The journey that began for me around a year ago was from a place of uncertainty and challenge. The changes that followed were from a place of need and desperation. They came at last, or began at least, when my heart opened.

When a heart is open it can release what it needs to. And it is able to receive. Space is made when we let go of pain, grief and loss. There is then room for gratitude, for compassion and for love.

Healing is not an easy journey. It is something we alone go through. No-one else can do it for us. But we don’t have to … No, we can’t … do it on our own.

The gifts of this past year were fought for and earned. With support and in trust. The gratitudes of the present, I see now, are built on sacrifices of the past. This is what life is, I think. Well, a part of it anyway.

As I look out now on where I am, I also look inside to see who I have become. And everything is all right.