What a Psychologist Told Me That Ended 17 Years of Anxiety

What if the thing you fear most… never actually happens?

This week I go deep and share a very personal story — the moment my husband was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and my whole world collapsed in an instant. I was pregnant, caring for a toddler, and suddenly facing the unthinkable. My mind went straight into worst-case scenarios. I had a complete change in perspective… and ended 17 years of anxiety.

I walk you through the mindset shift that stopped me from “dress rehearsing tragedy” and brought me back into presence, gratitude, and spiritual trust. This one insight has guided my healing work for years, and I share it today in the hope that it brings comfort and clarity to you, if you’re navigating something hard.

If your mind often jumps to “What if?”, this episode is a gentle reminder that you don’t have to live there.

🌟 In this episode, I share:

• What happened the day we got the diagnosis
• How quickly catastrophic thinking can take over
• Brené Brown’s concept of “dress rehearsing tragedy”
• The Reiki principle that instantly interrupts fear
• How to bring your energy back into the present
• The exact words my psychologist said that changed everything
• The ending to my husband’s cancer journey
• A compelling spiritual perspective for anyone facing uncertainty

Contact us

A closing message thanking listeners and inviting them to discover their psychic gifts through the free 'What's your Intuitive Power Assessment at https://intuitivereiki.online/

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Hosted by Lisa Brandis—bestselling author, founder of Intuitive Reiki International®, and intuitive channel for Anya—Connecting to Spirit is your sacred space for intuitive insight, energy healing, and soul-led transformation.

With over two decades of experience as a Reiki Master Teacher, channel, and spiritual mentor, I blend grounded wisdom with higher guidance to help you strengthen your intuition, trust your connection to Spirit, and awaken your gifts with confidence.

Each episode invites you to open your heart, raise your vibration, and remember the divine guidance that’s been within you all along. Whether you’re a healer, seeker, or spiritual teacher, you’ll find inspiration, real stories, and practical tools to support your journey of awakening.

💛 Want to go deeper?
Explore my latest courses, live events, and spiritual resources at:
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Episode Transcript

Lisa Brandis (00:00):
I'm so grateful that we, we took that monkey off
our back.
17 years ago, and to this day,hand on heart, I can absolutely
say I didn't live every dayworried that cancer was gonna
come back Welcome to Connectingto Spirit.
I am your host, Lisa Brandis,and I'm here to help you unlock

(00:21):
your intuition channel withclarity and deep dive into
self-discovery, all whilenavigating the ups and downs of
personal and spiritual growth.
If you're ready to say goodbyeto self-doubt, embrace your
unique gifts and connect with asupportive community on the same

(00:42):
journey, then you're in theright place.
Whether you're just starting outor you've been walking this path
for years, this podcast is hereto guide you, support you, and
inspire you every step of theway.
So grab a cozy spot, settle in,and let's dive into some
empowering insights together.

(01:03):
In this episode, I just wantedto revisit a experience that I
had many, many years ago, and Iwas just telling this story to,
a brand new.
Reiki client that I was seeing,this client of mine's actually
going through cancer treatmentat the moment, and, uh, I was
telling her about when myhusband was diagnosed with

(01:26):
leukemia.
I began to feel completelystressed out at the time.
I remember thinking, oh my gosh,what if my husband dies and what
if he, you know, I don't think Ican do this without him at the
time.
I, we are going back 17 yearsnow, so at the time I was
pregnant with our second child,had a young toddler and.

(01:48):
Our world was tipped upside downwhen my husband was diagnosed
with acute myeloid myeloidleukemia um, short word AML.
And I had also, many of you knowthis story, but I'd also worked
at Starlight Children'sFoundation for many years, and
that meant that I had a historyof, you know, holding.

(02:12):
You know, many kids' hands whenthey walked through their cancer
journey.
And so the reality of it beingterminal as a possibility was
very real.
So kind of went straight intowhat Brene Brown calls dress
rehearsing tragedy.
So.
If anyone's ever had a child andloves their child and kissing

(02:33):
them goodnight, you know, shetalks about how we can suddenly
go, oh my God, what if they werekidnapped?
Or what if they died?
Or we suddenly go, worst casescenario and imagine, because we
feel so much joy and so muchlove in that moment.
Something might happen to takeit away from us, and it's kind
of a devastating thought to haveand something we all do.
I know Brene Brown shared astory about.

(02:54):
Being invited to speak withOprah.
And so she's on the plane readyto go and be interviewed by
Oprah about her book.
And um, she rang her husbandsaying, oh my God, because I'm
finally here gonna beinterviewed by Oprah.
Something's gonna happen and theplane's gonna crash.
And then he's like, remember,you're dress rehearsing.

(03:15):
Tragedy, nothing's gonna happen.
You'll be fine.
And what she did at the time wasshe started going back to a
mantra of.
Um, focusing on gratitude, whatshe's grateful for, brought
herself back into the presentmoment, which is actually what
we teach in the Reiki system ofhealing.
It's about just for today, donot worry, do not anger.

(03:36):
And then the antidote for worryand anger is coming back into
the present and, um, focusing onwhat you're grateful for.
So gratitude as an activeprocess can help switch off
anxiety and worry.
So back to my story.
I ended up seeing a psychologistbecause I was starting to fall
apart when my husband was firstdiagnosed.

(03:57):
And when I was sitting in Zoe'soffice, she said to me, where is
your husband now?
And I'm like,'cause I was, youknow, in a flood of tears at the
time and, and it kind of shockedme.
It was a bit of a patterninterrupt.
And I said, oh, he's in thehospital, which he knew and.
She goes, can you pick up thephone and call him?
I'm like, yeah, of course I can.

(04:17):
And she goes, okay.
So she said, can we agree thatthere's no amount of preparation
that would make him passing anyeasier if he passed away or if
he, if he was to die?
Is there anything that.
We that you could do that wouldmake that feel any lighter or
any easier.

(04:38):
And when I thought about itlogically, I kind of went, well,
no, probably not.
And she said, is it okay that wemove to deal with that?
If it becomes a problem, we workthrough that then.
And I'm like, okay.
'cause she said right now he'svery much alive and would
probably benefit from, you know,speaking to you and chatting and

(05:01):
you know, being present with himeach day rather than me going to
him worried about him not.
Gonna make, you know, whether hewas gonna make it or not.
So it, it actually made rationalsense at the time, logical
sense.
And so I remember in that daymaking a decision with my
psychologist, just, well, I'mjust not gonna worry about that.
Now I'm gonna take that worry ofwhat if he dies totally out of

(05:25):
my mind's.
Um, you know, kind of just gonnatake it out of my mind
completely.
And started focusing on the factthat he's here.
So my story has a very happyending.
So my husband.
Recovered fully from a ML.
He did a round of chemotherapy,three rounds, actually called

(05:47):
the Big Ice back 17 years ago.
So he is, he's literally justreceived a letter, which I'll
show you from his gp.
Not many of these get handedout.
We did, um, we did, I know youcan't read it'cause it's kind of
backwards'cause it's on acamera, but there it is.
You can see the evidence of anactual letter from his
specialist.

(06:08):
Consultant hematologist tellinghim that he's cured of cancer,
so he's a ML survivor.
What we found out later was thatthere was a very small
percentage of people thatsurvive, and his doctor kind of,
he asked him a question and thedoctor was like, I don't know
how to answer that mate.
And he is like, why not?
And he said, because there's notmany people that are in your
position.
So.

(06:29):
We are so blessed.
But the point I'm wanting tomake here is that I could have,
or we could have spent the last17 years in that fight flight
anxiety of what if he dies,dress, rehearsing tragedy,
focusing on worst casescenarios, trying to preplan
what would happen and what lifewould be like with Gerald
without Gerald.
And I'm so blessed that I neverhad to.

(06:51):
Journey down that path with him.
We've had other issues thatwe've had to deal with, and
that's just life.
Right?
But I'm so grateful that we, wetook that monkey off our back.
17 years ago, and to this day,hand on heart, I can absolutely
say I didn't live every dayworried that cancer was gonna
come back or that he'd end upnot being in remission.

(07:14):
Initially, and as I said to myclient today, I was, we were
very realistic about it.
If he got a really bad flu or abad cold virus, we.
We, you know, we knew that hehad a history of leukemia, so
we'd send him down the doctor,they'd order a blood test and
give us the akay.
So then again, we worriedtemporarily when his body gave
us signals that something'swrong and we just double checked

(07:37):
that it wasn't cancer.
But we didn't live every daythinking that it could be his
last or that.
What if it comes back?
Now I've, I tell you this storybecause it helped me so much and
it's helped many of my studentsthat I share.
I'm pretty sure I wrote about itin my book, but for my beautiful
new podcast listeners that mightnot have heard me or might not

(07:59):
have come into my world, um, yetit is just one of those life
changing stories that has savedme years and years and bucket
loads of anxiety and given me aeasy, logical shift in
perspective that.

(08:20):
If you are going through asimilar situation, my desire is
that it helped me and it couldhelp you too.
So I hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
I haven't been on the podcastfor the last few weeks because I
did promise that I'd just startshowing up as myself not
scripted on video.
And to be totally honest, itmade me a little nervous.

(08:42):
So if you've liked this episode,you wanna see more, send me some
kind of message and let me know.
Share it with a friend, which iseven better because I'll see
that it's resonating because youguys are starting to share it
with a friend who might findthis tip helpful.
And yeah, give it, give it arating and I can't wait to see

(09:03):
you in the next episode.
I release them every Friday.
That's my plan.
And occasionally I will.
Do it early.
So I am gonna release this onetoday.
So I hope you, wherever you are,I hope you are trusting your
intuition.
I hope you're connected to thedivine magic and mystery that
exists in this world.

(09:23):
And if you are not and you wannalearn how to reach out, and I
will get you started.
I've got a free quiz thatactually gives you for a short
time only.
A free copy of my book, not thehard copy this you have to buy,
but if you want a free PDFversion of this book that is
small but mighty in theinformation it shares with you

(09:48):
all about.
Reiki psychic mediumshiphealing.
If you wanna know more aboutthat, that's my jam.
Check it out.
I'll drop the link in the shownotes for the quiz.
And I've also got a free reikimasterclass, so if you wanna
learn more about psychic orintuitive reiki and the
difference between learning mystyle of reiki, jump in there

(10:08):
and, take a look.
I will see you on the flip side.
Thanks guys.