What does it really mean to nourish your body? You feed yourself every day, whenever you feel hunger. But how do the decisions you make about what you eat, how much, the quality of the food, where you eat – affect you?

The diagnosis of cancer is terrifying – it puts most people into the foetal position, where they just want to block everything and everyone out. Feeling that life is over does NOT serve you. So stand up and really take a good look at yourself. Because right now you’ve been offered an opportunity to really make change to how you live your life.

What do you really hunger for? I can guarantee that it has nothing to do with the sweet, highly-processed foods that many of us consume. They contain so few nutrients that our bodies do not call out for them. But they do fill us, all those empty cracks and crevices aching to be filled, for a moment until the next crack appears. I suggest that this hunger has nothing to do with food – it’s an emotional, spiritual need to find meaning in our lives. To feel like an important part of something bigger than this daily, painful grind that we get stuck in.

Nourishing your body is different from feeding yourself. It’s taking the time to really listen to what your body needs. If it hungers, don’t fill it with more empty, sugar-filled calories. Give it life-supporting nutrients in the form of raw, or lightly steamed vegetables.

If food isn’t what you hunger for, take the time and space to find out what is. Meditation can take you deep into the heart of your personal self and will reveal to you the beautiful human being you are. It takes time, and practice, practice, practice, but the rewards far outweigh the initial frustration.

If you find yourself bored with life, then get outside. Experience this world. Enjoy walking around your neighbourhood and peeking through windows into the lives of those around you. You are not alone. Or go to the woods – there you will find real peace and serenity.

I realize this information seems quite intangible, but it is important that you realize that you are being asked to change the way you live your life. It isn’t working. So what’s wrong? Where does your pain lie? Where is your grief or fear buried layer, upon layer deep within your cells? Find it, bless it (for it has served you), and give it to the Divine unifying force for healing and removal. Trust that it is possible and it will be so.