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Serenity Rising: Healing with Cancer

Serenity Rising: Healing with Cancer

By: Bron Watson the Serenity Project
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About this listen

 You believe healing is more than scans and treatments. Healing can be emotional, spiritual, and it's very, very personal. And here's the thing, you're allowed to not have it all figured out. You're allowed to rest and you're allowed to cry and grieve and hope all in the same breath. Welcome to the Serenity Rising: Healing with Cancer with your host Bron Watson. This show isn't about fighting or surviving. It's about finding your north star that helps you find calm in the chaos of cancer. Here, we believe in both science and soul, evidence and perspective, where everyone can heal, even when a cure is not an option. Each week will offer different ways for you to find out what you need, what to expect. We'll offer different ways for you to find what you need from the heart. These are honest reflections for the hard days. Think of us sitting around a campfire. Power cards, quick soul nourishing thoughts when you need a reset. We call these the serenity now moments, where it's possible to flip the switch on the negative feeling that comes with cancer. There are also listener Q&As, where I answer real questions from you. And powerful interviews, stories of people making meaning through the chaos. Serenity Rising isn't just a podcast, it's a community, because your healing matters. Where moments make memories, and memories are how we make every day count. Learn more at http://www.serenityproject.com.au/2025 Alternative & Complementary Medicine Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success
Episodes
  • What a Cup of Black Coffee Taught Me About How We Heal

    What a Cup of Black Coffee Taught Me About How We Heal
    Feb 16 2026
    What happens when you walk into a café and only tell the barista what you DON'T want? You get exactly that. And what if your brain works the same way? In this episode of Serenity Rising, Bron explores the Black Coffee Theory, a viral social media metaphor that reveals something profound about how our brains process what we focus on. Using research, Bron unpacks why your brain can't tell the difference between what you want and what you don't want and why that matters deeply for anyone on a healing journey. SHOW NOTES In this science episode of Serenity Rising, Bron shares a story that's been circulating on social media, about a person who walks into a café and only tells the barista what they don't want. They get a black coffee. Every time. It's a simple metaphor, but it mirrors something many of us do in our healing: we focus so hard on what we're running from...the pain, the anxiety, the exhaustion, the fear, that our brains tune into exactly that. Not because we're broken, but because of how our neurology actually works. Bron breaks down the research (the famous "white bear" experiment), the reticular activating system, and the difference between approach and avoidance goals, all through the lens of compassion, self-awareness, and The Serenity Project philosophy. She also shares a simple, nervous-system-aware practice for noticing when you're caught in the "I don't wants" and softly redirecting, one moment at a time. In this episode, Bron explores: Why your brain can't process "don't" and what it hears instead The "white bear" experiment and the rebound effect of thought suppression How the reticular activating system filters your reality based on what you focus on The neuroscience of approach goals vs avoidance goals, and why it matters for healing How self-affirmation activates the brain's reward centres A gentle pattern interrupt practice, called the FLIP Framework: Feel, Label, Interrupt, Pivot Why this isn't about toxic positivity, it's about working with your neurology, not against it This episode is for anyone on a healing journey who has ever felt stuck in a loop of "I don't want this." For anyone recovering from burnout, chronic illness, grief, trauma, or simply feeling overwhelmed by their own thoughts. Because you deserve to receive what you're truly asking for. And it starts with knowing what to order. Make everyday count! JOIN THE COMMUNITY Website https://serenityproject.com.au/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bronwatsonme Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bron_watson/ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/bronwatson Have a question or feedback? You can leave a message here: https://fanlist.com/serenityproject
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    12 mins
  • What No One Tells You About Clichés, Fear, and Resting

    What No One Tells You About Clichés, Fear, and Resting
    Feb 9 2026

    What do you do when "You've got this!" makes you feel more alone? When fear keeps you awake at 3 am? When rest feels like failure?

    SHOW NOTES

    In this Q&A episode of Serenity Rising, Bron responds to three powerful questions from real people navigating cancer — the kind of questions that get asked in support groups at 2 am but rarely answered with the depth they deserve.

    This episode tackles what happens when well-meaning clichésmiss the mark, when fear of mortality becomes a constant companion, and when the guilt of resting feels heavier than the exhaustion itself.

    Drawing on insights from thought leaders like Brené Brown, Jay Shetty, and Mel Robbins, alongside peer-reviewed research on self-compassion, death anxiety, and social support, Bron offers honest, grounded responses that validate what you're feeling and give you something practical to hold onto.

    In this episode, Bron explores:

    • Why platitudes often hurt more than they help and what "toxic positivity" really costs us
    • The difference between loneliness and solitude and why you can feel alone in a crowded room
    • Why fear and excitement are the same physical sensation and how to work with that
    • How to find meaning alongside fear, not instead of it
    • Why guilt about rest is often grief in disguise
    • The research on self-compassion and why it's not self-indulgence
    • Brené Brown's insight that exhaustion has become a "status symbol" and the cost of tying self-worth to productivity
    • Practical tools including the One Safe Person Text, the Three Good Things Practice, the Five Senses Anchor, and the Rest Prescription

    This is not an episode about positive thinking.

    It's about honest thinking. It's permission to feel what you're actually feeling and evidence that you're not alone in it.

    Enjoy and make everyday count!

    Bron xx

    Join The Community

    Website https://serenityproject.com.au/

    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bronwatsonme

    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bron_watson/v

    LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/bronwatson

    Have a question or feedback? You can leave a message here

    https://fanlist.com/serenityproject
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    16 mins
  • Fear → Flexibility: Why Bending Beats Breaking

    Fear → Flexibility: Why Bending Beats Breaking
    Feb 2 2026
    In business coaching, fear is often framed as a sign you're on the right path—that growth and clarity are coming. But with cancer, fear doesn't work that way. That vortex of fear doesn't go away. It's always there. In this episode of Serenity Rising, Bron Watson introduces the Serenity Now cards—a deck of 52 emotion cards designed to help you name what you're feeling and find a path through. Today's focus: the emotion of fear, with the reframe of flexibility. Drawing on research and her own experience navigating cancer, Bron shares the powerful metaphor of the gum tree versus the willow tree. When we meet fear with rigidity—white-knuckling, resisting, trying to control everything—we become brittle. But when we develop flexibility, we learn to bend without breaking. This episode includes five practical tools you can use when fear shows up, plus the framework Bron lives by: feel the feels, control the controllables, pause, reflect, respond, repeat. Enjoy! Bron xx Key Topics • What the Serenity Now cards are and how they work • Why "fear means growth" works in business but differs in cancer • What fear is neurologically (the amygdala as threat detector) • Why cancer-related fear doesn't "switch off" • The gum tree vs willow tree metaphor • Psychological flexibility and how it moderates fear of recurrence • 5 practical tools: breathwork, naming it, grounding, values-based action, thanking the fear. Join The Community Website https://serenityproject.com.au/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bronwatsonme Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bron_watson/ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/bronwatson Have a question or feedback? You can leave a message here: https://fanlist.com/serenityproject
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    12 mins
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