Now that’s a provocative title. How can I say that cancer is neutral when the very word “cancer” creates so much fear? The answer lies in the question. The word creates the fear, not the condition.
How do I know this? My cancer was developing in my body for years and yet I did not feel any fear. Nor any emotion for a matter of fact. The condition didn’t make me feel anything.
It’s only when I became aware of it, it’s only when the doctors labeled it as “cancer” that all the emotions broke loose. Anxiety, fear, terror, stress, sadness, anger, confusion, disgust, you name it.
My mind was all over the place: thoughts about “cancer”, about “having cancer”, about “being cancer”. Searching the Internet did not help. Reading books did not help. Speaking with others did not help. Going to work did not help. Distracting myself did not help. Hiding from the world did not help.
What helped was becoming aware that what I was feeling came from my thoughts, not from my condition. Once I understood that, I got to choose what I wanted to think about it.
Cancer is neutral. Your thoughts about it are not.
With love,
Laurent