1. What messages do you hope to convey to your readers of your book, THE GIFT OF CANCER?
“The Gift of Cancer imparts the message of self-love as a healing force, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. The book shares my journey of learning to love myself. Through my personal struggle with cancer and social rejection, and through my research as a social psychologist, I have learned to balance my delicate walk along the tightrope of science and spirituality. I hope to share my new paradigm for self-understanding with the world, so that others may heal themselves, also.”
2. What inspired you to turn your story into a book?
“By turning my story into a book, I gave myself a reason to live: Knowing that the healing wisdom borne of my suffering and scientific discoveries would help others, inspired me to write it.”
3. Tell us about your I Can Heal Movement and what you hope to accomplish.
“The mission of the I CAN HEAL® movement is to teach love & self-love: to help us remember who we are and all that is, because we’ve been socialized away from love & loving ourselves, through conditional love, to feel fear, guilt, or shame about ourselves; we come to forget who we are, believe the false to be true, and suffer, so that we no longer feel free or happy.
By teaching love & self-love, the I CAN HEAL® movement seeks to restore integrity at the individual and collective levels by providing us with experiential insight into our true nature, of being loved, love, and loveable (ending fear, guilt, and shame), infusing us with the courage and strength to be who we truly are, and to truly love and care for ourselves, regardless of social opinion.
By staying true to our hearts and loving ourselves, we inspire others to stay to true to their hearts and love themselves, also; in this way, we work towards the unleashing of human potential, and the liberation of the human spirit for all, restoring harmony and balance to the Earth and its peoples, so that all people may experience, and know happiness, love, peace, truth, and freedom.”
4. If you could give one bit advice to a younger version of yourself, what would it be?
“Genuinely love and accept yourself NOW; set yourself free NOW. Don’t wait for others to do it for you some day in the future, because that day may never come. The future doesn’t exist. Only the present moment does. The mind is creating an illusion of a future. If you still don’t have love, joy, peace, and freedom in the NOW, you’ll never have love, joy, peace, or freedom. It is a delusion of the mind to suffer NOW for peace later, because freedom cannot be bought through servitude; peace cannot be bought through war. End the war inside you NOW … Set yourself free NOW…and you will be happy. J”
5. What advice do you have for those who experience or are afraid of social rejection?
“I advise finding a new reference point for self-understanding apart from the group by making “the non-social” our reference group. A reference group is the group whose standards (of what is “good, right, and true”) we internalize as our own—standards by which we measure others and ourselves. If we measure up to our reference group standards, we experience self-acceptance, and feel happy, whereas if we don’t, we feel unpleasant emotions, and suffer.
For most of us, our reference group is a social group, but the standards of the social world are always fluctuating and cannot be relied upon as a valid source of truth, because the group is an organism, which has its own motivation to devour our individuality through our conformity, so it can grow at our expense. If we don’t fit in, being a member of a group that is our reference group can be a devastating experience. However, if “the non-social” is our reference group, then we need not suffer, because we know ourselves as we are and our true value.”
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For more information, visit www.ICanHeal.com, attend an I CAN HEAL Retreat and join the I CAN HEAL Movement.
WENDY TREYNOR is a published author on depression and emotion in peer-reviewed journals, former UCLA Visiting Scholar, and Director of Healing Consulting in Los Angeles, who has given talks around the globe at UC Berkeley, UCLA, the University of New South Wales in Australia, and Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology. Her insights into the “art of happiness” represent a convergence of science and spirit. A wisdom-keeper with insight into how the peer pressure process works as it relates to why we unknowingly compromise ourselves under social pressure, leading us to betray our hearts and conscience, Dr. Wendy Treynor holds a PhD in Social Psychology from the #1 ranked program in the U.S. (US News & World Report, 2009: U. Michigan, Ann Arbor). Having walked away from 3 different jobs because of unethical activity, Dr. Wendy Treynor is a teacher of love & self-love, cancer survivor, and workplace bullying survivor-turned social scientist and thought leader on being true to you and happiness. Her book is available on AMAZON at GiftofCancer.com. As a seasoned speaker and popular presenter, Dr. Treynor is available for speaking engagements on wellness, bullying, diversity, and doing the right thing at corporations, universities, and schools. Learn more or join the I CAN HEAL® Movement at ICanHeal.com.