IN THE BEGINNING ....

"It’s a great feeling to have recovered from cancer – to have been through it all and to be living a full, happy life again. I have done it. I have seen others do it and I know many more will repeat the process in the future"

That is how I opened “You Can Conquer Cancer” when I first wrote it back in 1984. Those words captured the joy of coming through a very hard illness, the awareness that what had helped me heal was already helping others, and the hope of what lay ahead.

I was first diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma and had my leg amputated in 1975, and the cancer returned later that same year. In early 1976 I was given two weeks to live, yet almost miraculously I was declared cancer free in July 1978.

Beyond the elation, I had to ask: was I simply lucky, or was there something repeatable in what had helped me?

I became convinced that what made the difference was what I could learn and do for myself. That is not to play down the wonderful support I had while recovering, but I felt driven to pass on to others the key things I believed could mean the difference between life and death – the key things people can learn to do for themselves.

These key factors are best described as lifestyle factors – the everyday things we do that strongly shape our health, our ability to heal and our wellbeing. What we eat and drink, how much we move, whether we smoke. How we handle our relationships, our work and our emotional health, what we understand about how the mind works and how we use its potential, and how our spiritual values and practices shape our lives – all of these are lifestyle factors. They are things we can learn about, study and practise. They sit within our own control and can radically transform our lives for the better.

My work in this field began rather tentatively in 1981, on the thought that what had helped me might help others. There was an enormous amount to learn in those early days, so I asked questions – many questions, of many people. Most of them went to the large numbers who came to the groups I ran. What works? What helps a group run better? What do you learn at the groups that works at home? What needs more attention? What is irrelevant, and what is useful?

Many people reported many benefits, the groups flourished, You Can Conquer Cancer was written and an organisation grew up to support the work. As the positive results became clearer, we moved into preventative health and added specific Multiple Sclerosis programs alongside the cancer programs. We also expanded into the field of wellbeing – how sustainable happiness is to be found.

When I retired from The Gawler Foundation at the end of 2009, it had around 50 staff and many volunteers delivering a wide range of services centred on how lifestyle factors can positively influence health, healing and wellbeing. Happily, the organisation has kept flourishing since I stepped back.

Retiring was hard. I am only 60 and so many people need help. Beyond wanting a break (which a sabbatical could have given me) and wanting the Foundation to fully mature and prove itself independently of me, I recognise the value of stepping outside what you are immersed in to reassess and refocus. After so many committed years in this work, it is nice to think I had grown a little better at it as time went by.

Yet when you are so involved, it is hard to think truly freely and creatively. My work has always valued innovation and creativity. Curiously, the heart of the programs is much the same now as in the early 80s: the value of good food and what it is, and the value of regular meditation and how to do it – these are the constants.

But is there a better way I could be helping people? It felt like a huge responsibility to step away from something that clearly was, and still is, so helpful to so many, and to step into the unknown to explore new, uncharted possibilities. Let’s hope something useful comes of it.

So why a blog? First, I managed to avoid computers pretty thoroughly for the first 60 years of my life! We had plenty at work, and while I enjoyed learning what they could do and helping develop good systems for using them, I never owned or personally used one. I love the feel and flow of writing with a fountain pen.

One area I am sure to focus on in future blogs is the exciting new discoveries in neuroplasticity – how the brain changes its structure and function according to how we use it. It brings good science to the old saying “use it or lose it.”

So personally, I am choosing to stretch and exercise my brain by delving into fields that are new to me – IT and the web.

In broader terms of what I have to offer and how I might be helpful, a blog seems a great medium to explore. Just as I started Australia’s first lifestyle-based cancer self-help groups back in 1981, I am now curious about how new technologies can be useful – not only for people with cancer, but also for anyone drawn to the wider scope of lifestyle factors covering health, healing and wellbeing.

For now, the plan is to start with weekly posts on a range of topics. Please feel free to comment. Those early cancer groups were shaped dramatically by their participants’ feedback and quickly grew into something useful. Perhaps we can do the same here and use this medium to build something genuinely relevant and helpful.

Maybe the blog will prove useful in its own right and deserve development. Maybe it will lead somewhere else in the world of IT. Maybe my energies would be better spent in the garden?!

So this has been an introduction and a beginning. The first focused post is up now too – on meditation. Read on, share feedback if you feel moved to, unsubscribe if you would rather, and let’s see what happens.