If
you were to look up the meaning of “positivity” you
would find it defined as: to display certainty, accept-ance
or affirmation; to move forward and progress; the admitting
of no doubt; irrefutable; confident. These words could equally
be used in describing Maureen.
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In
April 2007 Maureen was diagnosed with lupus disease,
an autoimmune disease
that turns the body’s defences against the body itself. The sparkle in
Maureen’s eye is not of one perceived to be ill. It is common when we are
sick to act the victim, hiding away, feeling lethargic and hard done-by and sorry
for ourselves. This was not the path Maureen chose and it was indeed a choice.
We all have options and we can choose how we feel and react to our circumstances.
Her philosophy is that, to a greater or lesser extent, we are the architects
of our own reality: we -choose how we react to a situation and we choose how
we react to illness or dis-ease. Changing the way one thinks, the power of positive
thought, has certainly worked for Maureen.
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After the diagnosis Maureen remembers crying a lot, adopt-i-ng that victim role
and refusing to accept that this was her life. The month following her diagnosis
she opted against medical treatment and decided to self-heal. She remembers
that while walking around her house she had a thought to try an alternative
treatment route, to self-treat and self-heal and to not pursue the conventional
medical treatment on offer. She remembers feeling immedi-ately better, something
had changed already and she instinctively knew that it was the right decision
to make. Taking her life into her own hands, she trusted her intuition, her
inner voice, and took a leap of faith. One cannot help but wonder whether
in the same situation one would also have been so brave.
Maureen
is a musician and she now uses her musical talent to help heal,
running sound healing workshops. She explains that through
her experience of having lupus she is more in tune with others’ suffering,
she understands people who are in the dark, finding that through
music they can be reached and opened up. She struggles to find
the words to adequately describe this: ‘really there
are no words for it – having experienced something oneself
only then can you really understand. We all have the same ultimate
destiny; we are all fallible”. The realisation of that,
and confronting the fear of illness and death, have brought
Maureen closer to spirituality.
She has become more conscious, more sensitive and more aware of every word and
sound. Whereas before music had been fun, she had always loved touching people
through music, now having lupus and the experiences she has gone through have
brought a depth to her musicality. The future for Maureen is work-ing with her
experience and helping others. She created an association of healing music called
SAMA which is financed by donations. She and her musical partners are playing
at old people’s homes and for disabled people in Ibiza and on the mainland.
Maureen performs concerts and sound journeys, inviting people
to go inside to discover the depths of their souls.
