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By Jim Acee*
1. Seek out traditional medical professionals and/or complementary/alternative
medicine healers that promote hope and believe in your recovery. Realize that
the term "false hope" is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as false hope. Be
open to leaving your local area to get the kind of help that inspires hope.
2. Read about and contact survivors with your type and stage of cancer. Learn
from them how to survive and thrive. Your hospital or local library should have
books and videos by cancer survivors. Look for these titles: Cancer: Increasing
Your Odd for Survival...a great book by David Bognar and video of the same title
narrated by Walter Cronkite "Fight for Your Life" and "Cancer Doesn't Scare Me
Anymore" and other videos by Dr. Lorraine Day.
3. Focus on your reasons to live; your life passions, your unfulfilled dreams,
and your relationships with loved ones...or whatever it is that motivates you to
go on living. Write these out and review them regularly. A great seminar that
helps those with cancer re-discover their passion for life and reason to live is
offered by Dr. Lawrence Leshan, author of the excellent book Cancer As a Turning
Point.
4. Surround yourself with loving, caring, supportive, and optimistic people. End
relationships or curtail contact with people who do not enhance your healing.
5. Experience the beauty and healing power of nature combined with the
opportunity for personal reflection. Rent a home for a week or two or even a
month by the ocean, lake, mountains...wherever you can feel spiritually
connected to nature. Or, attend a cancer or meditative retreat located in a
quiet and beautiful setting.
6. Eliminate negativity, stress, and depression. Control depression with herbs
or prescriptive drugs. Do whatever is necessary to eliminate negativity and
stress...get counseling, quit work, get divorced, etc.
7. Be willing to try different healing concepts and methods until you find ones
that inspire your survival mentally. Don't stick with a healing treatment that
you know intuitively is not right for you.
8. Read survival stories about people who have suffered more than you, and have
survived and thrived afterwards. True stories about explorers, adventurers,
victims of accidents, disasters, medical conditions, etc are easy to find. Just
ask a librarian how to find "survival stories" at your local library or through
an interlibrary loan service.
9. Make future plans and commit to future events. Book a vacation a year in
advance, buy a season ski pass for next year, enroll in a college degree
program, etc. Visualize your healthy-self accomplishing these commitments. Let
these commitments draw you toward the future.
10. Become convinced that you have a spiritual purpose for living. Know that
your life has meaning and significance...that you have a contribution to make,
for yourself and for others. Find spiritual support for this concept. Read books
by, or be bold and contact or visit spiritual leaders who most inspire you. In
your house, post inspirational and motivational quotes where you'll see them
often. |
