Fear: Looking For An Antidote with Susan Piver

What's with the cancer blog? Has it turned into my book review spot? Well - that's not exactly what's happening.

What's going on is that I'm a lucky woman in many ways.

And one of the nice things that has happened to me is that I was most flattered to receive this book - How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life: Opening Your Heart to Confidence, Intimacy, and Joy - as a gift from author Susan Piver who I am blessed to know via twitter.

I found it inspiring to read of the author's own experiences and how she used Buddhist techniques to live a life of joy, not fear. That alone is a daunting job and this is a book I'll keep nearby in the months ahead as I continue through the next five years of my cancer treatment.

First it should be said that I'm a pragmatic woman and not entirely someone you'd point at and say: Oh she's definitely the "meditation" type, though living through the seventies it would be hard for me to have missed attending numerous classes in that vein.But I'm a believer in the power of periods of quiet and spirituality.

And there's a real grace and charm in this book as well. Susan writes in a practical, down to earth way. If something works for you or the ideas she writes about resonate with you, she suggests that we use them. Conversely she'd hope that if it's not helpful, we just let it go.

She's not full of dogma and lecture but full of grace and generosity. And the same can be said for her book. Now I pick it up and read it with some regularity and have found it to be an excellent resource.

From the viewpoint of a cancer patient trying to come to grips with a new reality the book is full of helpful suggestions. I'd think that it would also be useful to anyone willing to see potential of others' beliefs and practices as well as looking for ways to infuse their life with peace, even in small doses.

Any doses of peace and joy are fine with me these days. Thanks Susan.