Sometimes it’s so easy to miss the important things. My client, Mary, reminded me of this during an appointment one day. She had an inoperable brain tumor and her health was rapidly declining. was feeling discouraged about her condition, and it showed. Mary smiled at me and said, “You know, Cam. For the first time in my life, my heart is at peace. I know I’m loved. I’m dying happy.” Happiness is a state of peace, and love, and oneness mixed together. Everyone wants to be happy. Living with the alternative is too depressing to even consider.But for many, happiness is transient and elusive. When happiness is based on the ebb and flow of life circumstances, it doesn’t last. True happiness is based on a foundation that is more permanent. Viktor Frankl, the Austrian psychoanalyst, and WW2 Holocaust survivor, wrote that happiness comes from a sense of meaning and fulfillment. People who are truly happy are able to draw from an inexhaustible source of inspiration to sustain them and to connect with the love within. Inner love acts like a magnet to attract joy and peace in our lives. For Frankl, it was the thought of his wife, Eleanore, that sustained him during his three years of horror at Auschwitz. Their love for each other gave him a sense of hope and purpose. “We must never forget that each of us has the capacity to find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation," he wrote. How is it possible to be happy in the face of pain and suffering? By knowing that we are lovable and that we are loved. When we’re young, we’re dependent on the love of our parents or guardians. If all goes well for us, they love us for who we are. We are loveable because we’re a part of that universal love and perfection that created us. Each of us is an expression of the same perfection that is in everything around us. But as we grow up, we discover that not everyone is accepting of us being who we are. Many of us suppress our own thoughts and feelings and conform to the world’s expectations, and loose the connection with our inner love and with our life energy, that infinite source of well being within us. Nothing is ever really lost inside of us. It just gets put in storage. In time, we can learn to access this love. Healing is a process of rediscovering our inner love, and reconnecting with our life energy. Before she died, Mary discovered the profound joy of letting go of her past and reconnecting with her inner love. Health is a state of harmony and balance. In health, we are connected with the flow of life energy, and are able to respond to the demands of life with acceptance and ease. When the flow of life energy gets blocked by stresses, we’re unable to connect with our inner joy and purpose and we feel stuck. Being stuck is difficult. We’re all boxed up and unable to fulfill our needs. Our bodies are unable to move freely to do what we need to do in the world. Our hearts can’t connect with our inner love, or receive the love that we need to create our dreams. Our minds are unable to learn or grow in understanding. We feel discouraged and cut off from that inexhaustible source of inspiration that sustains us. To get out of storage, we have to let go of the obstacles that hold us back such as doubt, blame, resentment, fear, jealousy, mistrust, guilt, and regret, etc. We can discover the nature of those obstacles through our inner reflections, or by observing the messages that are reflected back to us in our interactions in the world each day. The following little story illustrates this idea: One day a traveler, arriving at the entrance to a little town, asked the elderly gatekeeper, “ What sort of people live in this town?” The gatekeeper replied, “What sort of people were they in the last town up the road?” “They were rude and suspicious,’” answered the traveler. “Then you will find the people here to be the same,” said the gatekeeper. Later that day, another traveler approached the town from the same direction, asking the gatekeeper, “How are the people in this town?” How were they in the last town up the road?” the gatekeeper responded. “They were friendly and hospitable,” answered the traveler. “Then you will find the people here to be the same,” replied the wise gatekeeper. The world is a reflection of our thoughts and feelings. As we let go of what holds us back, and trust our inner wisdom and perfection, we begin experiencing love and joy in our lives. When we’re happy, we’re in rhythm within ourselves and in harmony with everything around us. Happiness enables us to connect with our life energy. Our life energy is a miraculously creative force that involves intention. Intention is what causes everything to be manifested. Everything in the universe is created by intention. Intention is what takes a thought or idea and makes it a reality. An apple tree starts out as a tiny seed. We may not be able to see it, but the tree, in all its potential, is present in that seed. The intention of the life energy in the seed is to become a tree. The intention of our life energy is for each of us to attain our full potential. We can use the power of intention to fulfill our destiny. Intention has two parts; audio and video. The audio part is affirmation. Affirmation honors our inner love and joy, expresses our true purpose, and creates opportunities to manifest our hopes and dreams in our daily lives. The video part is visualization. Visualization draws on our inner light, expresses the beauty and perfection within, and reflects that beauty and perfection in the world. When we use intention, we tap into a limitless source of universal energy, always available to us, to create the life that we envision for ourselves. As our intention harmonizes with our purpose, we open ourselves to the magic of new opportunities and limitless possibilities. Our bodies come out of storage and begin to interact freely in the world. Our hearts open to the love within, and we experience the presence of love in our lives. Our minds open to learning and growing in understanding and purpose. Our spirits open to the continuous outpouring of universal guidance that we receive through our intuition. We start noticing coincidences and synchronicity. We find perfect parking spaces. We get a call from an old friend we’d just been thinking about. Someone tells us about an apartment for rent just at the right moment. We loose our job, but we find a better one the next day. We meet the right someone. Meditation is a great way to connect with our inner wisdom and raise ourselves to a higher spiritual frequency where we can explore the qualities of detachment, compassion, gratitude, patience, and humility, etc. creating more joy in our lives. We can access our life energy through nature, exercise, music, poetry, yoga, martial arts, dancing, inspiring thoughts, loving relationships, laughter, and through acts of kindness and service to others. Healing is a journey of self-discovery. It’s about discovering who we really are. The guidance we need to find our way is already present within us. Each of us has the capacity to heal. We need to believe it. Believe that we are lovable. That we are always loved and sustained. That each of us is a part of the universal perfection. That life offers limitless possibilities. Believe that we can create the life that we desire. When we believe in the magic of life, we discover true happiness. When we discover true happiness, we begin to heal. Happiness is the fuel for healing. We can be happy. It just takes a little practice. Dr. Cam Dodds is a naturopathic physician practicing classical homeopathy. He lives in a beautiful setting on Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada, where he is exploring a path of personal growth and awareness.