I was born in Dallas, Texas. I have traveled extensively both because I love it and my father was in the Air Force.  Like most, I went to college, married, juggled family and career and experienced the tragedies and love that life brings. My family and friends tell me I have changed in the last few years. They agree that I am happier and certainly healthy again. (Please click on Cancer Support Group webpage to read my healing story.) When I think back to that time, I realize how much my life has changed. I worried incessantly about my job, my daughter and the minutia of my life. I felt like I never had enough time to do the things that I really enjoyed. I grieved for my husband and felt regret for when I had felt inadequate and helpless during the years he had been ill. Gradually, through taking classes at Seaside and practicing meditation, I learned techniques to release these attitudes of worry, grief, shame, regret and fear. By meditating and treating everyday, I have come to realize that those attitudes are simply ways I can choose to spend my time or not. Upon completion of one of the Seaside classes, I joked with a friend that I had
graduated "spirituality". We had laughed knowing as one of our teachers had explained that we're as spiritual as we're ever going to be and that's the good news. To me faith is knowing that each day brings a new revelation to perceive. With each revelation I come closer to the Truth, that is, recognizing my own Divinity by expressing all the many Aspects of
God as Cathy. To express those Aspects of Love, Health, Creativity and Peace (to name a few), I must continue to know and help myself with ever greater awareness. In other words, I find Aspects of God in me and by doing so I recognize them in others and am able to help others as well as myself. Ernest Holmes put these ideas succinctly in Creative Mind and
Success, page 82: "God made man to have all that the Universe contained and then left him alone to discover his own nature. Stop striving and all struggle and within your own soul know the Truth and trust absolutely in it. Daily declare that you are being guided and protected and that the power of the Spirit is bringing all to pass, and wait in perfect peace and confidence. Such an attitude of mind will overcome anything and will prove that
spiritual thought force is the only real power in the Universe."
My experience with illness and the healing that took place has also made me realize that illness and pain is the path that some people take in order to experience spiritual as well as physical healing. Since illness is the impetus for healing there is no need for remorse or guilt or despair. We are all Divine Beings with our own Divine Paths. I rejoice in our Oneness with God and that the
Abundance of the Universe is Ours now. Bibliography
Ernest Holmes, Living the Science of Mind
Ernest Holmes, Creative Mind and Success
Deepak Chopra, Seven Laws of Spiritual Success When I was diagnosed at age 40 with inflammatory breast cancer in April 1997, I was so scared my thoughts could only scream. My
husband had died 2 years earlier after a long illness. My mother had died of breast cancer 20 years ago at age 43. I was desperate but I was determined to break this legacy for both my daughter and myself. We had suffered enough! I immediately called the registered nurse who had helped my husband to control the pain of rheumatoid arthritis when drugs no longer helped him. At Scripps Pain Center, she teaches a Japanese form of acupressure called
Jin Shin JyutsuÒ to patients (www.jinshinjyutsu.com). She taught me how to do Jin Shin Jyutsu to help myself.
A dear friend introduced me to Seaside Church where I learned meditation techniques. I also learned how to let go of the worry and tension of everyday concerns and past regrets. I found that focusing on healing in meditation had profound effects on my everyday life as well as my health. I learned Viniyoga, a simple
yoga technique that links gentle movements with breathing. I substituted this form of exercise for the aerobics I'd done for the past 20 years. As a result of practicing each of these healing techniques, the tightness in my shoulders receded and the chronic back pain disappeared for the first time in my life.
Early after my diagnosis, I called "long term survivors" to find out what they had done. I called phone numbers from the "buddy box"
at the Wellness Community in San Diego (www.thewellnesscommunity.org). Each person explained how she had endured radiation, surgery and massive amounts of chemotherapy. What struck me was that each person also added a combination of healing techniques for the mind and spirit. Some did hypnosis or visualization. Some did Reiki (www.reiki.org) or acupuncture (www.acupuncture.com). Some focused on journaling, art or music. A couple of people bought puppies. All
of them went to support groups or counseling. None of them said anything like I left it up to the doctors to cure me.
I took their advice. I am grateful for the excellent medical care I received at Scripps (www.scrippshealth.org). From April 1997 to March 1998, I had chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, mastectomy and free flap breast reconstruction involving microsurgery and last of all, radiation. I have been symptom-free since my recovery. I
am even more thankful to my friends and family who taught me how to care for myself in countless loving ways. Now I can offer so much more to everyone I love. At Seaside I learned words for what I had experienced. "The opposite of fear is not faith; it's love." Everything falls into place when I focus on loving who I'm with and doing what I love and acknowledging that this love is Spirit expressing as me. I began attending the Seaside Cancer Support Group before I became a practitioner and received so much from the experience. Lyne Bledsoe, a Seaside Cancer Support Group member, began Moonlight Cancer Foundation, a non-profit foundation, to assist people who have cancer and need emergency financial help (www.moonlightcancerfoundation.org). We honor her legacy with
the annual Harmony Harvest Concert Fundraiser. I invite those with cancer challenges to share with us at the Seaside Cancer Support Group your thoughts and ideas on your healing journey. Please call me for details.
Return to Main Practitioner Page
Top of Page | 
