In This Article:
- How you can navigate the emotional complexities of a cancer diagnosis.
- What role does self-compassion play in the cancer healing journey?
- Can a cancer diagnosis serve as a wake-up call for personal growth?
- How you can make informed treatment choices while avoiding self-judgment.
- What is the importance of gratitude and connection in the healing process?
So, You or Someone You Love Has Cancer?
by Lawrence Doochin.
Unfortunately, during the months it took to write and edit this book, I learned of a number of others—a family member, friends, and acquaintances—who were diagnosed with cancer. Some of their prognoses are good; some are not so good.
As I have spoken to these individuals or their spouses, my heart has both opened and broken for them, because I know the fear that accompanies cancer or any major health issue. I want to take away their fear and pain, because we are not meant to live in suffering. This is not what God intended for this world. But we have to deal with reality, and sometimes that means that life will bring us difficult circumstances.
When You Can't Figure Things Out
Many years of working on myself and being in observation of others have increasingly brought me to the understanding that we can’t figure things out—that there are no absolutes in life, no blacks and whites, and certainly no guarantees one way or the other.
For instance, two years prior to my cancer diagnosis I had a full blood work test done, and my doctor said that my blood work reflected perfect health. He said to keep doing what I was doing.
I was fortunate to be able to catch my cancer because I was able to physically feel it. If I hadn’t been able to do that, it may have been at a much later stage when I first became aware of it, which is the situation for so many. This is the reason we all need to examine our lives—now—whether we have “cancer” or not.
Accepting the Mystery of Life
Accepting the mystery of life takes us to a place of surrender in awe and in wonder and gratitude. We can then apply this practice of faith—and its ups and downs—to the cancer journey, which is integral to healing in the complete way.
I have great trust in each of you who is undergoing a cancer or a significant health issue journey. I believe that each of you has the strength to look within and find your answers and your balance, for a middle-of-the-road, balanced approach is always the wisest. I know with complete certainty that you can tap into your divinity and innate wisdom and change your life in the most amazing way. That you can truly make the best of a difficult situation.
What I hope and pray for is that you will know this yourself with complete certainty and take the steps that are revealed to you and will be highly beneficial for you. But I have also observed human behavior long enough to know that a majority of people—likely a large majority—will not examine their lives to any depth.
Unfortunately, they will not take significant steps to any large degree and will find themselves in the same place, in the same ruts, and going around the same circles they have always been. It is really true that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Everyone Makes Their Own Choices
Everyone gets to make the choices they want to make, but each of us needs to realize that every choice or non-choice has consequences. I have compassion for those who cannot make significant changes in their lives, because intuitively we know that change can create pain and we shy away from that, usually fooling ourselves with some type of justification or rationalization. This is human nature.
But God can only help us with healing in the complete way to the extent we are willing to help ourselves. If we are aware and blessed enough to see that we cannot and will not make significant changes, we can move into self-compassion, which is a choice that has highly beneficial consequences.
Whatever we choose, it is important to recognize how easily we fall into self-judgment and think that we have failed, that we are not doing something right, or that we have let someone down if we choose a certain path of treatment. Here we can see the way our minds and conditioning take us down a path that is not beneficial.
Coming Back to Observation and Self-Compassion
We can and must always come back to observation and self-compassion. We can make the recognition that cancer sucks while also holding the recognition that it is a wake-up call that can be a gift for us.
This book was written and revised over a number of months. The growth that I went through with my cancer journey, which included the writing of this book, has pushed me to an even higher awareness in many areas, and for that I am highly grateful. Interestingly, I wrote earlier in the book that I chose to have conventional treatment because I did not feel at that time that I could heal it on my own.
I feel this might be different if I were having to make that decision again today. But usually it is the very vehicle—in this case my cancer journey—that enables us to have a higher understanding where we can look back and say that we would have done it differently. Life has so many interesting threads and nuances.
I have now had my follow-up CT scan, which is three months post-treatment. Thankfully, the scan told me that I am now likely “cancer-free.” The waiting was somewhat easy the first two months, since I couldn’t do anything to find out the effectiveness of the treatment, so I was able to put it out of my mind and just do life. But as the date approached for my scan, I became increasingly fearful.
I was looking outside of myself for an outcome that I wanted, and all I could do was fall back into self-compassion. It’s important to recognize that we are both human and divine, so we are going to feel fear and other “negative” emotions, but we have our divine toolbox to help us process and transform these negative emotions.
Life Is A Gift
When I found out the results of the last scan, my first emotion besides relief was gratitude and an extreme appreciation for being on this earth with my family. Life is a gift, and it should not be taken for granted.
Most of us are frantically running around trying to achieve something, and we miss the simplicity and beauty of life, especially the joy found in our relationships with those we love and in our connection to the natural world. We are really here on Earth for communion.
Having a journey with cancer or another severe health issue will hopefully awaken us to what’s important. Otherwise, the experience will be wasted if no greater awareness and love comes out of it.
I wish you the greatest of blessings and comfort on your healing journey. We are one family, and we all need each other.
Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Publisher : One-Hearted Publishing.
Article Source: Healing Cancer
Healing Cancer: The Complete Way
by Lawrence Doochin
Having undergone a cancer journey himself, Lawrence Doochin understands the severe fear and trauma that those who have cancer, and their loved ones, experience. His heart opens to each of you with the greatest compassion and empathy, and this book was written to be of service.
Healing Cancer will take you from despair to optimism, peace, and gratitude.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.
More books by this Author.
About the Author
Lawrence Doochin is an author, entrepreneur, and devoted husband and father. A survivor of harrowing childhood sexual abuse, he traveled a long journey of emotional and spiritual healing and developed an in-depth understanding of how our beliefs create our reality. In the business world, he has worked for, or been associated with, enterprises from small startups to multinational corporations. He is the cofounder of HUSO sound therapy, which delivers powerful healing benefits to individual and professionals worldwide. In everything Lawrence does, he strives to serve a higher good.
He is also the author of A Book on Fear: Feeling Safe in a Challenging World. Learn more at LawrenceDoochin.com.
Article Recap:
This article explores the profound challenges and opportunities that arise from a cancer diagnosis. The focus is on navigating the cancer healing journey by embracing the mysteries of life, cultivating self-compassion, and making informed treatment choices. It highlights the importance of gratitude and deepening connections with loved ones, suggesting that even in the face of fear and uncertainty, there is potential for growth, healing, and a renewed appreciation for the gift of life.
