What Breast Cancer and Astrology Has Taught me About My Life’s Work
The story of the ugly duckling really needs to be renamed. I vote for calling it The Swan Without The Right Mirror.
Dr. Toni Galardi
Before my meditation every morning, I typically draw a tarot card from the Zen deck. This morning’s card was called Conditioning. The picture with this card is that of a lion surrounded by sheep. The passage speaks of the lion who was brought up by sheep and who thought he was a sheep until an old lion captured him and took him to a pond where he showed him his own reflection.
I grew up with parents who had each been raised in very tribal families. They continued a devotion to Catholicism and “working for the man”. Both my parents worked for a paycheck and pension until their retirement. At the end of their work day they were often wiped out from unfulfilling jobs that was only ameliorated by a cocktail and some kind of 60’s variety show on “the telly”.
I have three siblings and none of us have a job. Nothing wrong with having a job but the corporate workplace ( at least what I hear from my clients) has become a hostile environment that one merely survives in.
My brothers and I all chose to walk our own path with work that allowed us to be our own boss and contribute to society through work that is authentic to who we are. It is not easy to be a lion instead of a sheep. In the early days of my establishing my practice in a very competitive field, my father would urge me to get a job. I actually tried to work in a residential treatment facility for addiction twice but my passion for helping people find their soul’s purpose as part of recovery was not well received. It was finally explained to me by a marketing consultant to most of Malibu’s facilities at that time, that the business model in those facilities was built on return visits not complete recovery.
It takes courage to follow your own path and guidance perhaps from an “old lion”. I have been very fortunate to have had older women mentors along the way who definitely marched to their own drummer and encouraged me to do the same. I also know that when people have a tribe of their choosing who support them in taking risks to first discover and then follow through on their life’s work, the process of coming into one’s passionate purpose is accelerated.
Last year I developed an online course and never promoted it because I was sidelined by what was labeled, invasive ductal carcinoma, stage 1-2 breast cancer. I chose to be a lion not a sheep in my healing journey and researched alternative methods that did not involve any cutting and frying of my breast.
Let me first say this: I respect everyone’s decision to heal life threatening illnesses in accordance to what feels right for them. Although I did follow a 12 week protocol of high dose Vitamin C IVs, drinking essiac tea three times a day and an 80% plant based diet, what also allowed a shrinkage (biopsy showed a 2 cm mass to an MRI four months later showing a .5 cm mass) to occur was the support of 12 healer friends from all over the country directing healing energy toward me once a week on Zoom. What was also miraculous is that the biopsy report showed an invasive tumor originally. Four months later, the edges became circumscribed which usually indicates a benign mass. It was suggested by an integrative doc that what may be showing now is the mere shell at this point. In 3 months, when I go for an ultrasound, I should know for sure.
I am finally sharing this to not just inspire those facing life threatening illnesses but to give evidence for the power of group healing. I had so many people urging me to get a lumpectomy that I had many moments of questioning my decision to do this completely holistically.
Lynne McTaggart’s book The Power of Eight was a great inspiration. She studied in very scientifically structured clinical groups, the effects of non local healing where none of the senders or receivers were in the same room. I loved the idea but my fear of asking for help initially paralyzed me. I am accustomed to being the heal-er not the heal-ee. My friend Terri Crosby gently pushed me to give her the names of the friends I wanted in this healing community until I finally surrendered and was humbled by being the receiver. Ironically, what transformed for everyone in our group was that in giving healing, they received healing.
My LifeQuake in 2021 changed my life in immeasurable ways. My gratitude and commitment to helping others with their LifeQuakes in 2022 has increased ten fold. In 2020 and 2021 I gave two interviews on Gaia on my work The LifeQuake Repurposing Method to a tidal wave response. Some people could not afford to work with me privately but it stayed in my mind that when I was ready to expand my practice, that I would launch a group coaching program that would be more affordable for those wanting to make 2022 the year they began actuating their life’s work.
As of November, 38 million workers globally had quit their jobs in 2021.According to BusinessInsider.com “The pandemic made them feel life is too short to stay in a job they weren’t passionate about.”Although I admire anyone who takes a risk to move away from work that is not fulfilling, most of us need a coach and this is the year to do it!I feel inspired to extend an opportunity to begin a 9 month journey with a small group who are interested in repurposing their careers entitled Discovering and Manifesting Your Soul Purpose Amidst Global Upheaval in 2022. Everyone will have an opportunity to learn from me live once a month, receive the downloadable version of my book The LifeQuake Miracle and my online course called The LifeQuake Resilience Roadmap. The course has 7 video modules and 17 hours of me teaching The LifeQuake Repurposing Method with 10 interviews with best selling authors who share tips for getting through LifeQuakes.
Events
The 10 Thought Leaders whom I interviewed for this self paced course also chose to be lions not sheep in their fields, and shared with me how they transformed their LifeQuakes into inspired missions.
This highly interactive group will meet once a month live on Thursdays with me facilitating everyone using shamanic tools and guided healing transmissions with my LifeQuake Repurposing Model and each person will be matched up with a purpose partner you meet on Zoom with once a week in accordance with your schedules. Our first meeting will be on Thursday March 3rd.
https://drtonigalardi.com/events/
If you feel a pull to join us, space is limited so reach out to me asap. I am interviewing and qualifying everyone personally who are a potential right fit through drtoni@drtonigalardi.com.