Today, I have decided to write on the topic of the big C word – Cancer. For years, we have been hearing in the news that we have to “fight cancer” or “say no to cancer.”
The statistics show clearly that cancer “fights back” at an ever increasing rate and intensity. It appears that no matter how many times we say “ No” to cancer; cancer’s reply is often “Screw you!”
My life is far from being untouched by cancer. Both of my grandmothers died of cancer, my brother passed away from a brain tumor and my father died from prostate cancer. To add to all this, my brother in law was diagnosed with a brain tumor a few years ago. His diagnosis was a real shock to me. I wanted to cry out, "Oh no, not again!" However, deep inside I felt a shift. It was then that I realized cancer can’t be fought, it has to be understood.
Over the years in my veterinary practice, I have always been puzzled as to why there were clients whose animals were more prone to cancer than animals of others. There was no correlation with regards to the breed or even species. Gradually, I started to see that while so much research has been focusing on the development of new drugs, chemotherapy, surgical techniques, the effect of environment and our diet, the most important factor is commonly forgotten. Our lifestyle, our state of mind and the energetic connection between us and our pets.
During the past 100 plus years, the discoveries in genetics and DNA led us to believe that if we or our pets inherit a certain gene or disposition, we and they will suffer from the same conditions as an ancestor. However, the more recent findings confirm that genes will remain dormant and unexpressed unless they are turned on by an impulse from the outside. This impulse can be from a biochemical, chemical, physical influence or even more subtle energy generated by our fears and thoughts.
Despite the old saying – “healthy mind, healthy body” many people still believe that the “cure for cancer” comes from the outside and is dependent on the discovery of some sort of “miracle drug” that will “fight cancer.” The reality is such that despite the advance of medical science and technology, we can extend and prolong lives, but have neither found the cure for cancer nor have paid sufficient attention to its prevention.
What can you do?
Here are your 12 steps to cancer prevention…
1. Face your fears
If you catch yourself worrying about you or your loved one getting cancer, do not push the thought aside. Just stop for a moment, close your eyes and invite the fear to come closer to look at it. Face it, do not run away. Challenge it with kindness, firmness and compassion as if the fear was a troubled bully that you try to understand.
Explore the fear, imagine, that you turn the fear around, upside down and look at it as if it was an object, a seashell, a rock, a leaf or a flower.
You will notice that if you do not “fight” your fears, they will become less intense and less frightening. You will discover a newly found freedom and plenty of energy to shift from just worrying to planning or taking action on how to prevent or treat cancer in the best possible and least harmful way.
2. Do the emotional inventory check
Another important step in cancer prevention is not to forget but forgive. No matter whether we like it or not, suffering from hurts and emotional pain is part of the human condition. The event could have happened a long time ago, perhaps your best friend had an affair with your partner or your parents were neglectful or your spouse told your friend that she married you only for material gains. Perhaps you have suffered a loss of a loved one or were a victim of abuse.
No matter what the injury was, finding a way of neutralizing this experience is absolutely essential in reducing your risk of physical disease and cancer. Constantly replaying what happened, carrying the heaviness within will have the opposite effect. Yes, it may take time to let go of these patterns but it is definitely worth the effort. Forgiving will neutralize the pain much faster than feelings of hatred or revenge. It is your cells that bath in the sea of stress hormones and you decide what “bath you prepare”.
3. Be nice to yourself
When working with my clients and their pets, I often see people blaming themselves for their pets’ disease. They feel that they didn’t look after their pets well or they go into the world of ‘should have’ and ‘would have’.
We are our own worse enemies when it comes to being loving, compassionate and forgiving towards ourselves. This too generates a block of the healing energy.
Life is simply such that it brings us challenging times and as painful as it may be, it is a part of our learning on a journey to become better and more aware human beings.
Our animals have their own journey and we are not always responsible for their problems. However, we can be their source of positive energy if we put our life on the right track.
4. Surrender to mortality
Imagine if someone gave you the gift of being immortal. I can’t prevent myself from thinking that if I was 5000 years old, I would get bored with the same old friends, the same family, the same bad habits. As much as we may hate the thought of mortality, it is exactly what makes being with our loved ones, and definitely with our pets, so special.
It is simply a part of the Universal plan of being human – experiencing the temporary nature of everything around us and coming to terms with it.
It helps me to believe that the souls of our animals come back again in another body. If you haven’t read the story of my horse Alfa and Skai you can find it here. Of course, no one knows if it is the truth, however, I love the thought.
5. Be aware of the possibility of your own sabotage
It baffles me that so many people miss out on the opportunity to take simple and inexpensive steps to living healthy lives and take chances that clearly lead to disease, pain and suffering.
Perhaps that is also part of the Universal plan of learning. Many people like to play with fire knowing that their smoking, bad eating habits, lack of exercise or a bad relationship are not healthy; however, they subconsciously maintain and are possibly addicted to these states.
It is an irony that the biggest personal transformations happen as a result of very challenging and turbulent times and falling down right to the very bottom. All we can do is to be there for our friends but telling them what to do often generates more resistance. This may be one of the most difficult parts of being a care giver – watching others hurling to disaster while they stubbornly refuse to listen to our warnings.
6. Eat healthy, feed your pet real and natural food
This one is a real no brainer. Eating junk makes your cells get all clogged up, intoxicated and ready to turn their division into chaos and anarchy – cancer. If we add the sleepy, intoxicated and weak immune system into the equation, the chances of cancer are many times greater.
My favorite book for people is called “Anti-Cancer - A New Way of Life” by Dr. Servan- Shreiber.
In one sentence, if you want to reduce the chances of cancer, do not feed processed food, no matter how natural it is claimed to be. There is nothing better than whole food.
7. Chemicals do not belong in our household or bodies
Whenever I visit my friends or family, I find it so interesting that the degree of their health can often be measured by the kind of cleaning products they buy for their household.
Most chemical cleaning products do not have all the ingredients listed and buying them is a real crap shoot. Many of them are carcinogenic or at least toxic and they wreck havoc in the body.
The safest way is to simply avoid any chemicals. There are many natural and healthy alternatives that may be just a few dollars more. If you are on a budget, most cleaning can be done with vinegar, soda and natural Castile soap.
I am sure your pets will also appreciate the absence of chemical odors and deodorants.
8. Exercise
I see physical activity, fresh air or yoga as a form of flushing and purifying the body. Every cell gets more blood and oxygen, which increases cleansing. Cells, tissues and organs also love to be bathed in endorphins which are the “feel good“ mediators released by exercise.
The most difficult part is to get used to the exercise and also stop listening to the voice in our head that tells us that we should not go because “everyone will be better than us, which you know is a big pile of doo-doo or an excuse to sit on the couch, watch TV and be miserable. Remember that our ego thrives on the addiction to suffering and will try to play game with us all the way.
Luckily, most dogs are always up for a walk or a run. We would do anything to see the happy face and tongue hanging out. Cats enjoy a regular outing too and if it is cold or rainy, play with them indoors to make them move.
If you do not exercise regularly, I suggest you stick it out for 2 – 3 weeks until a good habit forms, join a yoga or gym class to get in the routine and don’t forget to take your best friend out for walks or runs.
Pets can be the best exercise plan you have ever had.
9. Do you do what you love to do?
I often wonder how many people really love what they do. Not that long ago, my nephew came to me to share his small business idea that he and his friends came up with. He was passionate about his plan and I could see that he loved the idea. Then he paused and said something that I will not forget: "This business will be a kind of hobby that I don’t intend to make much money with. I am also planning to get another job to earn a living.”
The crazy thing is that there are many people who live their lives like this. They have things that they love to do and then they have a job.
I urge you to not waste one more day and start planning your future work based on what you love to do…I know, it may not be as easy to get up and quit the job that you don’t like, just do not wait too long and at least develop a plan. I have seen many people whose work is their hobby and they are the happiest and healthiest folks walking this planet.
Sometimes, a radical “job amputation” is not really needed and a slight modification to your current job does wonders. In my case, I have always loved working with people and their animals, but didn’t like managing my clinic and dealing with a high volume of work in order to cover the high clinic overhead.
All I needed to do was to plan a gradual exit, sell my clinic and keep a small number of clients to carry me over while I started to work on creating an income flow from lectures, writing and a natural animal supplement line that is presently in the making.
As a result, the weekends and weekdays merged into one word – life.
To summarize, do not waste your life with work that you do not like. Your hobby and your job should be one, if you go against the flow of the river, your health will suffer.
10. Let your gut and your heart guide you
I am sure you know that voice in your head; your ego, that constantly tells you what you should or should not do, how you should or should not behave while deep inside, you feel that this voice doesn’t really know what is good for your soul.
My favorite authors on this subject are Eckhart Tolle and Adya Shanti, who’s teachings provide such a great resource for living a simple life in alignment with your true self.
I often teach my clients how to recognize the right answer in any decision making. Just try to think of a question and listen to the answer that comes before your mind starts interfering and editing it.
This includes decisions about your pet's medical care and treatment. Ask yourself if you are you trying to please someone or following your vet’s suggestion just to please him or not to feel guilty.
Just listen to your gut and make decisions from your heart.
11. The connection between you and your pet
If you have ever seen a musician or a teacher using two tuning forks, you know that if you hit one, the other will start resonating on the same frequency. If you have never seen this, perhaps you have seen a married couple where both people start looking and acting the same after a certain time. They simply start resonating on the same frequency.
Your pet is not any different. It absorbs your love and joy but also the stress or unhappiness that you may feel. If you want to have healthy pets, make sure that you look after your health and happiness first. Their health and well-being will follow.
12. Law of attraction
It is becoming clear that as much as we sometimes do not want to believe it, we usually get what we wish for or what we fear.
I am not writing this blog post to make you suppress your fears of disease and cancer in anyway.
Worrying about the health and safety of our loved ones is natural and all we need to do is face our worry, be kind to ourselves when it happens, explore the fears until they fade away and replace them with our vision of the best possible outcome.
The truth is that cancer can happen to anyone – you, me or our pets. However, if you live your life doing what you love, eat healthy food, exercise regularly and face your fears instead of burying them, the likelihood that we will hear the C word diagnosis is much, much less.
Remember, your pet is like a tuning fork. It resonates on the same frequency…
© Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM
