This is the last installment of Michael Sieverts' Tips/Tricks to Recover Your Life. Please see past posts for valuable information and resources from Michael on a variety of topics, including nutrition, meditation, and support.Michael Sieverts is a brain cancer survivor since 2000. He is the instructor for Cancer Support Community’s qigong classes in the parks. Roxbury Park classes meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 10:30a.m. to 12 noon and in Clover Park every Monday and Friday from 9:30 to 11:00a.m. Free to all those affected by cancer. Call 310-314-2555.
Attitude/Belief/Support:
Last but not least: the goal is not to live forever, nor to return to an old place, but rather to transform ourselves into healthy people, utterly at peace with ourselves, our families and our friends. Create a tradition of peacefulness:
● Feel gratitude
● Forgive yourself, lighten up, and loosen your grip. Find some humor in your situation.● Cycle through the Mel Brooks catalog and other comedies.
● Connect to others, don’t try to keep everything internal. Cultivate relationships with those who support your healing process and your medical choices.
● Be aware of whether someone is being helpful or not—and if not, find a way to marginalize and ignore them.
● Develop an immune-competent personality, monitoring and taking care of your own needs, and resisting becoming a self-sacrificing martyr.
● Reduce your anger, stress and anxiety.
● Don’t do anything you hate doing—if it’s something that you have to do, find a way to re-frame it so that you’re not flooding your system with stress hormones.
● Use your illness as a teacher—learn what it can tell you about medicine, about compassion for yourself and others, and about how to care for yourself.
● An illness is a terrible thing, but with the right attitude it might be a benefit—and it might wind up being the best thing that ever happened to you.
● Find your true talent, discover your purpose in life. Why have we been put here?
Reading List and Web Resources:
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
- A General Theory of Love by Thomas;Amini, Fari;Lannon, Richard Lewis
- Cancer As a Turning Point: A Handbook for People with Cancer, Their Families, and Health Professionals by Lawrence Leshan
- Wellness Community Guide to Fighting for Recovery from Cancer by Harold H. Benjamin
- http://www.cancersupportcommunitybenjamincenter.org/
- http://www.simmsmanncenter.ucla.edu/
Did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To find myself loved,
To feel myself loved, on this earth.
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