Do Inner Work to Help Heal Cancer

Six years ago my father died of lung cancer. While he did so much to heal physically, he did not heal within. He did not work on himself on an emotional level.

Prior to my Dad’s illness, I had an obsession for a couple of years reading books about people with cancer and how they had survived. I found story after story, and after a while I noticed the same common patterns emerging— that went beyond diet and supplements. I want to share what I feel he missed, in the hope that these commonalities shared among cancer survivors may help others.

1. They were people who either naturally or intuitively had an understanding that something INSIDE them was off and that they had the capability to take control of that thing.

2. They developed a rock solid relationship with life. Call it God, faith or whatever, but they ultimately learned to TRUST the universe in a way that other people didn't and that they had never done before.

3. They learned to 'surrender' which meant they were willing to let go of their old self. In order to do this they would often use various tools, whether counseling methods or therapies. They left no stone unturned in their pursuit of digging deep within themselves to figure out if there were old beliefs, hurts, wounds and limitations that could be released. They were also 100% committed to leaving behind the person that they had been. The thinking was 'this person was the one that got cancer, I must become someone new to heal it.”

4. They seemed to innately understand the relationship between the mind and the body and began to be very mindful of their thoughts feelings and emotions, as well working on the above hurts/traumas, etc.

5. They followed healthy diets, they focussed on managing the 3 core elements that impact disease - the social/relationship world, the internal psychological and the physical body/biology.

Each of the survivors would speak in depth of the transformations that they went through personally. How they changed, and built this deep relationship with life, day by day. In a sense what was happening was they found themselves going through an awakening process.

Almost every day, they would let go of some part of their old selves. Over time, they built a DEEP trust with life. They had a transformation in their consciousness.

So the point of this post or "tip" really, is to get you thinking about what inner work you are doing on your journey. Sadly, that was not my Dad’s path and I wonder what would have happened if only he had gone on that inner journey.

My Dad’s Story:

During the 4 years that my Dad fought the battle, he invested heavily in a lot of natural remedies. He had a lot of help.

He had earned good money in his life, and hired a highly recommended natural doctor.

He had regular blood tests. He took ALL of the supplements, etc.

My mother cooked healthy quality food every day.

He juiced. He intermittently fasted for multiple years. There was a set routine.

They turned over every stone.

Every stone that is, except one.

And knowing my Dad, having grown up with him, I can't help but think that the one thing he missed, that seemed to be present in every major cancer success story that I have read, was that he didn't truly get in and do a lot of deep inner work on himself.

I saw that he wasn’t doing this, and so I tried to intervene.

I purchased programs. I brought him to a men’s seminar. I did many things to try and ‘put this in his way,’ but he stubbornly refused to do the work and use them.

Unfortunately, he did not make it.

After a few remissions, lung cancer ultimately killed him.

My father, while he did make some attitude changes-- he definitely became more humble with his wife, he did not do the deep therapy that would have been required to actually change who he was at the deepest level.

In the 6 years that have passed, I have noticed, that although it is becoming increasingly common for psychology to be acknowledged in the treatment of cancer, I really do not believe that the mainstream knowledge of how psychology really works is sufficient.Things like cognitive behavioral therapy, while it helps to manage the stress of diagnosis and gives some coping tools, is not enough to truly undo much of the deep beliefs that are required for deep change. On top of that, many people don’t even know what beliefs they are holding which makes it hard to address.

Over the years, I found myself fascinated with the common traumas and emotional wounds that people have. (Which was kind of a weird thing to be obsessed with as a guy in his 20’s.)

In the case of my Father, his life was characterized by tragedy:

At age 6, he first experienced death. This was the death of his best friend.

At 15, his father died.

At 21, my father was driving and crashed which proved fatal for his brother who was in the car.

6 months later his mother died the day before my Dad was due to arrive as he had yet to return home from overseas where the accident happened.

The family home was sold from the kids by the executor of the estate, an uncle, leaving the family homeless.

After this point, my father began to have what people called 'black rages'...

He would become uncontrollably angry at things and other people, like on a hair trigger.

30 years later he would get diagnosed with lung cancer and would die 4 years later.

There is no question that my Father did not get to the roots of his traumas. He learned that he wasn't good enough. He learned he was a danger to people that loved him. He learned to destroy whenever things were good... He learned to put a barrier on his happiness and his wellbeing, and was over-run with guilt whenever things got too good.

Even though he would never have described this because somehow, he wasn't really even aware of it, I can’t help think that the ‘mission’ he was on unconsciously, was to provide for his family, even though he never believed he was good enough to be a part of that.

When he died, the family was indeed financially provided for. He had purchased several houses, saved up a lot of money, and his insurance payment was not small.But there was no Dad in that equation.

I believe that on a deep level, he had de-valued himself so much that he couldn’t be a part of the reality he was creating.

None of this was even remotely conscious of course, and I take serious issue with anyone that says ‘people cause their cancer’, because that’s not only incredibly offensive, it’s just untrue.But just because you didn’t cause it consciously, doesn’t mean you might not have more power and control over it’s healing than you think. In my Father's case, there were many stones that were not turned over, but they all lay in the domain of the heart and the mind.

There is a growing body of research and tools that can make a HUGE impact in making rapid change and changing deep beliefs and traumas. I believe every person with cancer should be aware of and prioritize the use of them in their lives, because it may very well be the thing that saves them.