Cheryl Canfield
They gave it all away. The 3-bedroom house, all furniture,
belongings, keepsakes. Everything. Cheryl Canfield, her husband,
11 year old daughter, and a small dog got in their old, green
Pontiac with some clothes and headed out to lead a life of service.
With no money, no plans, and infinite trust in the universe,
they vaguely headed to a Theosophical Society in Wheaton, Illinois,
that they had heard about. On the way, their car broke down beyond
repair and the mechanic offered them a hundred bucks for the tires.
They took the money, rented a car and landed in Wheaton with
practically nothing.
Moved by their story, the Theosophical society took them in,
without any such prior precedent. A month later, Cheryl would
meet Peace Pilgrim --
an event she would later call her "destiny", an answer to her prayers.
On Saturday, Sep 18th, we will have the
privilege of hosting Cheryl Canfield, as she shares first hand
stories about Peace Pilgrim and her own journey of uncommon courage
and unwavering trust in humanity. This inspiring evening of
meditation, dialogue and conversation is hosted in our home and
there is no cost to attend; please RSVP for more details (sorry,
we can only fit the first 80 folks!).
'Extraordinary View of Life'
All turning points in Cheryl's life have one thing in common --
her response of giving everything away. When she first did that in
1975, she ran into her teacher, Peace Pilgrim. She later repeated
that in 1989, when she was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer.
Instead of pursuing radical surgical treatment recommended by
her doctors, she retreated in solitude and decided to learn how to
"die well". She lived by Peace Pilgrim's three key messages:
Preparation, Purification, and Relinquishment. Preparation
is about the right attitude toward life; "problems serve a
purpose." Purification is about being in harmony with the universe.
And relinquishment, is about simplifying life -- "unnecessary
possessions are unnecessary burdens."
In "Profound
Healing", Cheryl recount her experience and eloquently notes, "One
of the biggest stresses we can put on ourselves is trying to
control situations that are out of our hands. We strain with all
our might to push the immovable mountain out of our path instead of
putting our attention into the things we are able to do in a given
situation. A life-threatening illness or catastrophic event can be
like that mountain; we can drain our energy trying to get it out
of our way when we could be forging a path around the mountain or
perhaps climbing the heights where we might find an extraordinary
view of life."
Doctors told Cheryl that she had a terminal disease, but year
after year would pass and she was more vibrant than ever! She had,
miraculously, healed herself.
"What I have learned is that healing isn't about living or dying;
it isn't even about illness. Healing is about reconnecting to our
wholeness, and living from a foundation of love."
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Over the next two months,
she attended every lecture of Peace Pilgrim, who crisscrossed the
country on foot for more than two decades and vowed to walk until
"humanity learned the ways of peace." Cheryl quickly took Peace
Pilgrim to be her life-long teacher and would soon take
her own pilgrimages, start organizations and write books on Peace's
message that would circulate in millions of copies around the globe.