “optimum balance,” like tuning forks. Obviously, disease is dissonant or disharmonic, having a negative effect on cells.

Cancer, like many other diseases, may reflect an imbalance in the body. Modern medicine often does an excellent job at fighting disease, but finding deeper personal, emotional and psycho-spiritual healing is what many cancer patients need.

I have come to believe that finding peace and harmony is a critical part of healing. Cancer fractures your life. Futures are gone; relationships may change; physical after effects may impact your ability to do things.

The need to heal, and to regroup, is a need for harmony.

To my mind, it’s about finding that energetic balance, whether it’s through the coherence of meditation and heart such as HeartMath; through acupuncture or yoga; through massage or sound.

Everyone is different and everyone resonates (no pun intended) with different modalities. The key is finding something that suits you.

So it is I’m on an exploration of sound for healing, at least for my hands.

Laurie McDonald uses a system called Acutonics, which uses vibrational sound on acupuncture points. This system was developed by  Ellen Franklin, PhD and Donna Carey LAc  in Taos, New Mexico.

Acutonics brings together the wisdom and efficacy of Oriental medicine, psychology, science and the arts, with the energy of sound. Precision engineered tuning forks are chosen for their specific vibrational frequency and are placed on the various points in the body. The harmonic combinations and the use of acupuncture points are used to manage, move and rebalance energy.

The idea behind using sound for healing is simple, while the execution is more complex.

Practitioners may study for years to develop the fine sensibilities of providing vibrational sound healing. The tuning forks provide feedback. Is the sound moving smoothly, or encountering resistance? Is the harmonic frequency the right one? Are the acupuncture points chosen wisely?

Is sound healing?

***

Synergy in Sound for Healing

Sound does more than simply resonate within the body. It has the ability to touch deep into one’s psyche and emotion and it is here, science is coming to believe, that healing occurs. Neuroscience is catching up to age old wisdom, recognizing that mind and body are one.

Candace Pert was a scientific leader in this quest. Her book “Molecules of Emotion” chronicled her successful quest to show that neuropeptides linked the mind and the immune system. Her research showed that your thoughts impact your biology.

 

 

The mind and body, she argued, are one.

 

If thoughts are energy that release neuropeptides, what of sound that touches an emotional chord within?

From Dr. Gaynor’s book, The Healing Power of Sound:

“According to Beverly Rubik, a leading expert on energy medicine, energy fields form inside and outside the body carry information that changes and perhaps even regulates cells throughout our bodies. …Sound waves are yet another form of energy that can conceivably influence neuropeptides and their cellular receptors.  And if we recognize that our own biological healing systems are influenced by energy fields, we can begin to understand why sound and vibration are important new tools for healing.”

Gaynor relays a story of one patient, who finds peace with his cancer by delving into the pain of his adoption. Using sound for healing, he connects with his pain, and in connecting with it, he is able to release it. Years later, he is living with cancer, but otherwise healthy.

Anecdotally, I hear many, many stories of how deep healing impacts biology. What helps us to reach deep? Is sound perhaps one modality?

If mind and body are one, is the resonance of energy through sound part of the neuroscience of healing?

Can sound help us by-pass our social conditioning to find a deeper internal resonance for health?

 

What are the sounds in your life?

 

vibrational healing, CancerRoadTrip

Photo Credit: Marius Masalar

***

CancerRoadTrip is a trip of curiosity, soul and deliverance.

Curiosity because I can’t help myself; soul because it’s what gives life substance; and deliverance from the constraints of my culture. I sense a deep need to see more, to experience more and to know more than the superficial tumult of the waves on the modern surface of our society.

My life has, and continues to be, a journey. Starting with the existential threat of cancer with all it’s emotional ups and downs; to discovering the transformative effects of meditation; to acupuncture; to sound; to other cultural perspectives of health.

 

Independent of cultures, certain healing traditions seem to emerge in my travels.

 

From the stories of the Tewe people, to the shamans of Peru, there is a story of soul, connection and harmony that is missing in our mass produced, consumeristic, judgmental society. The connection is deep, it is of the earth and it is spiritual in nature. The Ka Ta See talk of finding one’s song. Here the idea of sound becomes a metaphor for soulful exploration and harmony.

Barbara Culbertson (shaman, friend, and wise woman) said to me that our lives today are 180 degrees from the wisdom of the ancients. I agreed when she said that, but as time goes on, I wonder just how far we’ve veered from our connection to the earth and our place in the universe.

 

Photo Credit: Joshua Earle

 

What is it that opens the doors to deep connection?

What timeless modalities unite us with the wisdom of the past, to find the truth of the soul?

And what impact does this synchronistic way of life have on our health, our families and our communities?

 

 

More Reading on Sound For Healing

 

 

Mitch Gaynor, integrative oncologist and author of The Healing Power of Sound,  sadly died recently. His insightful, out of the box approach to complimentary healing has much to teach all of us.

In this book, he explores the cultural traditions and techniques of using sound for healing and for soulful exploration. This is an amazing book. If the idea of using sound for healing intrigues you at all, this is a must read. And, as always, your purchases through this website are greatly appreciated.

Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles, and  the ground breaking Yale oncologist says of this book:

“This book is about healing your life through rhythm and harmony. Read it and learn how to orchestrate your life.”

As an aside, I’ve had the pleasure of having Dr. Seigel enter my life twice. The first time was in the eighties, at Yale. He gave a talk about the emotional and psychological aspects of healing. Needless to say, the neanderthal mindset of the surgeons in the room dismissed him (actually, they weren’t even that polite).

Some years later, I spoke to Bernie again. We talked about Anti-Cancer Club. He told me you can’t heal or effect change by being against something. It took me some time to see the wisdom in his comment.

He quoted Mother Teresa:

“I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.”

–Mother Teresa

It’s only now, many years later, that I truly understand the profound wisdom of this philosophy in life, in one’s soul and in cancer.

 

More Reading on Healing and Travel

Peruvian Healing Traditions: Ka Ta See
Puye Cliff Dwellings: Earth Spirit, Fire and Art
Labyrinth Walking in Santa Fe
Serendipity: Life Lessons from the Road
The Mayan Ruins of Chichen Itza and Chaccoben

 

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Sound for healing

 

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