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Joy and the Emotional Spectrum

Zest, Joy and Eliminating Shoulds In Cancer As a Turning Point, Lawrence LeShan, PhD discusses how psychological and lifestyle changes toward a zest for life can mobilize the immune system, promote wellness, and healing through cancer. "The method concerns people taking control over their own life— of searching for a life-style especially suited for them and, when found, actively working toward living this life. For many individuals, this requires a complete restructuring of their thinking about themselves. A very large number of us grew up oriented toward what we should do rather than what we would enjoy doing; toward what we should want in our life rather than what we really want. Our actions are usually based on these 'shoulds' rather than on the question of what would fulfill me— what style of being, relating, creating would bring me to a life of zest?'" "What kind of life would they be living if they adjusted the world to themselves instead of—as our (cancer) patients generally have done—adjusted themselves to the world?" LeShan's invites individuals to inquire within themselves about what they really want. "This is the life, this life and the search for it, that mobilizes the immune system against cancer more than anything else we know today," he wrote. This way of living involves connecting with deep authenticity, including passions and dreams, and then pursuing them. What does this feel like? "...the kind of meaning that makes us glad to get out of bed in the morning and glad to go to bed at night—the kind of life that makes us look forward zestfully to each day and to the future." LeShan suggests the following questions of self-inquiry to create joy and help mobilize self-healing when dealing with cancer. What is right with you? What are your special and unique ways of being, relating, and creating that are your own and natural ways to live? What is your special music to beat out in your life and your unique song to sing so that when you are singing you are glad to get up in the morning and glad to go to bed at night? What style of life would give you zest, enthusiasm, and involvement? What steps will help you to create this life? Carl Jung, MD conveys the expansive nature of when an individual taps into "some higher or wider interest" and the movement that can subsequently occur in their worldview and life. "I have often seen individuals who simply outgrew a problem which had destroyed others... Some higher or wider interest arose on the person's horizon, and through the widening of his view, the insoluble problem lost its urgency... What, on a lower level, had led to the wildest conflicts and emotions full of panic, viewed from the higher level of the personality, now seemed like a storm in the valley seen from a high mountaintop. This does not mean that the thunderstorm is robbed of its reality; it means that instead of being in it, one is now above it." -Carl Jung, MD, The Secret of the Golden Flower Coping Styles and Type C People with cancer may use specific coping styles, according to some research studies. Please note the following before exploring potential coping styles in people with cancer. Coping styles do not cause cancer. However, specific behavior patterns may be factors in cancer risk and recovery. Coping styles generally develop unintentionally as a by-product of early conditioning. Learning about behavior patterns needs to be balanced with self-compassion, empowerment, and hope. Self-blame cannot be a part of the process. Not everyone with cancer exhibits these coping styles associated with the disease.  Maybe you have heard about Type A behavior associated with heart disease. Type A behavior is generally self-centered, highly charged, competitive, and overflowing with anxiety, anger, and hostility. Some research indicates that cancer patients may exhibit Type C behavior, which is the polar opposite of Type A. This is not new information. A link between cancer and emotional states has been observed for over 2,000 years, was commonly accepted in medical circles until the year 1900, and research studies have been published on the topic since the 1950s1,2,3. Type C behavior patterns may include the following. Nonexpression of anger and lack of awareness of any feelings of anger, past or present. No experiences or expression of other "negative" emotions such as anxiety, fear, and sadness. Patience, unassertiveness, cooperation, and appeasement in work, social, and family relationships, as well as compliance with external authorities. Overly concerned with meeting the needs of others, insufficiently engaged in meeting their own needs, and often self-sacrificing to an extreme. Tendency to feel some level of chronic hopelessness and helplessness. Some research suggests that these coping styles may weaken the immune system and leave people more vulnerable to cancer progression. Type C is considered more of a coping style than a personality since these behavior patterns often developed as a survival strategy. Coping styles evolve and individuals who are considered Type C can learn new behaviors. People can embody a variety of traits from throughout the coping continuum of Type A, to B, to C. Positive and Negative Emotions "My research has shown me that when emotions are expressed—which is to say that the biochemicals that are substrate of emotion are flowing freely—all systems are united and whole. When emotions are repressed, denied, not allowed to be whatever they may be, our network pathways get blocked, stopping the flow of the vital feel-good, unifying chemicals that run both our biology and our behavior." -Candance Pert, PhD, Molecules of Emotion In The Type C Connection: The Mind-Body Link to Cancer and Your Health, Lydia Temoshok, PhD and Henry Dreher offer perspectives on the association between emotions and health, as well as a portrait of emotional terrain in people with cancer. "The word 'emotion' comes from the Latin root meaning 'to move.' Threatening or disturbing circumstances cause us to be moved to fear, anger, or sadness, and these emotions involve complex chain reactions by our nervous and endocrine systems. If the feelings cannot be experienced, discharged, or properly managed, a biological imperative is blocked. The long-term consequence is mind-body imbalance3." Understanding these concepts reveals that "negative" emotions may not be negative. "Primary emotions like anger, fear, and sadness do not have any harmful effect on our bodies. They alter our physiology, but so does every natural biological function. It's only when we habitually block feelings that they become 'toxic' states associated with weakened immunity: anger becomes resentment or chronic depression; fear turns into panic; sadness yields to hopelessness3." Likewise, "positive" emotions may not necessarily be positive. "I must confess that I find the notion of 'positive' emotions a disturbing concept and perhaps even a dangerous one. At best, it implies that there is a way to live, a certain set of attitudes that may guarantee survival. At worst, the concept of positive emotions can degenerate into self-tyranny and may lead the individual into some kind of mind control. Many people now seem to fear harboring 'negative' emotions or 'wrong' thoughts in the same way people used to fear having evil thoughts3." -Rachel Naomi Remen, MD Research indicates improved survival for people with cancer that express "positive" emotions such as joy, while other studies associate "negative" emotions such as anger and complaints with better patient outcomes. Do the studies contradict one another? "They do not, and the beauty of the fighting spirit is that it embodies the seemingly opposite—but truly complementary—qualities that many cancer survivors possess. Healthy coping can't be reduced to one narrow emotion or manifest attitude. The attempt to do so only diminishes the psychological depth of mind-cancer research3." The expression of positive and negative emotions is a consistent quality in survivors, according to Dr. Temoshok. Through transforming behaviors, she conveys that some people with cancer become "more expressive, assertive, and self-nurturing." She wrote, "…a fundamental shift in their relationship to self and to the world—by deepening their awareness of inner needs and feelings and by expanding to make more genuine contact with others… (to create) a healing of the split between the mind and body, and a remarkable improvement in emotional and physical health." For More Information Getting Well Again by O. Carl Simonton, MD Cancer As A Turning Point: A Handbook for People with Cancer, Their Families, and Health Professionals by Lawrence LeShan, PhD The Type C Connection: The Mind-Body Link to Cancer and Your Health by Lydia Temoshok, PhD, and Henry Dreher When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection by Gabor Mate, MD Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine by Candace Pert, PhD The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Haveby Mark Nepo http://www.embodiworks.org/cancertreatments/bodymindspirit/joyandemotionalspectrum/