Respect and the road to recovery

After acknowledging and accepting my Lyme disease, I've discovered I'm also now respectful of it. Strange thing to say, but it's true. This encompasses a respect for myself, my body, and the rules I'm currently having to play by - i.e. diet, detox, saying no. That respect is making my life so much happier.

I'd even go so far as to say that having a Lyme diagnosis, makes me one of the lucky ones. Work that out?!

Meanwhile, hold on to the thought that the body is incredibly clever. It wants to heal. And given the right tools, will be able to do so. One of those tools is respect.

Ruby Red Shoes - a book review

Details: Children's hardback picture book
Title: Ruby Red Shoes A Very Aware Hare
Author: Kate Knapp
Published by: MacMillan
ISBN: 9781509891894

Price: £9.99


















This charming book was given to my two daughters by an Australian friend several years ago as it was first published there in 2012. We have cherished it ever after and my girls have grown to love it. As all great classics, it has proved itself timeless, bridging the gap from toddler to now almost 10-year-old.

Perhaps the reason for this are Kate Knapp's lyrical story and stunning illustrations. Paying great attention to detail, the cosy and bright water colours invite the reader in, every bit as the text. Both are playful and gentle, reminding each and everyone of us - not just children - what ought to be important in life: the simple things!

Ruby herself is a delightful protagonist. 'An aware hare' who lives consciously from day to day, enjoying everything about each day's routine, from the veg patch to her dumpling of a cuddly grandmother.

This book is so beautifully observed and elegantly written; wise and poetic. It is not at all surprising to find that six years down the line, Ruby Red Shoes A Very Aware Hare is being published again here in the UK. I'm pleased for Kate, and I'm pleased for Ruby, who remains every bit as fresh and fun for her new larger audience, who in no doubt will love her every bit as much as my two girls still do.

FOOTNOTE
We can't wait to read the next instalment of Ruby's adventures, when she visits Paris this September! Look out for a LIFE AS IT IS review late summer.

Emma Oliver received a copy of Ruby Red Shoes A Very Aware Hare in exchange for this review, all ideas and comments are my own

Acknowledgement + acceptance = recovery - A poem

To bridge the void that lay between dis-ease and wellness.

Two steps must be taken...

Steps that are key to recovery:

Acknowledgement and acceptance.

Lyme 0 - 1 Me

I had sat reflecting over breakfast about how the appointment with my naturopath would go. Clouded by recent illness - ten days bedridden and three weeks unwell, I was disillusioned to say the least. A Lyme relapse brought on by pushing into non-existent energy reserves had left me wondering why, when I'd been trying so hard with the detox diet I began eight months ago. A diet, I felt would play a huge part in my recovery, for lyme bacteria (and other infections also passed via tick bites) thrive on a modern western diet, so by cutting out 98% of caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar, wheat, gluten and dairy, I'd been starving the pathogens; killing off spirochetes. Or at least I thought I had. Finding myself laid out again, so unable, had been terribly disheartening and made a mockery of everything I'd been working towards regarding the natural recovery I was aiming for.

Two hours later in Basingstoke at the NTA headquarters, tests revealed a residual virus in my system that wasn't lyme at all. It wasn't Lyme! The implications of this were huge. My efforts were not in vain. I was helping my body to heal using ONLY plant based meds! My relapse had been down to not listening to the warning signs, straying from the diet, indulging in alcohol and late nights and consistently pushing myself to do more instead of rest. Yes I had been enjoying a return of energy and feeling better, but that was not to say I had any stamina. I abused the rules. And being exhausted and run down laid my body wide open to a further opportune viral infection which took ahold and knocked me for six.

Want to know the greatest thing about having that virus? I was able to fight it off myself. This time last year, it would have spiralled into a chest infection or shingles or pneumonia. Proof in itself that I am so much better and the alternative medicine route I am following is working. Kale anyone?!

My tests also showed something else. Something really rather astonishing. My lyme, plus every single other infection, Babesia and EBV to name two, have gone into remission. INTO REMISSION!