topic Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps in Living with cancer

Sh!t Cancer Dumps

paulinejs — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 05:19:02 GMT

The Young Adult workshop - affectionately known as the “Sh!t Cancer Dumps” workshop held over two weekends Saturday 29th June and Saturday July 13th has been a fantastic opportunity for young adults to connect with each other face to face, share experiences and learn some great tips and techniques to help deal with the challenges that finishing treatment presents. We were introduced to the concept of Thought Attacks™ - which is what happens when your mind focusses on your negative thoughts and the aspects of your situation. We also learnt how to use the Red Card Technique to deal with this. Some of the Key Learnings were; Stress is created from your thoughts about the situation Transform your Thought Attacks™ by finding a new interpretation of the situation Stress cannot exist in the present moment Stress is created from an internal rather than an external source Stress is a feeling residing in a specific place in our body Changing our negative beliefs about our challenges helps us to become resilient There is a part of us untouched by illness and suffering Red Card Technique, Opportunities Card, Present Moment Bell and the Resilience Stone all went into the little black bag of strategies to take away and use. I know I will be looking at my resilience stone. Which one of these do you think you will start using this weekend? Pauline

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Shannon_B — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 09:17:09 GMT

Hi Pauline! It was really great to meet you, Meiron and the rest of the crew there. I'm hoping to make use of everything we learnt. My stone and bell are ready to go! Looking forward to seeing if the others sign up. It would be great to keep in touch with them. Thank you to all the others that attended. It was nice to meet so many good people and share in their journey. Shannon.

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Allie_Greenwood — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 10:05:02 GMT

Thanks for a wonderful weekend! Can't wait to catch up with everyone again soon. Allie PS- thinking of you and sending out really positive vibes for tuesday Shannon

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Rebecca_B — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 10:51:53 GMT

Good to see you here Allie! Thanks for the positive vibes for Shannon for Tuesday. Our resilience stones have found a place on our kitchen bench 🙂

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

anniem — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 05:12:48 GMT

Wonderful to see you all again on Saturday guys Sounds like the resilience stones are a hit at the moment and I did like the idea of keeping the bell in the back pack so every time you pick it up its a reminder to be in the present......unless of course you are jogging with the back pack and then it could work either way! Looking forward to hearing more about the ways you are all going to use the little bag of strategies. Keep the ideas rolling in and we can share with everyone Cheers Annie

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Kirsten_Durie — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 10:46:16 GMT

Hi guys What a great workshop hey? Just wanted to say nice to meet you all and thanks for sharing your stories and advice on how to share my own story with others oh and how to better manage an...interesting boss! Cheers Kirsten

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

anniem — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 11:49:45 GMT

Hi Kirsten, So pleased you enjoyed the workshop. Let us know if there is anything you put in to place that you are happy with and think others can benefit from , Have fun at work and ignore the monkeys no matter how cute! Cheers Annie

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

paulinejs — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 23:29:50 GMT

Hi Shannon Thanks for being part of the workshop and sharing your experience. Glad the stone and bell are ready to go. Mine are on my desk. Pauline

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Sooozeee — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 01:42:55 GMT

Hi crew, Just stopping by to say hello and thanks for a great workshop. Was wonderful to meet you all. I learned a lot! Keen to do some weekend walks round Sydney Harbour foreshore and/or national parks. Anyone else? Suzie

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

James_Garnham — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 07:59:25 GMT

Hi all, It was such a great pleasure meeting you all at the workshop. Looking forward to catching up soon. James.

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Louise1234 — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 01:20:23 GMT

Hi All, I really enjoyed meeting you the other week. Unfortunately I couldn't make the second session but I still found the first one very useful. Suzie - I'm keen for national park walks too 🙂 I'm overseas for a few weeks but maybe in August... Hope to chat/meet with you all again soon. Louise 🙂

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Meiron — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 23:37:27 GMT

Hi Everyone It was wonderful meeting you all and thank you for your participation. Sending a big Well Done to you on implementing the techniques. That's really fantastic! Keep up the good work and look forward to seeing you again when we have the follow up session. If you have any questions about anything I covered in the workshop please feel free to ask. Have a great week. Meiron

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

anniem — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 01:47:34 GMT

Hi everyone, Hope you all had a great weekend. Just wondering if anyone has used strategies that were discussed in the workshop to assist with any work or study related issues? Would love to hear if you have Cheers Annie

The Red Card comes to the rescue

Meiron — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 08:30:12 GMT

Hi again, I want to share a particular incident that happened to me a few nights ago and how the Red Card came to my rescue once again. I woke up at about 2:30am and realised that I was having a night sweat. For most people that doesn't sound like a big deal but for me it was a huge deal as it is one of the symptoms of Lymphoma. I never used to get them and the only time I had one was before I was diagnosed and since then they never recurred. It was the middle of the night and when I started to wake up I recognised what was going on and boy did I get a fright!! My mind started churning thought attacks by the dozen! It was going on something like, "Shit, this is not good, the cancer might be coming back!" and "Imagine going through another round of chemo!", "I might be totally screwed now!" I started becoming fearful and anxious and caught myself having a serious thought attack. I knew that these thoughts would keep me up all night and cause a lot of angst if I was to continue to think in this way. I also knew that they were just thoughts not absolute truths and that I was choosing this interpretation. I stopped myself, took a deep breath and took out the Red Card which I keep handy. I used the card. I realised how harmful these thoughts were, that I can choose different thoughts and that I needed to find another interpretation. I thought, "Ok, it's a hot night, I"m wearing a thick tracksuit no wonder I'm hot!!!" I also remembered that I put on an extra doona cover at the start of winter! I continued on my new interpretation and thought "All my tests have been normal, I'm feeling great so I would know if I was ill again." I re-inforced to myself that I was ok and to be 100% sure I would go for another blood test the next day. I went back to sleep and felt calmer and more at ease. I woke up the next morning feeling much better and thought how strange it is that our feelings are somehow magnified in the middle of the night as opposed to during the day. I felt more in control, called the doc and went for the blood tests which came back normal. This was such a great reminder for me of how easy it is for my thoughts to lose control and how important it is to keep perspective by finding another way to interpret my challenging situations. Thanks for reading the post and hey I was wondering if you've had any thought attacks lately too? Have a great week. Meiron 🙂

Re: The Red Card comes to the rescue

anniem — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 02:37:53 GMT

Hey Meiron I red carded myself last week after a challenging couple of weeks with my teenage son. (Mind you I could have red carded him every day really, but am talking the rugby red card there!) After a week of waking at 4am with the "monkey chattering" I came in to work feeling less than fabulous. My red card is blu tacked on to my computer and I grabbed it and carried it with me whilst I went and got a coffee. Was I really choosing to allow things to affect my well being that I didn't really know for sure was happening? I actually re framed things and turned it in to something like The Chaser and by the time I was walking back to work I realised that I had a huge smile on my face and I was almost skipping along. Instead of allowing Batboy to "push my buttons"....I was designing a comedy skit! It worked :) Pretty funny really.....

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Allie_Greenwood — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 06:55:38 GMT

Hey Meiron, Thanks for opening up about the night sweat incident. I often wake up in the middle of the night and it seems like my problems are far bigger than they are in the day time. It's weird isn't it. John red carded me the other night when I was having a serious bout of thought attacks. one thought was leading to the next, and the next and the next.. so john reminded me that i needed to calm down and think about things differently. Of course as soon as I slowed down, the emotional exhaustion set in, and I fell asleep again. allie ps - SO happy to hear the blood test was normal.!

Re: Red Card

Meiron — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 04:12:52 GMT

Hey Annie Thanks so much for sharing your story and well done for two things. 1. You recognised that you were having Thought Attacks when they occurred which is often difficult to do in the moment 2. You were able to use the Red Card to see things differently and change your feeling about the situation. Awesome!! So happy the technique worked for you :)) Have a great day. Meiron

Re: Red Card

Meiron — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 04:26:14 GMT

Hey Allie Thanks so much for your post and for sharing your story. It is sometimes quite difficult to know when we're having Thought Attacks and it's great that John joined you in the workshop and pointed it out for you. One of the ways I know that I'm having Thought Attacks is when I feel negative emotions such as worry, anxiety, stress, doubt etc Our feelings are often preceded by thoughts that create our feelings so when we're not feeling good we're not thinking good! Our negative feelings are a sign that we're having Thought Attacks. One question I find useful when I'm not feeling good is "What am I thinking that's making me feel this way?" Then guess what happens...all my Thought Attacks come rushing out and I reach for the nearest Red Card! Have a great week. Meiron 🙂

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Jill_CCNSW — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 00:00:10 GMT

It was great to see everyone again on Saturday. I hope that once again Meiron provided some inspiration to cope with life!! I love his idea of the GP reminders on your phone for Gratitude and Perspective. I think I am going to implement that one!! Would love to hear how everyone is going and how the red card and stone may be helping you...... Jill 🙂

Re: Sh!t Cancer Dumps

Braveb — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 00:23:21 GMT

Meiron and Jill, thanks for the follow up session last Saturday! It was fantastic to see familiar faces and share things new and old. Following from Meiron's GP technique, I came across this (11-min) TED talk on happiness and framing. As we know especially, keeping the frame in a healthy and happy place can be damn hard. At the end of the talk the researcher lays down the (evidence-based) 21 day challenge of five small daily techniques. Meiron's GP technique is a perfect example of the gratitude one. You can watch it here: http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html Ben