Two Cups of Tea at Hope’s Café
Eckhart Tolle recounts a dramatic story of encountering a man at Cambridge University in 1970 who was confined to a wheelchair. Tolle described him as having eyes that were clear. “There was no trace of unhappiness. I knew immediately he had relinquished resistance; he was living in surrender.” Years later he saw the man’s face on the front of a magazine. And that man was: Stephen Hawking, one of the world’s most famous theoretical physicists. With the help of a synthesizer, Hawkings was quoted in the magazine article as saying of his life, “Who could have asked for more?”
Eckhart Tolle you may recall wrote The Power of Now, published in 1997. By 2009 more than three million copies had been sold. The best description of his focus on living in the present moment in my opinion is his statement that “Instead of creating expectations of what should or should not be happening, cooperate with the form that this moment takes.” There are so many times we experience physical or emotional pain and our “go to” solution is to imagine being past this moment when the pain will be history. Perhaps that helps us for the worst of the moment but there is another path.
One focus I had as a therapist was working with stress and health related issues. Never having been a cancer patient myself, I support whatever helps cancer patients deal with their disease. But I recall that there was a philosophy promoted about imagining one’s body marshaling an army to fight the cancer. I always thought if I were in that position, I would want to visualize gathering my body’s resources to assist my body in healing, cooperating with my body to allow healing, acting as a “concerned friend” to my body instead of a hostile warrior against the disease. I had one client who took his chemotherapy pills, said a prayer and crossed himself. I did not see him throughout that process, as he came in with his wife and their focus was how they could best cope with the impacts on their marriage. Perhaps he survived. In any case, he found a way to be in the present moment, blessing his pills as he took them.
I close with one more Tolle quote: “Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time.”
The invitation is open to share “two cups of tea” anytime at Hope’s Café, or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.
May we be bearers of hope, the “wait staff” of Hope’s Café for each other and all those we encounter. Shalom, Kate
Hope's Cafe 
I’ve wondered about the whole battle image for fighting cancer.
When diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer (already spread to his bones), my late husband’s first oncologist indicated he would be a GUIDE. The cancer could not be removed, but its spread could be slowed.
My best beloved chose to LIVE with cancer, one day at a time. The goal was simply to have the highest quality of life possible. Going to the oncologist was good because it often meant being interviewed by a medical student and the mentor/teacher that was my husband loved helping them learn. Treatments were OK because they might help medical teams (both researchers and providers) discover something new.
I am absolutely convinced that my beloved’s attitude was the primary factor in his LIVING with cancer for nine years. When the effects of treatment drastically decreased his quality of life, we stopped treatment and welcomed Hospice care. After all, as he would say, “death is a feature, not a flaw.”
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