Immediately following the surgical removal of a tumor not benign, the radiologists were extolling the benefits of radiation in the treatment of cancer. The oncologists were extolling the benefits of chemotherapy. The surgeon explaining the necessity of surgery. The family physician coordinating all the healthcare providers and treatment options available for review.
In the dizzying and overwhelming immediacy of my need to make life-lengthening decisions, another voice added to the collective of healing therapies. A physician, whom I had known for years, but whose specialty in medicine did not extend to the area of cancer treatment suggested I “stay close to nature.”
Connecting to the cycles and seasons of nature, to the rhythm and cadence of life in the ebb and flow of birth, death and renewal, it is easy to find my way from feeling lost to remembering the magic, meaning and purpose of being here and being alive. To smell the rich earth held in the hand. To hear the sound of the breeze ruffling through the leaves of tall thin birch trees. To feel the sunbeams filtering down through majestic fir and cedar tree branches. To watch the sight of animals living in simple agreement with the natural balance and course of one sunrise to sunset to sunrise to another sunset.
To taste time that does not go too fast or too slow but is eternally measured in the spaces of now; this is where the convergence of the physical and spiritual worlds meet most directly and I find myself standing in the middle with an awareness that separation was only a misunderstanding on my part.
