Circle of Digital Healing
A dis-eased body is a disruption in the flow of energy and to me, says time for a thorough cleansing. My mind wants to clean the house, make the temple shine again. How to do this cleaning out? It is not easily done alone. Helpers are needed, people who are part of your extended tribe, who you may have at one point, shared a meal with.
It was at this time, that I was preparing for my first lung operation that I had wanted to get in touch with many close friends around the world and let them know what was happening with me, but also to ask for their prayers and positive healing thoughts towards me. The time seemed to come up fast and my original idea of starting this blog was taking much longer and proving more difficult for me to do on my own. In fact, the technical aspect of it was stressing me out more than dealing with my cancer treatments!
I have lived overseas for 12 years and made friends all over the world. We largely stay connected through Facebook. I had just heard of it when we were leaving Kuwait to move to Shanghai, China and although I was reluctant about signing up for it, I saw it as an easy way to stay in touch with my new found friends. Facebook was also the easiest way to stay in touch with my family when we were traveling, so I also got my mom to join up. The hook for me was, it will help me stay connected and be able to communicate easily.
I’m one of these more cautious digital users who only accepts friends as people who I actually physically know. It became clear to me that this blog was not going to be up in time so, I resorted to creating a group on messenger. Honestly, I thought it would be an inconvenience to everyone in the group because who wants to be bothered by lots of beeps on their phone? I had to just get over what they’d think and invite them to the group. Without realizing it, I was connecting people living all over the world: China, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, United Emirates, United States, Luxembourg, Singapore, Indonesia, Germany, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, France, Portugal, Switzerland, and India.
I could even have a friend send out a message on this group if I couldn’t. I didn’t feel ready to send out a general post on my status at this time. Communicating in this digital world brings up questions around, how much am I comfortable sharing my personal life on the world wide web? If the personal benefits perceive to outweigh the hesitations, then I take the chance and post!
While there is this instant press of a button and boom, you’ve just sent out a message all over the world, it takes some introspection to really tune in and check with yourself what you are comfortable sharing and to whom. I know I fall into a different category with digital communication. I’m in my 50’s and didn’t grow up with this. I was brought up to write letters, pen and paper by hand, put them in the mail with a stamp and send them off. The first time my children had to send a letter for something when they were in University, they had to ask me where do you get stamps! So different, what we become accustomed to and that’s just in a couple of decades!
The first initial message came out the 3rd of November 2016. Here is what I wrote: Hi Everyone! I know this is not terribly personal sending updates this way but my blog creation is taking longer than I’d like to get up and running due to my digital abilities:) So for now, I’ll just be able to send out one update to you all for this next week and so you can help me by focusing some positive healing energy my way on Monday November 7th when I go in for surgery in the morning on my left lung to remove the lung meds that spread there. You can reply back individually to me if you like but I just wanted you to have this info as I know you are probably wondering what’s up? I will open up to receiving your positive energy and love.
I just found out today that my CT scan did show the cancer growths shrinking after 4 weeks of chemo and 7 weeks of other complementarytherapies. So this is good news! Treatments and everything I have been doing are helping my body to deal with the growths and begin to dissolve and disintegrate the cancer cells. This Monday I will go in for the 1st planned surgery and be in the hospital for the whole week recovering. It’s not a huge procedure but it being a lung, they need to make sure I can breathe properly. Geoff will have time off work to be around the hospital. It’s on the other side of the lake and is supposed to be a lovely place. Pictures will tell. Will be in touch. Big hugs and love from the Swiss Alps!
This was my first distance digital healing circle. I didn’t know at the time what a powerful circle it was going to become. People didn’t write me individually, they just all jumped onto the same ‘page’ and shared their love and support. Over time, I felt like we all became an extended global family. There are literally hundreds of messages on this one group and I can say for myself, that reading them during critical times like pre and post surgeries, meant more to me than reading any other book.
Through this update group, I experienced the true power of what the digital world can create and offer one in ways that you never feel alone in your suffering, yet even better, you are buoyed up with energy, strength, and hope to keep going.
I just scrolled through all of them as I’m writing this post and it is amazing for me to re-read so many heartfelt, uplifting, positive, love and light filled messages. Who wouldn’t feel good receiving messages like this!
For this reason alone, I have developed a new relationship to my iphone! Not being able to work and being a person who values connection with others, I have found meaningful ways to connect through phone apps. Don't be afraid to reach out through phone apps and the myriad of ways to connect digitally regardless of your age. You will be surprised at how much you can receive!
For local friends who I wanted to send out one message to, I created a ‘what’s app’ group. Again this made it easy to let friends know how I was doing and to receive their support virtually. I found this is also a great way to receive support from friends when you are too tired to actually have visitors. It helps to keep you connected and in a web of love. These virtual connections really kept me going until I had enough energy to see people in person and felt good enough for people to see me!
The other app I used for communicating was Viber. It was one I had started initially with my kids so out of habit I’ve kept it. Skype or Facetime of course are great for a phone type of conversation and if done on the computer, you have a big screen to see each other. And last but not least, emailing to a few family friends who are on none of these digital platforms and only use either the good old fashioned land line telephone (which I don’t have anymore) or email. I have even received some cards in the mail. There’s nothing sweeter than looking in your mailbox to see your friends handwriting on an envelope instead of the usual typed out addresses, that for me this year represent medical bills and statements!
Over the summer while I had time to recover from treatments, I decided to sign up for an instagram account. A little slow to jump into this app, but I knew some of my friends and kids checked this more than Facebook, so I thought, ‘why not?’ another way to connect with the world.
Soon after I was on instagram, my daughter sent me a link to someone who she thought I would connect with: a total stranger. I was open minded about it and while I normally wouldn’t follow up on something like this, I did. It was another woman going through cancer treatments and sharing her story in similar creative ways to how I have processed my journey. I was instantly attracted and curious about her journey. I have found something very powerful connecting to people along similarly difficult and adversarial paths through our virtual world. Time, space, and physical presence are not relevant for this connection. We connect on another plane of existence that for me is just as meaningful and heartfelt as knowing someone in person. What a revelation to experience this as a new truth in our world and how it opens up the possibilities for touching others hearts. For this new opening up to something I was closed to before, I am grateful.
I have arrived at the top of one of the many mountains I’ve climbed this year. Resting and taking in the panoramic view, I quiet my mind to allow the vast, open space before me to be reflected back into my being. To find stillness in the silence, to listen for how I want to move forward with my global family; to mark the closure of a journey well traveled, and to find my next steps as I continue to align my expression in the world through soul, body, and mind.
Celebrate the beauty of your body!
Birthing and Breathing has been the healing theme that emerged for me this year, due largely in part to where I had to focus my energy and the targeted treatment areas. There has been a strong feminine force evolving all year around this and so it came to me that a celebration of Sisterhood was needed. Not to negate all the amazing support I have received from the men in my life. Male energy of clarity, discernment, focus, practicality & strength, and a tenderness that have all opened the way for me to weave more deeply, these qualities into my feminine self.
More celebrations will come to include everyone, however this time marks a completion; an enfoldment of feminine qualities of nurturance, commitment to life, grace, loving compassion and understanding, and taking wise action. To mark this passage, this celebration of life, and the turning of a new year for me(I am now the same age my Dad passed away and there’s a strange and yet quite connected feeling to him) in September, I invite you all to join in and hold a warm, loving, bright light of energy around this Friday evening of September 29th as I celebrate in real time with a group of amazing women who I am lucky enough to have living so close to me. We will anchor down and dance the living life force of energy for all of us! Please tune in!