I WAS asked to contribute a monthly column to new wellbeing pages in The Press,

starting in January 2014. It was initially for six months and I was thrilled. After five

months, I was asked if I would like to continue for another six months and that is

how it has been for the last six years. It has been an opportunity that was better

than what I could have hoped for.

This year I thought that the columns could be put together in a book and that idea was realised last month in the publication of Wise Words.

As if I’d had a premonition, the format of the newspaper is changing and

this is to be the last Mind, Body and Soul column.

Through 70 years there have been many beginnings and endings in my life.

The unexpected endings tend to be harder to manage emotionally than the

expected ones and I have been expecting this ending for five and half years. There

is still a sense of loss, but also a frisson of excitement about what might come

next.

Last Sunday, I was asked if asked if I did therapy on myself in stressful situations. I

replied that I felt that if I wrote about how to manage emotions, then I should be

willing to take my own advice and do some self-reflection at times.

That is what I’m doing now. Understanding that I feel a little sad about this chapter of life

coming to an end, but also recognising that new opportunities are out there, if I

can get out of my comfortable chair and motivate myself.

I would like to continue sharing some Wise Words and at the moment, am tempted towards book readings with Q&A.

My final "heal thyself" advice is to finish with my favourite quote from Helen Keller.

It describes many people with emotional health problems. "When one door of

happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that

we do not see the one which has been opened for us".

What could be through the door of 2020?

Rita Leaman is a psychotherapist (chasingrainbows.org.uk). She has recently

published her Press columns from 2014-2019 in a book, Wise Words, available in paperback

and on Kindle from Amazon.