At the time I write this piece we are on the brink of war. Who knows what will have happened by the time it's published. Everyone has their own opinion on the events of the last few months. Personally, I have gone through a whole range of emotions, and the only thing I can honestly end up saying is that we live in a very strange time.
As a people, I believe we are in the initial stages of a great change, a shift in the way we look at life and how we can make it work for us. Many of us seem to be on the path of a more spiritual understanding. You need only pop into a bookstore and look at the ever-expanding number of self-help and 'new age' books to realise that we are spreading new messages among ourselves.
And yet these messages are not filtering through to anyone in a position of political power. Our country is run by a gaggle of spiritually dead individuals who are spreading fear and confusion, without even realising they are doing so.
But, to challenge my easy use of the word, what exactly is 'spirituality'?
I think being spiritual means believing in some higher power. Not necessarily a man in the sky with a long beard, but a belief in the power of The Universe. For me, it means I am trying to follow my intuition or my own truth.
In this world our actions are so conditioned by what we should or should not do that it is so easy to become side-tracked away from what we need to do and on to something that was never 'meant' for us in the first place. Our intuition - that little voice inside us - speaks to us often. The real gift is learning to listen to it. When we act upon our intuition, the choices we make will be the right ones for us.
Perhaps this sounds a little 'up in the clouds' for some people. A few years ago I would have read this and thought so too. I'm no spiritual guru - far from it - but in the last few years, certain people have led me on to a path of learning, mainly through some great books they recommended.
Becoming HIV positive was part of the reason to start searching for a deeper understanding of life. A diagnosis makes us feel suddenly mortal, and I realised I did not have endless time on this planet with which to learn.
Another
important lesson I am learning is the power of the subconscious mind. Many people
believe that our life is created by the thoughts we think. For example, when we
constantly tell ourselves, 'I have no money, I am poor,' our subconscious mind
will retain this information, and set about making sure that we are poor! Sounds
too simple to believe? Personally, I have proved this to be true on many occasions.
This understanding of the subconscious mind is a particularly important lesson for those of us with a potentially damaging illness. I think that 'positive thinking' (pun intended) is really the single most important thing we can do to look after ourselves.
Easier said than done, when you go for a check up and find that your CD4 count has dwindled to something in the range of lottery numbers. Engaging in healthy thoughts and telling yourself you are well may seem like a tall order at the time, but I firmly believe it is the best medicine.
Just as politicians across the world have spread a fear of war, we often spread a great fear of being HIV positive. We all do it sometimes, me included. When I was first diagnosed, I wrote an article called 'Feel the Fear'.
But imagine if we were able to turn that fear into happiness and contentment, so that our subconscious minds are constantly telling our bodies, 'I am healthy and happy'. Imagine what a better place we would be living in. Just as Franklin D Roosevelt said: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
