I usually reckon that guilt is a pretty unhelpful emotion, but I confess that I have been guiltily aware of rather neglecting this blog recently. I blame my own homeopath. I visited her before Christmas, and mentioned that my various work projects were taking up all my time. I explained to her that I absolutely adore my job at Phoenix Homeopathy, find working with clients in clinic a great privilege (it’s endlessly interesting, and often humbling), even enjoy the long hours needed in preparation for the forthcoming re-launch of our online store, Holistic2go.com, and enjoy the challenges of managing our sister business, BrightonandHoveTherapies.com, too. But with three businesses to run, and my teaching, presenting, mentoring, writing and after-dinner speaking commitments, I was horribly aware that friends, pastimes, meditation, and even time outdoors were being squeezed out by my busy schedule.

My homeopath listened carefully, and asked me about non-work activities. I found myself telling her that I missed the creative and social stuff I used to do before my paralysis from MS, and the long recovery that followed – in the days before homeopathy. As a high-flying solicitor and law lecturer, there wasn’t much time for anything outside work, though my fabulous core of friends made sure I relaxed and had fun at some point during the week. But before then, back in my late teens and twenties, I was a very creative and highly sociable person.

As an undergraduate at Sussex University in the 1980s, I took black and white portrait photos of anyone who sat still long enough to be photographed, developing the pictures myself. I also helped out with the uni dramatic society, making costumes for productions like Royal Hunt of the Sun, and Martin Sherman’s 1979 play Bent. Not only that, but limited financial means meant that I often made my own clothes, or adapted charity shop finds, and I was a very creative cook, cooking supper for fellow students, and making ends meet by way of culinary creative enterprise – lime marmalade and bara brith cake were particularly popular. So despite the dire judgement from my old school art teacher that I didn’t have a creative bone in my body (why do they say these things to kids?), looking back, I was quite arty.

As I described all this to my homeopath, I realised that, for me to be healthy, I needed to do three things straightaway. I needed to make more of an effort to make friends in my new hometown of Eastbourne (I’d moved over a year before, from Brighton, but working in Hove, near to my old friends, had made me lazy about building a social circle in Eastbourne). I needed to reconnect with my creativity in some way. And I needed to spend more time outdoors.

Health is about far more than the absence of disease, of course, and I reckon that any concept of true wellness has to include things like a sense of community, creative expression, regular recreation, and the company of like-minded people. When I’m working with Phoenix Homeopathy patients who want to improve their happiness, we often use a chart that allows patients to plot how much satisfaction they get from each area of their life (for example, partner, work, family, friends, recreation, creativity, exercise, community). The exercise helps patients to see where the imbalances are, and what areas of life might benefit from more attention.

My homeopath gave me a remedy that suits conscientious, over-diligent people with a tendency to be workaholics, and I thought about the ‘wheel of life’ exercise, feeling a little shocked at just how out of balance things had got. The result? Quite naturally, I’ve been working less, and instead, I’ve been having great fun making silver jewellery (and have a possible offer of exhibiting my silversmithing at an Open House), have had friends over for suppers (wild salmon and sweet potato fishcakes, anyone?), have set up a book group and met a whole bunch of great people locally, and have been really enjoying getting outdoors as much as possible. So if you’ve missed your weekly health blog lately, don’t blame me, blame the homeopathic remedy that helped me to get the balance back in my life!

For more information about how homeopathy may be able to help you to transform your health or happiness, and help you get the balance back, visit www.phoenixhomeopathy.com.

Disclaimer: Any views or advice in this weblog should not be taken as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, especially if you know you have a specific health complaint. Prescribed medication should not be stopped or varied without conventional medical advice. Please remember that homeopathic remedies and other health measures should be individually-selected to match the whole person, not just the unwelcome symptom. Seek professional advice rather than self-prescribing if your complaint is chronic, severe or long-standing, or if you are pregnant, elderly or on orthodox medications.