As soon as I said that I felt an immediate sense of calm. Not because I was going to die in three months’ time, but because I knew in my gut she was wrong. Obviously, my doctor had no clue about me. I was going to live, and live better than before.

To the rest of the world I was a confident, high achieving, and happy person.  That was until she said in that cold voice of hers, “you have 12 weeks to live” “What? What does that mean?” I could barely speak.

My Dr said that by having another scan, this may show the primary cancer, and treatment was urgent. I was living in the most remote city in the world, Perth, Western Australia. I soon learned that people such as medics worked autonomously, they made quick succinct decisions and got on with it due to the remote location.

My mother died of Cancer; Maybe I had taken on my mother’s disease, just like I had taken on her beliefs?

At that point, I said to my Dr “I can tell you exactly where the primary is” and pointed to the centre of my throat. She said, “no one knows where the primary cancer is, you don’t know what you are talking about, for many people the primary is not located, you are in denial”. And with that, she asked me to leave, and wait to receive my scan appointment.  With that, I got up and calmly walked out of her office.

The first piece of the puzzle was to work on my mental health, clear the past, next was meditation, then mindfulness. Nature, massage, nutrition; home grown vegetables, and fruit. I even attended educational retreats. The next piece of my puzzle came more as a shock than anything else.  It was something I thought I’d dealt with years ago, obviously not.

When my mother died of cancer18 years before, because I supported my father with his grief, and didn’t take the time needed to mourn her death,  I realised  that grief was stopping me from living a life of passion and joy. That was when I choose professional help.

I knew if I didn’t, anything from the past could sneak into my ‘now’ and get in the way of my future.

Over my life I inherited beliefs of those who had authority over me. I realised the inner work is as important as the outer work. During the following 12 months I sought great councillors, coaches & healers, one after another, until I’d cleared away all of the fog clouding my vision.

I kept reminding myself the past does not equal the future and I had to let go and move on.

As more and more pieces of my jigsaw came together I began to feel different. I felt worthy of happiness. People started coming into my life at just the right time, they helped me piece my new life jigsaw together, piece by piece. As I cleared my mind of all the old jigsaw pieces, new habits and new beliefs began to emerge. It was these new habits and beliefs that formed the new powerful image in my mind.

Even though I felt Australia was our dream home from home.  Little did I know, Being in a marriage that was lifeless, how much damage had been done to my health. Looking back, I had been living with some pain and emotional chaos born from incomplete grieving.  It was like something deadly was creeping up inside my body, waiting for just the right moment to devour me.

Through my journey, it dawned on me that my emotions had taken on a strange life of their own, even though I had people around me, I had a sense of loneliness that became comfortable playing a part in my life, the grief living inside my body was creating a separation what I considered a great life, to living a life of freedom from within, inner peace and total joy!

Even though the diagnosis was “real,” I felt in my heart & Soul I was not going to die.  But trying to figure out the future was like trying to straighten out a bowl of spaghetti. 

I had to get rid of this mass on my neck.  My surgeon told me emphatically, my voice box needed to be removed.  Not knowing other choices were available, I AGREED !! Eventually, quickly moving through my journey, with the right HEALING people around me, I found my voice.

In doing so, I agreed to a small operation only. It was either that or I’d lose my voice and other ailments that would have followed such an operation. The operation was a success and after a short rest I was up and about again.

My life was a giant blank jigsaw puzzle

One morning on my way to see a friend. I had an image popped into my mind. When I got to my friends house I knew I had to tell her. “What if all the pieces of your life’s “jigsaw” were to fall away and you had the chance to replace each piece of the puzzle exactly the way you want it?” I asked her. She quickly replied, “Oh my goodness… then you’d have a perfect scene called your dream life.” We sat and talked for hours, shared some tears and laughed too. By the time I left I had a clear image in my mind. Now it was time to go find all the pieces I needed to complete the puzzle of my new life.

Over breakfast, knowing my husband – being a Yorkshire man had always missed his home and family, Whilst Pouring out the coffee I said,  “Since your family are back in England do you want to go back there for the divorce?”  The look on his face told me it was the right thing to do. He jumped at the chance, stood up and said “Yes, let’s go back home”

During a discussion with my therapist, she was amazed that I was strong enough to do that.

I explained my belief in ‘Creating good endings’ and that it was also part of my journey, to complete in a humane way, the end of our marriage, and be open to new beginnings while creating my new life jigsaw. 

As I continued to visualise my future, by this stage I had well and truly studied the mind,  understood exactly what had happened the moment I had ‘my shift’,  the day I was given 12 weeks to live’.  I had transitioned into Mindset, working with clients. There was only one piece of my puzzle missing.

It was “The Golden Book of Yoga Terms.” The book fell open in my lap and for some odd reason I began reading a short passage out loud to my client.  “Transforming darkness (GU) into light (RU) gives us GURU, a spiritual teacher. Universally “Gurus” point the way, solutions lie within the searcher.”

It was during that client session that I realised, there are a lot of women and men out there who need the opportunity to know about and learn of the valuable options for their own future choices, just like I had. There are fabulous practitioners, many in and around my life.

One of my superpowers is bringing the right people to the right people – connecting them.  Once I realised that I can only complete my own jigsaw puzzle of life by helping others complete theirs, I broadened my search for other empowered professionals with healing talents to join me in creating a Wonderful World of Wellbeing for you.

And that’s how I’d like you to think about this, beyond our live festivals which will return when it is safe and appropriate to do so, now, think about this as if you had arrived at a new world, one completely different from the one you know. A world where you can be your best, free from stress or almost every kind of problem that ails you. Remember what I said right at the beginning.

“FOR EVERY ILLNESS THERE IS A PLACE ON EARTH WHERE IT DOESN’T EXIST.”

I believe wellbeing is the new currency. And like any currency you can use it to give you a better life. The more wellbeing you have, the richer life you’ll enjoy.