Sh!t Cancer Dumps

[Louise1234]

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 🙂

[Meiron]

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

[anniem]

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

[Meiron]

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 🙂

[anniem]

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.....

[Allie_Greenwood]

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.!

[Meiron]

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

[Meiron]

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 🙂

[Jill_CCNSW]

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 🙂

[Braveb]

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