The greatest antidote to cancer is to be fully engaged in living the life you came here to live. When we actively engage in a fulfilling life and take care of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually then we create the ideal physiology in which our health can be maintained or regained.
Over the past twenty-five years I have worked with tens of thousands of people living with the impact that cancer has on their lives and who are looking to actively contribute to their own healing. Healing is different from curing. Curing focuses on the physical body. Healing focuses on the whole of the human being – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I know people who have been cured but are still in need of healing and people who have died healed of everything that ever stopped them from truly living. These are the paradoxes of healing.
When I first started working with people with cancer as a naturopath and meditation teacher, I shared with my clients my knowledge of nutrition, supplements, meditation and other healing therapies. Over the years as I saw many people regain their health I realised that there is no one pathway to health and healing. There is no one diet, no best meditation practice and no perfect supplement program for all people.
It became obvious to me that the people who were far outliving their prognosis or who attained unexpected remissions were not all doing the same things. They each found their own particular path to healing and in each case it was a pathway that was right for them. What these people all have in common is a way of being rather than doing. In this lies the key to profound healing.
Focusing only on the physical aspects of healing addresses only part of the problem of ill health. It is easy to focus on the aspects of healing that are involved in ‘doing’. Indeed we feel reassured when we are busy ‘doing’. But our doing can be at the expense of our being. The state of ‘being’ is described in the Four C’s. These four qualities of ‘being’ are usually found in people who attain unexpected remissions, who far outlive their doctor’s expectations or who are now entirely free of their disease when that was never expected. People don’t always do the same things but they generally all have these same qualities of being.
The state of being described in the Four C’s is a profoundly beneficial physiological state in which our bodies will do whatever healing is possible. A physiology of heightened fear, anxiety, agitation, disappointment, upset, depression and/or panic is less conducive to healing than one in which we feel calm, responsive, confident, capable, supported, loved, cared for and in which we feel able to make meaning of our experience and have healthy priorities that support our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
People who have these qualities described in the Four C’s do all kinds of things. They may seek second, third or fourth opinions. They may research their options. They may get their relationships up to date and find improved ways of communicating. They may forgive people or past wounds. They may improve their diet and research what vitamins or other supplements may be beneficial. They may meditate, practice tai chi, qui gong, yoga, exercise, drink juice, have intravenous vitamins, take antioxidants or seek counselling, psychotherapy or attend a psychosocial support group. They may pray, sing, paint or fulfill a long-held dream. They may deepen their relationship with themselves, with others or with animals or nature. They choose to make meaning of their experiences through the choices or decisions they make.
……. to be continued.
Petrea King
Petrea King
N.D., D.R.M., D.B.M., Dip Cl. Hyp., I.Y.T.A.
Petrea King is a well-known author, inspirational speaker, counsellor and workshop leader. She has practiced many forms of meditation since the age of seventeen and she is also qualified as a naturopath, herbalist, hypnotherapist, yoga and meditation teacher.
In 1983 Petrea was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and was not expected to live. Meditation and the integration of past traumatic experiences became paramount in her recovery, much of which was spent in a monastery near Assisi in Italy.
Since then, Petrea has counselled individually or through residential programs more than 60,000 people living with life-challenging illnesses, grief, loss, trauma and tragedy. Petrea sees crisis as a catalyst for spiritual growth and understanding and as an opportunity for healing and peace.
Petrea has received the Advance Australia Award and the Centenary Medal for her contribution to the community. She has been nominated for Australian of the Year in each year since 2004.
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