Last night I was saddened to see, but SO happy that I was looking and caught the news, that one of my first FB friends with fibromyalgia passed. I believe she was about my age --- her daughter did a lovely job of sharing the news on her mother's FB page, but I was surprised to see her daughter was still a teenager. My father had severe fibromyaligia symptoms when I was a teenager -- when I learned about what causes and contributes to the symptoms and 'environmental illness' in general, I realized his childhood symptoms were indicators of what would transpire in his adulthood.

Like an apple not falling far from his tree, I have had a similar course but hope that what I learned and took action on is allowing me to have a different outcome and I certainly have had a much better quality of life in my late 40s and early 50s than my father did.  I hope this for any children of parents who have these conditions -- that they learn what we have here on the "Load Theory" topic from Dr Spurlock which steps you through looking at genes and then 'load' put upon them by things the body, mind, spirit encounters. (If the postiives outweigh the negatives, things can stay with chronic wellness, not illness, essentially.) Blessings to all involved, with my condolences and thanks to this online activist who was 'there' when I arrived on the Internet in 2009 trying to get the message and education out. 

Recently, the woman went on FB by "Carla Smiley", but when we'd corresponded from April 2009 until May of 2011, she'd had a different last name on FB, perhaps her actual last name, I presume. There were new photos in the last three years since we'd 'lost touch', and one has her saying (essentially) "this is why I got the nickname smiley, long ago".  A grin and brightness about her that would be described as 'light up the room' perhaps, or certainly 'a ray of light'. I thought about how much she reminded me of my OT classmate friend Anita. I thought she reminded me of me, too -- we could have been sisters we looked a lot alike in the past.  

As I looked back after having a little fuzziness on our history but knowing there had been one of respect but maybe not ever connecting on collaboration as I'd wished and intended, I saw that I'd asked her to become one of the writers in the forums.  She wasn't able to follow through on it, but in the process she sent me ONE link and she said she cannot count how many times she had watched Jon Kabat-Zinn on this YouTube video link I share with you here today in Carla's honor.  I opted to add it as a comment under this topic about Toni Bernhard on Mindfulness Meditation because I am prefering for 'energy conservation' on the content at Lumigrate to have there be fewer threads but with more reinforcement on each thread of the concept there, when possible. 

www.youtube.com/watch

Again, thank you to all who have been active in raising awareness and getting education out on the Internet about fibromyalgia. I hope that the information I have created in recent weeks and years in the forums, without the use of guest authors and experts is providing 'one stop shoppin' for ease of study and allowing people to have the latest information in a rapid way. (I created, for example a topic about pyrole disorder in a week, weaving information from psychiatrist, nutritionist, addictions specialists (with a biochemically based program), researchers, etc., which would have taken months to form the relationships to have them writing on Lumigrate, about what they've already published on the Internet.

We are now in really our 'third layer' where I'm creating the content and linking without the extra step of having them become a 'resident expert' at Lumigrate. So please, if you have fibromyalgia or someone who does, look at the host of information our forums hold. The Environmental Illness versus Wellness Forum is where much of the new information goes, as well as in the other applicable forums. Such as the forum about the mind where you'd look for meditation and the mind/body connection to wellness and illness remediation. And I so very much appreciate the connections I made with women in 2008 and 2009 as Lumigrate was being created and I was adding into what was going on at Facebook for the fibromyalgia community. Carla being one. Smiley for you, Carla, thank you and blessings be.  (Though I know it's also very  and .)