PERSPECTIVES ON CANCER #3: All Is Not Lost

ALL IS NOT LOST

by

Naomi Estment

We each deal with death in a unique way. I can’t speak for my father; whose hand I held when he succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 1998, aged 62. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if his disease was exacerbated by anguish about my brother’s inexplicable suicide almost fourteen years earlier. Although that type of trauma is tough to come to terms with, I’m certain that acceptance is the key to healing – which is why these quotes resonate deeply:

“Throughout history, there have been women and men who, in the face of great loss, illness, imprisonment, or impending death, accepted the seemingly unacceptable and thus found “the peace that passeth all understanding”.” – Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks

“Acceptance of the unacceptable is the greatest source of grace in this world.” – Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks

In line with the wisdom shared by Jamie in this blog’s About section, I aim to “live fully yet learn non-attachment” while exploring “the meaning of life in the light of death”. My experience is that the peril and passing of those close to us offer a gift of potentially releasing us from the fear of loss, through facing and transcending this (without implying that we bypass grief).

Being married for over sixteen years to an ex-professional superbike racer, who I love with all my heart, has challenged and blessed me in a similar way. For Dave, taking physical risks is as natural as breathing, and has almost cost his life more than once. Through it all, he remains a radiant example of how to live fully. I, on the other hand, have been learning how to “let go to grow”*.

This subject forms the underlying theme of my second novel (in progress), which is encapsulated in the following poem by the same name:

LOST IN LIGHT

Embraced by love
beyond her dreams,
a formless fear
arises inside

What if it all
vanished tomorrow,
never to return her
into the light?

Yet love’s power
beckons her deeper
towards the heart
of the sun

Where she feels the fear
but has to follow,
in order to learn
that there is no loss

Only change –
and pain is caused by
the simple illusion
of holding on

Acceptance
is the answer
to receiving the gift
of grace.

©Naomi Estment

My prayer is that we all find our way back into the sunlight of our soul connections, without melting our wings trying.

*Quote from phenomenal women’s wealth coach, Kendall Summerhawk who shares how the traumatic loss of someone extremely close triggered her own powerful transformation.

♥

Naomi Estment ~  Naomi is a freelance writer and photographer and, with her husband Dave, is the co-owner of  Outdoor Video & Photographic and the Johannesburg-based OV&P Studio. Qualified in portraiture, fashion & glamour photography and master lighting, she’s passionate about the latter, particularly as it pertains to nurturing talent. She is a magazine journalist and has one completed novel (see My Books). Naomi also blogs at Naomi’s Notes where she charms readers with her stories and photographs of South Africa and safari. Occasionally she treats us to one of her very polished poems.  Naomi and Dave share their home with a Norwegian Forest Cat (Jina) and a beautiful German Shepherd (Quest).

Photo credit ~ Brown Sanke Eagle in Flight, Okavango Delta, Botswana by Dave Estment.