Humans have wonderful minds and mine is always busy. I will often find myself thinking about the past or worrying about the future. And yet I must admit to myself… the only place I can have any influence is now, in the present moment. And often my heart leads me to be concerned about someone else and forget about what I need. The Hara is the central communication hub of my earthly being – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual – everything. When I let my attention go to that One Point, it allows me to notice if I am distracted, anxious or excited. It reminds me to be totally present and to ask my body – that mostly runs on auto- pilot – how it feels.

When I do this several times a day, I begin to trust the message that is only about me – how selfish! After all, who is working on my health except me? Who can hear and interpret the many signals that come from my body, my mind and emotions better than me? And who is responsible for the outcome? Just me!

The more this becomes my regular healthy habit, the less I react to things around me that used to upset me. I also find that I spend more time on the things within my control. And, oddly enough, when I’m more at peace, people around me seem better too. Sometimes they even tell me what they are happy about, rather than complaining about the state of the world or the weather!

Now that I have decided to make specific changes to influence my health positively, it can be very lonely. People around me might be critical, indifferent or pretend to care. I have to go to my center to reduce the effect of anything less than a positive influence. For example, some friends notice I have lost weight and think it is because I am unwell. Some think I am on a special diet for this, which not true either.

How can I tell them I was actually learning how to reduce inflammation in my body and this change, the loss of excess body fat, just happened. In fact, so many things have improved that I write it down every month as a personal record of results from my own efforts. Most of these things are not on any medical record, but they sure improve my quality of life – like better sleep, no cravings, good energy all day and more.

I was nervous the other day when I visited my GP, my family doctor. The good news that showed up in my lab reports had nothing to do with any advice or treatment that he gave out. So I was concerned about his reaction and decided to take ownership for everything and hope he was supportive.

Because my doctor is watching for disease to develop, he is looking for disease indicators in the lab results. He had little to say about the very positive numbers for blood fats or inflammation markers. But he did order follow up tests at my request on a schedule that fits my health program! My Hara was quivering the whole time – helping to hold myself in balance in the face of an ‘expert’ opinion that matters so much less now. I don’t burn any bridges knowing that I occasionally need the doctor at certain times for acute care. Anything complicated gets referred to a specialist and they never have conference about me. So I must have a separate approach for each one that maintain the peace and serves my health needs.

Learn more about being present in the moment, mindfulness, and handling emotion from elsewhere on Blood Cancer Uncensored