“It’s my job to create loving, unconditional stability.” ~ Dr. Sue Morter

Click here to listen and subscribe

Summary:

Today’s Episode features Part 3 of my interview with international Speaker and Transformational workshop leader Dr Sue Morter as we discuss how to create loving unconditional stability to help your child heal.

In the last 2 episodes, Dr Sue introduced us to her work, taught us a belly breathing technique to help us get grounded into our core, our wisdom centre, to learn how to pull away from the fears and back into the core of our being, and a meditation technique to help us to tap into Spirit Essence to know that all will be okay. She then explained her Bus Stop conversation that gives families a deeper, bigger perspective on life which leads to spiritual healing and a sense of wholeness.

This episode is the conclusion of that conversation where Dr Sue shares how we can create loving unconditional stability to help our children heal.

I am so grateful to Dr Sue for all the wisdom she has shared with us. I love and appreciate the reminders of what this life is really about and how to refocus our thoughts, minds and hearts on the energies of love and gratitude to help us heal and help our children heal.

I hope you will enjoy Dr Sue’s final bits of wisdom and advice as much as I have.

Click here to listen and subscribe

Best advice from Dr. Sue Morter:

• I invite you to flood your child with the unconditionality of “I love you and therefore I do not worry about you”.
• If we can step into this soulful bus stop conversation and know that there’s less reason to worry because this divine plan is unfolding through these circumstances too, then I’m not going to be so fearful.
• We have to unattach from identifying as just this physical dimensional version of ourselves.

Links and Resources mentioned in the episode:

• www.drsuemorter.com

Read full transcript here

The post How to create loving unconditional stability to help your child heal first appeared on Laura Lane.

“Forgiveness is one of the biggest means to unlocking greater happiness in our lives.” Marci Shimoff

Summary: Today’s episode features part 2 of my interview with Marci Shimoff #1 New York Times bestselling author, a world-renowned transformational leader and an expert on happiness, success and unconditional love as we talk about how to change your brain chemistry and feel happier, more balanced, and centered in your life.

What I love most about part 2 of my interview with Marci is how she shares with us tools we can use every day to remain positive and happy: the daily gratitude exercise, the easy HeartMath technique, forgiveness and Ho’oponopono. These are tools and exercises I have used myself over the years. I kept a daily gratitude journal for years and it was a lifeline for me. I learned about Ho’oponopono when Celeste was in the middle of treatment. A friend was inspired to send me a copy of Zero Limits. I share the whole story in my book, about the impact it has on my life at the time. It’s something I share with my clients during our sessions together as well. And HeartMath… well that was amazing. Marci showed us this simple technique to feeling more balanced, centered and open through a quick 2-minute exercise you can use anywhere. The best part is that you just got a taste it with Marci. Next week, is the first of 2 interviews with Jeff Golietz, education curriculum developer, senior trainer and education specialist with the HeartMath Institute. We’ll not only discuss more about HeartMath but also strategies to cope with trauma and everyday stress. I hope you get as much out of this episode and next week’s as much as I did.

Click here to Listen and Subscribe

Best Advice from Marci Shimoff

• It has been found statistically that when we are grateful, if you spend two minutes a day in gratitude… think of five things a day that you’re grateful for, within a month, it will raise your happiness set point.
• What we appreciate, appreciates us
• Every night before you go to sleep, keep a little journal and write down five things that you’re grateful for that day and notice what shifts. Do it together with [your children]. You say five things out loud that you’re grateful for the day and have them say five things that they’re grateful for and that will help raise both of your set [Happiness] points.
• It’s critical for each of us, no matter what our circumstances are in life, to also spend a little bit of time on our own happiness. Because when we focus on our own happiness, we affect everyone around us. And ultimately, it’s the biggest way we can affect the world.

Links and Resources mentioned in this episode:

• www.YourYearofMiracles.com

Read full Transcript Here

The post How to change your brain chemistry and feel happier, more balanced, and centered in your life first appeared on Laura Lane.

“Take some time every day to self-nurture, self-feed, whatever that is just for you. Because when you feed yourself you feed everybody around you.” Marci Shimoff

Summary: Today’s episode features part 1 of my interview with Marci Shimoff #1 New York Times bestselling author, a world-renowned transformational leader and an expert on happiness, success and unconditional love as we discuss how to remain happy even during difficult challenging times.

What I love most about part 1 of my interview with Marci is her reminder fill my own cup first. It’s like in the case of an emergency on an aircraft – put your own oxygen mask on first before assisting others. I’m no good to anyone if I’m running on empty.

In this interview I asked Marci if she would share with my audience the keys to remaining happy even during difficult challenging times. She shares her house analogy, comparing the 7 steps she learned about being happy with the framework of a house based on her research and interviews with thousands of experts and extra-ordinary people living happy lives.

During part one of our interview we also cover the first of 3 pieces of advice for cancer moms. I hope you’ll tune into this episode and part 2 where she shares her second and third pieces of advice as well.

Click here to Listen and Subscribe

Best Advice from Marci Shimoff

• We can all shift our happiness habits to create a higher happiness set point.
• Number one, is take care of yourself as best you can
• Ask yourself this question twice a day, what’s the most loving thing for myself right now?
• Take some time every day to: self-nurture, self-feed, whatever, that is just for you even though you may think ‘oh that sounds terribly selfish’ it’s so not. Because when you feed yourself you feed everybody around you.

Links and Resources mentioned in this episode:

• www.HappyForNoReason.com
  • access a free workbook that has all twenty-one of the happiness habits and an exercise or a process to go through with each of them
• www.YourYearOfMiracles.com

Read full Transcript Here

The post How to remain happy even during difficult challenging times first appeared on Laura Lane.

 “The biggest piece of advice that I could give parents who have a child whose fighting cancer, is that you want to start this integrative care from day one. You can find a naturopathic doctor who can form a collaborative relationship with your oncologist. You don’t have to be doing these big crazy expensive plans. You just have to be doing a targeted therapy that’s going to work synergistically with that and you want to start that on day one. You don’t want to wait until your options are exhausted and then decide to start exploring these different things. There’s a lot of things you can do safely right from day one.” Dr. Adam McLeod

Summary: Today’s episode features my interview with Naturopathic Integrative Oncologist Dr. Adam McLeod as we discuss how an integrative oncologist can help navigate the overwhelm of your child’s diagnosis.

What I love most about this interview with Dr. McLeod, is how he provided us with a foundation to learn more about integrative oncology and how it can help you and your family navigate the treatments and side-effects of those specific treatments.  He explained how naturopathic medicine and integrative oncology can help the patient feel better and persevere through all those therapies. He also explained the importance of understanding that because of the complexities of oncology: of the different types of cancer and the different types of treatment, there needs to be collaboration between your naturopathic physician, who specializes in integrative oncology and your oncologist.

During our interview we also cover why we shouldn’t self-prescribe natural therapies during conventional cancer treatments without the assistance of an integrative oncologist. We discussed the importance of having help understanding your child’s diagnosis, the treatment plan and what side effects to expect and how to reduce those side effects, whether it is through diet, supplements and simple changes. We talked about how integrative oncologists can help deal with the overwhelm, fears, what questions to ask and what parents can be doing to support their child through treatments and their side effects.

I hope you will appreciate Dr. McLeod’s advice as much as I did.

Click Here to Listen and Subscribe

Best Advice from Dr Adam McLeod

• The more the patients ask for there to be collaboration between their naturopathic physician and their oncologist the more that’s going to happen
• The biggest piece of advice that I could give parents who have a child whose fighting cancer, is that you want to start this integrative care from day one.
• If I could pick one thing that naturopathic medicine is particularly good at in the field of integrative oncology, it’s supporting the immune system.

Links and Resources mentioned in this episode:

• www.YaletownNaturopathic.com

Read Full Transcript Here

The post How an integrative oncologist can help navigate the overwhelm of your child’s diagnosis first appeared on Laura Lane.

“With a child, just being present and sharing that moment with them without any distractions, can make them feel so important, and their feelings are important ” Tiffany Berg Coughran

Summary: Today’s episode features my interview with author Tiffany Berg Coughran, certified chaplain and professional consultant as she shares with us how to help children express their feelings about cancer.

What I love most about this interview with Tiffany is our discussion about additional ways to help children and adults express their feelings before, during and after treatments. It was a great follow up from my last two interviews with Dr. Bernie. Dr Bernie had brought up the idea that we can analyze children’s thoughts and feeling through colouring, then Tiffany has given us the actual tools: colouring pages and examples of children and families she has worked with.

During this episode, Tiffany shared with me how she came to write the children’s book “ If Cancer was a fish, I’d throw it back” after her husband died of cancer. She gave a wonderful explanation of what chaplaincy is how she supports families, as well as the coloring pages she created to help children express their own feeling about their cancer diagnosis or their family member’s diagnosis. I personally learned some wonderful tools I can use with my own children and family members. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Click Here to Listen and Subscribe

Best Advice from Tiffany Berg Coughran

• When we go through things that that test our mortality, our faith, our relationships, our strength of character and will, those things have spiritual impact
• We can becoming whole by forgiving ourselves and other people.
• Talking about our feelings is so healing. Just feeling heard, we felt better.
• We don’t have to have all the answers because just feeling listened to is powerful.

Links and Resources mentioned in this episode:

•  For free download for kids and the different books and trainings
  • tiffanycoughran.com
  • makepeacesystems.com
• Colouring Page Examples from Interview

Read full transcript

The post How to help children express their feelings about cancer first appeared on Laura Lane.

“ [Parents] your being there alleviates pain. It takes away a percentage of the side effects and discomfort and everything else than the person who is isolated and alone. Do not feel guilty that you can’t fix it and cure it.” Dr. Bernie Siegel

Summary: Today’s episode features part 2 of my interview with world renown Pediatric surgeon, author and speaker Dr. Bernie Siegel as we discuss how to raise a child to feel loved and make a difference.

What I love most about the second part of my interview with Dr. Bernie is his wonderful storytelling and his great advice for parents. During this episode he shares with us stories behind the books he has written for both adults and children. I especially love the stories about what he calls the Siegel family zoo.

Click Here to Listen and Subscribe

Best Advice from Dr. Bernie Siegel

• If you want your child to take care of him or herself, love them!
• Let the kids know you love them
• Your being there alleviates pain!
• Laugh for no reason every few hours … get your kid to laugh doing silly things … but find things for them to laugh about.
• Don’t blame your children.
• People will benefit from giving them hope
• Give them hope and give them treatment and see what happens. Don’t tell them what’s going to happen
• Remember – You make a difference!

Links and Resources mentioned in this episode:

• www.berniesiegelmd.com
• These books by Dr. Bernie
  •  Love, Magic and Mudpies about how to raise a child to feel loved.
  • Love, Medicine and Miracles,
  • The Art of Healing,
  • Smudge Bunny,
  • Love, Animals and Miracles,
  • Dr. Bernie’s CD Getting Ready
• The Energy Cure by William Bengston

Read full transcript

The post How to raise a child to feel loved and make a difference first appeared on Laura Lane.

“Work at loving your life, loving your body and to let the kids do that as well as adults. To look at what will make you happy and to not be angry at your body for having a disease but loving it.” Dr. Bernie Siegel

Summary: Today’s episode features my interview with world renown Pediatric surgeon, author and speaker Dr. Bernie Siegel as we discuss how to talk to our children when they are ill.

What I love most about this interview with Dr. Bernie is his storytelling. I could listen to him all day. He has such an incredible, honest, open way about him with both children and adults. His stories are about not only his patients but his own children.

In this episode he shares what he learned when his 7-year-old son was diagnosed with a tumour and how his son reminded him about what was most important. These are the ideas that he later taught his own patients about how to live between doctors’ appointments.

During our interview we also cover his ideas about visualization, hope and lying to children. He speaks about an article he wrote called “Deceiving People into Health” and the impact that had on his patients.

Click Here to Listen and Subscribe

Best Advice from Dr. Bernie Siegel

• Recognize the importance of Self-induced healing & hypnosis – the power of suggestion
• Use Imagery to help your child visualize what they want to occur
• Foster hope for your child
• Learn to work at loving your life, loving your body and to let the kids do that as well as adults. To look at what will make you happy and to not be angry at your body for having a disease but loving it.
• deceiving people into health is good

Links and Resources mentioned in this episode:

• www.berniesiegelmd.com

Read full transcript

The post How to talk to our children when they are ill first appeared on Laura Lane.

It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, February 24, 2011, my husband, Matt, and I had just picked up our 6-year-old son, Grayson, from school. Climbing back into our car, I scrambled to grab my ringing cell phone. It was Michelle, my children’s stepmother. She hurriedly informed me that Celeste, my 12-year-old daughter, was in the emergency department of the Children’s Hospital in London, Ontario. “Celeste has to have emergency neuro [brain] surgery tonight.”

Celeste had been having bad headaches. We had a doctor’s appointment coming, but that morning she started developing double vision. Michelle, a neurology resident, took Celeste to see her doctor that day. He immediately sent Celeste over to the emergency department. They did a CAT scan and an MRI was scheduled. She was scheduled to go into surgery for 9:30 that night. When I arrived at the hospital a few hours before her surgery, her father broke the news that they had discovered a golf ball size tumour under her pineo gland, but they didn’t know if it was cancerous or benign. The surgery would relieve the pressure building up on her brain, causing the headaches and double vision, and hopefully they could get a sample to run a biopsy. They hadn’t told Celeste yet, because they didn’t want to worry her until they knew exactly what was going on.

I was emotionally exhausted before I even stepped into her room, yet adrenaline and focusing on what needed to be done kept me marching on. Armed with her Pooh Bear, blanket, and Winnie the Pooh movie, Celeste waited for her surgery. Looking back, I don’t know how I was so strong; watching them prepare my baby girl, and take her down that long foreboding corridor and into surgery. The wait in the cold, empty waiting room became the longest for 2 and a half hour wait of my life.

This became the beginning of our family’s journey in dealing with childhood cancer.

If you too are one of these families, who have received the heart wrenching news that your child has cancer, I hope that in reading this you too can learn and implement the tools we used in order to cope through this difficult and tiring time.

The first thing you need to remember is that you are not alone.

Minutes after I received that call from Michelle, I was back on the phone, looking to family, friends and members of our church for help. So many arrangements had to made; someone to care for my youngest son, only 6 years old, a place for my husband to stay overnight near the hospital while I camped out in Celeste’s room. I knew you don’t go home right away after brain surgery, but didn’t have any idea how long we would be there: Days? Weeks? I called to arrange for our Bishop to give Celeste a blessing. Could someone take me out shopping for food one day? I wouldn’t have a car and didn’t know where to find the nearest stores. Then came the requests for people to pray for Celeste. If I wasn’t comfortable asking for help for myself, I was certainly willing to ask on behalf of my daughter.

But the most wonderful thing was, that when I did ask for help, people were anxious to help in so many different ways. People are wonderful. Complete strangers opened their homes to us over the coming weeks, months and years. People want the opportunity to help and serve and love. It’s up to you to be courageous enough to ask. I call this “Reaching Out”.

Once the chaos settles down and you develop some sort of routine in the midst of all the appointments, scans, treatments, and hospital stays, you need to make sure that you take small moments for yourself. In order to help your loved one, you need to be at your best; physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. There will be sleepless nights, emotions that run high, huge decisions to be made, and your beliefs about God, the universe, and the purpose of life will surface. You need to take time for yourself or your own fountain will run dry. Make sure that you have someone to talk to, or that someone can spell you off so you can go for a walk or take a much needed nap. Do something to distract your mind. Take a few minutes every day to meditate and quiet those endless worrying thoughts.

Lastly, look for the miracles. In the midst of every tragedy and difficulty there are small miracles that surface. I had a friend drive all the way to the hospital just to pick up and do my laundry for me. People who actions, turn them into angels, during your darkest hours. She was my angel that day. Some days the miracles will be that blood counts are better than yesterday or the tumour has shrunk. Celebrate each one of them, as if they are the greatest milestone that has ever been achieved!

I hope that all together these truths can help you cope with supporting your loved one with cancer, just as they helped me. In our book “Two Mothers One Prayer: Facing your child’s cancer with Hope, Strength and Courage” I share even more insights that I believe can help you in the journey ahead. In it, Laurie and I, share our story of friendship and inspiration, of struggles and miracles, of joy and sadness, and of love and loss, which may comfort and uplift you. I would invite you to order a copy for yourself, or to share with another family whose child is currently battling cancer, and that they too may find hope, strength and courage during this difficult time.

******************

Laura Lane helps parents cope with the diagnosis of their child with cancer or other illness so that they can face each day with hope, strength and courage. Laura lost her own 14 year old daughter to cancer in 2013, published a book “Two Mothers, One Prayer: Facing your child’s cancer with Hope, Strength and Courage” to help parents cope when their child is diagnosed with cancer and has established herself as a spiritual growth and development expert, sharing with her clients and audiences her own story of losing her mother and 7 year sister in a car accident that only she survived at age 9. In her spare time Laura loves speaking, training and teaching about how to find peace and divine perspective through difficult life circumstances.

To find out more, grab her free chapter of “Two Mothers One Prayer: Facing your Child’s Cancer with Hope, Strength and Courage” at www.lauralane.ca/freechapterTMOP

The post 3 Things to remember when supporting a loved one with cancer first appeared on Laura Lane.

I  recently shared the complete list (found in the back of Two Mothers One Prayer) of resources that I used to cope while Celeste was diagnosed with cancer and what I refer to as my Emotional Toolbox. I thought I’d go into more detail about each of the resources or tools: what exactly they are and how they helped me.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

The first one I mentioned was EFT or the Emotional Freedom Technique. The first time I had ever heard of EFT was through my Therapeutic Touch Instructor back in 2005.(I have been a Therapeutic Touch practitioner for over 18 years now. I promise to explain Therapeutic Touch or  TT at a later date)  Margaret mentioned in passing about using EFT to overcome her extreme fear of spiders.

She described it as also being effective with physical symptoms as well as phobias. Fast forward a year or two and I was experiencing an intense reaction to my many environmental allergies. None of the  Allergy medications I tried could give me relief from the chronic sneezing and sinus troubles. I just couldn’t breathe. I was so desperate I wondered if this EFT that Margaret had mentioned could help me in anyway. So that’s when I started searching online to find out more. Gary Craig who founded the technique had a website www.emofree.com with a free manual, I began tapping right then and there, walking myself through the sequence until I could finally breathe again.

I was so relived, first to be able to breathe normally again and secondly to have something that worked and gave me hope after 20+ years of environmental allergies. I knew on my own that I had only garnered myself temporary relief from the sinus problem that day but would need extra help to deal with it further so I looked up a local EFT practitioner to help me. That was my introduction to EFT.

Over the years I learned that EFT was especially useful in helping to reverse the negative emotions that can be the root of many emotional and physical ailments. It wasn’t until Celeste became sick that I was willing to do whatever it took to clear up my own emotional baggage so I could have the strength to help Celeste through everything she was about to face.

I knew to that to be the best mom possible for her I was going to have to finally deal with my emotional crap that I hadn’t been willing to do for myself. I also knew that if I had to do this, I was going to need help and I was willing to ask the best of the best – whoever that may be, to help me. Over the years, within the personal growth and development world I had heard that Carol Look was an expert on EFT or Tapping. So I looked her up, called up her office, explained my situation and asked her who I should work with, if there was someone in the Toronto area that she could recommend for me.

That recommendation was one of the best I have ever received. Vivian became one of my life lines during everything for the next 6 years. Not only is she an exceptional EFT practitioner but also a trauma counselor. And the one thing I have heard over and over from parents of children with cancer – it is traumatic in so many ways. EFT can be used to help parents, but parents can also learn the technique to help their child cope with the stress of treatments as well.

In researching what to share about EFT I discovered a great post written by Dr. Veronique Desaulnier. She shares the research and explanations about EFT:

“Emotional Freedom Technique (also known as EFT or Tapping) is a fast, easy, and effective way to reduce anxiety, clear emotional blocks, and become more peaceful and focused in all areas of your life.”

“EFT is done by lightly tapping on specific points on your body (usually eight or nine) between your chest and the top of your head. While tapping, you vocalize first the negative issue at hand (and your feelings about it) and then vocalize a more positive perception of the issue (even if it is just to accept it).

This combination works on an energetic, emotional, and physiological level to clear emotional blocks and bring the mind and body back into balance. On an anatomic level, regularly practicing Tapping and utilizing it in times of stress helps stabilize hormones levels. It will also calm the amygdalae, the part of our limbic system that responds to emotional stimuli and is responsible for the “fight or flight” response.

EFT Tapping has been shown to significantly decrease (and in some cases eliminate) conditions such as:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• PTSD /Trauma
• Food Cravings
• Addictions
• Phobias
• Test and Public Speaking Anxiety
• Physical Pain

According to physicist Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, EFT is also a way to “supercharge” deep emotional healing. This is because it reprograms negative belief patterns to more life-affirming ones. Most of the time we are not aware of the negative beliefs we hold as adults, many of which were formed in childhood. Yet these beliefs can and do contribute to the development of diseases like cancer as we age.

Lipton metaphorically equates the subconscious mind to a tape player: “Tape players are not good nor bad. The programs (that they play) can be good and can be bad … You have to learn how to push the record button to change the program in the subconscious mind.”

According to Lipton, practicing EFT Tapping allows us to “push the record button” on our subconscious mind and replace negative belief systems and patterns with healthy ones.”

To read the whole article and her list of sources visit https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/emotional-freedom-technique-cancer/

The post EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique or Tapping first appeared on Laura Lane.

This the first post in a series highlighting the books on Laura’s Reading List (found in the back of Two Mothers One Prayer)

There’s no mistake that Kevin Hall’s book Aspire: Discovering Your Passions with the Power of Words is at the top of the list! Other than the fact the list is in alphabetical order, Aspire also deserves to be at the top of the list! If it weren’t for Aspire, I wouldn’t have such an awesome foreword for Two Mothers One Prayer  written by Kevin.

I met Kevin Hall in Florida in October 2010. Kevin came to speak at Bob Proctor’s LifeSuccess Consultant training. At the end of his presentation, when I lined up for Kevin to personal sign my  copy of his book Aspire, I made sure to be that last person in line to grab a few extra minutes with Kevin. I will never forget that moment. I kept hanging around until everyone else had gone forward so I get to know Kevin a bit more.

Fast forward 4 years later, I was just finishing up writing my own book  Two Mothers One Prayer and was praying about who I should ask to write the foreword. I already had Chris and Janet Attwood, Marci Schimoff, Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield as mentors and I could have asked any one of them but the answer I received was Kevin Hall. I remembered that the same year Celeste was diagnosed I had heard that Kevin’s daughter Summer underwent brain surgery to removed a benign tumour. I knew he and his wife Sherry knew the journey a parent goes on when your child has to be rushed into surgery.

But besides that fact, I loved Kevin’s book Aspire because of what it taught me about love and compassion and empathy. Kevin introduced me to my favourite quote:

“Our character has been forged in the furnace of adversity. We know what pain feels like. We cannot change the past. However, we can choose to use these reference points as a rich resource to assist us in better understanding and connecting with people. When we use our life experiences in the service of others, we will finally find purpose in our suffering, joy in our journey, and much needed healing in our souls.”  — Dave Blanchard

He taught me about ‘Genshai’ – Never treat another person in a manner that would make them feel small. It is such an important lesson, one we need to remember when we are frustrated, tired, grumpy, scared and worn out from all the stress. When we don’t know how to properly love all those around us, those who are serving us and bringing us bad news, then Genshai sums it up. There is one more part to Genshai – never treat another person in a manner that would make them feel small – including yourself! You mustn’t forget to love yourself during it all, be forgiving of your own mistakes, and take care of yourself too. Not always easy to do but necessary for your own well being.

There is so much more to the book Aspire. Kevin shares a multitude of different words and their meaning to bring more focus on the important things in life.  Words such as Leader and Pathfinder, Passion and compassion, Humility, Empathy, Coach and Integrity. Words from other languages: Namaste, Sapere Vedere, Shoshin  and Ollin.  I encourage you to enjoy Kevin’s talented storytelling about Victor Frankl, Pravin Cherkoori, Arthur Watkins, Chad Hymas, and two time gold medal Olympic champion Peter Vidmar and discover for yourself the power of words. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

The post Laura’s Reading List: Aspire by Kevin Hall first appeared on Laura Lane.