Here are ideas for how to transform your life in positive ways. Thriver Soup appeared on Fix it with Faust (Faust Ruggiero) Radio Show via healthylifenet. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: sarcoma blog
“Be Your Authentic Self”
Hey everyone, I was interviewed on Deborrah Cooper’s Debruary 2022. My topic was
“Be Your Authentic Self.”
Deborrah writes, “Are you comfortable enough to show the world your real, your true, your authentic self, or do you hide and pretend to be what others want you to be? Heidi Bright is our Debruary 2020 guest tonight, and shares a wonderful story of perseverance, determination and survival.
“Heidi found her way to authenticity after successfully battling a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2009. She realized that being her authentic self was the greatest gift she could give both to herself and others. Learning to manage her emotions in healthy ways was, as Heidi says “a game changer.” Listen to this interview to learn strategies to get in touch with who you are, and how to honor and respect your true self.”One of the comments was “Absolutely INCREDIBLE! Outstanding interview!”
Watch it here:
tinyurl.com/4znsw5br
Love You
Are you alone this holiday season?
Maybe covid is keeping you isolated. Or the cancer tore your marriage apart. Or you have been ill for a while and your friends have moved on.
There seems to be a big hole in your life where love once seemed to live.
It can feel so terribly lonely.
Yet that love still lives, inside of you. You are that love. Please do not abandon yourself.
Just think. You are the magnificent result of two tiny cells you can’t even see. Those cells joined together in an incomprehensible union that multiplied and multiplied and multiplied. Imagine the tremendous amount of life-force energy expended to create … you.
Amazing you.
Incredible you.
A you who is utterly unique.
Look at your hands. What beautiful things they have done for you all your life. Think of a few of them. They serve you nearly every moment of the day, without question, without asking anything in return.
Look at your legs. They have carried you all through your life, without question, without asking anything in return.
And your heart. It pumps life-giving blood into every cell of your body, dozens of times every single minute. Without question. Without asking anything in return.
Look outside at the plants. They grow, they create leaves, they bless the world with blossoms. Without question. Without asking anything in return. They are worthy of appreciation just by being what they are.
How much more worthy of love, gratitude, and care are you? By yourself? Without anyone else in the picture?
If no one else is around to offer it to you, offer it to yourself.
Maybe spritz on a nice fragrance and focus on the aroma.
Maybe make yourself a special meal or order out your favorite foods.
Maybe take a warm, comforting bath and add fresh blossoms so they float around you.
You are the center of your universe. Love you. Appreciate you. Care for you. The universe is cheering you on, and so am I.
NED… Now What?
So you are told you are free of evidence of disease.
YIPPEEEE!!!
And…
What do you do now?
How many people are told they have no evidence of disease, only for the cancer to come roaring back months, or even years, later?
Knowing this, do you go back to living the way you did when you were diagnosed? Or do you change your life on a permanent basis to increase your chances for long-term survival?
When I struggled for 2 terrible years to get into remission, I understood that any change I made most likely needed to be permanent. I knew that the way I had been living had contributed to the development of the cancer; the logical choice was to change my life so the cancer would no longer feel at home in my body.
I know my life patterns led to the collapse of my health. They had to be changed for me to get permanently out of trouble. One aspect was my diet. Before the cancer, it was pretty good–lots of certified organic produce–but after the end-stage diagnosis I ramped it up considerably.
One permanent change was creating a daily green smoothie. Soon after the diagnosis, my brother Walter gave me a Vitamix, a high-speed blender I wanted so I could make those sludgies.After 12 years of daily use, sometimes hard use, sometimes 3-times-a-day use, my Vitamix finally gave out.
I have lived longer than my Vitamix! That is truly miraculous.
I immediately bought another machine and plan to continue using it daily for the rest of my life. Unless I outlive this one, too. Which, of course, I fully intend to do.
It’s already getting hard workouts. After only a week the pitcher has a slight fogginess to it, because my smoothies are full of minerals and vitamins. The cloudiness bears witness to all the nutrients I’m getting. Weeds in my garden are fair game. Today’s sludgie was blanched dandelion greens, stems and flowers, concord grape seeds, red clover flowers, and eggshell membranes. Not at all delicious, but that is not my goal. I aim for maximum nutrition for maximum health.
That was my goal during the cancer treatment, and everything else I did was aimed at my goal of survival. I changed every other aspect of my life to improve my chances of living. Once I had made enough changes–to everyone’s amazement–I went into radical remission.
And have stayed healthy for ten full years, receiving no treatments at all and showing no evidence of any disease.
So I am keeping these changes because I like being healthy and alive! And I am delighted to have outlived my blender.
If you are looking for guidance on how to get out of cancerland, perhaps we can work together to free you so your body can do what it does naturally–heal itself. As a Champion in Cancer Care, I can offer insights and wisdom to ease your way.
Please Contact me today for a free consultation:
513
444-0190
Perfect TEN!
Ten years ago, my CT scan showed a cancerous half-inch nodule squatting on the pulmonary vein next to my heart.
SHT.
After two years of sarcoma treatment, I had just used up my last chemotherapy option. Now what? I felt so screwed.
Five weeks later, when surgeon Patrick Ross operated, that bugger had swollen to 2.5 inches.
That’s aggressive growth.
I can’t tell from the surgical report if he even got clean margins. Who could, with such a dangerous location?
During my post-operation appointment, the nurse practitioner told me she’d seen situations like mine for thirty years. “You need to get back on chemotherapy or get ready for Hospice.”
My mouth went dry, my throat constricted, and my pulse raced. If the nurse was right, I would probably be dead within a few months.
OMG, NO… I had boys to raise and books to write and life to live.
I soon saw my psychotherapist, who witnessed and guided me as I allowed the terror to simply be in my body. Then it flipped into anger, and I stopped breathing, except for quick gasps. Finally, she returned my mind to the room. I shook and shuddered, then relaxed. My chest tingled and emotionally I felt nothing. Then I moved into peace.
Tai Chi Grandmaster Vince Lasorso later pointed out to me how easy it is to slip into feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, emptiness, loneliness, and being forsaken. No one can face death with you—it’s a solitary assignment. A dark depression, induced by the chemicals of medicine and mind, can extinguish all faith.
“It’s during these times when one must look to the light,” he wrote. “Reliance on God can change your course at any second.”
He was right.
Despite the dire warning, I continued healing my life in every way I knew how, clearing out emotional garbage and removing what Vince called “bad thinks.” Generous and gentle people helped me every step of the way.
Ever since that terrible day in 2011, my scans have been completely free of any evidence of cancer. And I have also been completely free of all cancer treatment.
This month it’s the Perfect Ten (years)!
I find this truly miraculous, not only because of the deadly and persistent diagnosis I had, but also because I have remained healthy despite going through a divorce and losing my 19-year-old son to a heroin overdose in 2015.
Medical treatment bought me time. All the inner healing work I did, and my deepening connection with the Divine, kept me sane and safe.
I now offer what I learned through Cancer Survival Coaching. If you or someone you know would like a free initial consultation, feel free to call me at 513 444 0190.
I also will be speaking on “A Conversation with Dis-ease” at noon on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at the Body Mind Spirit Expo, Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati.
I look forward to connecting!
The Sun Makes Me Sing
Brood X male cicadas are vigorously singing their little tymbals out, calling in mates so the cycle of life can continue.
To me, their drone is the beautiful music of summer, having formed one of my first firm memories of warm Kansas days.
Now they represent far more to me.
Cicadas spend more than a decade underground—in the case of Brood X, a seemingly endless seventeen years in darkness and silence. Then they crawl to the surface, break 
through their shells, warm up in the sunshine, and fly with golden-tinged gossamer wings.
They live only a few weeks in the sun. During this time they crawl and fly, sing and flick, dance and mate. When they are done with their shining moments, their legacy continues in their gifts of fertilized eggs, food for songbirds, and nitrogen for forest floors.
Just like we humans who choose to transform our lives. When we have late-stage cancer, we spend a long time—sometimes more than a decade—in the Underworld. For me it’s been 12 years since my end-stage cancer diagnosis. This darkness involved two years of medical treatment, and then continued through the collapse of my marriage, multiple moves, dealing with my son Brennan’s years of drug addiction, the death of my father, and then Brennan’s overdose death at age 19.
Years of suffocating in the terrors of human Hell.
And now—a dozen years and dozens of processes later—I am finally emerging into the light. Into dancing. Into joy.
Just like the cicadas, I am spreading my own golden gossamer wings and learning how to fly. Nourishing others who also want to sing again in the light of the sun. And leaving my own legacy for future generations.
Would you like to join me? I offer cancer survival coaching for those who want to thrive and fully embrace life again. Contact me at
heidi
(at)
thriversoup.com
I look forward to talking with you!
Source for title:
Frédéric Mistral from Provençe, France, coined the phrase, “Lou soulei mi fa canta,” Provençal for “the sun makes me sing.” https://www.thenotsoinnocentsabroad.com/blog/la-cigale-why-the-cicada-became-the-symbol-of-provence
9 Years Free!
This month I am celebrating nine years free of any evidence of cancer and free of any kind of cancer treatment! After being told to get my affairs in order.
So grateful for my life and to be alive and well!
Currently I am doing neurofeedback and BodyTalk, and advancing in tai chi, along with all my usual self-healing techniques. And drinking daily green sludges–er, smoothies. And as the nurse said yesterday, “still taking 150 supplements.”
NLMSF’s “Tackling Leiomyosarcoma” at The James in Sept.
The NLMSF.org symposium “Tackling Leiomyosarcoma: A Team Approach” was brief and to the point, held in Columbus, Ohio, during September. Here Floor Backes, MD, at The James, talks about ULMS. Thank you, Annie Achee and Mitch Achee, and all who made this program possible!
Joel Mayerson, MD, spoke about a surgical perspective on LMS of the limbs. Here he identifies the differences between benign and malignant tumors.
And here is another informative slide:
How to tackle your bucket list
If you have a bucket list of things to do before passing away, how are you doing on getting through your list?
Are you stopping yourself from fulfilling your dreams because you think you can’t do them?
Maybe you think you don’t have the funds. Or you feel like crap because of treatment and don’t want to leave home. Or you don’t have anyone to travel with.
For most of us, those are just excuses.
They are our fears trying to frighten us back into our old patterns.
Patterns that keep us stuck.
Yet your excuses and your fears can be faced and dealt with.
There are work-arounds to get your bucket list accomplished.
You have to have the courage to press forward.
And you can.
There are organizations and websites you can access for bucket-list funding. Too proud to ask? What fear is that pride arising from? Perhaps not wanting to be seen as needing something to help you fulfill your dream?
Or too humble to ask? Is that maybe a fear that we aren’t good enough to reach for our dreams? When my mother passed from breast cancer, I was surprised how many people were angry because they were not called upon to help her out. I have learned when we have cancer, people want to help us. Give them that opportunity.
If you can sit in a wheelchair for a decent length of time, it should be possible to travel, even if it’s on a cruise ship. In 2010 I scheduled my chemotherapy treatments around a cruise and took my anti-nausea medications with me. I had a fantastic time and checked one trip off my list.
And you can request assistance in meeting your goal. If you want to travel, perhaps put out a call for a companion, or if you feel up to it, travel alone. I just returned from an amazing trip in France—traveling solo, driving a rental car with no GPS (I couldn’t get it to work on my phone), and only able to say “Bonjour,” “Merci,” and “Parlez-vous Anglais?”
Why France? I wanted to pay homage to a woman who provided a template for healing my life. Her name? Martha of Bethany. Yes, the woman repudiated by Christ in the Gospels for her anger toward her sister, and for “doing” too much.
Martha healed after her contact with this Master Teacher. She changed her attitude from resentment into peace, and later served alongside her sister Mary. According to “The Golden Legend,” Martha later changed her behavior by refusing to die a victim on a rudderless boat adrift on the Mediterranean Sea. And she made a major life choice of focusing on “being” more than “doing.”
I love this woman and what she represents for me.
Why pay homage to her in France? According to the legend, Martha ended up in a small village in what’s now Provence. The community was being terrorized by a “dragon.”
Martha faced down that monster while barefoot, using only holy water and a cross. Can you imagine?
That’s not the behavior of a victim.
She courageously subdued that dragon.
Then the villagers killed it.
Through her transformed life, Martha demonstrated that I, through my own inner transformation, also could possibly tame the cancer dragon in my body. I could use her example of changing my attitudes, reconstructing my behaviors, and making major life choices to help subdue my own cancer dragon. Then medical treatment could kill it.
Since this is my seventh year free of evidence of cancer and free of cancer treatment, I felt it was high time I made my pilgrimage to The Collegiate Church of Saint Martha in Tarascon, which purportedly houses Martha’s relics. It was the third most popular pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages. And it became my biblical Year of Jubilee cancer pilgrimage site.
I feel deeply gratified for the experience.
Do you want to feel gratified for having accomplished things on your bucket list? Do you still have things to do, activities that are waiting for you to take up the baton and start directing your own life?
Or are you making excuses?
Sometimes we have to face down our fears before we can take the leap into the dark.
Into the unknown.
Into joy.
Think about each one of your fears.
Write each one down.
Take a good, hard look at your list.
Are there ways to work around what scares you?
Are there ways to make your dreams come true?
Only you can change your life.
Make the most of it.
Get on your bucket list.
You’ll be glad you did.
How did 2 get into Radical Remission? Listen Saturday
Join me on the air Saturday at 7 p.m. EST with Marcia McMahon, in radical remission from stage 4 breast cancer. Marcia hosts the Peaceful Planet show at Www.bbsradio.com/peacefulplanet. We’ll cover a wealth of holistic information on thriving beyond cancer, including spiritual approaches , diet, and traditional therapy.
Marcia is a creative artist and reiki healer. Visit her website at www.divineconnectionswithreiki.com
