Darkest Hour or Defining Moment?

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 7:46 pm by kathleenokeefe

Darkest Hour or Defining Moment? 2012-09-17T19:50:10-06:00 kathleenokeefe

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Kathleen’s story is powerful, honest, and eye-opening. She asks readers to go a little beyond where some might feel comfortable, but if you are willing to do that, the reward is the story of a profound healing journey. Kathleen tells us that, “My crisis increased my intuition which, in turn, saved my life.” Thank you, Kathleen.

Miracles and angels are a part of our lives, so anticipate them and tune in through your quiet mind. (From A Book of Miracles by Bernie Siegel, MD, 2011)

–Bernie

Illness is costly in the best of times. During economic strife, it can be a burden resulting in financial, belief, and relationship crises. Changes must be made. However, change can be beneficial—even lifesaving.

When my intuitive suspicion of breast cancer was medically confirmed, I considered suicide as a means of freeing myself from fear-of-the-unknown and from the gruesome death my mother had suffered from colon cancer 16 months earlier. Armed with lessons learned throughout life and while caring for Mom, I conquered my fears and learned another important lesson: Don’t tell your Higher Power how big your troubles are–tell your troubles how big your Higher Power is. Controlling fear rather than giving in to it can be a defining moment.

Cancer is guaranteed to knock you down with its series of crises, beginning with discovery and continuing through treatment, often with no end in sight. But danger can also open hidden doors deep in our psyche—doors that are locked out of fear of rebuke or terror. The door I unlocked led me to the psychic realm of healing. Behind that door was proof that we are never alone during any hardship. I found that deceased loved ones could return to the earth plane and guide me through my treatments. I also learned that love is something we can take with us after death and bring back to the living during their times of crisis. Love transcends time, space, and death. My crisis increased my intuition which, in turn, saved my life.

How often have we ignored our gut instincts in favor of scientific facts and then regretted our decision? It’s time to stop ignoring ourselves. By disregarding intuition in favor of science, or science in favor of instincts, we limit ourselves. The best way to survive any crisis is to mix these two different information modalities and then crosscheck them against each other. Listen, then verify. By doing this, I doubled my chances of finding answers that were indisputably correct.

You don’t have to be psychic to believe in your female intuition or inner voice. In order to effectively battle illness, we must get in touch with our inner selves and work toward the goal of survival by using everything available to us, seen and unseen.

By searching within through dreams, meditation or prayer, we will find our own set of answers to any challenge. No matter how confusing they seem, dreams are often telling us something. Through dreams, my spiritual guides communicated life-saving details. They encouraged me to advocate for different medical tests to find the cancer the medical community had missed—twice. Their guided information proved that I was not alone in my fight to survive cancer.

Spiritual guides, angels, intuition, gut instincts, call-them-what-you-will, these voices and dreams have gotten a bad rap in society–just ask Joan of Arc. Yet, they saved my life and comforted me. Without their intervention, I believe I would be dead and my story would be buried.

Sometimes it takes an experience of major proportions to hurl us out of our habitual patterns in life. We cannot change yesterday, but we can use what we’ve learned to redirect our tomorrow, making that tomorrow into a most beneficial time and place for ourselves and others. Without that major catalyst we might never find or fulfill our true destiny. My catalyst was cancer. It projected me out of my cozy life of social engagements and into one of self-preservation. The result was the birth of my new destiny. Fueled with empathy, I began to help others by sharing my unique story of spirituality, hope, and survival against all odds. Realizing that we are never alone during strife changed my perception of life and death.

My darkest hour became a dawn of defining moments filled with doors that have opened to a wonderful future.

About the author

Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos is a two-time breast cancer survivor who penned SURVIVING TRAUMALAND.

This post was submitted by Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos.

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