The Spirituality Corner, located at the Levit Learning Center in the Ambulatory Care Building is featuring a new addition to its library, entitled: Why Not Me? Oh God Why Me?, written by M. D. Anderson Cancer Center cancer patient survivor, Sue Teall. In coming to terms with her diagnosis, she accepts that she is not sheilded from illness - hence the first part of the title, "Why not me?" The second part of the title, "Oh God Why Me?" is her response that signifies receiving the good news concerning the success of her treatment and her wonderment as to why she has received good news when so many others do not. Teall includes vignettes that offer insights into a number of life's issues, including: the power of prayer, God's tapestries of life, the unfairness of life; joy amid the struggles, obedience and self-doubt, and other topics. This is very much a story of cancer survivorship and should resonate with many of our readers.

Spirituality and Medicine: Frontiers of Care is a free forum open to the public. It will take place on Sunday April 27, 2008, 2:00 - 5:00p.m. at St. John's Persbyterian Church, 5020 W. Belfort Ave., Houston, TX (just off Loop 610). Forum panelists include: Phil Johnson, Memorial Herman
Susan Lange, Interface Samaritan Counseling Centers
Cheryl Smith, First United Methodist Church, Pasadena
Steven Spidell, Prebyterian Outreach to Patients
Pamela Taylor, texas Children's Hospital

For more information, call Rev. Dr. James S. Curie, associate dean of the Houston Extension Program at 713-965-0766.

In an article entitled, "Exposing the Spiritual Crisis of Modern Medicine", Dr. Rachel Remen offers these words for reflection: Over time an illness can become a spiritual path. If one genuinely and unflinchingly meets the difficulties of an illness, especially a serious illness, the person you are at the end can be larger than the person you were going in, and all those around you can become larger people and live deeper lives as well. This is possible even in the absence of cure. We can't cure everything or even most things. Cure was the great hope when the age of scientific medicine burst in on us - we were going to be able to fix it all. We now know that a great many things can't be fixed, but even so, the possibility of growing beyond our limitations, of becoming able to live more deeply and passionately with greater meaning is always there, even in the absence of cure. It's possible to live a good life even though it is not an easy life. Dr. Remen speaks from her own experience as one diagnosed with Crohn's disease fifty-two years ago...

You are welcome to join us on our community forum message board to discuss and reflect upon Dr. Remen's words of wisdom.

In her book, "Broken Yet Beloved", author Sharon Thornton describes the gift of healing in these poignant terms: "Healing does not come from outside the individual like a kind of application, nor is it drawn up from the inner resources of an individual. In distinction to this individualistic notion of personhood is the growing recognition of the social nature and construction of the self and its corporate dimension. In this view autonomy is not absent, it is contextualized; to be a person means to be part of a people. The contextual self that is formed, nurtured, and revealed in relationship finds its first and final referent in what we call God. This understanding does not disregard human agency, but it also considers men and women as receivers. In this view healing is a gift. Healing is something to be received, not something to be grasped or engineered. From this perspective healing comes not from inner strength and self-understanding alone, but through just relationships that are hospitable to the healing presence of the holy. The reign of God, the realm of the holy, is the locus of healing..."

In reponse to this entry, I invite you to join us in a discussion on our community message board, this entry will be under the heading: "Something Worth Considering".

We are featuring a series of weekly entries that focus on spiritual resources for patients, thanks to our Coordinator for Presbyterian ministry, Steve Spidell.

1. Illness is as much a matter of the spirit and the mind as it is of the body... and so should its treatment. The traditional view of western medicine - focusing on the disease and body alone - is evolving into an awareness of a holistic view that includes body, mind, spirit, community, and culture in the healing process. Studies are beginning to demonstrate the health effects of such interactions and the potential of spiritual resources for the healing journey.

2. Holistic models of human experience demonstrate the many layers and relationships in which we exist. At one moment in time, a person is effected by and effects physical/chemical/genetic/biological factors personal and family history, family and personal relationships psychological, mental, and emotional development and issues
cultural, social, economic, and ethnic contexts spiritual beliefs, practices, and faith community involvement Though only one of two of these issues may surface at any given instant to gain attention, they are all in play all of the time.

3. Therefore, many challenges confront the person who is ill and their caregiver as well.

• Lack of meaning and purpose
• Hopelessness
• Despair
• Not being remembered
• Guilt/Shame
• Anger at God/Others
• Abandonment by God/Others
• Feeling out of control
• Spiritual suffering
• Trust
• Reconciliation
• Grief-Loss

4. A deeper, more expansive view of healing is needed. As Joseph Rotella puts it, "Healing is much more than physical comfort or disease remission. It is the restoration of a person's sense of balance, wholeness, meaning, and positive relationships with self, others, God and the world."

5. The spiritual needs of patients (and care-givers) are multiple. Knowing what we need can point us in the right direction for the resources that will see us through our journey.
These needs include:

• Love, belonging, and respect. Everyone needs the experience of being unconditionally loved and accepted for who they are. In addition, respect for a patient's right of determination is absolutely vital in the choices for medication care.
• Meaning and purpose. People do not do well in a vacuum; we need to make meaning out what we are going through and discover what the purpose might be..
• Connection to the Sacred. An awareness and connection to a power greater than ourselves is often crucial in coping with serious illness.
• Positive mental attitudes. Being optimistic, grateful, and the simple pleasure of being alive make a difference in how we accept or reject treatment options and outcomes.
• Ethical principle and moral values. Many choices and options may present themselves during treatment, as well whether to accept treatment or to decline it. The guiding principles of a person's life, knowing what you believe and what matters most in life become critically important.
• Appreciation of beauty. Beauty wherever it is experienced, in art, nature, and in music, etc. provides essential nutrition for the soul and the spirit.
• Acceptance of one's mortality. If there is time, coming to terms with one's dying, rather than denying it, makes for a more peaceful, even hopeful end to one's life.
• Control. Persons need to have as much control as they can over their treatment and coping with it. Passivity hinders healing responses. .
• Comfort. Being ill is very draining and demanding. The comfort and reassurance of friends, family, and faith helps sustain the person in their suffering.

6. Opening to the Transcendent
Ultimately the source of all healing, physically and spiritually, lies in the resources of the Transcendent Power of Being Itself. "An individual's religious and spiritual beliefs can provide a strong mechanism to empower the individual and to enhance his/her coping. Those whose belief systems extend beyond themselves to the Transcendent utilize another resource to draw from when coping with illness. The majority of those who were successful with their coping efforts in the face of stress claimed that either their spiritual or religious beliefs strengthened them in the process." Gall/Grant

7. A variety of spiritual and/or religious perspectives and practices have been found to be helpful in healing. These resources can be avenues for The Transcendent to be experienced in a person's life and for transformation to take place. The foundational resources are faith, hope, and love.