Brice Royer was told four years ago that the tumour in his stomach would likely kill him.
Source: Metro Vancouver cancer patient’s diagnosis may have doctors ‘scratching their heads’ | Vancouver Sun
Wow I just got this posting on Facebook from my dear friend Peta Burchell. Not just the Vancouver Sun article but the actual posting by Brice Royer whom it features.
I recommend you read the long post that goes with this (not the article itself). This is so encouraging to me. Not that I particularly want to live a long time but this person has not only demonstrated that giving to others has vastly improved their quality of life and their state of health (tumour shrinking) but they describe many kinds of research that confirm this. Did you know that even thinking of being generous counts? Watching movies about generosity? It totally makes sense when I think about my own life and when I think about the Dharma teachings. Generosity is the very first of the 6 Paramitas. So even when I’m posting about issues that are disturbing or outraging I’m going to hold that speaking up for other beings is also generosity, it’s another way of giving. It’s also kind of funny coz the days I post the most are the ones I’m at home and not so well. It’s medicine!!!
Brice Royer
April 13 at 11:01pm · Vancouver, BC, Canada ·
YAY! I AM NOW CANCER FREE! My doctor said my tumour SHRUNK and my MRI results are “unexplainable by western science.” No surgery, chemo or medication! Watch the video on the Vancouver Sun! I read studies that love and kindness is the world’s best medicine. Unfortunately, I can’t buy love or kindness at the pharmacy. So my treatment was doing random acts of kindness for a year without expecting anything in return. I thought it could heal my depression and loneliness.
I wrote a Craigslist’s ad offering “Unconditional Love for $0” that surprisingly went viral and reached millions of people in days. I offered my time and energy, which was very limited, at the service of anyone who reached out. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. There was no guarantee of survival.
After years of suffering, being in and out of a wheelchair, and contemplating suicide…I am now free!
MY “RARE” GIST STOMACH TUMOUR IS SHRINKING!
Giving is good medicine!
I am beyond grateful for my family, friends, health practitioners, and each person who helped me and most importantly, who allowed me to give!
Thank you for your love! We are all one. We are all healing! I LOVE YOU!
But, I am not attached to the outcome. Even if I had died, the remainder of my life became much more meaningful.
I’m NOT saying giving kindness cures cancer for everyone, or implying only unkind people have cancer. This would be silly, offensive and simply untrue. BUT doing acts of kindness every day has greatly helped me, and the science below convinced me to try it!
Here are some studies:
LOVE AND KINDNESS AS MEDICINE: “After twenty years of research and practice as a cardiologist, Dr. Dean Ornish wrote that no other factor in medicine, ‘not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery’, affects our health, quality and length of life more than feeling loved and cared for. ” -Dean Shrock
GIVING REDUCES MORTALITY BY 44%: “In this new study from Doug Oman of the University of California at Berkeley, 2,000 individuals over age 55 were studied for five years. Those who volunteered for two or more organizations had an impressive 44% lower likelihood of dying. “
GIVING HELPS YOU LIVE LONGER, MORE THAN RECEIVING, STUDY FINDS: “Giving to others increases your longevity, although receiving the same kind of help did not. Psychologist Stephanie Brown of the University of Michigan spent five years studying 423 older couples. After adjusting for age, gender, and physical and emotional health, Brown found that those who provided significant support to others were more than twice as likely to remain alive in that five year period. These surprising findings ruled out other factors like personality, health, mental health and marital relationship variables.”
“INTERVENTIONS NEED TO BE REDESIGNED TO WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO FOR OTHERS.”
“If giving, rather than receiving, promotes longevity, then interventions that are designed to help people feel supported may need to be redesigned so the emphasis is on what people can do to help others,” Brown says. “In other words, these findings suggest that it isn’t what we get from relationships that makes contact with others so beneficial; it’s what we give.”
Why Diets And Exercise Aren’t Enough: “I assert we not only are spending too much, but we’re aiming at the wrong target, because none of these measures works in the long term. Instead of placing the impetus to get healthy on the individual, you need to address the system.” Dan Buettner at TEDMED a researcher, explorer and author has worked for years identifying Blue Zones, areas where people live markedly longer than average, and what’s behind these pockets of longevity. His research gave me hope!
LONELINESS IS WORSE THAN SMOKING 15 CIGARETTES A DAY FOR YOUR HEALTH: LONELINESS is as big a killer as obesity and as dangerous to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to a study of three million people from Brigham Young University.
“LOVE GROWS BRAINS”: Bruce Perry, an expert in child trauma, offers the extreme example by showing an image of a healthy 3-year-old brain side by side with an image of a neglected 3-year-old’s brain. Both the size and amount of development in the brain are remarkably reduced in the brain of the neglected child. Quite literally, “love grows brains.”
“The power of the heart far surpasses the intelligence of the mind.” – Baptist de Pape
“I see something different and powerful in healing through love and peace and joy. That’s the truth we’re bringing to the world.”-Steve Curtis cancer survivor
EVEN THINKING ABOUT GIVING HELPS:
Giving is so powerful that sometimes even just ‘thinking’ charitable thoughts helps us. “The simple act of praying for others, Neal Krause found, reduces the harmful impact of health difficulties in old age for those doing the praying. A new study from the National Institutes of Health shows that merely making a decision to donate to a charity increases activity in parts of the brain that release our feel-good chemicals, dopamine and serotonin. And a new Harvard University study showed that just watching a movie of helping activity boosts the immune system.”
YOU ARE NOT USELESS JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY ILL. EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO GIVE. EVEN IF IT’S A SMILE.
One way to help people with chronic illness is to give them the opportunity to give, even if it means to watch movies about others giving!
When I had cancer, I thought I had nothing to give because I couldn’t get out of bed. I felt useless because I was no longer able to continue to society and people I love. That was the wrong belief. I could give something, even if it was a smile. If we can give those who are suffering the opportunity to give in small or big ways, it could make a significant difference in their recovery.
DAILY ACTS OF KINDNESS I DID THAT ANYBODY CAN DO:
-THINKING ABOUT GIVING HELPS!
Watch movies or read about acts of compassion!
A new Harvard University study showed that just watching a movie of helping activity boosts the immune system. This is the most simple thing anybody with a chronic illness can do. You can also “think” charitable thoughts, pray for others, or make a decision to donate to charity.
-Spread good news on Facebook.
Use your Facebook to spread good news! Studies show it will increase your happiness and your friends. “Happiness is contagious and affects the happiness of others with whom you are connected. According to recent research by the University of Pennsylvania, making yourself and those around you happy is not only possible, but really quite easy. All you have to do, quite literally, is spread the word.” My favorite happy news site is Good News Network from Geri Weis-Corbley and Power of Positivity
-Buy someone a meal.
I love buying items for total strangers at any store or restaurant. For example, I’ve been to a grocery store called Pomme Market in Coquitlam. I told the cashier I’m doing random acts of kindness and I’d like to pay the next customer’s items. Then I give them a receipt that reads “Unconditional Love for $0”. It always makes people smile and it makes me feel good. If you eat at restaurants, do what my friend Andre Angel does and download TangoTab. Proceeds go to charity! When you eat, they eat!
-Do an Ellen DeGeneres!
Surprises are fun! I love Ellen and the fun surprises she gives to people. It uplifts everybody! You can do that too. Find out what someone needs, whether it’s a small or big thing and surprise them with it.
HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE BY GIVING:
What is your purpose in life? It’s funny how nobody asks that question when there’s an earthquake or a crisis! Their purpose during an urgency is suddenly crystal clear: To save their life, their family or their neighbour. While it’s important to know your innate talents and to transform them into strengths, sometimes pondering that question for too long may blind you from the suffering around you. A better question might be to ask someone near you: How’re you? What do you need right now? My soul brother and caregiver Rousseau Kumara Llanera is a great example of this selfless service.
LOVE AND KINDNESS WITHOUT WISDOM IS FOOLISHNESS.
Good intentions can cause harm sometimes. There’s a saying that goes “the road to hell is paved on good intentions.” For example, if you spoil a child because “you love them” and never discipline them, you are not allowing them to grow. When you donate clothes to a third world country, you may cause textile workers to lose their jobs. There’s even a book about that called Toxic Charity. The best way to give is to combine good intention with wisdom. It’s not always easy to know what is the righteous action.
IF YOUR COMPASSION DOES NOT INCLUDE YOURSELF, IT’S INCOMPLETE.
Caregivers are often the hidden victims behind those who are ill. Sometimes giving at the expense of yourself can cause an imbalance. It’s also important to know when to receive.
BREAKING THE WALL TO ALLOW YOURSELF TO LOVE.
I found an interesting irony; it’s harder to feel loved if you’re wealthy, physically attractive, and successful. Why? This is because you’ll attract people who like you for what you can do for them. Once that’s gone, they’re gone too.
The more others want from you, the thicker walls you will create. You may struggle to receive and give love; if you question: Why is this person nice to me? What do they want?
Here are some challenges people who read my ad have told me:
“Biggest challenges is allowing myself to love…breaking the wall I have created around myself because throughout my life I have told myself others just hurt you and I’m better on my own. Allowing myself to be completely open to others.”
Giving is a habit, the more we do it, the more it becomes part of who we are.
SAY “YES” TO RECEIVING:
Why deny someone else the joy of giving? One of the greatest gift we can give is to fully receive the gift of another. Many of us are afraid to receive. But to deny a gift is to rob others the joy of giving and to feel useful, and to receive it, is a form of generosity. Thanks to Charles Eisenstein for the lesson.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP TODAY?
SHARE this message. It could save someone’s life!
An act of kindness a day, may keep the doctor away.
Please don’t underestimate the power of kindness!
