Spiritual Chaos

When I began this blog, about 9 months ago, my focus was to share ways of finding some inner peace and calm amidst the chaos of family life with young kids and husband and animals etc. My first posts outlined a little of my own inner journey. Then I got distracted by other things that life presented me with, things I felt I wanted to share with my new virtual world. And so I have posted about family, pets (Dylan seems to feature a lot), GAA (my dad would be so pleased) and holidays (with gratitude). Occasionally I wander back to tending to my spirit by writing about something a little deeper. So I suppose what I am trying to say is that I have not really stuck to my own brief – I have meandered around my life over the last months. But that is OK – because that is how life is, particularly if you have children.

I am now learning that my spiritual life and my search for inner peace and meaning must exist right in the very centre of all the other more mundane day to day bits of living. It does not really work if my inner life is known only to me and is something that I only ‘indulge’ in when alone and in secret. So I tell my kids (and to their embarrassment, their friends) and my own friends to talk to the angels, to hand over worries to God, to meditate, to ask for help and to always focus on the positive and the good in life. I have an angel in every single room of the house – not always obvious – but they are there. I have a smaller population of prayerful buddhas (as oppose to the fat laughing one) which serve to remind us of the need for reverence and stillness in our lives. And these reminders are very important to me because I have found that once a problem hits, I revert back to my old ways of dealing with it – worrying, desperately trying to reassert control and anger. My spiritual prompts remind me that all is well, that I am not alone and that help is available if I remember to ask for it.

What about you? Is your spiritual life important to you? Is it something you hide away or not something that you feel drawn to in any way?

Wordless Wednesday.

We are the Champions!

Can you feel the pride and joy?

Photos by Kay

WE CAN BE HEROES

We had an interesting week and had a few heroes – each for very different reasons.

I will start with the greatest hero last week - who was my baby Mia (9). Mia’s top front left tooth was a no show which has been monitored by the Orthodontist for the last few months. It’s refusal to budge at all, in the direction of her mouth to take its rightful place alongside its partner meant that Mia had to have a little ‘procedure’ done last Thursday in the very cute and charming Clane Hospital (Kildare). This ‘little procedure’ involved a slit in her gum to open ‘a flap’, some bone being dislodged (as it was in the way), a gold chain being attached to errant tooth and everything stitched back up again. The chain will now be attached to some kind of bracket which will be fitted to one of her teeth and be tightened regularly to coax the tooth down into place! Are you still with me here? Anyway – go to Mia’s blog to read her account. From it you will see that Mia was very matter of fact in her approach to this adventure and was very dignified and calm throughout. She gets my award for Hero of Our House this week!

But there is a very worthy runner up as second place goes to Roisin (11). Regular readers will already know that Roisin is a keen GAA player. She plays for Foxrock Cabinteely U11’s A Team. A dedicated and very talented bunch of young women! Roisin is very conscientious about training and always trys her best on the field. Saturday last was a blustery, squally day and we were at a pitch just off the seafront in Clontarf (it was really and truly freezing) for the Championship Final. Roisin was took her place a little into the second half and scored a point. Delight all around. There were some lovely goals and great play by all the girls. The team won fairly conclusively although they had very worthy opposition in Kilmacud Crokes. To crown the day for Roisin, in the (temporary) absence of the Team Captain, she was asked to collect the cup and make a little speech. I almost melted with pride and delight. So well done Roisin and all the girls of FoxCab!

Finally, the only male in the house also had a glory moment. From Tide To Table, a comprehensive Fish Cookery Book by Georgina Campbell has just been awarded the Bord Bia Irish Food Book of The Year. And himself did the photography. Check out his blog here for more information. He is very delighted and once again we are all proud!

Carla, and I will no doubt be heroes another week! And I will be sure to let you all know about that. Our role this week was in support and we were glad to do it!

Have you had a Hero moment recently?

Honouring The Past

November is an odd month. A million years ago I worked in the travel business and I hated November. It was ‘the dead month’. Work was so quiet and so the days were long and boring. Nothing defined November except tedium. No bank holiday to cheer us up and the Christmas social whirl was still weeks off. It was like the big anti climax after the fun of Halloween.

And I have always loved Halloween. My childhood memories are dressing up every year as a gypsy with swirly skirt and big hoop earrings and of the excitement of wandering around the neighbourhood in the dark. The air was full of the smell of damp leaves and smoke with the faint tang of gun powder or whatever it is they put in bangers! I loved it all. And I still do. Halloween is an ancient celtic, pagan feast and although it has been somewhat Americanised with sophisticated decorations and readymade costumes, its essence still links us with our past and those who have passed. Halloween to me has always been the time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest.

And so as we get over Halloween, the Catholic Church borrows from this ancient past and makes the month of November the month of All Souls – the month for remembering our relatives and friends who have left this world for the next.

So I hope you embraced Halloween and had great craic. And as November arrives take a minute and give thanks for those whose lives touched yours. Make a little time to talk to your children about their grandparents and others who may no longer be with you. November is a quiet month which allows us that pause to honour the past and those who inhabited it with love.



OUR HALLOWEEN.........
Dylan da dog, spent the evening trying to work out if he was delighted at having people call to the house or terrified of the noise of fireworks and bangers outside!
In the end he took up a post on the armchair in the hall, where he could mind the sweets and get a glimpse of who was at the door without risking his personal safety!!

My inner child still loves Halloween and I don't know what I will do when my own kids (the two hippies pictured above) decide they are too old for it all and I am embarrassing them by still decorating the house!


And finally, how cool is it to have a Birthday on Halloween? Very cool - Happy Birthday Roisin who turned 11 on Saturday - she is the hippie in the big hat!

Be The Change....

Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

You get up in the morning groaning silently about the night being too short. You pull back the curtains and the sky is grey and a definite dampness pervades the air. You think ‘another colourless Irish day’. The news comes on and brings horror from all parts of the globe. Before leaving the house you have surrounded yourself in a blanket of negativity.

A little later, when you casually exchange ‘pleasantries’ with the paper man or fellow mothers at the school gates, you moan about the weather. Your first proper conversation of the day will no doubt focus on the horrors in the news. And so on it goes.

Let’s replay the scene.

Same morning – same news – same weather. But as you gaze out the window you give thanks for a warm and comfortable house. Instead of listening to the news, switch to music in the morning. Put on your favourite CD or tune into Lyric FM. Greet everyone you meet with a smile and a cheerful comment – even one tinged with irony… “at least it is not snowing”. Spread positivity and humour.

We are surrounded by negative stories in the media; stories of atrocities, wars and suffering. We need to pray for peace in the world but there is little to be gained by constantly immersing ourselves in images and stories that are horrific and deeply upsetting. Remember that the media gives us a completely lopsided view of the world. There are ‘armies’ of good and kind people working for the benefit of their fellow man and for the good of this wonderful planet we live on. There is lots of good stuff going on that more than balances out the bad. Focus on the positives and cull the amount of time you spend reading or listening to the ‘news.’ There is a saying in healing which is “change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.”

We create our own reality. If we choose to see only the dark and the negative, that is how our world will be! So starting today make a conscious effort to look for beauty, joy and positivity everywhere. Slow down a little and listen – are there birds singing over the noise of the traffic? Slow down and open your eyes – even the weeds growing in the cracks in the pavement have beautiful flowers. Go for a walk in the rain and feel how the rain feels on your skin.

We live in a world abundant with beauty and joy. We have forgotten how to look for it. So remember that life is good. Carry that message with you every day and open your heart to all you meet so that they cannot help but be infected by your inner joy. Smile at everyone you pass.

It was Gandhi who said "be the change you want to see in the world" and if you are smiling now you have changed the world already.

The Imposter in the Biscuit Tin - A True Hollywood Story

Ever since I was a child, I have loved to spend a rainy afternoon with the box of family photographs; wrapping myself in memories of days out and birthdays and other events which might have merited being captured forever. Being a bit on the disorganised side our family photographs were often not marked with dates or any other information which added to the excitement of delving into the captured past. And as was the norm in the innocence of the 60’s and 70’s, our photos were held in an battered biscuit tin which lived in the dark recesses of an old, enormous side board in our dining room. As a young child, one particular photo in this biscuit tin always bothered me somewhat.

Unlike our small, out of focus, family snaps, this offending photo was a shiny, large black and white image of my father being kissed by some very glamorous woman. The photo was taken at Dublin Airport where my father worked as a Customs and Excise officer. He was a handsome man and looked very dashing in his uniform. But who was this impostor woman kissing him? She was clearly not my mother. The photo always made me feel mildly uncomfortable. When I asked my mother, she said “Oh that’s Margaret O’Brien. She was some actress or something. She arrived in Dublin and a press photographer asked your father to step in for a photo.” I still felt she had no business kissing my father, regardless of who asked her to. Although I must say that my father looked altogether delighted with himself. But as a child, I had a sneaking feeling that Ms O'Brien must have been a bit of a hussy and was not entirely happy about her image resting in our biscuit tin with the rest of the family.

All of that was a long time ago and nowadays photos are held on hard drives and only those good enough for framing ever see the light of day in our homes. So the joy of rooting around in an old box full of family history is slowly dying out.

Two weeks ago we were lucky enough to be on holiday in Los Angeles. We did all the usual sights of Hollywood including a tour of the Kodak Theatre which is home to the annual Oscar Ceremony. Although it only opened in 2002, it is a very beautiful building, full of art deco lines and subtle glamour. Our tour group was very small and our guide was a wonderfully knowledgeable and articulate woman called Barbara (aptly named of course).

We stood on the stage and gazed out over the auditorium, dreaming of how it must feel on Oscar night. We were then taken on the same route that the stars are taken when they leave the stage with Oscar and head off to do their first press interview before returning to the theatre.

Our journey took us down a long corridor which is hung on both sides with beautiful black and white images of various actors and actresses down through the years receiving their award. There was Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Dustin Hoffman, Tatum O Neill. Suddenly I am stunned to find myself looking into the face of the impostor in our biscuit tin, Margaret O’Brien. “Oh my God, she kissed my father” I exclaim. My own children and indeed my husband are stunned. They have never heard the story or had a rummage in the old biscuit tin in my mother’s house.

Barbara, our guide explained that Margaret O’Brien was a young actress who won an Oscar for her part as Tootie in the movie “Meet Me In Saint Louis” with Judy Garland in 1944. As I recounted the story for our little tour group, I could feel my father’s presence beside me, grinning from ear to ear just as he had in that old photo. And as the group moved on down the corridor, I took a last backward glance at Margaret O’Brien. “Good for you Dad” I thought. An Oscar winner no less!

p.s. How handsome was my old Dad?

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

Regular readers will know that I have been (virtually) very quiet this week as I was away with the family on holiday in California. It seemed like a long way to go for a week, but eldest daughter, who works in travel, got us a great deal which was too good to pass up. And although we spent 24 hours travelling each way, it was well worth it and not half as difficult as I thought it might be.

We had a busy schedule of things to do and we feel like we have been away for a month. It is like having an amazing dream and on waking, finding out that you were only asleep for ten minutes. But then again, many of us already know that time is elastic and not the straight line we perceive it as being!

I will refer you to Mia’s Room for a flavour of what we got up to. Mia can capture the spirit of our holiday much better than I. And if you visit – do leave her a comment. The excitement when she gets a comment on her blog is pure joy echoing through the house.

For me, suffice to say that I love America. We in Europe (and particularly in Ireland) could learn a thing or two about service from our neighbours on the other side of the ocean. And once again I have returned wondering how the Irish got the reputation of being the friendliest nation on earth. My experience of America has always been that they, in fact, are far worthier than us of this particular accolade.

And so from the sunshine and palm trees and fantasy of Hollywood, we return to Ireland which seems to be reluctantly moving into autumn. And one of the great things about travelling abroad is that it provides us with fresh eyes coming home. And as our flight sank through huge layers of grey cloud at Dublin Airport, we were greeted with the greenery and the autumnal colours of the fields of North Dublin. It’s great to get away. And it is also wonderful to arrive back home. Home, to the unbridled joy of Dylan and the more subtle welcome from the four moggies. Home to where we can feel complete, to where we belong and to where our hearts are. And home to begin to dream about where we might be able to travel to next.

What do you think? Do like returning home after holidays?