Tag Archive for: cancer

Jaune Evans and Commonweal labyrinth

Circles at cancer retreats

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When illness enters our life experience, a spiritual change can occur. We can feel alone—outsiders to the vital flow of energy that sustains us when we’re in community. One antidote for feelings of isolation is to belong, to find kindred…
Cynthia Clough with Italian flag in background

A culture of healing

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“Third culture kids” are children who are raised in a culture (or several) other than the one that is native to them. They grow up feeling that they don’t truly belong in their adoptive countries or in their country of origin. My father…
Polly Marshall with her dog Pumpkin and daughter Emilia

Preventing cancer while supporting those who have it

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I was diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer in 2009 at the age of 52, when both my children were teenagers. I had three surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation while trying to maintain my career as an attorney at a small housing and community…
Exploring the cancer journey by Lisa Peacock

Finding My Tribe

I need to build my own support network. The young neighbors who walk our dog Maude The NHS volunteer who’s in a rock band drives me to and from the hospital in their van The friend who gives me beeswax lip balm with kind messages—"bee…
elephant sitting on bench

Dying without an elephant

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Toward the end of my brother’s life, he spent every waking hour in a faux-leather armchair by his living room window. He was companioned by the puff-puff-puffing of an oxygen concentrator, a walker with a basket full of pills, a laptop that…

Let the Sacred Festivities Begin

Christina Baldwin was the "sacred emcee" at Kelly Lindsay's celebration of life. What follows is her introduction, which makes more sense if you kept up with Kelly's CaringBridge blog. Christina and Ann Linnea are founders of The Circle Way…
Veins of a leaf

Poems and Essays Written in Honor of Kelly

Gathering by Gary Vallat (written after a massive circle for Kelly that took place at Soundview Center) For Kelly and Diana Lindsay The crowd enters the sanctuary milling about appreciating the beauty of the place, anticipating the…

Tributes to Kelly Lindsay

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Tributes from Healing Circles Langley Kitty Adams: Kelly’s mind was brilliant, but it was his warm welcome that drew me into HCL. In my raw state after the death of my husband, every time I walked through that door, Kelly greeted me with…

A Conversation with a Widow’s Nervous System

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The pain of loss is such an isolating experience, where the outside and inside of us are not aligned. We are out of sync with humanity, and yet we are inside an experience that each and every one of us will have.

‘I Am Rushing:’ a Mantra of Love and Memory

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I have just returned from spending time with a dear friend and her husband. They are living in what I have come to call “Illness Time” ­ not a period of time spent ill, but time itself defined by illness.