Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin, survivor of two breast cancers, there\u2019s no question about it. In her newest book, \u201cHere\u2019s the Bright Side,\u201d Ms. Rollin recounts:<\/p>\n
\u201cI woke up one morning and realized I was happy. This struck me as weird. Not that I didn\u2019t have all kinds of things to be happy about \u2014 love, work, good health, enough money, the usual happy-making stuff. The weird part is, I realized that the source of my happiness was, of all things, cancer \u2014 that cancer had everything to do with how good the good parts of my life were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her realization is hardly unique. I have met and read about countless people who, having faced life-threatening illness, end up happier, better able to appreciate the good things and people in their lives, more willing to take the time to smell the roses.<\/p>\n
As Ms. Rollin put it: \u201cIt turns out there is often \u2014 it seems very often \u2014 an astonishingly bright side within darkness. People more than survive bum raps: they often thrive on them; they wind up stronger, livelier, happier; they wake up to new insights and new people and do better with the people around them who are not new. In short, they often wind up ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not to suggest that battling cancer is pleasurable. Frustration, anger and grief are natural reactions. Cancer forces people to put their lives on hold. It can cause considerable physical and emotional pain and lasting disfigurement. It may even end in death.<\/p>\n
But for many people who make it through, and even for some who do not, the experience gives them a new perspective on life and the people in it. It is as if their antennas become more finely tuned by having faced a mortal threat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This so exactly defines the modus operandi of Pluto that it gave me chills. Pluto is strong in my chart and though I have never faced a deadly disease I feel an affinity for death and the ending of life. When I counsel people through Pluto transits I hear their amazing stories about facing the end of a life that they knew and being forced into a reconstruction of their very being that leads them into a new and exhilarating process of transformation.<\/p>\n
The article goes on with more tales of this process, but the words of Lance Armstrong are particularly powerful, perhaps because we know so much about him: <\/p>\n
After surviving treatment for testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain, Mr. Armstrong went on to win the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two Lance Armstrongs, precancer and post,\u201d he recounted in his 2001 memoir, \u201cIt\u2019s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back To Life.\u201d \u201cIn a way, the old me did die, and I was given a second life.\u201d He created a foundation to inspire and empower people affected by cancer, helping them live life on their own terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cCancer was the best thing that ever happened to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know why I got the illness, but it did wonders for me, and I wouldn\u2019t want to walk away from it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed last spring I wrote an article about the concept of fighting cancer<\/a> as really waging war against ourselves. A friend who is an oncology nurse once told me that of all the ways to die she hoped to end up with cancer, because of the amazing transformation that is possible with that disease. It appears that with cancer we are faced with the part of ourselves against which we have battled our whole lives, and in giving up those parts of ourselves perhaps we learn to live life in a more authentic way, even if that process ends up being for a very short time.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin, survivor of two breast cancers, there\u2019s no question about it. In her newest book, \u201cHere\u2019s the Bright Side,\u201d Ms. Rollin recounts: \u201cI woke up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":537,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
"An astonishingly bright side within darkness" - Astrological Musings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""An astonishingly bright side within darkness" - Astrological Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Astrological Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-08-17T12:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1252\/1148944556_235b6a07a4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynn Hayes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynn Hayes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"An astonishingly bright side within darkness\\\" - Astrological Musings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-17T12:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-08-17T12:55:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/79a21ba57527a93b02136b02ea5eb2e2\"},\"description\":\"The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“An astonishingly bright side within darkness”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/\",\"name\":\"Astrological Musings\",\"description\":\"Exploring the way the movement of the planets affect our inner and outer worlds.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/79a21ba57527a93b02136b02ea5eb2e2\",\"name\":\"Lynn Hayes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d66c632862817d88a0ce2af3a36c4050?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d66c632862817d88a0ce2af3a36c4050?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynn Hayes\"},\"description\":\"Lynn Hayes has been a consulting astrologer since the mid-1980s, working with clients to achieve greater self-understanding and empowerment. She uses the birthchart to identify psychological and evolutionary patterns and systems, and then uses a process using a powerful combination of methods including \u201cVisioncrafting\u201d TM to permit breakthroughs in all areas of your life and heal old wounds that can prevent you from moving forward. Learn more about her on her website.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.astrodynamics.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/author\/lynnhayes\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"An astonishingly bright side within darkness\" - Astrological Musings","description":"The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"An astonishingly bright side within darkness\" - Astrological Musings","og_description":"The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/","og_site_name":"Astrological Musings","article_published_time":"2007-08-17T12:55:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1252\/1148944556_235b6a07a4.jpg"}],"author":"Lynn Hayes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynn Hayes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/","name":"\"An astonishingly bright side within darkness\" - Astrological Musings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-08-17T12:55:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-08-17T12:55:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/79a21ba57527a93b02136b02ea5eb2e2"},"description":"The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: Can getting cancer make you happy? For Betty Rollin,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/an-astonishingly-bright-side-within-darkness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“An astonishingly bright side within darkness”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/","name":"Astrological Musings","description":"Exploring the way the movement of the planets affect our inner and outer worlds.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/79a21ba57527a93b02136b02ea5eb2e2","name":"Lynn Hayes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d66c632862817d88a0ce2af3a36c4050?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d66c632862817d88a0ce2af3a36c4050?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Lynn Hayes"},"description":"Lynn Hayes has been a consulting astrologer since the mid-1980s, working with clients to achieve greater self-understanding and empowerment. She uses the birthchart to identify psychological and evolutionary patterns and systems, and then uses a process using a powerful combination of methods including \u201cVisioncrafting\u201d TM to permit breakthroughs in all areas of your life and heal old wounds that can prevent you from moving forward. Learn more about her on her website.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.astrodynamics.net"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/author\/lynnhayes\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1252\/1148944556_235b6a07a4.jpg\")
<\/a>The New York Times had an article by Jane Brody <\/a>the other day that is so beautiful I had to share it: <\/p>\n