Cancer – What to do now?

1. Empower yourself.Knowledge is power goes a saying and I truly believe this is true. So, I advise you to read and ask questions. Seek knowledge so that you understand your illness. Research has shown that those who feel hopeless, helpless and accept their fate lying down survive poorly. I tell cancer patients to stand up and live! Do not just be contented to remain at the bottom of the pile with the following mentality: My doctor says this and my doctor says that. You will end up following everything that he says. I am not asking you to defy your doctor’s instructions but I also know that you may be led by the nose without having a clue about what is going on. It may not always be good for you.

• Re-evaluate your strategy.In my books, I have written about gut feelings and common sense. Body-mind healers advocate the use of intuition or the 6th sense when making important decisions in life. I have come to realise that not all decisions made based on scientific data are wise or correct in many of life’s situations. Statistics and data can be deceptive, cold, dead and insensitive to human feelings. I advocate the use of simple common sense. For example, ask yourself if the treatment that you are undergoing is bringing you anywhere. Is it benefiting you or killing you?

Of course, when you go for any invasive treatment, your hope is to achieve a cure. Ask your doctor if there is such a thing as a cure for your condition. Some patients are given chemotherapy just for palliative reasons, not cure. The treatment is supposed to make your life better or more bearable. Re-evaluate that strategy and determine if that is what you want.

Dr. Jeffry Tobias (in Cancer) wrote:

• …one important decision …. when to say no more.

Indeed, it is wise to know when to withdraw and to say enough is enough, if and when the treatment is spinning you in a circle.

There was one lung cancer patient who came and told me that his oncologist spent only half a minute with him every time he went for his chemotherapy. My advice to him was: Find another oncologist who can be more caring and who could give you more of his time and expertise. How much can a half-a-minute doctor help you? Can you expect such a busy-and-no-time doctor to save your life? Evaluate my comments and make your own decisions about all these issues. Sometimes what it takes is only common sense to save your life.

• Make wise decisions.Gurdjieff said:

· The wise man is not educated and the educated man is not wise.

Yes, you don’t need to be educated to be wise. To enable you to make wise decisions, you need to be aware of the following:

· Do not make decisions based on or out of fear.

· If possible, before you make any important decision, seek more information, from different sources and viewpoints.

· Weigh out the options, both pros and cons. Do not simply see the good side of things only. Take into account the worst possible scenario as well.

· Connect with your Inner Self. Seek out your intuition, common sense or gut feelings. Take time to be alone, to be silent. Relax and let the Inner Voice within you speak to you. If you are too busy or preoccupied with other things, you cannot hear your own Inner Voice.

· Arrive at a decision that you can live with. It is your body – it is your liver or your breast that is to be cut off. Ask yourself if you can live with that decision. It is your life that is at stake. Doctors and other people can only help but you are the one who suffers the brunt of whatever is done to you.

· Once a decision is made, stay on course. Then, re-evaluate your strategy if it harms you.

• Trust and flow – easy does it!  Dr. Joseph Murphy (in The Power of Your Subconscious Mind) said:
• According to your belief, it is done unto you.

The causes of failures in healing are mental coercion, lack of confidence, doubt and hesitation. All these reflect negative attitudes. If you come with the main goal of going all out for cure, chances are that you will fail to get one. In your intense desire to cure yourself, you can become very tense and may not have peace of mind. Have you ever experienced a time when you are trying very hard to crack and solve a problem? Your mind comes to a dead end.

Try to take it easy. Relax and go to sleep. When you wake up the next morning, things will look easier and you will get to solve your problem in no time. This is because the subconscious mind does not respond to mental coercion.

You do not have to teach your body how to heal itself. It is intelligent enough and wise enough to know how to heal itself. Relax and let the body do its job without your unnecessary interference. Ask and pray for good health and you get just that. Again, I say, take it easy.

• Forgive and let go.Negative thoughts such as hurtful memories, bitterness, hatred, anger, etc., beget negative reactions and they block the free flow of life. Let your life be expressed in terms of love, forgiveness, sharing, caring, harmony, peace, beauty and abundance.

By loving and forgiving yourself and others you let go of your negative emotions and this is the first step and necessary ingredient of healing.