Cancer.
The word strikes fear in the hearts of men. For good reason. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Heart disease leads the list however and the same trembling fear does not seem to follow its mention.
We will all die of something some time. Perhaps our arteries fail or our cells mutate into cancer and attack vital organs that extinguish us.
The truth is, both diseases can be prevented and treated and diagnoses need not be death warrants.
Once diagnosed with either, there are many things we can do to prolong life and make whatever time we have left here a more healthy and feel-good experience.
This column focuses on Cancer, not one kind in particular, but the overall disease and what a person can do if he receives this diagnosis. Many people feel the news is life- transforming as it brings an awareness of our life in the here and now into crystal clear focus.
When you hear you have cancer, the first thoughts are often: “How long do I have to live?” “Is it treatable?” “What do we do about it?”
Fear and panic can set in and one’s sole focus may be on dying. If one persists in that direction, then outcome is likely to be just that. My advice is to get out of that funk ASAP and focus on living. After all, they say you can literally worry yourself to death. Furthermore one’s emotional state of mind is critical to the healing process, and we needs to make sure our emotional receptors help make us feel good.
There is an outstanding book on this topic, The Molecules of Emotion by Dr. Candace Perth, a world renowned scientist who helped discover the Morphine Peptide back in the early 70s. In essence, the book lays out scientifically that every molecule in our body has an emotional receptor which means everything we feel affects our overall health. Think about that one.Next week we will go further.
