I had this thought the other day while I was looking in my medicine cupboard.

Sometimes we have ailments that can’t be cured by drugs.

They’re heart and soul things; they’re mind and emotion things.

The causes – and cures – are nearly always other humans.

I have just weathered a particularly bumpy week. I am rundown from looking after a non-stop toddler and I am off-balance from three nights of minimal sleep.

The bright spots in amongst the anxiety and exhaustion have all come from people.

From my book club gals, my old Sydney friends, my school mums and old uni mates. My sisters and my parents. My husband and my kids.

It’s important to acknowledge the powerful effects of kinship and kindness; laughter and lightness.

Of conversations that range freely, the ability to be honest, and the feeling of being safe.

No pill – no matter how well formulated – will ever treat the human condition.

The people in our lives have the power to uplift and protect like nothing else.

Identify your ‘medicine’ people. Hold them close, understand their properties and call upon them when things get tough.

There is a genuine chemistry in the space between human hearts. When we help someone else we are inadvertently and synergistically helping ourselves.

Who are your medicine people? And what do you offer them in return?