POSSIBILITIES
I was asked in an interview recently what the one thing was that I wish I had known when I was diagnosed. It’s a big question, with many potential answers, but the one that I settled on was possibilities: I wish I had known just how much is possible on a healing journey, especially that outside of physical healing. How much I learned about myself, proved to myself, how much confidence I gained, the level of health I regained and then soared above; the list goes on and on.
When I look back at who I was when I was diagnosed, I have come to see that person as an unsure, shrunken, reserved version of me; I often even see myself in my mind’s eye with hunched shoulders and a shut mouth. It would have been astounding, relieving, and exciting for that person to know, in that hardest moment, just how much was going to change, just how much was possible, as a result of that moment.
This is the time of year for new beginnings and new possibilities. Everywhere you look there are mentions of fresh starts, new resolutions, goals big and small. There is pressure from every direction to jump on this bandwagon, to make this change, to start something new, and it can be overwhelming to know where to begin, what to try, and what to pass over, especially in the midst of a cancer diagnosis or other big obstacle.
Cancer taught me, among so much, that there are endless possibilities on a healing journey and that the way to find which direction to move in is to both turn within and also tune into that which is far beyond us. The voice within will guide you to those places where you
want to focus and grow and remould, and the force beyond - the universe, spirit, angels, guides, whatever language you like to use - will guide you to those places where you
need to focus so that you can achieve those wants.
I wonder sometimes though that if, on Day 1 of A.C. (After Cancer), I
had known all that was possible for me, whether things still would have turned out the same way, whether I still would have achieved the same level of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing and development. The journey, after all, is often more important than the destination, and no matter how much we worry about and try to predict how it will go, part of that importance comes down to the fact that all we can ultimately do is take it moment by moment, living in the present as the future slowly reveals itself to us; somehow, not knowing the big picture causes us to examine the moments more carefully and explore the lessons more deeply.
So, instead of looking to others to decide what possibilities you want to focus on this year, take some time to turn within, to tune into what’s beyond, and to forget about predicting the outcome. Don’t be so focused on what you or others think the destination
should be that you miss the journey. Besides, what’s possible is so much more beautiful and surprising than we can imagine anyway
Happy New Year, and Happy Healing