• Spiritually committed people have a higher degree of happiness.
• We can't be happy alone. We need other people in our lives.
• Touch is a basic medium of happiness.
• In a recent study, people derived greater happiness from spending $20 on someone else than on themselves to indulge some desire.
• Compassion seems to be a critical component of happiness.
• Happiness is a skill set we can learn and teach our kids. Start by sparking the child's interest in being kind, generous, and compassionate.
• Singing makes you feel good.
• Happiness is not merely the absence of sadness.

In the spirit of healing,

Jan Adrian, MSW
Founder and Executive Director

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Healing Story

The Conference That Turned Us
by Amy Webb
Note: This essay was written by Amy Webb about her experience at the Greenville, SC "Cancer as a Turning Point, From Surviving to Thriving" conference in June, 2007.

The week after my lumpectomy I received in the mail a brochure inviting me to a free conference titled "Cancer as a Turning Point...From Surviving to Thriving." As I read through the information, the more intrigued and pulled I felt. The crystal ball was mute for four months hence, but I registered the next day, keeping the brochure on my desk, in plain sight. . . Full Story.

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Book Review

Jan Adrian's Review of "The Journey Through Cancer" by Jeremy Geffen, MD

  I wish I would have had Jeremy Geffen's book, The Journey
  Through Cancer, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer
  20 years ago. Finally, a book on cancer written by a skilled,
  knowledgeable, and practicing medical oncologist, from the
  perspective of the BIG picture, including all of me — mind,
  body, emotions, and spirit.

  In leading the reader through his Seven Levels of Healing, Dr. Geffen manages to embrace virtually all aspects of the immensely challenging cancer journey from a perspective of both medical skill and heartfelt compassion.

Another reader said, "Dr. Geffen's powerful book was like magic sprinkled onto our family as we began to face my father's diagnosis of a rare and fatal form of cancer. The author's unique approach to the whole person — physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually — helped us to make decisions about treatment, conventional and complementary, as well as to better understand the complex range of emotions we were all feeling."

The Journey Through Cancer is beautifully written and easily read with anecdotal and personal stories. Cancer does not just happen to the patient, it happens to everyone who loves the patient. I heartily recommend this book to anyone facing cancer and to all those who face it with them.

Additional information:

1. Jeremy Geffen, MD, will be a keynote presenter at the Cancer as a Turning Point conference in Greenville, SC on June 6 & 7, 2009. We will be recording his conference presentation and you may pre-order the CD from our website store here. His presentation on the Seven Levels of Healing is also available on DVD from our Seattle 06 conference here.



2. Idea for Support Groups — A cancer support group in Bremerton, WA has found it exciting and beneficial to use this book as a centerpiece for their regular meetings. For each session, they all read the same chapter and one of the members prepares and leads a discussion on that chapter.



3. If you decide to purchase this book, we'd appreciate it if you would use our Amazon Associate link, also available on our website. Your price will be the same, but Healing Journeys will receive a small percentage of the sale, and every bit helps! Whenever you are buying anything from Amazon (books, CDs, even TVs and appliances), we benefit if you first go to www.healingjourneys.org, click on the Amazon link on the left sidebar to enter Amazon, and then make your purchase.

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