This post shares a clip of a recorded interview between Clare and and Shona Cameron NVC Trainer! Shona is host at Words are Windows, an online community of NVC Practitioners. The full video interview can be watched there.
It also contains Clare’s written words about the shocking news she received in 2019, which led her to do a huge amount of inner work. I was with Clare last year at an event. She invited us ( a group of NVC Trainers) to discuss life, pain, mourning and death.
I was moved by her openness, courage, vulnerability and her wish to make a contribution to us all.
When I saw the video clip posted on YouTube by Shona, I asked Clare if she would share some words with us.
This is what she said:
The shocking news of stage 4 Cancer diagnosis
“At the end of 2019 at age 56 I received the shocking news that the cancer I had believed to no longer be a threat, had moved to Stage 4 and that my life could end in as soon as a few months. Almost immediately I was then struck by severe physical pain which lasted about two months. Since then I have been on palliative treatment which has saved my life for the time being; however I am living with the uncertainty of 3-monthly scans with no further treatment possible if or when the current treatment is no longer effective.”
Living life fully
“These events have led me to do a huge amount of inner work in order to continue to live according to my values of being present and self-connected, of love and integrity. I am experiencing life in its fullness with ever present joy, grief, the sense of being alive at the same time as knowing death is pretty near. I celebrate that all of the work I have done in my life so far, especially my integration of NVC, has prepared me for this challenge and supports me in being present with and integrating the impacts on me and my family. And also, that I have been able to draw meaning and insight from such difficult experiences and share these with others. I have received feedback that hearing directly from someone in my position whose intention and background is to live in awareness is both rare, and valuable. I am grateful that I am able to contribute.”
Clare Palmer is a Nonviolent Communication Certified Trainer, you can meet her in person at events she is leading, featured here
The post was created by Tracy Seed, NVC Trainer.