How To Create More Time We have been trained to accept the illusion of time; to get somewhere in the future even though it's merely an abstraction.
There is no future. We need to slow down on the perpetual agitation to go somewhere into that illusion instead of frittering away the moments of right now. Every moment is sacred. It will never be available again. People are taught to focus on acquiring something in the future whether that be a particular health status, achievement or state of being. This causes a lot of us to wish the present day away because the process is challenging or not so desirable. Have you ever hoped that someday at some time that good luck you've been wishing for will appear, but it never does? When you listen to music, read books, attend shows, go to social engagements or outings, are you embracing and downloading what you are taking in or are you concerned more for what the status of the activity is giving you? By this I mean, do you actually listen to the words of the song, the lesson of the documentary, absorb the words of the book? Or were you allowing your mind to flitter towards something else that hasn't happened yet, more concerned about what the act was turning you into or how it made you look? Is your goal to always get to the end in a hurry or are you involved with being engulfed in every step of the way, actually downloading what is happening? Being in a hurry to "get there" is a degradation to all of us. Anyone who is in a rush is not related to the present material at hand, regardless of what it is. Also keep in mind, forcing something does not work either - it is causing you to pull away from the right here, right now and proves we are not present. It showcases that we are trying to get to a result in a hurry - to the very thing we thought would make us happy or healthy, to only realize time is merely an illusion. There's no such thing. It's better described as a measurement of something like distance or location. There is, however, a skillful rhythm called timing! Just so you know, you'll never obtain proper timing in a hurry because the future will never arrive. Being in a hurry to get to the future results in punishment. The best examples of this are fast food and microwaves. They are awful because they are offering the illusion of time for the exchange of nutrition, energy and ... life. We're hyper focused on technology and engineering that we've lost sight of the basic art of health and culture. We are a society that rewards fast and quick which doesn't equal health or happy and forces us out of the present moment. Being in a hurry doesn't feel good and initiates our survival mechanisms and over a long time can make us sick. Forcing things to happen out of a properly or naturally timed rhythm results in punishment. Humans are made to be in alignment with various natural rhythms. If you want to create more time, focus on the purpose of life; LIVING in the 'and'. You can accomplish what you have to do AND enjoy yourself along the way. You can work through the hard AND find the good. There is always something good and Lord knows this is my current lesson of this chapter of my life right now. I'm being challenged to stay grounded in the present and stop wasting my efforts on wishing my current circumstances away. It's hard for me, I want life to be more comfortable and things to be easier, but they are not. Getting lost in the idea of "when this is over, then I will ....." is causing me to focus on what's gone wrong and trying to force it away. It puts me in a position of negative and negativity and you canNOT pull from a place of lack. Waiting for something in the future takes away your moments of today. No matter how full your plate is, schedule something every day that makes you smile, feels good or fills your soul. Even if it's a walk to breath in the trees and listen to the sounds of nature. Or a massage, those are my favorite! If you're not sure how to do this, message me and we'll set up a test to determine how your experiences of life are stressing your systems. With the results we can make a plan of how to create that natural rhythm you need to live your life without wishing it away. This is the trick on how to create more time! email: info@thetaliving.com
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 Should your city allow a Provisioning Center?Cannabis Provisioning Centers. Nearly everyone has an opinion, some are louder than others, but not all are equally informed!
I want to touch on the most heated arguments that I hear, namely in my own hometown. Endocannabinoid system If you haven’t heard of it or know what it does and who has it and how it effects human physiology and neurology, I implore you to do so. Cancer I’ve been in the field of integrative oncology for 13 years. Initially, I was strictly against cannabis use until I learned how devastatingly wrong I was. My opinion was due to societal persuasion campaigns that I had been conditioned to believe. They worked until I had collaborations with medical doctors, scientists and researchers from around the world and allowed for the space to understand the mechanisms of action between human physiology and cannabis. Since my harsh initial instinctive denial of cannabis consumption, despite a person’s health conditions, I have retracted my assumptive statements and have become a researcher in the field of naturopathic care and medicine, specializing in Endocannabinology and cannabis. I look forward to the day it is included in medical curriculum as a foundational rather than elective. This will happen once pharmaceuticals are not in control of our healthcare system. (sarcasm) Until then, medical professionals will have to take this specialty on as a chosen specialty and all the others will resort to opinion and assumption. Smell This is personal opinion so if we are opening the topic regarding cannabis smell due to possibility of business that provides cannabis in the city, let us please discuss other approved and accepted businesses that lead to unpleasant odor. The aroma of carcinogenic oils chemically altering meat, sugar and carbohydrates from multiple businesses to me, is disgusting. But, to each their own! I have every right to move to the country if I don’t want to smell the smells of the city. Do you know the effects of inhaling off gassed by products of fast food over an extended period of time? If there’s evidence to support benefit, please share. Personal preference here but cigarette smoke is nauseating to me. A smoker can buy from multiple businesses in the city and consume right there on premises. I don’t get to tell others what to do with their habits so I keep my opinion to myself and move on. Sometimes this means getting in another line at the grocery store or standing in another location if someone saturated in the odor is near me. Additionally, 2nd and 3rd hand cigarette smoke is carcinogenic so not only is it a cancer causer to the person exposed, but also to those inhaling a habit that isn’t theirs. There is documented evidence to support this. Cannabis “smell” may not be pleasant to some, but does not negatively impact the health of those who smell it. If you have documented evidence to prove otherwise, please share. I’ve yet to read any study as such. Smell continued, Landfills The by-products of solid waste deposited in a landfill has adverse effects on the surrounding environment and humans living closer to landfill sites. Respiratory symptoms were detected among residents living close to waste sites. Studies have shown possible increased risks of certain types of cancer, including lung, bladder, brain and leukemia, among people who live near landfills. Recent study found that living near a landfill could expose residents to chemicals that can reduce immune system function and lead to an increased risk of infections. These were linked to inhalation exposure to endotoxin, microorganisms, and aerosols from waste collection and land filling. The extent to which toxic landfill contaminants suppress the immune system has been grossly underestimated. I haven’t come across documented evidence to prove smell from a cannabis grow leads to any negative health issues. Let us keep in mind we aren’t considering grows in the city so smell from them isn’t applicable. Despite this argument, exhaust is regulated so for city’s who allow grows, smell isn’t a factor. Having a store that sells cannabis contained in sealed packaging also doesn’t leave a sniff trail. I haven’t come across documented evidence to prove there is harmful smell emanating from cannabis sold in enclosed packaging purchased at provisioning centers. Loitering and Littering I previously owned and operated a business for many years on Quarry Rd. I had to pick up litter; leftover food, food containers (bags, papers, Styrofoam, empty plastic liquor bottles, pop bottles, cups, straws, cigarette butts) on a DAILY basis from the passer byes who made purchases at the neighboring liquor and party stores. This garbage that was tossed on the sidewalks, building sides and grassy areas was from items labeled as “food”. Since many are concerned by the idea of having cannabis in your city, as a health practitioner I am incredibly concerned for the health and mental state of these people (mainly the high schoolers walking to and from school for lunch break) purchasing and consuming these so called “food” items. I am offended by the ingredients and hope that one day many of you join the real food movement over this toxicity called food. Ironically, many of the reasons people seek cannabis therapy are in hopes of overcoming ailments caused by the fake foods sold …. everywhere … to everyone of all ages! Provisioning centers may not, by Michigan law, allow anyone age 21 or under into their business. The garbage that I’ve been picking up for years has been carelessly thrown after being purchased by children (under age 18) from liquor and beer stores – that are frequently robbed I might add. I haven’t come across documented evidence to prove there is benefit to alcohol, yet children are allowed to be in businesses and make their other purchases. Repeated exposure conditions individuals to become comfortable with said item or product. We are allowing children in places that sell many brands and types of alcohol, day after day look at advertising signs and how many people are giving it a second thought as to how “normalized” this is by the time they reach adulthood. Alcohol kills, there’s no argument against this to prove any benefit to its consumption, but the kids in Riverview will certainly know where to get it and what’s available by the time they graduate! FYI according to the WHO, the harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions. Worldwide, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol. I think a proposal to the city for consideration of an ordinance that restricts kids from exposure to alcohol and cigarettes, perhaps something equivalent to that of provisioning centers, be considered! Quantity of cannabis businesses According to ordinance, the size of the city’s landscape will potentially allow for 3 - 4 provisioning centers. How many places and city sponsored events sell alcohol and cigarettes? How many places allow for the consumption of alcohol with children present? Provisioning centers may not lawfully allow for anyone under age 21 to enter the building nor do they allow for the consumption of purchase on premises. Riverview allows for individuals to become (alcohol) intoxicated with kids in tow, but the proposed ordinance for allowance of sale of cannabis does NOT. Capital It’s no secret, the city of Riverview is not in good financial standing. Entertaining any route to funding should be entertained from a business perspective. Nickel and diming potential revenue, without suggestion of how to make it up otherwise is not conducive to the circumstance. Should the provisioning centers be denied business in Riverview, where is the list of realistic revenue ideas with timeline of access to the funding, longevity of the funds, and continued sourcing of funds? According to the potential ordinance for provisioning centers, immediate revenue will be obtained, continued revenue will be accepted, significant employment will be given, possible increase of business for current businesses will be created, and contribution to community programming will be required. Correct me if I’m wrong, but NO other business in the city is required to financially contribute to community enhancement programs. This is a very emotionally charged topic due to the taboo cannabis has been labeled with since the early 1900s. Emotions form an essential part of our lives, personal and professional. But in any successful company, or city management, emotions have no place in the decision-making process. Decisions, no matter how small or large, must be made solely on factual data and without any bias or emotions. One cannot rely on emotion, opinion or instinct in the decision-making process. I’ve maintained my business as a cannabis wellness advisor and CBD product specialist for several years in Riverview. I’ve been ridiculed, questioned, verbally attacked – put down – accused – and shamed by quite a few. It was all appreciated as each circumstance gave me the opportunity to provide information and resources. I have assisted people of all ages (average age of my clientele is 62) learn how to better care for their health, have discussion with their healthcare providers, conduct constructive conversation with family and friends, get off of addictive drugs, recover from surgery – anxiety – sleeplessness – disease – pain and mental struggles. I’ve also dealt with clients whom cannabis doesn’t work for. It’s not a cure all and people need direction and guidance. With wider community acceptance they are more apt to seek out counsel to avoid adverse consequences which is why I’ve stayed the course and followed through to this point. Sending my clients to a local source that is trusted and regulated in an environment that is clean, kept and aesthetically pleasing would be a progressive step alongside the times. Medicinal vs recreational cannabis is legal jargon for tax purposes. We don’t get to decide what the plant does once its consumed whether someone is using as therapy or seeking to get “high”. There will always be both types of users, whether we have provisioning centers in our community or not. Every problem passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first stage it is ridiculed, in the second stage it is opposed, in the third stage it is regarded as self-evident. - Schopenhauer To find out if cannabis is right (or wrong) for you, send me an email to schedule a consultation: info@thetaliving.com Supporting Your Immune System for the Fall and Flu Season by Stephanie McKeith Tis the fall and flu season! It's that time of year when lots of people put in extra effort to support their immune systems. What most people miss in this immunity boost scramble is to give attention to the immune system’s boss; the endocannabinoid system (ECS). Your body has some complex inner workings happening in there. Supporting your immune system is more than just supporting your immune system! Your endocannabinoid system (ECS) fit into this big picture of your body's complex inner workings and for complete support, you should know why it is so important, especially for managing disease. Knowing how the ECS interacts with the immune system is key. For example, if your body is dealing with a virus or parasite, mold or bacterial invader, your immune system will produce a fever to raise your temperature and kill off the invader. When the job is done, the ECS signals the immune system to chill out and restore homeostasis – in other words it can go back to its normal duties. This creates internal balance and allows everything to go its new solid ground knowing all's well. When we run into major issues is when the feedback loop doesn’t work correctly. Skewed signals from your endocannabinoid system and your immune system – and vice versa -- can eventually cause you to develop inflammatory disorders that progress into illness or autoimmune issues and can eventually be a causative factor of disease. Think of your ECS as the task master. As the "master" of (all) tasks, it is continually adjusting and readjusting the complex network of molecular thermostats – cellular control panels – hormone directors – digestive coordinators – emotional adjustors (amongst all the other tasks that are happening on a minute-to-minute basis) that control our physiological tempo. This tempo is the rhythm of which processes happen (and don't happen). Your body is constantly striving to keep this tempo balanced. This is the most unique characteristic of the ECS. What I consider to be a pretty darn fascinating characteristic is that it works in reverse fashion. This process is called "retrograde signaling" and is what happens when your ECS tells your immune system to calm down after a fever has done its work. Retrograde signaling is a form of communication that inhibits immune response, reduces inflammation, relaxes muscles, lowers blood pressure, dilates bronchial passages, and normalizes overstimulated nerves. These are all things we want to be working properly when we aren’t feeling well. There are multiple other processes happening in the background while the immune cells are at work coordinating with your ECS. Should you have other neurotransmitters that are firing too fast, the ECS acts as an inhibitory feedback mechanism that tells them to calm themselves and slow down. More than immune function regulation It's not just your immune system that the ECS interacts with. It's ALL of your systems, actually. This even includes non-cannabinoid systems like the endorphin system and the vanilloid system (the one responsible for changing pain from acute to chronic). In holding such a powerful management position as this, modulating these other systems gives the ECS ability to regulate many things in the body: inflammation processes, pain / aches, bone health and development, reproduction, resetting poor sleep hygiene, healthy menstrual cycles, repairing gut dysbiosis, formation of new nerve cells, fat and sugar processing, mood, weight management, increasing energy, hormone balance and one of the majority of my clients favorites - brain health: calming effects of stress and anxiety that lead to sleep disturbances. It seems to work on .... everything! Add this all up and these are the reasons you have probably heard so many people finding relief for so many ailments when taking some formulation of CBD. The study of cannabinoids such as CBD, CBN, CBG, CBDa, etc. are hot topics right now. Scientists are finding the reasons why we are able to use these compounds from the cannabis (hemp) plant for such broad treatments. There are thousands of people using this natural and nontoxic compound at this very moment for research purposes. How do you know if your systems need support? I encourage you to get tested to determine which of your systems are in need of balance. This will lead you towards which cannabinoids will be most suited for the support your ECS is searching for. To schedule your Bioscan test, send a message and I’ll get back to you within 48 hours (that’s 2 days)! BIOSCAN TEST: Contact - Theta Living  Protecting Yourself From Bad Vibes In Your Home With special guest, Carla Atherton Carla is the director of Lotus Health Project and Healthy Family Formula Practice. After her daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, she hit multiple dead ends with doctors, recognizing that the true avenues to health were not available to her family yet is what was desperately needed. The solutions she was seeking were not being offered so she set out to start digging the information up herself. This led Carla to set out on a mission to make sure she could share what she had found with other parents. She believes health and wellness involves all aspects of the self, including the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual which is why it’s so important to address the “emotional temperature” of the home. If it’s not at a comfy temp, it will be very difficult for healing to happen. Each member of the family, or home, has a state of being whether it’s well or ill. That state affects everyone else – not just the person with the mood, or low vibe. Typically, when we want to improve our health, we think: nutrition, exercise, sleep and vitamins. But what is often overlooked is both the destructive powers of low vibrations as well as the healing that a high vibration can catalase. Carla’s advice for keeping a healing vibe in the home Staying true to your heart resonance The heart, like the brain, generates a powerful electromagnetic field. The heart generates the largest electromagnetic field in the body. The electrical field as measured in an electrocardiogram (ECG) is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the brain waves recorded in an electroencephalogram (EEG). In research titled, The HeartMath Study; "The Electricity of Touch: Detection and Measurement of Cardiac Energy Exchange Between People", researchers set out to determine whether the heart’s electromagnetic field, as measured by an electrocardiogram (ECG), in one individual could be detected and measured in another person when the pair either were seated within about three feet of each other or held hands. The results of The Electricity of Touch experiment were positive: The data showed “when people touch or are in proximity, a transference of the electromagnetic energy produced by the heart occurs,” the study’s authors wrote. The heart’s electromagnetic field contains certain information or coding, that is transmitted throughout and outside of the body. One of the most significant findings is that intentionally generated positive emotions can change this information/coding. On the flipside, an individual who is angry, fearful, depressed or experiencing some other negative emotion, influences those around them with this low vibratory state of emotion. Also, care, compassion, love or other positive emotions are not only transmitted throughout an individual’s body as the cardioelectromagnetic field radiates through it, but transferred externally as well to people in close proximity. The mood in your home impacts your well-being, even if it’s not your own! “Through the use of tools and technologies that foster positive emotions and psychophysiological coherence, individuals can effectively initiate a repatterning process, whereby habitual emotional patterns underlying stress are replaced with new, healthier patterns that establish increased emotional stability, mental acuity, and physiological efficiency as a new familiar baseline or norm. Setting healthy boundaries with constructive communication Some relationships are just not good for our health and in certain circumstances, maintaining relations with them can prevent us from healing. To protect your healing space, you will have to assess relationships and be sure to implement boundaries to those who may be interfering with your recovery. In order to keep people from bursting your boundary bubble, you have to effectively communicate what this bubble means. They can’t possibly know what your boundaries are unless you clearly communicate them. Before you completely shut someone out of your life, have a discussion with them. Give them the opportunity to correct their overbearing or aggressive ways. This may lead to quite an uncomfortable discussion, but a very necessary one. It could also be the best thing that happens in your relationship with this person(s). Let people know what you will and will not tolerate. For example: Friend: Would you like to come over for dinner one night this week? You: I’d love to visit. I have an hour on Thursday evening and I’ll stop by for a cup of tea, after I’ve eaten dinner. This allows you to still visit, but to avoid eating food that may not be appropriate for your treatment. If you’re friend presses the issue of eating together or insists on you coming over for dinner, you could respond with: “My meals are planned out ahead of time because what I eat is important to my treatment plan, so I’m really looking forward to chatting with a cup of tea!” It’s a matter of redirecting the ideas down the path of least resistance. Whatever the situation may be, you can’t expect someone to know your limits if they only exist in your mind. This also sets you up for disappointment because there will be expectations of how the other person should be acting. When they don’t meet those expectations, because you didn’t effectively communicate your boundaries, there will be disaster. To the best of my knowledge, most people aren’t mind readers so it’s up to you to suggest and make adjustments if you want to salvage or restore a hard-to-handle relationship to get through your cancer recovery. You have to express your boundaries and clearly communicate them in order to give the other person the opportunity to respect them! Get the words right There is no good or bad feeling, they all just ARE. Humans were intelligently designed with the bonus of having feelings. Not only did we get feelings, but we got quite a wide range of them. Repressing or avoiding emotions will eventually lead to physical symptoms of some sort. Perhaps it’s even one of the causative factors of your cancer diagnosis. This kind of energy sticks in its respective energy center and gets stuck there if you don’t find ways to process it, let it go, release it and fill that space back up with a higher vibrating emotion. Everything is energy. In the very center of each and every single one of your cells is an engine called mitochondria. This engine is a powerhouse that produces energy that give you life. When it’s breaking down or malfunctioning, quality of life is reflected as such. Every form of energy has a charge, including emotions. Emotions are (E)nergy in Motion Whether or not it’s a highly vibrating energy or lower vibrating energy is what determines your outlook, your capabilities, your limitations and your responses. Staying conscious of our thoughts is step one to raising the frequency of our thought vibrations. Labeling things as good or bad, as well as labeling someone with a mental health “disorder” can be damaging. It’s an outdated outlook on mental health and gives the idea that a person is “stuck” in a certain state of mind. With the right coping mechanisms and tools, any state of mind can be changed. The one thing NOBODY can ever take from you are your thoughts. They are yours. You get to choose them whether we are in a free world or not. Your thoughts are yours, so choose wisely. How are you participating? When you are dealing with someone hard to deal with and your interactions with them are making you frustrated, have you taken the time to ask yourself, “How am I participating in this?” It’s so easy to point the finger, place blame and toss responsibility into the other persons court, but when we take a step outside the situation and say …. Stick ourselves on the wall (like a fly) to evaluate the case, we may realize that we are part of the unhealthy exchange of energy. If so, be consciously willing to apologize when necessary and to make change when applicable. It’s quite possible the other person is dealing with some sort of struggle of their own and seem to be in a negative mood because of their own internal turbulation. Be aware of what they might be going through. This isn’t an excuse for engaging in arguments or overlooking thoughtless behaviors, but it could be an explanation to their unwanted actions or words. They might need healing themselves and don’t know how or where to start. I’m not suggesting your pry, if it’s not appropriate to ask personal questions. I’m suggesting to be cognizant that everyone has something going on and most of the time, we aren’t aware of it. Everyone wants to feel heard. Be a conscious listener and do your best to comprehend when someone is speaking to you. It could be the very component that was missing and throwing your relationship off kilter. Continual conflict Some relationships just weren’t meant to be. This could be a temporary thing, or permanent. Either way, you just need to deal with what is in the present and if it’s not working, the other person or people refuse to respect your boundaries or desire for space, then for the sake of your better health you may need to detoxify them from your life. If you’ve communicated your boundaries and there is still no shift, it may be time to take a break from this person. At least for now. Revisit the relationship at a later time, if necessary. I want to point out that abuse is never ok. You should seek counsel if someone is abusing you whether it be physical, mental or emotional. Taking this type of treatment from someone because you’re related to them or have a significant amount of time invested in them doesn’t justify them tearing you down. Emotional, verbal, and mental abuse is just as destructive as physical abuse and these types of people don’t even deserve boundaries. They need to be removed from your healing path and cleared you’re your life. Unhealthy relationships are a common root cause to cancer and other chronic illnesses. It’s unfortunate and will be hard, but the damage that can occur from toxic people is not and never will be worth sacrificing your health to spare their feelings. If you'd like to learn more about Carla and what she offers, check out her page:
Healthy Family Formula - Health Family FormulaHealth Family Formula The connection between fungus and cancer I’m always searching for root causes to the issue at hand. When it comes to cancer, this is the core to any therapy or treatment being taken. If you don’t know what caused the disease, how could you ever even begin to get rid of it. Attacking it and never uprooting the causative factors will only become a matter of time before it presents itself again. I was incredibly impressed when I learned of the fungus connection. Doug Kaufmann has an insight into illness and disease that is very interesting and in my opinion, also very overlooked. When Doug was a U.S. Navy corpsman, he developed strange symptoms that he thought were related to food allergies so he began his study that linked diet and illness. My intentions with everything I do and share is to provoke thought into the causes of cancer so that we can put the puzzle pieces together, and so we can be more effective with approaches to recover and heal with appropriate and more individualized support. The more we know, the more options we have and since we’ll never know everything – keeping an open mind and willingness to explore all potential causes is important. Doug’s contribution to cancer causes is one that most people, even physicians, are unaware of. We’ve been programmed to think of cancer causers as being bad genes and genetic mutations. It’s taken a lot of effort on the desks of integrative and progressive practitioners and scientists to bring to light the fact that there are other causes such as: chemicals, radiation, environmental exposures, nutrient deficiencies from eating crap foods, ill mental health and certain pharmaceutical medications, including chemotherapy. Doug Kaufmann is pointing to a very ignored instigator – fungus. When most of us think of fungus, mushrooms come to mind and using mushrooms as part of a cancer treatment are becoming more commonly implemented. Check out the chat I had with Doug Kaufmann from the show, Know The Cause to hear his response to the mushroom fungus AND:
Watch (or listen) to this episode of "Cancer Coach Chat with Doug Kaufmann: The connection between fungus and cancer" For more from Doug, check out his website: Know The Cause  The worst decision for cancer treatment is the one made in a hurry
Just as soon as you've been diagnosed, the coordinator already has you scheduled to have a port inserted, chemo infused, and radiation directed at you. Before you even get to digest the diagnosis, the treatment plan seems to be already laid out for you without any consideration as to whether or not you are opting for those options. It's scary, makes your stomach queasy and causes you to break out in cold sweats. What if that's not the route you want to take? After your diagnosis, your very next step should be to practice the pause. Let me explain. Never make a decision in a hurry, feeling rushed or pressured. Never make a decision based on the wants or desires of others. Never make a decision regarding your healthcare that is against your beliefs. Certainly never-ever make a decision based in fear. It won't work if you do. It has become common practice for the conventional medical institution to rush patients into treatment without giving them the time to even think about what the treatment is, what it will do or to weigh the pros vs cons. And they certainly don't talk about the options for true integrative or adjunct care. ---that's up to you to take control in this situation--- This leaves so many people confused and asking, "am I making the right decision"? As long as there are no life saving measures imperative of being addressed immediately, this is what I do: pause, breathe, make peace with my decision. Once I’ve done this, then I will proceed. If not, I stay in the pause until I’ve made peace with what comes next. You have to be willing to do what it takes any which way you choose to take treatment. If it’s chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, you need to understand the potential effects you will endure short term as well as long term. You also have to have full faith that this is what’s best for you. If natural or integrative, you also have to believe in and have faith that what you are doing is best for you. It has to feel good and come with a sense of empowerment of your health. And, here's what it takes: agreeing to get really really really uncomfortable. Over and over and over again. The conventional choice is very cut and dry. They tell you what to do, you do it, they monitor to see what happens as you proceed. And when you choose adjunct care, you have to be willing to learn. Although it may be a new route to you, it's not a new way of treatment. It's actually centuries old but has been suppressed for almost 100 years now ... since the inception of pharmaceuticals took over medical care. This is what has become standard of care, yet also the reason we aren't moving the needle on cancer diagnosis outcomes. Harsher or more potent drugs are never going to improve quality of life or increase chance at survival. HEALING will though. Choose healing. Only attacking the cancer doesn’t make one a well person. Whether it is a combination of conventional and natural or just natural, there must be action steps taken to correct the reasons cancer developed in the first place. Regardless, a holistic approach should be available as an option for each and every person who develops cancer. As I already stated, if you’re not having a medical emergency and do not need life saving intervention, you have time to think about what you really want to do for your treatment path. Take note that urgency is the opposite of hurrying. Hurrying comes from lack and a sense of panic that there isn’t enough time. It leads to feeling overwhelmed, making mistakes, and it inspires comparison and competition with others who have the same diagnosis. When you rush, you are in a state of stress and worry. You’ll be inclined to do things like agree to decisions that aren’t in alignment with what you believe, making you constantly second guess yourself and even worse, regret the treatment you are doing. Your cells understand this. Everything is a frequency, even your thoughts produce frequencies: good, bad, negative, positive, sad, happy, healing, reparative, destructive, etc. The negative frequencies of being in a hurry and pressured under stress lowers your frequency even further. To heal, we need our frequencies to RISE ABOVE where they currently are and take us to better health. To calm the chaos: practice the pause and breathe, pause before speaking, pause before assuming, pause before choosing, pause before reacting, breathe, release worry with each breath out, invite peace with your decision with each breath in. Repeat until all feels well. Then proceed with your decision. This is discussed in the first week of the Cancer Recovery Technique program. You must be confident before proceeding with any next step. It may not be comfortable, but you must have calm and confidence. GRIEF IS STRESSFULLosing a loved one can cause PTSD and if left unmanaged, has the power to steal your health.
I have been feeling heavy for the last 3 days. Unable to do the things I do on a regular, everyday basis. Why now? Why, after 7 years do I feel like I cannot function at the capacity that I typically do? And by feeling heavy, I mean physically and emotionally. My appetite is down yet I’ve gained weight (inflammation) in just the last few days. My hours of sleep are up, yet I am fatigued. The world is crazy so I cannot really go anywhere, but I can’t seem to accomplish the responsibilities I have around my house/office even though I have the time. I’ve been to church, meditated, prayed and yet my mood is still in the toilet. I am driven and can accomplish anything I set my mind to and right now, I can’t even focus on this post without thinking about doing 5 other things. I miss my Dad beyond belief. I’m angry that he isn’t here. I’m pissed that he did everything he was told to do and the few things he wanted to try in attempts to heal weren’t supported so we will never know if they could have worked. My regret of having information and not knowing what to do with it circles back on occasion and slaps me in the face. What if we could have had another year or two of celebrations, holidays, birthdays, laughs, bonfires or random MEMORIES if I’d had just ditched doubt and tried anyways? It sucks to wonder. I know it wasn’t God’s plan, but I’ll be honest and fully disclose that I don’t like this plan. On most days – months – years, I fully trust in the plan, but there are days like today when my selfish human self says listen God, THIS JUST ISN’T FAIR. Some things float in my mind like they happened yesterday. Others times I struggle to jog my mind to recall certain points in time. I have to separate myself from everything and sit in silence to flood my mind with all the things I have to be grateful for. I still have the last text messages we shared. I still have the last voice mails he left me. I still remember, crystal clear, the songs he hummed and whistled to that played in his garage. I can hear his laugh, sarcastic remarks, and the sound of his Mustang coming from blocks away …. I can still smell his cologne and when I close my eyes, I can see him in my backyard teaching my boys how to cut the lawn. Grief plays tug of war with your emotions. Even after I soak in all the memories that bring a smile to my face, the tears can take over in a flash and just start flowing with no warning and there’s no way to stop them. I don’t get to ask him all the things a girl needs to ask her Dad. I don’t know how to console my daughter when she cries at night because she misses him. I lose my composure when I speak about him to my sons because they are missing out on so many things he could be helping them with in their lives right now. I had my grandparents at their ages and the void that is now present without him sometimes screams in our faces. This psychological scream can be so loud that I can feel it in my bones, brining me physical ailments. To know that I can’t hug him and I’ve even forgotten what his hug even feels like kills my spirit at times. Especially today, the day he went to be with Jesus in eternity, 7 years ago. Most days, I’m ok and have learned to shed a few tears then fill my heart with gratitude for all of the wonderful memories I have to cherish. I can usually redirect my thoughts of resentment of the one-sided system, before they turn into emotions of anger and frustration. Praise the Lord that I have been brought to learn and understand how my emotional and spiritual wellbeing is so so important. I would be in big trouble if I never found the techniques to take control of my mind. Grief never ends. It comes and goes in seasons, almost storm like. Mental health is not given the credit that is due when it comes to emotional stressors the power they have over our physical health. I remind myself daily that I am blessed to know just how impactful emotional health is in overall wellness. It’s a daily practice that I’ve had to learn to incorporate. Without it, I’d be a hot mess probably on a daily basis. Given my “grief storms”, I’m pretty proud of myself for gaining composure of my feelings. It’s a practice and I know I will forever be putting my skills into action. Let me make it known though, these storms come without warning. Just when I think I’m going to get through a day, anniversary or event without a hitch, the waves come crashing in and I have to work especially hard to re-center myself so that I don’t become lost at sea. Especially when certain days like today come up on the calendar. Those sounds of the CICU will probably never leave my mind. The monitors, pressure tanks, respirator, alarms, codes being called, staff sending messages over speakers, doctors – nurses – staff talking in huddles. Family and loved one’s weeping. I had been up for days with my Mom and siblings, clinging onto the desperate prayer that test results would come back and reveal some sort of infection. If that was the case, the specialist could surely determine the best drug to kill it off so my Dad could recover. This was not the case, however. Staff informed us to “just let go”. His lungs were so badly damaged that there was no recovering, he was struggling terribly to breathe and wanted to go home, but held on as we all desperately prayed for a miracle to happen. He couldn’t go home to be in peace though, like he wanted. The progression and seriousness of his lung failure put him in an unstable condition and bound him to the hospital. So, instead we filled his room and gathered around his bed, listening to my husband play guitar and sing his favorite songs. We fought tears as his struggle to breathe worsened as the hours passed. Every so often, he would try to communicate a message, but every ounce of energy he had was devoted to breathing and moving the oxygen mask for long enough to speak a few words wasn’t worth the recovery he had to endure after. Eventually he ran out of energy to sip water from a straw and couldn’t afford to remove the mask from his face. The night came quickly. Everyone except myself, my Mom and my siblings went home. I sat up in the chair next to him, monitoring every machine like a hawk, ready to cater to whatever need he may have. With tears streaming uncontrollably, I asked him to write “I love you” on a note to each of my kids. We cried together as he granted my wish. Morning came, my Dad was exhausted and ….. just couldn’t anymore. I asked the nurses if I had enough time to run home to grab my boys and husband, they advised I not leave. As we gathered around his bedside, my brother played “Easy Like Sunday Morning”, the song my Dad had been listening to on repeat for weeks. We appreciated, thanked, expressed everything on our minds we could think of, told him how much we loved having him in our lives, how much we would miss him, how love he was….. Then, his nurse stepped forward and injected fatal amounts of morphine into his IV line – swapped his breathing machine mask for a simpler one. He gasped and we witnessed him leave us to go be with Jesus in Heaven. Haunting. Painful. Nightmarish. Yet thankful to have that time, be by his side and also with my siblings and Mom. I will never forget those moments. They are what keep the torch of his legacy burning. I will never stop sharing his story. He was one of the chosen to save the lives of others. This I know because his lessons have already saved my sister. There is healing in the feelings. It is when we get stuck that the stress of grief becomes a problem and can manifest into health issues of our own. Feeling anger isn't bad. Trying to live in happiness and sunshine all day every day isn't realistic. Feel, and move on. You deserve it. You are human, God gave us the right and the ability to feel the emotions he created. Use them. From Graves to Gardens. The waves of grief will forever rise and fall. Thanks be to God for showing me the light to care for myself and my family so that we are able to get through, in faith and love. Cannabis is a gateway alright. Part 2. If you've ever suffered from anxiety, nervousness, worry or been overly stressed, you know the feeling of just wishing there was an escape plan.
Cannabis is a gateway alright! Part 1. This is the first part of the series: Cannabis Mythbusters!
The biggest part of my job as a cannabis consultant, especially in working with those who have cancer is education. When we understand what we are doing and why, it works that much better regardless of the topic. Being uncertain and doubting our actions don't serve us well. When we engage in therapies or treatment that we are unsure of or even don't feel completely comfortable in is the same as tossing a coin at whether or not it will work. I used to assume everything I knew, or didn't know I should say, about cannabis. I had no evidence to base my opinions. When my Dad wanted to incorporate it into his cancer treatment I froze and like magic, all assumptions vanished from my mind. If this is something that could provide him relief, recovery or freedom from cancer, I was all over it. I no longer cared about what others thought, what I had been programmed to think or that it was (at that time) an illegal substance. There were stories of healing. There were stories of hope and we wanted to be part of them. But, I had no idea where to start and who to work with because for every bit of promise I could find, there was just as much controversy making it seem nearly impossible to know what to believe. This article will be part of a series: Cannabis Mythbusters. In part 1, I will cover the most popular questions I get asked as a cannabis consultant. 1. Can I overdose on cannabis and die? 2. Does cannabis cause brain damage? 3. Is cannabis a gateway drug? These are some pretty heavy questions and with some endocannabinoid understanding, come with some heavy responses! No other plant has had as much debate as the cannabis plant. Some people label it as a superfood and some people are still stigmatized by it as an evil herb. Then, there are the millions of people that have points of view from aspect that fall anywhere in between. Regardless of the mounting research and the constant increasing evidence, myths and misconceptions persist and still to this day gain traction in media, the news, in magazines and on billboards. The negativity is certainly not as much as in decades past, this is in part to research and a better understanding from the medical field. Unfortunately, there is still an entertainment factor when cannabis is suggested. Marijuana, the slang term, brings forth the mental picture of a cloud of smoke, bloodshot squinty eyes, perhaps some tie-dye shirts, disco balls and most like a glimpse of Cheech and his buddy, Chong! Although I must admit some of the meme's are pretty funny, this is a subject to be taken very seriously. We have science to prove its usefulness and universities indulging in additional study to find out just how this herb may work its way into medicine. We need to take care that the entertainment factor doesn't ruin the reputation of cannabis as medicine. We do this by education ourselves about its efficacy. The number one question of all time, "can I overdose and die from cannabis?". The short answer is no! One particular study showed that the assumed LD50 of delta-9 THC is a consumed 46 lbs, at once! Even at that amount in that time frame, scientists were unable to produce death or organ pathology. In primates, the LD50 was greater than 10,000 mg/kg. With these results, we can highlight the FDA's 8-factor analysis of cannabis in the Americans For Safe Access that claims "no known LD50 for cannabis in humans." Let me back up and expand on a very key term here. LD50 means lethal dose 50. When a drug is being studied, scientists are searching for the lethal dose that will kill half of the participants in the study. This is what is considered to be the lethal dose of that particular substance. The reason opioids have potential to kill from overdose is due to their receptors located in the brain stem. This is the part of the brain that controls respiration. The heart and lungs cannot take this and fall under arrest of the drug. The user has potential to die depending on amount consumed. There are no cannabinoid receptors in the brain stem. The only area of the body known to science to not house CB receptors. This means consuming cannabis does not have the ability to inhibit respiratory function making overdose and death as a direct result of consuming cannabis, nearly impossible. Consume cannabis and walk in front of a car, operate a motor vehicle, add it to alcoholic beverages and other drugs or get struck by lightening, then die is not the same as dying as a direct result of ingesting the herb alone. Another misconception that many people worry is killing off brain cells that they think can potentially cause brain damage. Although it affects motor skills, attention span, and short term memory while intoxicated, it has been found that the difference of brain function between heavy users and non-users over the long term is very minimal. Results are much better for cannabis users than they are of users of alcohol or other illicits. Research indicates that nearly all effects from cannabis use stop and reverse with discontinued use. It is important to note, however, that certain genes can lead to psychosis from cannabis use. This is rare and can be determined with genetics testing. And, the most popular myth, Cannabis is a gateway drug. I hear it over and over and over and mostly from those whom are most un-educated in this topic. Cannabis is the most widely used "drug" in the world. It is the first substance used by most. Although, many cannabis users report using nicotine or alcohol even before they engaged in cannabis usage, the combinations are not causally linked. In fact, more people use cannabis to stop other drug use than those who go on to cocaine or heroin. Correlation does not equal causation. Those willing to try hardcore drugs will try them regardless of whether or not cannabis is available to them. There are thousands of patients who have overcome severe drug addictions, lessened withdrawal effects and maintain a "drug" free life thanks to cannabis therapy. Sounds more like a gateway to health to me! ADDING LIFE TO THE CANCER CHAPTER I am going to make a bold statement. If this does not resonate with you, read on. If it does resonate with you, read on!
Cancer does not define you! You are given one life to live. It starts with the year you are born and ends with the year you perish. For me: 1979 - ____. This signifies my entire life experience. That delicate little dash holds all the chapters that equal my epic life journey. Obviously, there is no end date as of yet because I'm still alive! And, I plan to live a long and full life so that line is going to be jam packed with living. But I'd like to point out the length of that line. It's not very long, is it? Each chapter, although significant in their own ways, does not define my entire life. A chapter is a span of time, not meant to consume your entire life journey or the book of your life, however you choose to look at it. Take the life journey of my sister, Lanie, for example and zoom in on particular sections. She had a typical modern American childhood complete with a stay at home mom and working dad, three siblings, cousins, grandparents iced with the memories from celebrations, holidays, Michigan summers in the pool, barbeques in the backyard, camping with family, Michigan winters rolled into snowmen and hot chocolate. Pretty uneventful and typical. She also has friendships, relationships, jobs, fails, trips, drugs (just kidding, I thought I'd spice things up!), residences, beliefs, new beliefs, adventures, deaths of loved ones and illness. Yes, illness. Cancer became one of her chapters, but in looking back over her entire life span, it does not define her journey. The definition of your life will be an inclusion of all chapters, not just this one unless you consume yourself and let nothing else matter. Although much of her efforts were devoted to recovering from cancer, it did not fill her entire "dash". You can have so many chapters of screw ups and embarrassments that no one will ever remember unless you constantly draw attention to it. What's even better is that you can always add and remove chapters. You don't end your life and begin a new one, you either discontinue a particular chapter and start fresh or just end that phase all together. It's a beautiful thing that the choice is up to you. We should all be adding more "mini-chapters" to our live anyways. We are much too much self-restricted on how long our chapters are expected to be. We have pre-conceived notions of who we are "supposed" to be that we end up restricting ourselves and stay constrained in standard boxes. If you're wondering what a "mini-chapter" is, it could be adventure, business ideas, new relationships, hobbies, interests. Anything that contributes to the purpose of life: to live and serve with love and passion. Think of what mini or sub-chapter you'd like to start now despite this cancer diagnosis. What is the title? Now, onto the how-to. You have to get un-stuck from the chaos and step into control. Typically, when cancer is present in your life you tend to lean towards the thinking of, "why me?", "why did you let this happen, God?" and we feel trapped in these thoughts. Before I go any further, I want to point to the fact that over 85% of all cancer diagnosis are lifestyle related. Meaning, they were either preventable with actions within your control or developed as a result of unhealthy living habits. So many times we go into this chapter with the mind frame that cancer is bad, making this a good vs evil disease or perhaps a love vs hate relationship with cancer. You might feel that the devil has taken over this chapter and has hit you like a ton of bricks. Whether you feel this way or not, it's time to realize that kindness is king. All you have and I mean ALL you have is love. Creating chapters that contain life while the cancer chapter is still open means that you cannot hunt down evil to catch and destroy it. Chasing evil will get you lost and in trouble. It will make this an undesirable mini-chapter. Evil is not preventable, it is a choice. As you start your mini-chapter, wrap your arms around the title (the idea you are adding to your life) and let the power of love flow in and take over. Bring others in, community heals. As you venture in your new mind frame, make certain that everyone you encounter both in person and virtually is met with love. Look for what you respect, like and appreciate about each person versus what bothers and annoys you about them. This is how you make your mini-chapters rise up over cancer and contribute to your healing. Wrap your spiritual, emotional and mental arms around everyone in love. Focus solely on what you do agree on, not what disagreements are apparent even if that means focusing on the facts that the world needs more love. Concentrate on what unites you, not what divides you. Be kind even when someone doesn't deserve it. This will raise your vibration and create a powerful force in your healing during this mini-chapter. Let the power of love in whatever you choose to add (travel, hobby, groups, volunteer work, etc.) feed you and those you engage with for this sub chapter. There is no way for evil to get through and run away in chaos. You are the CEO of your health and you are in control of your thoughts, your feelings, your journey and your "-" (dash) life! Take charge and add life to this chapter. Cancer does not define your entire life journey. |
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