Healing from cancer is not something we can do alone.
On this day of giving thanks, I want to express my sincerest, most heartfelt thank you for all the love and support I have received in the last couple of months since my breast cancer diagnosis. This is a love letter to my family, friends, neighbors, and community. The outpouring of support and love has been amazing and has helped me on my healing journey. I am so thankful to each and everyone of you. I am thankful for the nourishing meals people have made for me and my family. I am thankful for the flowers and small care packages that have showed up at my house. I am thankful for friends taking my kids to after school activities. For allowing them to come over after school on short notice. Taking them for sleepovers, dinners, and play dates. For sending me books. I am thankful for my neighbors who watched my kids during my chemo treatment this week. I am thankful for the cards, notes, and small trinkets that have showed up on Michael’s desk at work for me. For the Davidson community and my Metta Mama community. I am thankful for the sweaters, blankets, and a beautiful hand made hat I was gifted to keep me warm during chemo. For the healing stones I received that are sitting on my altar. I am thankful for the text messages, calls and emails to let me know people are thinking of me.
And I am also extremely thankful to Michael, Chloe, and Logan. For their flexibility. Their bravery. Their willingness to step up and support mommy. A motivating factor to get past this bump in the road and get back to health has been my husband and children. They can’t get rid of me this easily!!
I also want to thank all of my doctor’s, nurses, and the support staff at Kaiser that I have been honored to meet. Their tireless energy and effort to help me understand my breast cancer, hold space for my questions, feelings, and emotions are so appreciated and have left a lasting impression on me. Working in the cancer world is not without pain and suffering, and yet these wonderful healthcare workers show up every day with hope and dedication and the ability to see every patient as the unique individual they are.
There is also a large, large community of people out there who are actively pouring their heart and soul into supporting women on their breast cancer journey through movement, acupuncture, energy healing, sound healing and many other beautiful modalities. A lot of these practitioners have come to this work because they have been touched by cancer and the energy and magic they bring to their work is inspirational.
And to all the women out there who I have met in active treatment and beyond – thank you for your vulnerability, your wisdom, and your friendship. Best club nobody wants to be a part of!
Love is healing. When we reach out to people who need our support, we are reminded about the fact that we are all deeply connected to each other and lifting someone up is powerful. It can resonate through your household, your community, and the world. In the book Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds by Kelly A. Tuner, she presents 9 key factors that can make a real difference to survival and one of them is embracing social support. The feeling of being loved releases a flood of potent hormones into our bloodstream, which not only can make us feel better emotionally but also has been scientifically proven to strengthen our immune system. Receiving love and support that you may not be able to reciprocate right away was challenging for me at first. I am used to being the person doing the giving. But knowing the benefits of being open to receiving love has helped me grow. Which has in turn helped me heal.
I end every yoga class I teach the same way and I want to share it with you here as a final thank you for walking this healing journey with me.
Bring your awareness to your heart. It is a place of peace, of love, of joy, and of truth. And when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are truly all one. We are all connected.
