My Take on Joy...What's Your's?

I have been listening to a fascinating summit on healing cancer holistically and radical remission. This is a topic that has been important for me for 20 years since I helped my mother navigate a cancer diagnosis, working with both successful holistic approaches and Western medicine. Wow, was that a powerful experience. The topic of holistic care for disease is gaining steam, and it is part of my mission to support research and strong exposure to the many life-affirming options available when receiving a diagnosis, including science-based research and data-based evidence that is not made available to the mainstream public due to lack of funding.

Kelly A. Turner, Ph.D. researcher and counselor in integrative oncology, wrote a book called Radical Remission. She traveled the world interviewing cancer survivors who had been given a terminal diagnosis, who often by the way considered remission an outcome of radical and longer-term choices, not spontaneous at all. To call it “spontaneous” is perceived as negating the hard work and dedication these survivors implemented in their lives, albeit not measured scientifically.

Dr. Turner highlighted nine factors that presented themselves over and over as those leading to remission, even after conventional treatment failed the survivors. One of those factors was Joy. And the thing she discovered from survivors time and again was that their Joy definitely didn’t mean they were always happy. Boy, did that resonate for me as true!