The TAO in Everyday Life
STEPHEN LAU
The TAO is in every aspect of life: growing up; receiving education; seeking careers; getting married; raising children; connecting with others; staying healthy; growing old; and facing life challenges.
CANCER CURE
All About . . . .
This book is about what to do when one is diagnosed with cancer. The author is neither a doctor nor an oncologist. He is simply showing the power of the mind not only in coping with the traumatic experience of cancer but also in overcoming the disease itself. In addition, he presents detailed information on what an individual must do on the cancer journey of cure and recovery.
A cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. Rather, it is an opportunity for growth and development. Harness your mind power to conquer your cancer.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE GOT CANCER!
All About . . . .
This book is about what to do when one is diagnosed with cancer. The author is neither a doctor nor an oncologist. He is simply showing the power of the mind not only in coping with the traumatic experience of cancer but also in overcoming the disease itself. In addition, he presents detailed information on what an individual must do on the cancer journey of cure and recovery.
A cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. Rather, it is an opportunity for growth and development. Harness your mind power to conquer your cancer.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE GOT CANCER!
An Excerpt from the Book . . . .
What is Cancer?
Cancer is a multidimensional disease. The word “cancer” is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues. It is a consequence of the failure of your repairing and defense mechanisms in your body. Cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems. Cancer is one of the most dreaded diseases of humanity.
This is a common scenario. You feel a lump or a swelling under your arm and see your doctor about it; or you may have some health issues, requiring some tests. The doctor tells you that you have a tumor, which is a swollen collection of cells. Is the tumor benign or malignant? For confirmation, a biopsy is usually performed.
A benign tumor means it is slow growing, it does not easily spread to other parts of the body, and therefore unlikely to be fatal. If the tumor is malignant, it is growing rapidly, and is likely to spread to other parts of the body, and therefore life-threatening. If the cancer shows good response to whatever treatment the patient chooses, it is said to be in a remission. The chance of the cancer returning is often greatest in the first two years. In the next three years, the chance is considerably reduced. After five years, the patient is said to be cancer free. Probably as old as life itself, cancer has been around humanity for ages, but only in the second half of the 20th century did the number of cancer cases begin to explode exponentially. The sudden surge of this devastating disease was probably due to:
The drastic changes of high-stress lifestyle
The overuse and misuse of drugs and pharmaceuticals
The inferior quality and the huge quantity of junk food available
The excessive use of chemicals and extensive exposure to environmental pollutants
All of the above were not around a hundred years ago, or at least not as rampant as they are now,
Contrary to popular belief, cancer is not a mysterious disease against which you are powerless. If you understand its causes and take positive actions, and if your body still has enough time to make the necessary adjustments, you can still win your battle against cancer and become a cancer survivor.
Cancer appears to be a mysterious disease because it is a disease caused by not one but many factors. Unfortunately, the conventional approach to the disease is to treat the malignancy of the tumor. Cancer is holistic dysfunction of the body, the mind, and the spirit; as such, there should be a holistic approach to the disease.
Although you may not be a doctor or an oncologist, learn everything you need to know about your cancer. You need neither a medical background nor medical expertise to know the basics of cancer. Your goal is not just to survive your cancer, but to thrive and turn your health around.
You have to understand that in many ways you are responsible for the disease. Get a handle on why you may have made yourself prone to that disease in the first place. In life, everything happens with a reason, though it may not be too apparent to you at first. Once you understand the reason, you may be able to control, if not get rid of, the disease completely.
Be A Cancer Survivor
Although cancer is a complex disease, it is critical that you empower your mind to know as much as you can in order to initiate the healing process.It is estimated that only approximately 15 to 20 percent with chronic or catastrophic illness, such as cancer, can be called cancer survivors.
The attributes of a cancer survivor
A cancer survivor is an individual who is willing to take the responsibility for his or her health conditions, who makes an effort to reshape his or her life, and who actively participates in his or her recovery process.
Do you wish to become a cancer survivor, or are you content to become one of the 50 to 60 percent of cancer patients who just sit back and let their health professionals take control of their prognosis?
Even worst, are you like one of the 20 percent cancer patients, who have a death
wish because they have found themselves in a death trap?
If you become more knowledgeable of cancer, you make better health decisions, and you have a greater chance of survival.
Be a cancer survivor. The choice is all yours.
The Importance of Emotional Well-Being
An important aspect of your cancer therapy and recovery is your emotion, which
is controlled by your mind.
One of the most essential aspects of the mind is self-acceptance. As a matter of fact, self-rejection is the root cause of all emotional problems, such as mental depression. In life, you are who you are, and you must accept yourself as who you are, not someone you wish you were or could be. Likewise, you must accept the hard reality that you have cancer, and you must deal with your disease accordingly. Many cancer patients harbor thoughts of denial, or, worse, self-guilt. Therefore, if you are unhappy, angry, blaming yourself, the world, or even God, you are self-generating and perpetuating your own misery, which is destructive both emotionally and physically.
A Trauma, Not A Trap
To be diagnosed with cancer is already a traumatic experience, to have to undergo various therapies and treatments only further aggravates that excruciating experience. Therefore, it is critically important that you do not let your traumatic experience overwhelm you and turn it into an emotional trap.
What is an emotional trap? How does it differ from an emotional trauma?
To illustrate, a personal tragedy, such as bereavement of a loved one, or an accident, such as a car crash or personal injury, may result in a traumatic experience. However long it may take, one usually and ultimately gets over and out of an emotional trauma. An emotional trap, on the other hand, is more devastating in that the victim finds himself or herself in a trap, such that there is absolutely no way out of the dire situation. Say, when a breadwinner of a family suddenly loses his job, he may find himself in a traumatic situation, not knowing how to feed his family and desperately and frantically looking for another job to put food on the table for his family; an individual in a similar financial strait may find himself or herself in a trap, in which there is a deep desire to have lots of money to get out of the dire situation but not knowing how to get the money other than buying more lottery tickets.
Similarly, a cancer patient may feel being in a deathtrap: it is a death sentence, and there is no way out, except waiting for the date of execution. Being a victim of an emotional trap debilitates the victim from thinking out a solution because the mind continues to fixate on the hopelessness and to feed on the negativity of the situation, and thus creating a vicious circle of despair and negativity.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE GOT CANCER!
What is Cancer?
Cancer is a multidimensional disease. The word “cancer” is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues. It is a consequence of the failure of your repairing and defense mechanisms in your body. Cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems. Cancer is one of the most dreaded diseases of humanity.
This is a common scenario. You feel a lump or a swelling under your arm and see your doctor about it; or you may have some health issues, requiring some tests. The doctor tells you that you have a tumor, which is a swollen collection of cells. Is the tumor benign or malignant? For confirmation, a biopsy is usually performed.
A benign tumor means it is slow growing, it does not easily spread to other parts of the body, and therefore unlikely to be fatal. If the tumor is malignant, it is growing rapidly, and is likely to spread to other parts of the body, and therefore life-threatening. If the cancer shows good response to whatever treatment the patient chooses, it is said to be in a remission. The chance of the cancer returning is often greatest in the first two years. In the next three years, the chance is considerably reduced. After five years, the patient is said to be cancer free. Probably as old as life itself, cancer has been around humanity for ages, but only in the second half of the 20th century did the number of cancer cases begin to explode exponentially. The sudden surge of this devastating disease was probably due to:
The drastic changes of high-stress lifestyle
The overuse and misuse of drugs and pharmaceuticals
The inferior quality and the huge quantity of junk food available
The excessive use of chemicals and extensive exposure to environmental pollutants
All of the above were not around a hundred years ago, or at least not as rampant as they are now,
Contrary to popular belief, cancer is not a mysterious disease against which you are powerless. If you understand its causes and take positive actions, and if your body still has enough time to make the necessary adjustments, you can still win your battle against cancer and become a cancer survivor.
Cancer appears to be a mysterious disease because it is a disease caused by not one but many factors. Unfortunately, the conventional approach to the disease is to treat the malignancy of the tumor. Cancer is holistic dysfunction of the body, the mind, and the spirit; as such, there should be a holistic approach to the disease.
Although you may not be a doctor or an oncologist, learn everything you need to know about your cancer. You need neither a medical background nor medical expertise to know the basics of cancer. Your goal is not just to survive your cancer, but to thrive and turn your health around.
You have to understand that in many ways you are responsible for the disease. Get a handle on why you may have made yourself prone to that disease in the first place. In life, everything happens with a reason, though it may not be too apparent to you at first. Once you understand the reason, you may be able to control, if not get rid of, the disease completely.
Be A Cancer Survivor
Although cancer is a complex disease, it is critical that you empower your mind to know as much as you can in order to initiate the healing process.It is estimated that only approximately 15 to 20 percent with chronic or catastrophic illness, such as cancer, can be called cancer survivors.
The attributes of a cancer survivor
A cancer survivor is an individual who is willing to take the responsibility for his or her health conditions, who makes an effort to reshape his or her life, and who actively participates in his or her recovery process.
Do you wish to become a cancer survivor, or are you content to become one of the 50 to 60 percent of cancer patients who just sit back and let their health professionals take control of their prognosis?
Even worst, are you like one of the 20 percent cancer patients, who have a death
wish because they have found themselves in a death trap?
If you become more knowledgeable of cancer, you make better health decisions, and you have a greater chance of survival.
Be a cancer survivor. The choice is all yours.
The Importance of Emotional Well-Being
An important aspect of your cancer therapy and recovery is your emotion, which
is controlled by your mind.
One of the most essential aspects of the mind is self-acceptance. As a matter of fact, self-rejection is the root cause of all emotional problems, such as mental depression. In life, you are who you are, and you must accept yourself as who you are, not someone you wish you were or could be. Likewise, you must accept the hard reality that you have cancer, and you must deal with your disease accordingly. Many cancer patients harbor thoughts of denial, or, worse, self-guilt. Therefore, if you are unhappy, angry, blaming yourself, the world, or even God, you are self-generating and perpetuating your own misery, which is destructive both emotionally and physically.
A Trauma, Not A Trap
To be diagnosed with cancer is already a traumatic experience, to have to undergo various therapies and treatments only further aggravates that excruciating experience. Therefore, it is critically important that you do not let your traumatic experience overwhelm you and turn it into an emotional trap.
What is an emotional trap? How does it differ from an emotional trauma?
To illustrate, a personal tragedy, such as bereavement of a loved one, or an accident, such as a car crash or personal injury, may result in a traumatic experience. However long it may take, one usually and ultimately gets over and out of an emotional trauma. An emotional trap, on the other hand, is more devastating in that the victim finds himself or herself in a trap, such that there is absolutely no way out of the dire situation. Say, when a breadwinner of a family suddenly loses his job, he may find himself in a traumatic situation, not knowing how to feed his family and desperately and frantically looking for another job to put food on the table for his family; an individual in a similar financial strait may find himself or herself in a trap, in which there is a deep desire to have lots of money to get out of the dire situation but not knowing how to get the money other than buying more lottery tickets.
Similarly, a cancer patient may feel being in a deathtrap: it is a death sentence, and there is no way out, except waiting for the date of execution. Being a victim of an emotional trap debilitates the victim from thinking out a solution because the mind continues to fixate on the hopelessness and to feed on the negativity of the situation, and thus creating a vicious circle of despair and negativity.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE GOT CANCER!
