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"If thoughts move matter, then maybe thoughts
are matter,
and thoughts matter." Devo Cutler
While you are undergoing radiation treatment it may be helpful
to take time to think positively. It was helpful for me (a breast
cancer survivor) to do the following:
* Come up with an image or symbol that, for
you, indicates your complete recovery, your total health.
* Put this image in your wallet, near a phone
or in your bathroom.
* When you are feeling out of control, remember
that you can change your thinking. And these thoughts can
help the outcome of your illness.
Specifically, while you are undergoing the "THREE HITS"
of radiation, you may want to focus your mind, meditate on your
healing. During the first hit think about #1, during the second
hit think about #2, during the third hit think about #3:
HERE'S THE THREE THOUGHTS I USED:
1) "This amazing, big, incredible, scary machine is giving
me just enough to get well."
2) Focus on your "total health" symbol (I used the
image of a heart inside a circle).
3) Think about yourself healthy years from today. I
imagined myself as a ninety year-old woman sitting on a swing
with my husband on a verandah, happy, having survived my illness.
POSITIVE THINKING EXERCISE
Write down a list of things that you accomplished this last year!
1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________
6. (Something I choose to keep private)_____________________
_________________________________________________________
(IF LAST YEAR WAS A HARD YEAR, THINK BACK OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS
AND SNEAK IN SOME STUFF FROM THEN, TOO!)
Write down a list of a few things you are LOOKING FORWARD TO:
1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________
6. (Something I choose not to mention)________________________
______________________________________________________
DISCUSSION POINTS: "Architecture of Change"
The following is helpful when you are looking to change things
in your life:
1) First you have to begin by acknowledging the need for change
(where are you bankrupt? Where do you feel that you need to grow?
How can you help yourself get through this as best as possible?)
2) Take a moment to write down or just think about any "loser
patterns" in your life. People who are toxic or suck your
energy, relationships that are not equitable.
3) Then look at the loss of energy, space, time, money being
involved with these people or patterns.
4) Then make a commitment to change them, and begin to think
about a new structure that could help you transform these situations.
Sometimes just looking at the cost of the pattern or negative
person in your life will get you off your duff to make some changes.
5) Then don't forget to grieve for yourself and grieve for others
affected by these former bad habits. I like to write everything
down and either tear it up and bury or burn it.
6) Design New Structure - what would be the ways that you could
do things differently? For instance, don't answer the phone, have
the service pick it up. Ask your kids to drive you to your treatments,
etc.
7) Breakdown New Structure into action, build support with those
you know support you and create new friends if you have to, friends
who support your new healthier ways of being.
8) Acknowledge the change, celebrate. Have a "new you"
birthday party. So what if you're bald? It's time to start your
new life. Cancer has given you a chance. What are you going to
do with it? It's up to you, the choices we make. A very wise person
once told me, "Everyone is good and bad, but it is what we
do that makes us more good than bad."
PLEASE NOTE: These techniques and other
suggestions on this site are
intended as complementary suggestions to
whatever your primary physician has
suggested that you do for your health and healing. These suggestions
are
not intended to replace your doctors' and other healing practitioners'
advice. The BC Tool Kit's suggestions are intended to be supportive
on your
self-healing journey, and are based on my own personal experiences
and
antidotal data. They are steeped in my belief that it is important
to take the
power back once you have been diagnosed with cancer. These self-help
techniques can be used to reinforce usual medical treatment --
techniques
for learning positive attitudes, relaxation, visualization, goal
setting,
managing pain, exercise, and building an emotional and healing
support team
Diagnosis
Protocal | Pre-Surgery
Suggestions | Post-Op
Healing
Everyday
Recovery | Empower
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