Every so often, we are reminded there is a path to healing that is different from science and medicine.
Last Friday, around 1pm, an email lands in my inbox.
A lady I’ve known for many years tells me there is a herbalist named Leilah who I absolutely have to speak with.
Leilah founded a legendary spot here in Arizona called Herb Stop.
She is now in her 70’s. But when she was a teenager, Leilah had leukemia.
Back then, in the 1950’s, people almost never survived leukemia.
But Leilah survived, and she survived not with medicine but with the help of nature.
I immediately called and right away, you could tell this was a wise elder: her voice, her Swiss accent, her grounded energy.
Leilah told me her story.
She was 17 when all this went down. The doctors told her she had six months to live.
Leilah’s grandmother was a very spiritual and wise woman.
Her grandmother pulled her out of the hospital and said, “I’m not going to let you die in the hospital.”
Her grandmother tapped into her wisdom community and was told that leukemia is caused by not enough red blood cells.
Her grandmother said, “You need more red in your life.”
She surrounded and immersed Leilah in red.
Red clothing. Red pillows. Red food. Red everything.
At the time, Leilah said she wasn’t close with her other family members and as we all know, 17 can be a tough age for anyone.
Her grandmother made everything beautiful for Leilah.
She didn’t just put food in front of her. She sat with her to eat.
Mealtime became nourishing and grounding.
Her grandmother was a World War 2 survivor. She knew how to survive. And she was able to teach Leilah how to survive.
She loved Leilah back to life.
SHE LOVED HER BACK TO LIFE.
This story touched me so deeply.
Because over the past six weeks we’ve been going through this with my daughter, I can’t help but wonder if something went awry that triggered her leukemia?
Y’know…you do your best as a parent. But sometimes you get distracted…one foot in, one foot out.
Leilah shared so clearly in the voice of a wise elder, “Nourish them with your attention, your words, your touch. Feed her. Ground her. Bring her back.”
I couldn’t help but think about the times when I could have loved her more. I could have loved her better.
Do you sometimes mail it in with the ones you love?
Do you sometimes go through the motions of loving, but you are so busy that the love gets diluted, if not lost?
Let me be clear.
We are not replacing the amazing medical team treating my daughter.
We are not stopping the life-saving medicines we are able to provide to her, and the years of groundbreaking research and science that has gone into leukemia treatment.
But what we are doing is ENHANCING IT with pure, undistracted love.
Before we can heap this kind of richness on another…the question is:
Can you spoonfeed yourself the richness of life without being so busy and distracted?
Here’s a test for you (and me).
What if you committed 6 months to LOVING YOURSELF BACK TO LIFE?
Do you want to wait for something extreme to happen before you WAKE UP and realize:
PURE, UNDISTRACTED LOVE is the most powerful medicine the world has ever known… or so I’m learning.
For those of you who feel like this is the kind of commitment, you want to be making to yourself…
…this Saturday, June 20 is your first step on a six-month journey.
It’s so easy.
Each day for the next 6 months, I’ll send you a guided meditation that begins with a story (like the one about Leilah)…
…then I’ll lead you into a few minutes of peace and relaxation.
It’s your commitment to saying, “The pain of 2020 might be real!”
But what’s more real are the skills and strength and resilience you’ll be developing in this six-month journey.
The summer solstice is this Saturday, June 20.
It’s the perfect moment to start getting…Better.Together.