By Pam Walatka

Wendy Burton’s “Joy Is a Plum Colored Acrobat” (Harmony Books, 2004) would make a great gift for any woman undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer. The power of positive thinking about cancer has never been so beautifully and sweetly expressed. The book isn’t naive. It’s just brave and lovely.

Burton offers a series of brief, joyful visualizations, lavishly illustrated with simple yet sophisticated full-color art. The artwork, words and space combine to make a sum greater than the parts.

Burton says that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, “tiny Cirque du Soleil acrobats showed up in my imagination to help me usher out my unwanted cancer cells with their brilliant energy and pizzazz. I had no use for the warrior imagery that so many people … thrust at me.”

She hopes that “the images that have come to me over the course of my treatment might be helpful to you. They have given me a great deal of pleasure, insight and comfort. …

“Research has been done in hospitals around the country confirming the impact that directed imagery, or visualizations, can have on a patient’s health. …

“Visualizations can help our bodies to mobilize white blood cells or to protect healthy cells during treatment. We can communicate with our bodies. We are psychobiological beings. Not only can we make ourselves feel better emotionally, which is no small accomplishment, we can help ourselves to heal.”

Burton suggests you follow your own imagination to create visualizations just right for you; the introductory chapters tell you how. Then she gives 54 charming examples, each with it own painted illustration.

The following is a visualization she used during treatments to help protect her healthy cells from radiation: “Beautifully Colored Beach Umbrellas - I am handing them out to all of my healthy cells. These umbrellas are HUGE! They are orange and purple and ruby red, metallic gold, turquoise blue and magenta. They all open magically with a loud snap the moment the radiant beam comes on. It is a glorious day at the beach - warm light shining down and all of these enormous umbrellas opening at the same time. Only the cancer cells don’t get any! They come directly into contact with this strong, very focused and intelligent light. And they start to melt away.”