My journey through cancer has taught me to nurture my own creativity. I spent my career nurturing other people's, but cancer has taught me to pay attention to my own voice, and to use it. I finally started writing my own book, and have put all my writing experience into an e-programme so that I am free to write! Now my intuition is my guide and not my head. I feel I've been given a second chance to use my own voice, and am discovering new and exciting ways in which I can speak up. I no longer feel cut off and isolated, but engaged and joyful about the things I have to say.

Amanda x
 

Shortly after my mother died, I was sitting in church listening to the choir and thinking, "I wish I could do that."  I have always loved to sing, but stopped about 3 decades ago because I'm not really a very good singer.  In my own mind I compared myself unfavorably to the many talented musicians in my family, including my mother who was a pianist.

In her blog, a trauma survivor credits a paragraph in Invisible Heroes as her impetus for using her “acquired skills” at dissociation to consciously help herself cope.  She refers to a woman from the book named Frannie who was assaulted in a hospital parking lot, quoting this excerpt: 

“Although Frannie was disabled by her traumatic experiences, she was also, in certain ways, empowered by them. Frannie was a natural at using imagery and the altered state to help herself heal. The trance state was her powerful ally, and she was adept at achieving it, rapidly and deeply, thanks to a trauma-induced intensification in her brain’s visual, sensorimotor, and emotional centers.” *

In other words, use your skills at dissociation to get you out of a bad place.

This whole, awesome TBI (traumatic brain injury) web blog is an inspiring story in and of itself. Put  together by someone who’s dealing with it every day, it’s designed to inspire, educate and assist any of the 5.8 million people (and growing fast every day) affected directly by TBI, plus their families, docs and therapists. And it does - a very good thing, too, because until recently, very little was known about TBI, even though the incidence has been growing exponentially, thanks to sports injuries, domestic abuse, auto accidents, bombs and IED’s – improvised explosive devices.

We gratefully received this very touching and beautiful posting on the blog last week, when so many of you responded to the question of the week being asked.  It speaks to the power of imagery and affirmation to heal trauma – in this case, particularly the longstanding numbness.  It reaches places that talking and thinking just can’t go, because of where traumatic memories are stored in the brain.  That’s why we need imagery!

My daughter is a college freshman with insomnia. The lack of sleep created more problems for her with stress, concentration and performance. She was sleeping through some classes and her exam-taking suffered as well.  Her mood was affected.  She lost interest in her social life. There was an overall snowballing effect that had my wife and I quite concerned.  

We got so many inspiring emails from the people answering our request for information about their cancer experiences.  This stage 4 lung cancer patient didn’t preach to her oncologist – she just won him over by her dazzling example.  I’ve always believed in this method of persuasion – simply become a walking commercial for what you believe in!  It can’t be beat!  (Credit also goes to her doc, who proved himself to be flexible, open and wise – wise enough to let himself learn from this remarkable woman!)
Please read on – This is Jean:

My oncologist had no idea of, nor was interested in hearing about anything complementary or alternative. He poo-pooed everthing I brought up about mind/body, alternative and complementary medicine and diet. As soon as I got my diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer (never smoked), I started searching. I set up my acupuncture visits for before each chemo. I bought as many books as I could find about surviving cancer.

Boulder, Colorado, that fulminating hotbed of mind-body-spirit activity and nexus of holistic healing is the third American city (after Portland, OR and Davis, CA) to achieve Platinum Bike Status.

For the past 10 years, I have been a closet binge eater.  Instead of dealing with my sadness, anger, disappointment, and stress, I have shoveled in calories by the thousands.  This coping mechanism has done little except to medicate, cause some serious self-loathing, and propagate a pattern of self-destruction.

Oh, and let’s not forget, catapulting me to a high weight of 353 pounds.

After experiencing some kind of hurt, I would go to the store with the intention of self-medicating.  Food was my drug.  My binge of choice was a large bag of mini chocolate bars, a quart of mocha fudge ice cream, tortilla chips, white cheese dip, and a 2-liter of Coke.  Generally, every last bite of it was gone in less than an hour.