Courage is a word often associated with a specific act of bravery; a single display of uncommon valour in a single instance of uncommon adversity.

In truth, the word — derived from earlier French and Latin — speaks of having great heart; cour in French, which is not so much about demonstrating singular fearlessness against a moment of adversity as it is about acting with passion even when there’s reason to fear.

Courage is meeting every day with great heart.

I suspect it was my recent trip to bilingual Ottawa that, in part, reminded me of this. In greater part, it was talking to Margaret Trudeau while I was there.

Madam Trudeau has great heart; one both gentle and open, as well as strong and determined. In it, she has found the passion and the will to overcome not a single adversity but a lifetime of adversity, while still embracing the moment as the present it is.

Without asking me to, she challenged me to reconsider what I know of courage — and what I know of Margaret Trudeau.

It is her hope that she will also challenge readers to reconsider what they know about mental illness. With one in five Canadians suffering in their lifetime, it is something we can no longer afford to stigmatize and Ms Trudeau is speaking publicly about her own experience, including an engagement June 18 in Markham, to help take the myths out of mental illness.

Following up in this issue, Mike Power looks at some emerging treatments for more difficult to treat psychological disorders, featuring new work available at Southlake.

As well, we take a look at the mind set of weight loss as Winsome Dewar explains how wanting and wishing are no match for wanting and working.

Then we take a spin cycle through the benefits of bikes before meeting more of the great people behind Southlake's growing reputation for excellence.

From the delivery of first-class medical technologies to the personal touch of a human hand, Southlake staff make ‘Giving a Damn’ the first order of business.

Finally, in this edition we welcome our first letters page. Since our first edition last fall we have received so much terrific feedback to beingwell I have to share it so all our readers know how much we really do love to hear from you. Ideas, compliments, criticisms; keep them coming. Every letter gives us a gauge on how beingwell is important to you.

Be well!