
I had intended on posting a New Year’s message, a bright chit chat post about intentions, hope and self responsibility…however I held off due to a pneumonia-like illness I developed between Christmas and the new year which kept me struggling physically and mentally until the last few days.
I am a lifelong asthmatic and the last 6 months have been rough as my preventative inhaler of 30 years stopped working. I’ve been on and off antibiotics and prednisone since last July, and a raft of different inhalers which all made the situation worse. I had given up on easy solutions and was waiting for a referral to the respiratory specialist. For those who don’t know my history, harsh cancer treatment in 2015…is there any other sort…worsened my auto immune issues. This has meant a necessary and dogged focus on my health and boosting my immunity since then.
I digress. Back to the inhaler problem. When I’m presented with a health challenge I rarely give up. I research and use my intuition to solve the issue. Sometimes I am successful. After seemingly being without options, I flagged one last dual inhaler they said would not work, so why try it? I persisted and got the script, albeit from a reluctant and cynical GP. It turned out to be the right move. This particular inhaler worked and was the least draconian intervention. I had known that it would. I guess the message is: it’s your body and your health. Use your voice, inquire and ask questions and make your views known. Doctors are not God-like. They are human beings with all our flaws and strengths, and expertise. They are also overworked and the medical system often, imperfect.
It pays to be your own health advocate.
Along with health issues, I have been contemplating the meaning of joy – not some fantastical, whimsical and passing ‘happy feeling’…rather I’ve been thinking about deep and abiding joy. Often after tough times (and let’s face it a lot do struggle around Christmas and New Year), we contemplate our circumstances with honesty and I have found myself realising that it has been ‘a minute’ since I was last ‘joyful’. Whether it’s the state of our troubled world, or personal circumstances, I remember now, that feeling of deep joy that goes with spiritual contentment and I know that is not how I currently feel. Rather than external events and people providing passing happy times, the deep joy of contentment is unwavering, consistent and not easily won.
This deep feeling of joy, takes real inner focus and meeting your own needs. It also takes self value and reflection. To reconnect with the deep joy which reaches all the way into your spirit, firstly takes awareness and acknowledgment of its absence.
I can hear you asking: well how do you get it back? You understand that you’ve only ever needed ‘you’. So start by getting back in touch with the essence of who ‘you’ are, and when you find that, value and nurture ‘you’. Leave the rest to Spirit. Once the process has begun, the right people and events will meet you.
Take that step. Deep joy and meaning await you on your journey.


