She was 30 minutes late to our session. I surrendered to the possibility that I may not see her again. That would not have been my preference, but life is about letting go, and acceptance of what is.
I have been seeing her for almost two years now, and she told me on her initial consultation that she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She has been such an inspiring person to work with, all along her journey. She’s now stopped her treatment, and is in the care of hospice.
She finally texted saying “I just woke up.” My heart leapt, although I had let go on a spiritual level, my human self is so happy that I get to see her again! We were able to meet for the last 30 minutes of the hour, and while I could tell she is physically continuing to decline, her energy was glowing!
I always learn from everyone I work with, and she is such a good example of a synchronistic and reciprocal working relationship.
Colon cancer in energy medicine has a lot to do with family of origin issues. She for sure had some pain from her past that she was storing there, and through our work together she has come to a more forgiving place.
She is hurt by the actions of her family, but also has compassion for their limitations. She understands they are only doing the best they knew how, even though it wasn’t, and still isn’t, the kind of loving relationship she truly deserves.
Even now she is trying to have meaningful conversations, to say goodbye and to give meaningful possessions to family members. Her family is still limited. Just because she is dying, and they can feel it, it is not inspiring them to treat her with more compassion or understanding. They are still being mean, or unsupportive, or just not involved at all.
They are still just who they are. While this is painful, and hurtful, and the opposite of how my client would treat them or anyone else going through what she is going through, she is taking the higher road.
She is able to forgive them. She lets them know she loves them, and while she can’t work very hard on repairing these relationships right now, she is not holding onto anger anymore.
Working with so many people over the years, I know how hard this is for many many people who are perfectly healthy. That aren’t struggling with the pain and understanding that death is very close, like my client is feeling.
She can be such an inspirational example of the power of love, forgiveness and generosity of spirit, no matter what the circumstance.
One of the first things she told me after finally getting on our video appointment (she had fallen asleep, thank goodness!) was that she was working on making journals for people at her church.
She held up this beautiful journal that she had painted the cover of. She was so inspired by this, she collaborated with her pastor to have others in the church help to make these for the church members.
Her soul knows that one way to stay out of staying stuck in self-pity is to create and give to others. This helps her release her feelings through the art, and brings in some happy brain chemicals as she creates for other people. It allows her parietal cortex to relax into the knowing that we are all one, and her giving to others comes back and brings beautiful light energy into her own being as well.
She is going through one of the most difficult things that most of us could imagine. If she is still able to keep her frequency high, forgive the closest family members that can’t be there for her, and still create beauty for others, so can all of us.
Some ways to live this way without having to go through a life-threatening illness are:
1. Work Through Old Hurts:
“Hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We all have real things that created pain for us from our past.
Often, if these aren’t healed, these wounds tend to unconsciously run our lives.
Rather than staying stuck in this pain forever, work on expressing your feelings. In the best cases, we can do 
this with the ones that hurt us, and they can understand and validate our feelings.
Often, those that hurt us aren’t able to give us the understanding we need, however. In those cases, it can be helpful to write down your feelings, to talk to someone you trust or a therapist about them to get them out of your body.
We can’t move onto acceptance and forgiveness, if we have not allowed ourselves to feel, get support, and release our own pain about what happened.
Then, it’s important to work on understanding and having compassion for the wounds of the one that hurt you.
Hurt people hurt people, and learning more about their own history and pain can help you have compassion and forgiveness for the ways they weren’t able to show up in the ways you deserved.
2. Cultivate Kindness and Creativity:
“For it is in giving that we receive.”
~ St. Francis of Assisi
As my client learned more how to express her feelings through creativity, she was able to allow that energy to 
help her flow through this twilight period of her life.
She has always been kind, and her illness has only deepened and softened this even more.
She is allowing her kind spirit to help keep her off of sinking into sadness, and to keep remembering that lifting others up lifts her up as well.
By creating the journals herself, and creating a program in church to spread this love out, she is leaving a beautiful legacy of love and light that will continue to ripple out into the future.
I hope she can inspire you as well. No matter how hard it seems to let go and forgive, and to give to others when you are in so much pain yourself, it is always possible!
Read more about Spiritual Counseling with Shana Olmstead.
