Planting Seeds of Wellbeing

When I share with family, friends, and support group members the progress I have made with my health the past few years, I often hear the phrase, “You are so lucky.” And they are right. I am lucky to not be in need of any prescription medications to treat my symptoms. I am lucky that my body is now able to maintain a regular yoga practice. I am lucky to have the energy and mental clarity to be working again. I am lucky that my flares are less frequent and shorter intervals. I am lucky… And while I understand that I am incredibly blessed for the wellbeing I am currently experiencing, hearing that always makes me stop and reflect back on all of the work I have done – and continue to do –  to get me to this point, and on the fact that it has nothing to do with random luck, but is all about the focus and work I have put into my wellbeing the past several years.

My current wellbeing is a result of the long-term work I have been doing nurturing my foundation – my soil – back to a fertile ground for planting seeds. Each seed I planted and carefully tended further enriched my soil, and is now blooming into the beautiful garden reflected in my improved quality of life. Through my slow and determined efforts, the seeds of healing I spent years planting are finally coming into bloom. I may be lucky to have such a beautiful garden, but I have tilled, weeded, and nurtured myself into this great fortune.

So how did I begin? And how can you begin? For each of us, our gardens and the tending they need are different. That is the nature of chronic illness. We all experience it differently, and what works for one person may not work for the next. I began many years ago with the belief that my life could be more than my illness; that I am more than my illness. I had moments, days, weeks even when I got bogged down in the complexity of it all and struggled with the feeling that I would never get better, but the core of me never believed that. Hope was always present. So, like so many with chronic illness, I began to explore, research, read, and experiment to find what worked and what didn’t work.

Depending on how long you have been living with your illness, it is safe to say the soil of your garden is likely depleted. Probably not the most fertile and nurturing place to grow from. But even the most depleted soil can be nourished back to a state of fertility, a place from which growth and beauty can be experienced and seen.

My soil became more fertile when I eliminated gluten from my diet, and then again when I began yoga. Neither were an instant or complete fix to my symptoms. Both took time and nurturing to develop and progress. There were frequent frustrations, difficulties, and setbacks. But I continued on because with both I could feel my soil coming to life again. I could feel that the benefits far outweighed the frustrations, difficulties, and setbacks. I could feel that I was getting stronger, and with that strength came the ability to tend to my garden even more. And so my luck began.

Luck is not random. If it falls more easily to some than others, it is because they created a fertile and open space for luck to appear. How can you begin to create your own good fortune? How can you begin to nurture your depleted soil? What kind of seeds will you tend to in your garden? There is no magic pill, no overnight fix, no healing through wishes or osmosis. Does a beautiful garden flourish without tending and effort? There is still a beautiful garden within you, and it needs and deserves your attention. You deserve to experience the good fortune of your efforts. Where will you begin?