Life can start to seem meaningless when your ability to achieve your goals is cruelly snatched away from you by chronic illness. We all need a sense of achievement and when viewed in terms of our pre-illness life, the limitations of our health can make that all seem impossible. One way to work towards a … Read more
Unfortunately this illness is very vulnerable to environmental influences. There are a great many things that are a part of everyday life that can worsen our symptoms. The more we can take control of these factors, the more energy we will have for ourselves. Many of us become so sensitive we have to deal with … Read more
I once met a spiritual healer who claimed that ME/CFS was an illness of people who aren’t able to be themselves. He claimed it was caused by people forcing themselves to fit a mould set by society or by others expectations, that wasn’t in keeping with who they really are. Any suggestion that my illness … Read more
Although I sometimes resent the lack of spontaneity in my life, I have to respect the role that habit and routine plays in helping me manage my illness. Habits and routines minimise the use of energy. Actions flow automatically or become an automatic response to an external trigger. It might take a bit of energy … Read more
This time of year can often make us feel even more pressured by the expectations involved in living a ‘normal’ life. It’s a time that should be all about loving and giving, but our exhaustion can leave us feeling that we have nothing left to give. However, I believe that a little bit of … Read more
For a while I’ve been struggling with the nagging feeling that, despite all that I think I know about how to deal with this illness, I’m missing something important. I’ve been back in England a year now and comparing my health with how it was when I first got back, I see that my condition, … Read more
I practise self-healing meditation every day. I choose to believe that we are all a part of a universal field of energy and that we have the ability to influence this field. I believe that a meditative state can reconnect us to this energetic level of existence and allow us to consciously exert an influence. … Read more
A very important aspect of living a happy life despite a chronic illness, is to challenge any negative ways that you think about the illness and how it affects you. Quite simply it’s about choosing to think positively. Obviously, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Nobody can be positive all of the time, sometimes … Read more
One of the reasons this illness seems so difficult to investigate and treat is the fact that it affects many different but interrelated systems in our body. Each individual is likely to have different extents of disturbances in the different systems. In some cases attempts to tackle one of the systems can impact negatively on … Read more
If I had to specify one thing that got me over this illness the first time, I would say it was learning how to approach life with relaxed effortlessness. For me, there is an awful lot of meaning contained in those two words so I’ll break it down a bit. Not forcing or exerting. … Read more
