A must-read book for all cancer patients.
One of the things I’ve loved most about my inner journey is opening up to magic. When I am open, things seem to appear on my lap at the exact moment I need them most – books, podcasts, people.
Anita Moorjani’s book, Dying To Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing, was one such book.
I had been diagnosed with chronic blood cancer six months prior and was in the throes of madly trying to cure myself of an incurable cancer. Despite my very best efforts, nothing was working. I pushed, but cancer pushed harder. So, I just pushed some more.
At that time, a friend said to me, ‘My mum has just read this book by Anita Moorjani and keeps raving about it. She had cancer too. You should Google her.’
Google I did. And here’s what I learned from Anita’s inspirational book.
About Dying to Be Me
Dying to Be Me is an enlightening and uplifting memoir about Anita Moorjani’s Near-Death Experience (NDE).
Anita was diagnosed with lymphoma. After fighting cancer for almost four years, her body began shutting down. Rushed to the emergency room and only given a few hours to live due to organ failure, Anita went into a coma and entered into another realm - her NDE. She regained consciousness and found her health had improved rapidly, so much so that within five weeks of her NDE there wasn’t a trace of cancer left in her body.
Anita lucidly outlines what happened in her NDE. Her epiphany ‘on the other side’ showed her that she had the power to heal herself.
What I learned
Anita wrote how, during her NDE, she experienced a state of pure love and oneness. One of the messages I found most compelling was this concept of oneness. At that point, I rarely felt a sense of interconnectedness. I had had glimpses of feeling perfectly present and at peace. But they were just that, glimpses. They came, then they went. In fact, at the time of reading her book, I was stressed and angry about my cancer and felt quite the opposite – separate and alone. But her book planted a seed.
She wrote, “I understood that merely by being the love I truly am, I would heal both myself and others. I’d never understood this before, yet it seemed so obvious. If we’re all One, all facets of the same Whole, which is unconditional love, then of course who we are is love! I knew that was really the only purpose of life: to be our self, live our truth, and be the love that we are.”
But perhaps the most important message I gleaned was about fear. She spoke many times about how, after her NDE, she lived her life from joy instead of fear.
This, of course, confused me at the time. I had cancer. Fear was the prevailing force in my life. Yet, something deep within recognised the truth of her words. Especially this quote from her book: “Before, without even realizing it, everything I did was to avoid pain or to please other people. I was caught up in doing, pursuing, searching, and achieving; and I was the last person I ever took into consideration. My life was driven by fear—of displeasing others, of failing, of being selfish, and of not being good enough. In my own head, I always fell short.”
This was my light bulb moment. Was I obsessively trying to cure my cancer to avoid pain? Turns out, I was. And so began my inner journey.
I finished this book feeling something that felt like hope. It fostered a sense of possibility. I sensed that there is another way to be in the world, one where fear is replaced with love, just as Anita said. And what my inner inquiry has revealed to me all these year later is that Anita was spot on.
I thank Anita for sharing her story and showing me what’s possible at a time I needed to hear it most.
About the Author
Lara Charles is a Thrivers Ark teacher, writer, cancer thriver and mother of four children. Lara writes at the intersection of spirituality, motherhood and modern life. Her work has been featured in national and international media outlets. Her first book, a memoir about the longing to know if there is more to life, will be ready for publication in 2022. Read her reflections at laracharles.com
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