Clinic Notes: The Garden in Her Mind is this week’s installment in my popular series, Clinic Notes: What My Patients Said This Week. These short essays share powerful, real-life moments from inside the cancer clinic — glimpses of humanity that go beyond medicine.
This week, a patient had just been told her cancer had spread to the brain. The prognosis: months. Her speech was faltering. Her thoughts were scattered.
And yet, when I sat down beside her, she didn’t mention fear.
She spoke of her garden.
“My Japanese maple turns the deepest red in October,” she said, smiling. And suddenly, for a few minutes, her voice cleared. Her mind steadied. Her face glowed.
🧠 Clinic Notes: The Garden in Her Mind – Nature, Fractals, and the Brain
Scientists at Stanford have demonstrated that certain natural patterns, particularly fractals, can calm the brain and reduce cortisol levels. These patterns show up in riverbeds, tree branches, and even Jackson Pollock paintings. The brain loves a certain level of complexity — not too much, not too little. Just like in a well-tended garden.
Her garden had become her sanctuary — not just outside her home, but inside her mind. Even as the disease spread, that mental space gave her something medicine couldn’t.
A sense of peace.
A sense of self.
📸 Hero Image Placement (top of post):
A peaceful Japanese garden scene — crimson maple, winding path, stone lantern. Caption: “For some, healing begins in the garden.”
Alt text: A Japanese garden with autumn leaves and a weathered stone lantern evokes calm and memory.
📸 Mid-post image suggestion:
Close-up of red maple leaves with light filtering through. Caption: “Nature’s fractals calm the mind — even in crisis.”
Alt text: Red Japanese maple leaves showing branching patterns against soft sunlight.
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