 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:
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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.  WHEN YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN AN EXPIRATION DATE ON YOUR LIFE. When a doctor gives you an expiration date on your life, your body immediately goes into panic mode and your innate survival settings are triggered. Imagine spending every single day with the idea that the end of your life has been predicted and is documented in a file, before it has happened. This idea will eventually blanket all aspects of your life; relationships, sleep, romance, appetite, mood, energy levels. It feels like it consumes your every thought, decision and action you take. Nerves will take over at some point and make you may break out in cold sweats, start having episodes of anxiety and some people note that they slide into depression very soon after being given this news. This is your subconscious going into worry overdrive. The emotional decline is a heavy weight to carry. Stress is now in full effect. The cascade of stress responses begin to fall, resulting in even more symptoms appearing than before. You feel like you are losing control of the things that you once had a tight grip on. Everything feels like it is slipping through your fingers. These feelings tend to lead to withdrawal. Some find themselves hesitating to participate in social gatherings for fear of someone asking you about your condition or situation. The last thing you wish to discuss is the countdown clock that is constantly ticking in the back of your mind. Sometimes it is so loud that it's all you hear. It's nauseating and has the power to take your breath away at times. You can feel it in every cell in your body. Every time you are faced with a situation that requires making plans or planning for the future all you can think of is, "if I'm even here", or "I won't be here by then so what's the point?" This is an awful way to live. In fact, it's no way to live. It's restricting which is the opposite of living. Your purpose here on this earth is to live your life as best you can while serving a greater good. Finding joy, happiness and being grateful for all that you have. That's the entire point to your existence! It's not about your job, the car you drive, the great clothes you wear, how educated you've become, what you gave to your children, or items you've collected over time. Living is about the experience of life and all of its wonders. Life has so much opportunity, but when we hear the end is near it's like we just stop in our tracks and give up the time and the present moment for fear of what is ahead. It's so easy to forget about who you are as a person, how you treat others, finding happiness in all the moments you are able, offering grace and assistance when and where needed, showing up for loved ones, loving your body through all stages of life's journey, controlling the thoughts that your mind sorts through and takes action on. Life is about acknowledging that the struggle you are going through is the same struggle that you are growing through, regardless of what timeframe someone has given you. When we have a certain date or suggested timeframe in mind, we build our lives around that day. Let me give you an example. We know Christmas is on December 25th so in the upcoming months there are specific things to do in order to be ready for this day. Christmas is not just about the one particular day though, it is about all of the event filled days in the several weeks prior that lead to Jesus' birth. The preparation, anticipation and excitement of his entering the world. This is the reason for the season. We celebrate with loved ones, friends and co-workers with food, conversation, acts of kindness and social gatherings galore. We gift one another with heart felt expressions. We find all the of the wonderous moments life has gifted us during this time, knowing that Christmas will be here one day and gone the next. During this season, we live for the entire experience of celebrating the birth of Christ. We aren't worried about when it's over. We don't pass of decorating our homes, businesses, yards (and selves!) because we will have to one day take them down and put them away. We don't cancel traditional gatherings because we will have a huge mess to clean afterwards. We indulge in all moments gifted to us. The day is coming whether we enjoy each and every moment before hand or not, so the majority of us do all that we can to take in the experiences and create memories to cherish. We also know, as I mentioned, that this day will pass. The lights, decorations, parties, exchanges, moments and worship of our Lord will be highlighted on Christmas day, then the day will be over. We don't avoid engaging in all of the experiences prior to December 25th because December 26th replaces it with a regular day. We make the most of the time we are given and do all that makes ourselves and others feel good. It's part of the season. It's part of life. As is now. This is a season of your life. If a doctor has given you an "expectancy" on your life for whatever the reason is, it is your responsibility to find your ways to live in purpose with intention and the fullness you were created for. They (physicians, or anyone for that matter) cannot take your desire and drive to savor every moment of life from you. Let me make a suggestion, though. Don't write this timeframe or "date" on your calendar. Your cells are listening and will respond to your thoughts, feelings and actions. Claim life and do all that you can to support your mind and body in the most natural ways. So many times I've seen cancer heroes prove those time stamping physicians wrong. Sometimes life extension happens as a result of shifting the way we approach living and fulfilling our duties of human existence. Whether you believe that it is right or wrong for a physician to deliver this type of prediction, the next steps are up to you. I have to also touch on the point that compounded stress impairs our endocannabinoid systems (ECS) which can lead to other health issues both mental and physical. It can cause distress in your endocrine system, hormones, and can fuel inflammatory responses. It could truly make a world of difference to support your ECS with supplementation of cannabinoid therapy at this time. Be sure to work with a professional who is knowledgeable on how the endocannabinoid system impacts your emotional state and health overall. Your mind, body and spirit will thank you for it. Harvest nature to enhance your quality of life. Reach out should you need guidance.  IS CANNABIS A GATEWAY TO HEALTH OR HARM?
Wanna know something crazy? In 1937, Cannabis (aka marijuana) was federally banned. It was listed as a schedule 1 drug. Schedule 1 drugs are those that have a high addiction rate, have no medical benefit, and can be abused such as LSD and heroin. Ironically, caffeine is pretty widely known to have one of the highest addiction rates and is commonly abused by individuals across the country... along with cigarettes, alcohol and food. Yet they are all legal and have extensive lists of the dangers they pose on our health. Even death. They considered cannabis aka marijuana to be a gateway drug. Gateway drugs are those that are “thought” to lead to more potent or dangerous drugs. YET, we have no evidence of direct cause of death due to cannabis consumption. There also lies no proof that it causes the user to sway towards another drug. Actually, we have an abundance of research explaining the health BENEFITS gained by cannabis consumption. Here’s the crazy part: The same federal government that banned cannabis is the same agency that holds a patent on a synthetic (lab created) version of cannabis as a NEUROPROTECTANT. Meaning, it protects the brain. Sounds like a gateway to health to me… Also important to mention, the lab created version – the one the government holds patents on – has a long list of crappy side effects. Crazy, right? The power of community and hope will bring awareness and truth back to this plant that was used for centuries to restore health. For starters, studies show people do better when they are involved, have a sense of belonging and can engage with other like-minded. This is critical in normalizing and progressing in the cannabis conversation. This is important information to know. Without it, you could be missing out on one of the most important tools in your health recovery box!  Hi! I'm Stephanie, your cannabis cancer coach! A title I never ever thought I'd hold. Until cancer clawed at my family with my Dad's diagnosis over a decade ago. EVERYthing changed. Every. Single. Thing. 😲 My habits, my thoughts, my interests, my circle of influence, my education, my relationships, and ultimately my career - and here I am. 🤗 I partner with people who have cancer who know they have options - they just may not be sure what they are and need clarity. 🕵 I work with those who receive this diagnosis and have realized at some point that they don't want that traditional path that so many have taken - the fingers crossed, let's hope for the best route. 😕 I engage with people who want to heal their cancer. They know they have control over their habits, and they recognize that they need accountability and guidance to make changes.👊 I reassure my clients that they are on the right track once they've checked in with their gut - their heart and their values. NOTHING should compromise this. EVER. ☝ I enable the healer in people with cancer. Our thoughts come before all other aspects of life. You have to heal in your mind to make way for the rest of your body to follow. 💖 I educate my clients on how their endocannabinoid system works. This is a MIND-BODY system. Left unchecked we are wide open to illness and dis-ease. We learn, tone, adjust, enhance, and supplement intentionally. 💚🌿 To wrap that up, we use the Cancer Recovery Technique to address it all - build a daily "what to do" plan, and become partners in healing! 💞 I get so many questions and have so much to share, I've decided to host 'The Theta Living Show' to bring some perspective to the community. Look for this week's episode of CANCER COACH CHAT where I address "struggling with treatment". 💞 Feel free to SHARE, in LOVE 💞 |
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