Can You Find Joy and Happiness While Undergoing Cancer Treatment?

When most of us think of happiness, we think of all that is good and joyful in our lives. However, in the context of illness, happiness may seem like a foreign concept.  Surely, “happiness” won’t be the first word that comes to mind, right?

Consider the age old question “Do You Want to Be Happy or Do You Want to Be Right?” This is not a trick question. Think about it for a moment and choose your answer?  What does your instinct tell you?

Most people’s very logical response is, well, “Can’t I be both?” In most cases my answer will be No. This is because each answer – Right or Happy – represent a contradicting state of mind; one is of the Ego and the other is of the Soul or Spirit.

I am not suggesting there is anything happy about illness in general and cancer in particular.  But could we possibly be happy during this period of time? The unequivocal answer is YES WE CAN and here are some tips to help you choose:

Four Points to Remember

1.       Happiness is an outcome, a byproduct of the awareness of seeing more than the present moment of discomfort offers.  Happiness does not depend on external things, things of material nature or even other people. It’s an inside job. A decision to focus on the good despite the awareness of the bad.

2.       Find happiness in recognizing your sovereignty over your mind.  Owning your state of mind, and taking responsibility for what you choose to hold in your mind is your birth right. This means you have that capacity, it’s part of how your brain wired.

3.       If your happiness depends on whom you are with, or what someone else had to say to you, you set yourself up for disappointment.  Lifelong disappointment.  No one will ever do exactly as you wish and say the right words to satisfy you.  Instead, look for happiness in the relationships you have, the positive aspects of every loving relationship or person and find gratitude in their love.

4.       Contrary to what some people think, happiness during illness does not mean you are in denial. Yes, you are right, being sick is terrible.  But if you find happiness in moments even during an illness, you are choosing something much greater than the simple satisfaction of your Ego. You get to see and experience yourself as more than just a physical body and in doing so acknowledge your true nature. This will be your statement of worth and value. You are worthy of feeling good even while you are not in perfect health, and of course, you are worthy of being healed!

A friend struggling with cancer recently shared that healthy people have many wishes: new car, more money, better phone, love, better job and so on… but a cancer patient has only one wish, to kick cancer’s butt and heal.

What do you choose, to be happy or right?