May 2015 – Learning to LOVE

Sawyer & Me: Our Gardening project

I am VERY excited for warmer weather and days spent outside. Being outside is so refreshing, calming and healing. Think fresh air, vitamin D, calm minds and GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD!

Last summer my husband, dad and brother in law built me three raised garden boxes using untreated 4×4’s. This has been way easier for me than having one large garden which I had for the years prior. I am finding it easier to plant, I have better soil and it is easier to manage. Here are some before and after pictures from last year:

Last year Sawyer was young enough that he had no interest in my garden. I didn’t have to worry about my plants and his little toddler hands. This year…….it’s a different story.

How do I keep my veggies in the ground?
How do I keep him from stomping in my garden?
How do I keep my plants from drowning ?
Will I get 5 minutes of peace in my garden?

Here is my solution:

Sawyers very own garden! Complete with a mud pie table, water buckets, shovels, trucks, rocks and more. We even planted him some carrots, a strawberry bush, some succulents and some grass.

I am super excited to watch him explore, dig and get messy this summer. And as an added benefit he will learn a little bit about where his food actually comes from!

Oh and yes, I also hope this keeps his little hands out of my boxes. Wish me luck!!

Here is a list of what I am growing this year:

Red and Yellow Potatoes
Yellow Onions
Green Beans (Purple ones too)
Golden Beets
Carrots
Orange Peppers
Strawberries
Roma Tomatoes
Mint
Basil

What’s in your garden this year? Or if you don’t have one, what would you love to grow?

xoxo
Lyndsey

May Cause Miracles: Week #1

I’m the one who said there were no rules right?

Well my friends, I spent 7 days on Day #1!!! Apparently witnessing my fears was harder than expected.

First off let’s focus on what I LOVED about my first week.

The process of trying to figure out my fears and witness my thoughts, feelings and reactions made me really have to dig deep. I had to think about WHY I was feeling or thinking a certain way and I had to look at what my reactions were to different situations. It was an eye opener for me to realize how out of touch I can be with myself on any given day.

The affirmation:

I am willing to witness my fear.

I found this super powerful. Every time I read it or said it to myself, I felt like I was recommitting to ME. I am still using this affirmation on a daily basis as I find it super empowering. Putting alarms in your phone is a GREAT idea! And it works!

Now let’s talk about what I STRUGGLED with during my first week.

Paying close attention to my thoughts and reactions throughout the day and taking note of them. I found it difficult to focus on this task for the whole day. I kept struggling to remember certain things about my day or how I was feeling. One of my normal struggles is finishing what I start. I am great at starting a project, but not so great at finishing it. Actually the more I think about it, maybe there is an underlying fear here that I am ignoring 🙂

Being honest with myself about where certain feelings were coming from. Digging deeper can bring things up that have been buried for a really long time and been buried for a reason.

Prioritizing time for ME. I think this is a major problem for a lot of people. I know for myself, I want to make sure everything and everyone is taken care of before me. Sometimes when that is over, I want to sit and stare at nothing for a few minutes. Although this sitting and staring at nothing time could be used for meditation, journaling etc. It would be better to do these activities without being mentally and physically exhausted.

So in response to my lack of focus this week I have given myself ONE rule:

For the next few weeks I MUST schedule TWO sessions of ME TIME into my week. This will allow me to stay on a lesson for more than one day if needed and it will give me an achievable goal to work towards. I am hoping that I end up doing much more than twice a week as I get more focused and less frazzled but this is an attainable goal to start with.

There will always be a million things on the go and even more so right now. Between spending time with my family and friends, doctors appointments, juicing, researching different treatment options and taking a closer look at myself spiritually and emotionally, I tend to over commit myself. So now I am planning a super fun road trip to Salt Spring Island with my son, my best friend and her daughter. We leave Sunday!! I am going to relax, take life in and enjoy every moment of it while continuing my May Cause Miracles journey!

Stay tuned for a look into our Road Trip when we return!!

Here is a quick look at the upcoming blog posts you can expect:

Sawyer & Moms Garden Project.
Sneak Peek of our 2015 Road Trip.
May Cause Miracles: Week #2 Update.
Fundraising Information and where the funds are going.
My Treatment Plan.

If you are starting your Course of Miracles journey with me I would love to hear from you about your first week! How did it go? Any successes, struggles, things you loved?

xoxo
Lyndsey

Health Update

Hello friends.

I wanted to give everyone an update on what has been happening in our world over the last couple of weeks.

As I said in my story here, I have been playing the waiting game since finishing radiation in February. My follow up scans were to happen May 5th and I was to meet with my new oncologist today (May 12th, 2015) for the results. However, as we have learnt quite well over the past year… sometimes things don’t always work out the way they are planned.

In April I was having a lot of back pain that was not getting any better from massage, physio, stretching etc. So at the end of the month I went to the doctor to get it checked out. Due to my medical history they sent me for an x-ray and then a bone scan to see what was happening. After a lot of rushed tests, scans and doctors appointments we have discovered that the cancer has spread to my bones, lungs and liver. This has come as a complete shock to my family and I because we were feeling so optimistic about my health. Other than the pain I am in, I am feeling better than I have in a year.

We have been taking the necessary time to cry, grieve and be angry over the last couple of weeks and we are now looking over ALL of our treatment options. Although Western medicine today has no curative treatment plans for this stage of cancer, we are looking at doing complementary therapies combined with some Western medicine, while praying for a miracle.

I am feeling stronger than ever today and ready to tackle this next portion of my journey head on. A big portion of the healing that needs to happen over the next while is emotional and spiritual. Both of which I have been prepping myself for and feel ready to face head on.

I truly believe that our bodies have the ability to heal themselves far beyond what a medicine can do. There are a tonne of natural treatments, integrative therapies and testimonials out there from people who have experienced a radical remission from cancer. These are the people and the stories that my family and I are focusing on right now. If any of you are interested in reading about some of these, check out Dr. Kelly Turners website. She also has a book called Radical Remissions where she documents what she has learnt while studying hundreds of different cases.

I have a great team of professionals behind me, a huge support system and a family who is supporting whatever decision that I make right now.

I have chosen to focus on the small percentage of people who beat the odds and focus on living a life full of LOVE, laughter, joy and peace instead of a life filled with fear.

We all are born onto this earth the same way and we will all have to leave it one day. Some people sooner than others. It is not about how much time we get to spend here but what we do with the time we are given that counts. Quality verses quantity right?

Now this is not to say that any of this has been, or will be easy on me or my family and friends. We will have really good days and some really hard ones. We just need to remember to choose to live a miraculous life and choose a life filled with LOVE and joy every day.

I will be continuing on with my blog and documenting my journey on learning to LOVE again. I will also use it to share updates on how I am doing throughout these next stages of treatment, both for those of you who I may not talk to on a regular basis and those who are following from afar.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your love and support not only in the last few weeks but over the last year. May 8th was my one year “cancerversary” as Kris Carr calls it 🙂 and I could not have gotten through it without the love and support from you and your families. We appreciate everything from everyone.

Lots of LOVE,

Lyndsey

JOIN ME in my #May Cause Miracles journey…..

If you have not read or listened to any of Gabrielle Bernstein’s books or lectures, I highly recommend that you do. She has a way of getting into your head, your heart and your soul like no one else I have found. I use many of her tools in my day-to-day activities, both to release stress and change my thought patterns. Some days go smoother than others, but I can truly feel the difference in my attitude and outlook on life when I am mindful of my thoughts.

This weekend I am starting one of her books called May Cause Miracles (you can purchase yours here or I have seen it at most local book stores). It is a guide meant to help you release your fears, change the way you think and create more happiness in your life. The book is broken down into six chapters with one lesson or exercise per day over 6 weeks.

“A miracle is a shift in perspective from fear to love”.
Gabrielle Bernstein

I encourage you to pick up a copy and join me!! No structure, no pressure to stay on the same week as me or anyone else. Just knowing that you have a group of people to listen to, chat with or share experiences with will be a motivator in itself.

I will be posting one blog entry per week strictly based on the lessons or my experience while working through the book. I encourage those that are working along or that can resonate with the lessons to share their experiences too! We have so much to learn from one another!

Just to motivate you a little bit more, here is a brief snapshot into my highlights after reading only the INTRODUCTION of the book.

Talk about powerful stuff!

I look forward to having you join me. Lets bring more LOVE into our lives and have a little less fear and negativity in our days.

Lots of LOVE,

Lyndsey

Learning about….my FOOD

You may or may not be surprised to know that one of my biggest challenges this past year has been learning about FOOD and implementing huge changes to both my diet and my kitchen.

Getting diagnosed with an illness such as cancer makes you look at yourself and ask the question: Where did I go wrong? What am I doing that my body does not like?

Although I can not answer these questions, I have come to realize that it is not one thing or another that I did to cause my cancer. I do know that I can change what I put into my body going forward, to help support it in its fight against cancer.

I don’t think that FOOD caused my cancer, nor am I of the belief that FOOD alone will be the cure. But I am a firm believer that what we eat contributes to our overall health more than we think it does. I believe that we can ward off illness and even prevent serious diseases by taking better care of ourselves and controlling what goes in our bodies. If we get our bodies into an alkaline state with an abundance of nutrients to work with, I believe we will have a better chance at healing.

I have never been the unhealthiest person, nor have I been the healthiest. I have had an addiction to candy since I was very young, but over the past 8 years or so I have taken pretty good care of myself. I exercised fairly regularly, was a healthy eater (aside from my LOVE of candy) and I was not a heavy drinker, smoker, drug user etc. And even so, I got sick.

My body is fighting like crazy to stay healthy and when I got diagnosed I knew I had to drastically change my diet to give myself all the healthy nutrients I needed to fight harder. This meant giving up some of my most favourite things and adding a lot of my least favourite things into my day to day meal planning.

Here is a list of my biggest lessons over the past 12 months:

We really need to support local small growers that do not spray our fruits and vegetables! ORGANIC is best!!! Now this has been a struggle. When you switch to an organic grocery list, you have to eat what’s in stock and sometimes it is not a lot in Central Alberta. Summertime is great when you can grow your own veggies, take advantage of Purearth Organics weekly ordering system (open year round) or even try a local veggie box program such as the one over at Steel Pony Farm.
Sugar really is BAD for you. We all know this and we all need to seriously look at the amount of sugar that is in our day to day diet, but I really needed to quit cold turkey. Cancer loves sugar. Did you know that they inject you with a glucose based solution before you a PET scan? They look for the areas in your body that are metabolizing the glucose the fastest and that is where the cancer is found (with some exceptions). I won’t get into the science of sugar and cancer as it is very controversial and I am not educated enough on the nitty gritty, but check out the references below for some great reading. No more m&m’s, mini eggs and Bulk Barn runs for this mamma (insert really sad face here). *I do however feed my soul and have a treat on really special occasions (YAY)
We eat wayyyyyyyy to much processed food. Fast food, boxed food, canned food (not all bad!) and junk food. I never thought I ate too much of it, but when I changed over my kitchen, I had to pretty much get rid of my entire pantry. Not only does processed food have a lot of additives and preservatives, it has a lot of sugar and salt added too! I challenge you to take 3 items from your panty that are processed and replace them with real, raw food. My rule is, if I don’t know more than one ingredient on the box, I don’t buy it!
Cooking can be fun!! Learning new recipes is a great thing to do as a family. I will be the first to say it does not always taste good, but when it does it sure feels good. Feeding your body and your family food with real whole foods is super rewarding.
Kids love healthy food too!! My son is one of the healthiest people I know. He was only 10 months old when I was diagnosed, so has never really had any “garbage” food. He does not really know what sugar tastes like unless it is from fruit or honey and he thinks blueberries and raisins are treats! He eats all his veggies and I never have to worry about him not getting all his nutrients from whole foods. His tastebuds have never experienced junk food before so real food tastes amazing.
Eating healthy is expensive! Yes, organic veggies cost more and junk food is cheap! In the long run though, you will buy less medicine, feel better and look great! I promise that the extra money spent is well worth it. YOU and your health are worth ever penny! There are also lots of ways to save money. Check out my next lesson learned on gardening and this dirty dozen list that you can use when shopping to help you save money and shop smart.
Gardening is healing. My challenge to you this year: PLANT A GARDEN. Even if you only start out with a pot of strawberries or tomatoes. Grow your favourite and enjoy eating the fruits of your labour (literally). I will post about my garden project later this month.
Juicing and Smoothies are a great way to add additional veggies to your diet. They are both great for you and they both taste delicious. Here are my go to recipes for drinking my veggies. I have had my share of really gross ones over the past year, but I am getting much better at knowing what to put with what to make it taste good.

Green Smoothie

1 frozen Banana
4 slices of frozen Pineapple
1/4 frozen Lemon with peel
2 cups spinach or kale
handful of fresh Parsley
1/2-a full Cucumber
1-2 cups of Water or Coconut water
3 or 4 Ice cubes
2 or 3 stalks of Celery (optional)
1 Kiwi (optional)
1 TBSP Flax or Chia seeds (optional)

Insert all into a blender or vita-mix and blend until smooth
Makes 2-3 servings

Green Juice

1 Cucumber
2 handfuls of Kale
3-4 stalks of Celery
1 Stem of Broccoli
1 handful of Parsley
1 handful of Pea shoots
1 inch of Ginger
1/2 a Lemon
1 Green Apple

Juice all in your favourite juicer and Enjoy!
Makes 2-3 servings.

Changing your diet is a lifestyle change. Yes, I still miss my candy and tiger tiger ice cream (YUM). But, I also know that my body is healthier and happier than ever before. I have learnt to bake treats from scratch to satisfy my cravings and have started to enjoy my time in the kitchen with my family. It is worth the time and extra money to have a happy, healthy family.

I promise!!

What have you learnt lately about the food you eat? Share your stories, your favourite recipe or both below or on Facebook and lets learn from one another!!

Lots of LOVE,
Lyndsey

*Top Photo taken by Jayme at The Paper Deer Photography

For more reading on Sugar and Cancer or Chemicals in our food check out these posts: