Image by Tobias C. Wahl

In This Article:

• What are false beliefs, and how do they shape our experiences?
• How can surrendering help us navigate adversity?
• Why does pain repeat itself if we resist its lessons?
• How does staying in the present moment shift our perspective?
• What role does gratitude and trust play in overcoming life’s challenges?

False Belief: I Can't Do This

by Lawrence Doochin.

The vehicles that show up in our lives—health challenges, relationships, and experiences, for example— don’t have to be “negative” as we define it but we could find ourselves facing adversity if we have resisted signals and hints that the universe has been giving us and we’re living in a toxic world where we have to deal with detrimental decisions and paths that the human race and the collective have taken us down, or some combination of the two.

For many good reasons, humans have a large aversion to pain or negative vehicles of any kind, whether physical, emotional, or mental. Our entrepreneurial society has produced countless hacks to work around and avoid states like pain, sadness, fatigue, or mental fogginess, but this shortcutting is not wise, since we’re not allowing natural processes to take their course, which can have disastrous long-term consequences.

As part of the human condition, pain—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—is unavoidable. And like everything, it can serve our growth in many ways or simply alert us that something is wrong and needs addressing in a healthy way. So, we shouldn’t try to avoid these “negative” vehicles or try to hack our way around them as our ego minds would prefer to do. A higher part of us has chosen a path for what we want to accomplish on Earth for our growth.

If we avoid a vehicle, it’ll likely come up repeatedly and often in a stronger way until we’ve addressed it. For instance, someone may continually enter into relationships with abusive partners, never seeing the pattern that the story is not about the other person but rather about their own self-worth. Or the vehicle may change to show that person they hold a low self-worth.

Not paying attention to what the pain is trying to show us means that we will likely have to be shaken even harder the next time. Again, the universe or God is not punishing us but is instead just fulfilling the growth we have asked for at a level far outside our limited ego mind, which looks through a lens of punishment and can’t understand why some given adverse event is happening or continues to happen.

Innate Wisdom

The universe has an innate wisdom and is constantly adjusting to where we are and what we need. It’s also showing us that we are much stronger than we can envision. Similar to a parent, boss, or professor who pushes us in a good way, the universe will never give us more than we can handle, for the purpose is for us to succeed. Thus, when we’re faced with a challenge, we know that we can handle it. It may look like we’re tapping on reserves of strength that we didn’t know we had, and it may push us to the point of exhaustion or extreme grief, but if we can trust in a bigger picture, we can handle what we’re going through.

Cancer can be one vehicle to show us what we’re made of, but there are many others, too, like the breakup of a relationship or the loss of our job or our house. And only we can determine whether that vehicle has presented itself because we’ve disregarded previous signals or whether it’s just a part of being in a highly dysfunctional and toxic world. Often, it’s a combo of both. But the reality is that the vehicle is there, and it is meant to serve us, if we allow it, regardless of why it is there.

Inner Reserves

How do we pull from those inner reserves and make it through? By taking one day—literally one moment—at a time.

With cancer we have to compartmentalize our schedule and treatment, not looking ahead. So on the day of my surgery, I only thought about a series of the smallest successive steps without jumping to the next one: get in the car with my wife, get checked in, get in the hospital bed, and give my arm for my IV, for example.

I wasn’t thinking how much pain I would be in after surgery, how the dog would get walked every day, or if the surgery was going to clear the cancer. When I had radiation treatment every weekday for almost a month, it just became routine that I had to get up and go there each morning, just like I brushed my teeth. Being at the facility became a series of small steps that I was familiar with after the first visit.

The Present Moment

Staying in the moment, or the now, is a powerful spiritual practice. The present moment is all that exists.

Quantum physics has shown us that time is neither fixed nor linear. Einstein told us that “the distinction between the past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” So when we are worrying about potential outcomes for our health issue, we are living in the future, and this is not where we want to be, because we will be in fear.

If we stay in the present moment, we stay where God resides and where we can receive answers. If we witness our thoughts and watch how they drift to the future regarding what will happen to us—our loved ones, the world, or anything else—we can bring them back to the present moment and remind ourselves to be here, right now, in this body. Being in the present moment allows us to compartmentalize all of these moments into one after the other so we’re not being overwhelmed by fear of the future.

Denial vs. Courage

One of my strengths is logic, which I have learned to balance with the heart. Logic tells us that we can do something because we have to do it, since we don’t have another choice. We actually do have other choices than to face what is in front of us, but denial is never a good path and usually leads to far worse outcomes than if we had just had the courage to face the issue to begin with.

Yes, cancer has in some way interrupted our life, but, this is a good thing, and if we so choose, we can see it this way, recognizing the gifts and needed changes it brings. Many choose not to and don’t process the emotions, just wanting to get through it as quickly as possible.

If we are grateful for the gifts that bring a higher perspective and if we combine this gratitude with logic that tells us that we are here—so we must deal with our adversity—we are invited to surrender to the fact that we are not in control of things as we thought we were. This relinquishment of control brings us to a beautiful place of inner peace. When we let go of control, magic happens.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I would have obviously preferred not to have it. But I didn’t panic, and I surrendered to the fact I needed surgery, which is all I could know at that point. I went through the surgery keeping my focus on what the next thing right in front of me was that I needed to do or not do.

I didn’t worry about whether the surgery would be the end of my cancer journey—whether it had spread to other areas—since there was zero benefit in worrying at all, especially worrying about something I could not control and would not have information about until later.

We need to control the things we can control and give what we can’t control to God. The issue lies in determining what we can control. It is highly likely that we think we can control much more than we really can. Because we are not good judges of what we can and cannot control, the safest route is to assume we can’t control anything—which knocks down the ego and creates humility—and to give it all to God.

We can desire that we would not experience the cancer journey while understanding that we are not in control. This then allows us to accept and not resist what we desire we do not have—the principal paradox.

Our Soul’s Choices

Of course, at a level of Spirit, we work hand in hand with God to fulfill our soul’s choices, so that is the ultimate control. But not many people walk the earth from the same consciousness and recognition of unity that Jesus did. So, it is best to assume that we don’t know what is in our best interest and that we can’t control anything.

Nor should we compare ourselves to others—I could have easily become angry that I got cancer when my diet and lifestyle choices were vastly healthier than those of a large percentage of the population. We can’t figure it out, so we must give it all to God.

With that surrender comes great peace and joy. The Serenity Prayer says it best: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; taking this world as it is and not as I would have it…”

Self-Analysis

I quickly accepted that I needed some changes in my life regarding diet, the use of technology, and more. Although these changes were substantial, especially with the diet and the juicing, I didn’t panic. Because I was in the moment, I was able to feel how I needed to stage out changes without them becoming overwhelming, and there were many things that I realized that I just couldn’t do, since they would have been too much on my plate.

Self-analysis of what we can handle and what our body needs, but without fear, guilt, or self-judgment, is critical. But we all need time, patience, and compassion to be able to make this self-analysis.

When I had a CT scan after my surgery and the enlarged lymph node showed up, I was temporarily rocked. But then I knew that staying in any state of self-pity or denial would not be beneficial. I also knew that I have tremendous inner strength I could call on, buttressed by immense faith and trust.

So, I quickly accepted that this was my new normal for at least a certain time—I had my “regular” normal before surgery, a new normal with the month-long recovery from the surgery, and now this, which would be an even newer normal. Again, as humans we want to label things and put them in boxes so we can process—theoretically—and deal with them more easily, but the universe has a good laugh at our need to segment and control our lives, since change is the only constant.

Then when I started radiation and had to be at the treatment center every weekday for almost a month, I just accepted what was and didn’t look ahead or back. By the time I was nearing the end of the treatment, I was so exhausted that I was counting down the last segment in days, but I was able to be in the moment from the time I was driving over, to sitting in the lobby, to undressing and putting on my gown, to the 35 to 45 minutes I was on the table as I received the radiation in four areas.

I joked with my main radiation tech that I had come there for the ambiance, which comprised the flashing lights, the laser, and the rock music they played at my request. I didn’t want to be there, but I also didn’t resist it in any part of my being.

The Paradox

Here we see the paradox again. I made the best of it by really appreciating and thanking those who were treating me and by being grateful that my insurance covered most of this treatment, among other perspectives.

The little things and staying in the moment helped me to see God in all things, including everything around this journey, and to tap into my inner strength to get through what was a traumatic experience.

If someone is looking ahead to the day they’re cancer-free—and, again, what does this even mean?—they are not living life. They are waiting for something in the future they think will be a better situation for them, similar to the way someone who is constantly moving to new jobs or relationships keeps thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. In some ways it may be, but in other ways it wouldn’t, because the richness and joy of life is in the moment, not in looking ahead to a time when we believe we will be happier. And what if that time of being cancer-free never comes?

Surrender

If you have cancer or some major health issue, or if a loved one has it, what good is it to be non-accepting of the situation? Yes, we have to go through the stages of grief, but after that, we need to stay in a place of surrender. Being in any other state won’t change the reality of the situation or help us to heal.

Surrender means accepting that you may be dealing with cancer for the rest of your life or the possibility that your physical body may not make it, but that your spirit will go on. You can’t live fully unless you’re not afraid of dying.

Surrender is the thread that needs to be present in and for all of our cancer and other health journeys and especially throughout our lives. There are numerous testimonials of individuals who healed themselves of late-stage cancers using a plant-based or other type of alternative diet. But many of these individuals had been through conventional treatment without success, and they turned to a specific diet and other therapies in desperation or as a last resort.

What actually happened is that they surrendered, and out of that surrender came a cure... because they allowed for all possibilities. The diet was important, but it was their change of attitude and the releasing of false beliefs and blocks, the releasing of the belief that they were in control, that then allowed the diet and other treatments to work to the highest degree. There is a high potential for miracles to happen for each of us if we are open to it.

Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Publisher : One-Hearted Publishing.

Article Source: Healing Cancer

Healing Cancer: The Complete Way
by Lawrence Doochin

Having undergone a cancer journey himself, Lawrence Doochin understands the severe fear and trauma that those who have cancer, and their loved ones, experience. His heart opens to each of you with the greatest compassion and empathy, and this book was written to be of service. 

Healing Cancer will take you from despair to optimism, peace, and gratitude.

For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.

More books by this Author.

About the Author

Lawrence Doochin is an author, entrepreneur, and devoted husband and father. A survivor of harrowing childhood sexual abuse, he traveled a long journey of emotional and spiritual healing and developed an in-depth understanding of how our beliefs create our reality. In the business world, he has worked for, or been associated with, enterprises from small startups to multinational corporations. He is the cofounder of HUSO sound therapy, which delivers powerful healing benefits to individual and professionals worldwide. In everything Lawrence does, he strives to serve a higher good.

He is also the author of A Book on Fear: Feeling Safe in a Challenging World. Learn more at LawrenceDoochin.com.

Article Recap:

False beliefs create barriers to personal growth, often leading us to resist life’s challenges. However, by embracing the power of surrender, we can navigate adversity with greater ease. The universe presents challenges not as punishment but as opportunities for growth. Pain, whether emotional, mental, or physical, serves as a signal for necessary change. Staying in the present moment, releasing control, and trusting the process can lead to deeper healing and inner peace.

#OvercomingFear #FalseBeliefs #PowerOfSurrender #MindsetShift #InnerStrength #PersonalGrowth #SpiritualHealing #EmotionalResilience #HealingJourney