By Sandy Priester, Executive Director.
When Jamie called LifeSpark, she was looking for services for her son, who was dying of cancer. Kimberly, our Program Director, answered the phone, and Jamie began telling her about the medical procedures, the situation of her son, and his needs. She was very matter of fact as she went through the information about him.
And then Kimberly said… “And How are You?” That is when Jamie broke down and began to sob. Her son was dying and her heart was breaking.
LifeSpark was not able to help her son because he passed shortly after. But we were able to gave Jamie sessions. After her first LifeSpark session when she got up off the Reiki table, her eyes were clear and her face was relaxed. She said “This is the first time that I have felt peace since my son was diagnosed.”
When someone has cancer, it impacts the whole family. We all know this. Many of you have experienced it. It is like the world stops, and everything has to be reorganized!
Stress and agitation are contagious. Have you ever walked into a room where everyone is agitated and upset? If you are anything like me, within 5 seconds, I am also agitated. I don’t even have to know why they are upset. I hear their tone of voice, I feel their emotions, and pretty soon I am upset too.
So when someone is diagnosed with cancer, their emotions are felt by the family members, caregivers, and friends. But it doesn’t stop there. If those in the immediate circle are agitated, it will ripple out into their social networks, places of work, and neighborhoods. And from there, although less obvious, it will ripple out into the entire community. This touches all of us! Because almost everyone knows someone with cancer.
However, the good news is that peace, compassion, and kindness are also contagious. Think about walking into a yoga studio, or your prayer group. Or some place where you really feel good about yourself. How differently do you feel in that environment?
Kindness and compassion are contagious. Taking someone a meal, giving them a ride, even something as simple as a smile, can lift their spirits and lighten their load. Being around others who are calm and collected helps us to be calm and collected. In the case of LifeSpark, giving someone a Reiki or Healing touch session provides significant support, and can greatly reduce stress and depression.
It is sort of like throwing a pebble into a clear, smooth lake. The ripple of peace, calm, and healing ripples out from the one receiving the LifeSpark session to the family, and from there out into their social networks, places of work and neighborhoods. From there, although not as obvious, it ripples out into the community. We are all touched, effected, and impacted. Because everyone knows someone with cancer.
This is what LifeSpark does. Our sacred purpose is to provide peace and healing to those with cancer and their caregivers. We create these positive ripples of peace, calm, and well-being that promote healing.
So if one pebble thrown into that clear, smooth lake can create a wave of peace, think of what 10 pebbles all landing at the same time can do. If 10 people in the same neighborhood all receive LifeSpark sessions the same week, it has a bigger impact on that neighborhood. Now let us add even more pebbles from all of the acts of kindness and generosity that all of you are doing every day in your neighborhoods.
As LifeSpark grows, what if we now have 100 pebbles going into that lake, all at the same time? Or a 1,000 pebbles? We would create a TSUNAMI OF LOVE that would impact the entire lake. It would wash up over the shores and transform the entire lake.
Now….. what if we did this every day. One tsunami of love changes the lake for a short time. But then it shifts back to how it was before. Weekly or daily tsunamis, over time, will completely change the lake in an irreversible way, and it can never go back to the way it was.
This is when LifeSpark sessions reach a critical mass, and when the ripples of peace and healing are so prevalent, that those feelings begin to become “normal”. Stress is no longer our reaction to an illness like cancer. Peace and calm are now the norm. Now we are at a place where the body can relax and is in the best position to heal. As research demonstrates, stress is linked to more illness. But peace and calm support the body’s ability to heal.
Each of us has the ability to make a difference in our family, neighborhoods, and community every day. However, when we work together for a common purpose, it is FAR MORE POWERFUL! And when we do this not once but weekly, or even daily, over time, as in the 100s of people that LifeSpark serves, we begin to make shifts that become embedded. Peace becomes normal. We change the lake permanently.
LifeSpark’s sacred purpose is to create peace and healing for those with cancer and their caregivers. We do this for those we love who have cancer. As well as for those we don’t even know who have cancer. And for their families, and their neighborhoods, and their communities. For all of us. Yes we do this for all of us!!! Because we all know someone with cancer, and we are all impacted.
Peace, calm, support, healing. This is our sacred purpose. You are part of this. Together we are creating a tsunami of healing and love that will have a profound and lasting impact in our communities.
