Most of our blogs, time and focus here have been on the external, the treatments to Dana.  As a former psychiatric nurse, I understand the importance of the psyche and the family role.  That said, the role of health coach to my own children can be a difficult daunting task at best.  I cannot be a therapist to my children.  I want to be a mentor but am still on my own journey with my own human limitations.

I want to talk today about the power of the mind and why as a Mother, as Momma Bear it is often challenging not to let my mind and my fears sabotage the journey of my children.  We naturally want to protect our children, to protect them from the pain that we have experienced in our own lives.  This protection, ahem, Ok OVER protection, prevents our children from their own growth.  This is why we have family programs.  This is why I need to heed the 12-step recovery prayer, “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”.

So this week, we have a changing of the guard, I am taking a trip with Doug and Stephanie to celebrate her first graduation (we are not always on top of things here….) and to witness our nephew Paul and Hope’s wedding in Tampa, Florida.  Margo and Brad are supporting Dana in my absence. 

After a few days of reading, meditation and long naps I have a renewed perspective.  I am constantly asking for guidance with the question, “How can I best aid my children?”  The message this past year has remained constant, as has my mantra….”Take it Easy, Let it Go”. 

We all have our personal journeys in this life, no exceptions. Why we are here, what our purpose is and how we extract meaning is an ageless and vital question for our existence.  It is a question that is never asked directly.  Never emphasized in our school systems. Perhaps it is in our religious communities, but I wouldn’t know.  It has been a question that has plagued me throughout my lifetime.  I’ve had careers where I felt I was “in the zone” where I was doing exactly what I was meant to do.  I felt this when I became a Mother.  I felt this at the beginning of my nursing career and then again when I ran a Crisis Center.  I felt that I was using all of my previous experience and knowledge to full capacity to serve others. I believe that it is vitally important that we use our God given talents to serve others.  Vital for our own personal growth and development as well as vital for the community with which we find ourselves in.  And isn’t it strange how we find ourselves in certain communities?  Most often, not by our own choosing… or so we believe.  Dana did not consciously “choose” to get cancer; it chose her.  But what are the messages that these challenges bring to us?  For this is where the golden nugget lies. 

So what are the Golden Nuggets created out of our challenges?  How and why do those that heal themselves later say that the worse things in their lives end up being the best?  How and why do some say that the dis-ease enabled them to discover and find themselves?  What role does our buried unconscious play and how do we reach this Mecca of information that is hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) just below our surface?  Why is it that in the shower or during a repetitive activity such as yoga or working out do we suddenly receive an epiphany?  It is because we have momentarily stilled the mind of the constant “tape player” long enough to actually hear the subconscious.  It is because the signs and symptoms of Illness and discontent, is the physical body’s way of communicating to the conscious mind. “Hello?  Can you hear me?  Something is out of kilter here!”

So we must practice the skill of mastering the unconscious mind.   We must leave what I believe is our Ego mind, the external messages that constantly bombard us to develop a relationship with our inner unconscious mind so that we can relearn what we already innately know.  It is what I have learned, which is that when we listen to our gut and our heart we can know the truth from within.  It is through this practice that we can focus the mind for healing.  This is the power of play, exercise, relaxation and meditation.  This is the heart of why visualization and hypnosis is effective.  This is how the “placebo effect” works.  This is why as one study proved, if the patients believe in the Doctor and he says, “your hair will fallout within 10 days” that 30% of those on a placebo drug will lose their hair too!  This is why visualization and hypnosis is so important and so powerful that hypnosis can even be used to allow patients to undergo surgery without anesthesia.  Meditation and hypnosis merely silences the conscious mind allowing freedom from the limiting thoughts and belief patterns that imprison us.   This is the “secret sauce” the magic bullet, the power of healing from within.  The reason behind why, “Attitude is Everything”.

I am not an expert on any of this but I know that the first steps are to be open to the learning and to practice the discipline of self-discovery.  This is why I need to read and practice my own yoga and meditation religiously and why Dana needs her hubby and sister this week.

More to follow…

Carpe Diem and Namaste

Lisa, AKA Momma Bear with a renewed perspective from afar.