An old patient has been coming to see me with Multiple Sclerosis. She has been ill for more than 10 years, but we have managed to slow the process and it has been relatively stable for some time. During a routine MRI of her spine a mass was noted in her lungs and a diagnosis was made of lung cancer. Perhaps because she already had an incurable disease she felt immune to any other serious disease. Despite my plea to stop smoking, she never did. In my story the susceptibility to becoming a smoking addict is a gift of God, but the lesson and gift is only available after the addiction kicks in and one finds the willpower to give up the smoking. It is in giving up that the gifts are recognized. Like all things in life, our real lessons learnt are when the conditions are most difficult. Giving up smoking is one of the most serious addictions and lessons on our journey. It is a serious problem on many levels.

An old patient has been coming to see me with Multiple Sclerosis. She has been ill for more than 10 years, but we have managed to slow the process and it has been relatively stable for some time. During a routine MRI of her spine a mass was noted in her lungs and a diagnosis was made of lung cancer. Perhaps because she already had an incurable disease she felt immune to any other serious disease. Despite my plea to stop smoking, she never did. In my story the susceptibility to becoming a smoking addict is a gift of God, but the lesson and gift is only available after the addiction kicks in and one finds the willpower to give up the smoking. It is in giving up that the gifts are recognized. Like all things in life, our real lessons learnt are when the conditions are most difficult. Giving up smoking is one of the most serious addictions and lessons on our journey. It is a serious problem on many levels.