Walnuts n Pears

Cancer is such an ugly word. It brings fear, pain, suffering both physically and emotionally. It’s scary, especially if you’ve seen it’s work on yourself, family, friends or loved ones. For a lack of no other way to put it, Cancer sucks.

Thanks to Cancer, I’ve watched far too many friends and relatives suffer.

Thanks to Cancer I’ve walked around half of my life fearing that I will get it or my parents or family or friends will get it.

Thanks to Cancer, I’m afraid to die.

But it dawned on me this morning, that what if Cancer isn’t that bad? I often question whether it’s the Cancer that is making people suffer or the way we “treat” Cancer that makes people suffer.

Over the past few years, I’ve become aware of other “non-traditional” ways of treating, not Cancer, but the body, and the more methods I hear about and the more I learn, the more it makes sense.

I’ve mentioned the film The Gerson Miracle before, I’ve mentioned The Gerson Institute before, and I may have mentioned the film Ayurveda before as well.

The Gerson Institute is based on the studies of Dr. Max Gerson from the 1920s and his findings that juicing and a plant based diet can cure certain types of Cancer.

The film Ayurveda speaks to our bodies being in balance and if they are out of balance we will have illness and disease. One of the most interesting in that film to me was a statement that Western medicine treats Cancer, with Ayurveda, they understand that something in the body is out of balance, therefore it becomes a hospitable host for Cancer. If you correct that imbalance and bring the body back into balance, then the Cancer will leave because the body will no longer be a hospitable host. In Ayurveda, they heal the body with plants as well.

If you are familiar with Paul Stamets, you know that he also discovered though his study of mycillium that the Turkey Tail mushroom is an effective treatment for breast and prostate Cancer. A number of University studies have been conducted since his original findings to support this theory. Mushooms, another plant, or in this case, fungi, treating Cancer, or treating the body, getting rid of Cancer.

I spend a lot of time thinking about plants and soil: the healing properties of plants for soil; the effectiveness of growing plants in healthy soil versus dead soil.

I also spend a lot of time thinking about the healing properties of plants for people and the health and liveliness of people who are “on” plants.

The more I learn about this, the more it gets me thinking about Cancer.

This past weekend I learned of another family member getting diagnosed with Cancer. And it got me thinking again.

Cancer is scary. It’s scary because it can be terminal, but the reality is that life is terminal. So why is Cancer so scary? Is it because we are afraid of pain? Is it that we are afraid of suffering? Or is it that we are afraid to die?

This may sound crazy, but what if Cancer is a sign? A stop sign, or more specifically, a stop light. The yellow in the stop light of life.

What if we are driving down the road of life and see an intersection in the distance, we continue on, and about a half of a block away from the corner we can see that the light is green, but as we approach the intersection the light turns yellow. When we see the yellow light we are given a choice: we can glance at the light, look both ways, proceed through through the intersection with caution and continue down the road or we can take our foot off the gas, slow down, stop for the red and wait for the light to turn green again.

What if Cancer is that yellow light? What if Cancer is trying to get our attention on not only a personal level but also a larger scale? What if by offering us the yellow light it is trying to send us a message? What if it’s trying to tell us something in our life isn’t working? What if it’s trying to get our attention so that we slow down and make some changes before we proceed? What if it’s trying to get us to think, to trust our gut, to trust our judgement and make changes in our personal lives, our diets, our environment and in our world?

I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering why there is so much Cancer in our world. What if the answers aren’t as difficult as we think they are? What if we all know what needs to change but instead of looking up at that yellow light we’ve been accelerating through the intersection hoping for the best and saying a little prayer that we don’t get hit?

What if we are in control of whether or not we get Cancer and what if we are in control of fixing ourselves if we do?

A few people have asked me what brought me to IIN to do the Holistic Health Coaching program. The answer is that I have always had an interest in plants, growing food, health and wellness, but the driving force that got me into IIN was that I’m tired of watching my friends and family suffer from Cancer and the treatments for it. In my heart I believe there is another way, a better way. I believe that prevention is a key part of it, but I also believe that it’s never too late to change.

I believe that as more of us become aware of that yellow light, it will be easier to help each other change and we will create change on a larger scale.

Thanks to Cancer, I’m in IIN and want to be a Holistic Health Coach because I want to be a part of that change. I hope somewhere along the line I inspire you to be a part of the change too and that you, in turn inspire someone else.

Kate