When ‘cleared’ of breast cancer after surgery, the surgical registrar said I would enjoy a long life into old age. While it was good to hear that cancer had not spread through the lymph nodes, it didn’t make sense to consider this cancer-free projection as accurate simply because some people will develop metastatic breast cancer. I’m a very positive person who expects the best of life, and with the right diet, company, exercise, meditation, chanting and medicine, sure, I could go on to reach old age. Yet at the same time, why would I not become one of these people who developed metastatic disease? Someone was going to. Science and medicine, despite all advances, have yet to move from the surface. If we allowed ourselves to accept reality, we would recognise there are many things our 3-dimensional brains will never know or understand until we take our last breath. 

Hence why learning to meditate is a good idea. 

When I returned for a check-up a month later, I asked if it was possible to have a conversation with palliative care. I wanted to do this as it simply felt wise to prepare and train the mind to perceive that while challenging, a relapse would be something I could experience without the drama of death and fear. It was essential to do this as the mind is our most powerful tool, and we experience life through our minds. If I was ever to hear the news that I had a terminal illness, I didn’t want to experience the mind spinning into a deep abyss of fear or shock. It would be a much healthier experience for the mind to be steady and in alignment with consciousness and the pure self. 

The medical staff denied this request and told me to think positively, enjoy life, and not focus on the negative. This advice was not helpful. It was somewhat annoying. Imagine receiving advice from a well-trained medical professional to ignore reality when both of you recognise that 20 to 30 per cent of people with breast cancer will end up with metastatic disease. 

Being open to possibility does not mean focusing on the negative or existing in a place of fear and accepting the reality that ‘you may or may not’ makes common sense. People of all ages die every day, and the collective attitude towards death in the Western world has a lot of growing up to do. It asks us to deny reality, places significant pressure on our community resources and draws us away from our most potent position consciously, which is standing on the edge of the unknown. This collective denial and fear also lure us into an unhealthy form of positive thinking that, deep down inside, we know isn’t true. 

Positive Thinking 

There are two types of positive thinking. One is where you are fully aware that you don’t have control over anything other than the quality of consciousness you bring to everything you say and do. This positive thinking stems from the awareness that life will bring what life will bring and that you are connected to something much more profound than what exists on the ever-changing and fragile surface of time and space—the pure self. 

This type of positive thinking embraces humility, equality, trust and faith. It recognises that whatever is delivered to your doorstep, no matter how shocking or painful, you will be okay despite, at times, it not being okay and that you will be able to align with the absolute best of any situation, no matter the outcome. This type of positive thinking recognises challenging experiences as empowering and awakening if we tune into applied intelligence rather than collective fear. This includes if the result is you dying. 

This positive thinking also enables you to hold both life and death in your hands. Life and death, a paradox, is the reality of being human. As soon as we are born, we are moving towards death, and we do not live life fully until we accept ad embrace this.

Positive thinking that considers the singularity of self awakens the neutral mind and strengthens presence and intuition. It allows a tremendous heads-up position where you can be ready to receive what is coming around the corner, which is self-empowering, cultivates faith, and renders any man-made authority incomplete because you learn to trust your truth barometer and make decisions based on what is and what was always going to be the case. 

In short, it is a much more peaceful and life-affirming experience regardless of the experience.

Then there is positive thinking which leads to unnecessary fear, trauma, anxiety and suffering. This positive thinking denies ‘possibility’ and forces the preference that everything will be okay and nothing ‘bad’ will happen. We all know this isn’t true, yet many people pretend it is. When a significant challenge does arrive, such as a cancer relapse at a stage where there is no medical cure, you can be so far in your illusion of positive thinking that you don’t have yourself or any neutral and applied intelligence to hold onto.

This is an incredibly high-risk position to be in mentally if you are someone who will receive such confronting news. Many people take out health insurance, house insurance and car insurance in case of a fire or if they crash their car. Yet people are never encouraged to take out mind insurance and to prepare and train their minds just in case their life journey is going to ask them to walk through a challenge such as dying long before their conditioned mind expects it to happen. 

This type of positive thinking often works on a loop of ‘problem and solution’ without applying consciousness. For example, cancer understandably is seen as a problem. Yet the fear of death and cancer is so great that we immediately turn to the medical profession for what is often a heavy-handed solution. While also understandable, this attitude of finding an immediate solution doesn’t give space to apply consciousness and consider the situation at a soul level. The rush into solving the problem can often ignore some essential questions. What is this experience trying to teach me? What changes do I need to make in how I think and communicate? What is this experience waking me up to?

I am not implying that medicine doesn’t serve these situations, and I’m the first person to consider all my options. What I am saying is that if we hand over all our authority to science and medicine and no consciousness is applied to these intense and life-changing situations, we can miss out on God-given opportunities to expand awareness and anchor more deeply into the ‘self’ which is our most powerful and peaceful life position. Life will constantly change, and waves of good and not-so-good moments will arrive at your doorstep, yet the pure self will always be steady, unchanging and stable.

So, for positive thinking to serve us, it must be based on truth. If it isn’t based on truth, positive thinking empowers fear and illusion and disconnects from internal wisdom that can support and guide us more than any well-paid professional.

So what is truth? Good question. Universal Principles are what reflect the truth. Universal principles are principles that made man rather than man-made principles. Many religions and spiritual pathways express Universal Principles in their way. My understanding of them comes from the study of Karam Kriya, the Spiritual Science of Applied Numerology, and the Mul Mantra, part of the Japji written by Guru Naanak. 

Let’s take the Universal Principle of equality as an example. Equality relates to number 3 and the 3rd Spiritual Body of Kundalini Yoga, the Positive Mind. The principle of equality means that all people are equal and all experiences in life are equal. Friends, no friends – equal. Money, no money – equal. Health, no health – equal. This principle of equality teaches us that although we will have many life-changing experiences, some wonderful and others painful, they are all equal because the primary essence within, which renders all people equal, will not change through experience. This essence, also called the pure self, is the meaning; life experiences can serve our connection to understanding this higher wisdom. 

Using positive thinking to block the truth and focus on what you would like to happen rather than accept there are many unknown possibilities can lead to significant mental and emotional suffering. 

Also, focusing on an illusion through ‘positive thinking’ rather than learning to be open to possibilities won’t change anything. What you are in store for is going to happen anyway. Yet we make the inevitable messy because we do not sense what is coming and intuitively collaborate with God’s will. Through facing reality and truth, you can learn how to anticipate what is coming and tune into it before it arrives. But suppose you have planted yourself fully into an illusion and are not present. In that case, you won’t be able to anticipate the storm coming, nor will you be ready for it, and the result will be a blindside curveball that will render you powerless. Developing this level of applied intelligence is crucial as it gives you an empowering alignment rather than having your power taken away. 

I share my personal experience as an example. 

A few years after being ‘cleared’ of cancer, I began to experience pain in my spine, which radiated down the hips. The oncologist seemed to think it was only wear and tear, yet I knew this could be the beginning of the end. So I outwardly agreed with him while mumbling something about him not listening. This lack of listening was unusual for this doctor, who was also the hospital’s chief medical officer. So we can cut him some slack and consider he may have just come from a meeting with the chief financial officer. Anyway, due to my mind being ready for what life brings, the trust I have in myself and my relationship with the divine, it was at that moment I initiated self-empowerment and started a plan of action my way, very gently, without any drama, to work out how to reveal what was or wasn’t going on in my bones. 

So I asked this oncologist for a referral to check my bone density. I could have this test at my place of work, which was conveniently a radiology department, and the oncologist agreed as it wasn’t using unnecessary resources in their overwhelmed hospital. 

The bone density test showed that I had osteopenia which didn’t surprise me, considering I had chemotherapy four years beforehand. But what was interesting was that the two areas of testing, the spine and the hip, had different levels of osteopenia. This finding was the next red flag beside the pain I was experiencing. 

So, now I was standing at crossroads. I could either get on the plane for a planned trip to Portugal to complete the Karam Kriya Consultancy training and see my teacher Shiv Charan and members of the Karam Kriya sangat or start the medical ball rolling, which was possibly going to reveal incurable metastatic disease. This news would lead to biopsies, the pressure of not-so-nice treatment, emotional turmoil with family and friends, and the fearful eyes of death everywhere I turned.

So, not knowing for sure, but knowing metastatic disease wasn’t curable and, therefore, there was no rush, and that I would only be away for a few weeks, I flew to Portugal. As always, I had a wonderful time and enjoyed my birthday while there, which was beautiful. My teacher Shiv Charan was dropping gentle hints that he knew the disease had progressed, and I was conveying silent messages that I knew he knew. I’ve never asked him if he was aware that I was aware, but I found his relaxed attitude and compassion very comforting. He only showed any alarm when I tripped over a cushion without falling over, but the angle caused massive pain in my spine. He suddenly started talking to me about osteoporosis, which made me realise I had to be careful; otherwise, I may break something. Later, when I arrived home, scans showed a hairline fracture in my spine. 

During that time in Portugal, I spent time with a girlfriend who was dying of breast cancer. We spent many hours talking while I massaged her feet, and it was then that I recognised that I was very okay to witness her disease process, knowing that it was quite possible that I could soon be in the same position. The more the disease ravaged her body, the more the golden light of her spirit came through, and I was deeply blessed to see this so clearly. Personally, this is the most positive thing about cancer. It is indeed very challenging on many levels for the person and their family and friends, yet I cannot ignore that it is a remarkable healing that brings so much liberation. It truly is impossible for me to complain about it. Overall, Portugal was a strange and beautiful time, a paradoxical time of knowing yet not knowing, and I honestly couldn’t believe how at peace I was and how much I was enjoying myself. 

When I returned to Australia, I booked an appointment with an excellent GP called Kate Shepard to discuss the pain and the bone density scan. She agreed it was unusual and wrote a referral for an MRI. I told her I was aware that it might show I had relapsed with metastatic disease, and she replied that while it could be possible, it wasn’t likely. 

I arranged to have the MRI at my work very early, at 7 am. I felt a little mean in my lack of transparency to the radiologist who signed off on the referral. Kate didn’t place my history of breast cancer on the referral as she knew it was my place of work, so it would surprise any college who reported the scan. Yet first and foremost, it was essential for me to have the MRI without the drama and crises of death, and stay present in stillness and connect to the strength of spirit rather than the everyday rush of the health care system or any fear and worry from others. 

As I went to lie on the table, I told Rebecca, a friend and colleague, that she might see cancer in my spine so she would be prepared. I fell asleep during the scan despite the jackhammer noise of the MRI, and I was thankful that Rebecca treated me the same as other patients during and after the scan. Afterwards, I went upstairs to start the work day. 

About an hour later, Pramit, the director of radiology, came up to me and asked if I could come into the reading room to look at the scan together. I asked him if he would tell me anything that could make me cry, and he said no, but there was something unusual he couldn’t figure out.

We entered the reading room, and I immediately saw malignancy in L1 and L4. Due to not knowing about my history, Pramit assumed the metastatic disease to be hemangiomas which didn’t concern him as they are benign; what he was focusing on was that I had a healing hairline fracture in one of the vertebrae. 

He suggested I have a bone scan to determine what was happening. Other people were in the room, so I whispered in his ear that I had a history of breast cancer. God bless him; over the two years of working in the department, he and I rarely saw eye to eye, yet he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then turned and looked at me very compassionately and without drama and asked me to go into his office. 

Of course, it wasn’t easy news to hear and digest, and as time passed, painful considerations for myself and my family arrived to be dealt with. Yet, at that moment, here we were, confirming I had a terminal illness, and I was calm and clear and deeply grateful for that, so much so that it all felt natural and okay. I was centred, aligned, aware of my breath, and my mind was silent and still. I was exactly where I needed to be. 

Without a doubt, the quality of consciousness during these first steps significantly influenced what has turned out to be a remarkable and empowering journey for the last years of my life. These conscious steps planted the right seeds for the right attitude and decisions. It may be very challenging to understand the following as true, yet the decisions I have made since relapsing have not been based on life or death; they have been based on what is right for the moment and what wants to happen. I have said yes to things I was sure I would say no to, and I have said no to elements I would previously have thought I would say yes to. Presence, faith and listening are three vital ingredients. Despite the emotional and physical challenges, the journey has unfolded without fear, chaos or drama simply because the positive thinking I embraced four years beforehand valued equality, neutrality, listening, and strength of spirit first and foremost. 

No matter the storm and the outcome, the faith was and always will be unshakable. 

That is clear. 

Many people ask me how I can be so happy and what my secret is. I have followed the teachings of Guru Naanak, Karam Kriya and Kundalini Yoga, and I’ve found these teachings to be true. With discipline, commitment, trust and faith, the mind will, at some point, be obliged to follow and serve the heart and spirit. It does take self – responsibility, commitment and discipline, and it’s not an overnight journey, yet we need to be doing something right.

To serve this article, here is an example of the consequences of positive thinking through the teachings of Karam Kriya by using karmic and dharmic versions of numbers 3 – 6 – 9, as seen in the grid of 9. This illustrates how the type of positive thinking can significantly influence the human experience. Note that you may see aspects of yourself in both the karmic and dharmic examples. Step by step and breath by breath, we are all doing our best. Allow this document to give direction of the steps you could possibly take next. 

Dharmic Positive Thinking – Positive thinking that serves equality, the singularity of the self and the neutral mind

9 

• Hukum, Higher Self
• Integrity, principles, dignity
• Strength of Spirit 
• Sense of direction  
• Refinement 
• Peace and relaxation 
• Calmness, tolerance and endurance
• Not rushing 
• Lightness 
• Sleeping deeply 

6 

• Altitude of attitude 
• Self – responsibility 
• Presence and stillness
• Faith 
• Clarity of decisions 
• Clear Arcline 
• Readiness and anticipation of the future 
• Open and receptive to the unknown
• Freedom and justice (everything just-is)
• Spiritual Warrior 
• Multi-directional 
• Experience of beauty and grace 
• Gratitude 
• Ability to confront all circumstances 
• Open to opportunity 

3 

• All are equal 
• Healthy self-esteem and self-value
• Acceptance 
• Effective/right action 
• Appreciation 
• Repetition (japa, chanting)
• Being able to ask for help
• Playful, humour, joy
• Habits that serve you and your consciousness

Positive thinking that denies equality and neutrality and acts from a place of egoic fear and preference 

9 

• Fragmentation and dispersion
• Lack of focus
• Sabotage 
• No tolerance, peace, patience or endurance 
• Pressure 
• Frustration, pushy, taking it out on others
• No refinement 

6 

• Consuming fear
• Crises
• Paralysis
• Conflict 
• Anxiety  
• Inability to be receptive to the wisdom of the higher self  
• Inability to make decisions 
• Lack of self-responsibility 
• Inability to accept consequences 

3

• Victim
• Blame 
• Anger
• No joy, humour or laugher 
• Habits that hide the fear 
• Influenced by the eyes of society 
• Actions are taken without applied consciousness
• Adding drama to make it worse.
• No self-confidence or self-value