New Release: Joan Healy – Running Wild

Thank you to Niamh Cardiff for writing such a sweet and thoughtful article about my debut song.

The Verge Music News

Joan Healy released her debut single Running Wild, a metaphorical but also literal song about love and taking a leap.

Joan is an independent singer/songwriter from Kildare. She has been passionate about singing and writing her own music since her early childhood, coming from an artistic background and singing for the school choir. Having learned guitar as an adult Joan now performs at open mic nights and takes her guitar out busking.

About Running Wild, Joan says “the single was inspired by my decision to run wild in life. It is metaphorical and literal; in that, I enjoy running free in nature and the song gives me a feeling of being excited and losing the run of myself. It is a salute to the brief insanity of being in love.“

Produced and mastered by Colm Cahill, Running Wild is an upbeat funky single with hints of…

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Lessons from a Legend

Just a short and sweet post this time. For reasons that will become clearer later.

It is enough to be me

You have nothing to prove.

Dr. Edith Eger, The Gift

Having listened to the message of Dr. Edith Eger, I feel lighter. In her book, The Gift, she states that we have nothing to prove. Even to ourselves. That is why I am writing a post for no other reason, that to celebrate this phrase – Nothing to Prove.

Her teachings have had a profound effect on me. And I particularly like to hear her voice as she imparts these tokens of wisdom.

I intend to read and reflect on the rest of these teachings from an absolute legend. 🙂

Til the next time, cheerio!

That’s weird…

I watched yet another Ted Talk video during this pandemic and found a man so comfortable in his weirdness, it brought me back… WAY back.

Who called me weird?

When I was a child, a little girleen, a boy my same age, in my class at school, who lived down the road from me, called me “weird.” He didn’t say it in an observant, barely interested way, he said it loaded, pointed, twisted. He made his tone condescending, to demonstrate to other people that I was to be ridiculed, laughed at because he said I was “weird.”

Was I weird?

Then I noticed all the things that made me different to everyone else. I labelled everything unique about myself “weird.” When I had a joke that I knew only some people would find funny, I didn’t tell it, out of fear of being called “weird”. When I wanted to express an opinion on a topic in school, I didn’t raise my hand.

It was a negative perspective of me. He looked at me and saw my unique traits, the things that make up me, my way of looking at the world, my quirks, my jokes, my funny voices, my way of dressing, my own invented games, and he criticised me in front of my peers in an attempt to ostracise me. He tried to make me feel like I should not be myself, but if I am not myself, then I would only be a copy of someone else. And as there are already unpleasant people in the world, I would hate to run the risk of turning into one of them.

Final summation…

I am weird. You can define how I dress as weird.  You can say how I speak is weird. Someone close to me often says that my behaviour “is a bit weird” with the same level of fear as though I said I own a loaded weapon.

Was that a bit weird?

Is it just that you are afraid? Of who I am? And if I call myself weird, am I afraid of who I am?

Is “weird” just a cloak term for “any behaviour that I find abnormal”? My weirdness, yet, I don’t want to call it that, is the very jumble of things that make me different to everyone else. It is not something to be afraid of. It is something to be embraced. And celebrated.

Happy New Year, Weirdos! 🙂

Pandemic lessons

What have we learned during the pandemic? And what will we learn? These are the questions I ask in this article. Surely, there is something worth learning now…

I would normally format my articles to fit three points which could help someone to solve their personal problem or give some motivational advice. But, right now I don’t have it. 

This time during the pandemic and the global lockdown has left me, among other things, puzzled. Really, I am asking myself, what do I need to learn here? And, what do other people need to learn here too? 

I find I have not yet answered these questions. I do see this time as a time of increased awareness. I admire people who take up baking, begin a new business or make another big life change. For me, it has been a time of watching other people.

I have also been in awe of what bloggers can do. Sometimes I feel like we are speaking in a vacuum, but politically bloggers can achieve so much. And socially, the work of a blog can mean so much to one person. We really don’t know how much good we can do until we start doing it.

Lessons in becoming an artistic butterfly.

 

How to open up artistically… the ultimate transition form caterpillar into butterfly.

 

Step one. Realise you are at a caterpillar stage.

Right now, you are not a butterfly. But you feel that inside you are a butterfly, waiting to open her wings. To the onlooker, I look like I am a woman, who tried and failed at some things. The appearance is one of what society would call a failure. I strive and I learn all through life  In fact, I could have been stopped a long time ago but I keep going. Yet I have been told, indeed warned by the media to look after my mental health. However, in today’s world, people work weekends, shifts and holidays.

 

Step 2. Ignore the cockroaches, toads and moles.

I am referring here to what people think of you. If you didn’t care what people think of you, what would you do? Being rejected by society could spell disaster… who would help you? Who would look after you when you are ill? Who would care for your children while you cannot? Who would teach you the ways of survival as a woman in a man’s world? You must be woven into the quilt handed down from generations of women. You will not pull the thread; you will be assimilated. Of course, you can be sensitive to people’s feelings, that is sympathy and empathy. But it is quite another thing to believe what people think of you. And it is very dangerous to put faith in what other people think of you.

 

Step 3 Practice.

The most liberating thing is to be yourself. The only thing that will make you happy is not trying at all by being 100% yourself. No bells, no whistles, just me. So my challenge that I face is to do the work that I love and to be paid to do it. Yes, I believe that I can do this. That is not the actual challenge. The challenge is making new neuronal pathways.

Every time a thought comes into my mind saying “you cannot do that, because society would not like it” I accept that the thought is there and I accept that the old pattern has some momentum. I forgive myself and I write. I make some art. I visualise all my dreams coming true. And going down a new path takes energy, commitment, resilience, stamina, and the power never to give up.  It is a fight. It is trailing a new path.

 

Sketches From An Irish Cafe by Stephen Brady

Here I am sharing the work of a fellow writer, Stephen Brady.

A beautiful chilling story from the prolific locked down writer

InkSplinters

The man in the corner looked just like anyone else. He had come in at opening time and sat at the window table. He’d ordered a cappuccino, and drank it straight down. The cup was still there, two hours later, desiccated foam clinging forlornly to the rim.
Beata had been watching the man. She liked to observe the customers. To imagine who they were, their inner lives, their histories and dreams. She’d written poems about them. One day, she hoped, they would be published in a slim and tasteful volume called Sketches from an Irish Cafe.
“Miss!” A poke in her shoulder. “Stop dreamin’. Go and ask Freaky Jean there is he wants somethin else.”
Gerry was the owner. He was a heavyset man who wore Deep Purple T-shirts and was comprehensively in debt. He wasn’t bad as bosses went – Beata had had worse, especially back home – but…

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Intuition: Knowing the Truth beyond Proof

One of the most rewarding and difficult to obey impulses is Intuition. We have within us a place that knows one thing to be true and another to be false. How do we know the truth when we see it? How do we identify something to be true when we have no way to explain it?

• What is it?

I believe Intuition is like a primal instinct.  Like turtles know the tide and birds know the climate, humans also know their environment. Intuition is a skill that can be trained.  We must practice listening and learn what is the truth and what is not real.

• How can we use it?

It is wonderful when Intuition turns out to be right. We can avoid negative experiences and can make wonderful encounters such as new ideas, new groups or new healthy habits. It guides us to great things when we put our faith in it.

• Tip for Intuition:

Practice listening to the Voice Within with little things during your day. Like which way to turn on a street or which type of food to eat. Watch little rewards develop. Step by step we can grow in our faith and use intuition for bigger things, like life choices.

A skill to be mastered not overlooked…

Living in the present: a journey through the Now

The present moment is truly a gift. It is all we have and all we will ever need. Life is so simple and yet our minds have created unnecessary conflicts. When we meditate on nature, we see how life flows, life grows and life makes wonderful creations. When we are overcome with stress, we live in a sterile, unfeeling and even hostile world. Luckily, we can always return to a more peaceful feeling with meditation. We are gradually coming back to the now: to simplicity and harmony.

• 5 Minutes at a Time

Dr. Wayne Dyer suggests in his book “Erroneous Zones” that we should live “5 minutes at a time”. He is referring to going with the flow of life. Sometimes a decision or rule that we always used to live by is deemed null and void. What used to work for us may no longer work and so we have to adapt. This idea of “5 minutes at a time” is also a good practice for meditation. By living in the here and now we become more alive.

• Holiday: Take a break

Everyone needs a break. No one can keep going at one pace for a long time. We all need to take some time out to relax and unwind. We can do this by taking a trip away for a day or two. If this is not feasible we can also take a holi-hour rather than a holiday. In her book “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway”, Dr. Susan Jeffers suggests that we set aside some time each day to do whatever we want. It could be a bit of exercise, meeting a friend or anything that you find fun.

• Learning to Accept

Perhaps the most challenging and most rewarding of all is the art of acceptance. Sometimes we literally cannot do something about a situation which we would like to change. We find ourselves uncomfortable in a situation and unable to escape from it. This is where we learn to accept. In his stand up comedy show, Simon Amstell says “If you can’t change something, just accept it.” This is great wisdom as we can all get rid of our struggle by accepting. It is a very worthwhile, yet sometimes difficult practice.

• Seizing Opportunity

One of the fruits of living in the now is that we discover things that we never expected. Pleasant surprises are waiting to jump out at us. We can access these gifts when we pay attention to the now. When we take a moment to dwell in the now, we can create, discover or do something we never imagined we had the power to do. Carpe Diem!

• Getting back to nature

One of the best ways to return to a state of peacefulness is by walking in nature. When we stroll around in a relaxed environment, we naturally become more at ease. Listen to the sounds of the trees, meditate on the flowing river and see the birds fly around. Nature is great to bring us back to the now.

Final note: Living in the now can be difficult when we feel the pull of negative thinking. However, with practice we can live more and more in the present moment. With time we become more at ease with life. Another added benefit is living in the now is that it makes us feel much happier. We can enjoy the little things in life and our need to worry diminishes.

 

Sacred: What is Sacredness?

When I was in school, I was told that sacred meant “holy” or “set apart”. I never understood what it meant until I discovered meditation. “Sacred” sounds like such a heavy word, as most words connected with religion usually do. So what does it really mean? Let’s take a look into the meaning of sacredness.

 

In the Eye of the Storm

The best way I could define this word is living right in the middle of a storm. Sometimes life can be like a tornado. When people and activities get caught up and swept away in a storm of panic or stress, it is just like an emotional tornado. If we were to succumb to this stressful and anxious energy, we would be in effect, caught up in this slipstream. So what can we do when all around us is negative? We need to go “inside” to find inner peace. We need to be the eye, the watcher of the storm.

 

Drop the Anchor

It is important not to get caught up with this wave of stressful energy. To find a place of peace in the midst of stress, we can do a short meditation. It is a great practice to return your focus to your body, your breath or your inner peace, especially in moments of stress. One moment of mindfulness can be enough to let the storm pass by. Like training a muscle, we can learn to retreat back to the present moment, to ourselves.

 

Retreat to a Sanctuary

Sometimes it can be difficult to meditate in the middle of a chaotic occurrence or life situation. For that reason, it can be a good idea to go to a place of peace, like a sanctuary. This can be a quiet room, a church, a park or a graveyard. There are lots of places that can give refuge when you are feel overwhelmed by the pull of negative energy. Being in nature is also a calming experience. A holiday, a short trip or a change of scenery can also be exactly what your mind needs to calm down.

 

Find Your Own Sacred Place

Sacredness is a personal thing. We all have different ways to find peace and these will also change as we develop as a person. We are on a journey to discover our own inner peace. Inner peace for ourselves is the most important. After we find peace on the inside, we naturally create harmony around us.

 

 

 

Connections: Make or Break

What is a connection between people? How do connections form and why do they disconnect? In this article, we take a look at the world of human connections.

The name is bond…

I believe connections are bonds, invisible to the human eye, but very real to our emotional selves. If we are sensitive, we can pick up on how well we “get along” with different people. With some people, we seem to be compatible as friends and with others, for some reason, we have nothing in common. In romantic relationships, we call this chemistry, but in our daily lives, we naturally have people we are on the “same wavelength” with and others, we simply do not connect with.

Synchronicity

Has is ever happened to you that you think about another person, like your Mum, only to receive a text from her a minute later. This is what some people call a coincidence, but I believe that humans have ways of reaching out to each other, that we don’t yet fully understand. Siblings in particular have especially good connections and twins can even know what the other twin is feeling or doing at a given time. We can think about each other and if we listen, we can “pick up” on little messages from each other.

Breaking up is hard to do

They are called break-ups for a reason. We literally invest our energy into forming bonds or relationships with other people. If we have a very heart felt-connections with another, be it romantically or even on a friendship basis,  this can be quite a strong bond. If we spend a lot of time bonding with that person, the relationship gets stronger. When relationships end, or when friendships end, this bond is broken. And the end sometimes can be short and swift, or can take a long time to heal.

Long-distance calls

There is no distance that love cannot travel. Our friends in other countries remain connected with us. Even though we can be far apart from our friends when they are in different places, they still feature in our thoughts and our lives. Sometimes something small like hearing their favourite song on the radio can remind us of that friendship.

Well-wishes

There are wonderful phrases in the English language which describe how we make positive connections with others. Sometimes we say “Send my love to your parents” when we speak with a friend, whom we are very close with. Or when we see great suffering, we may say “my heart goes out to those people”. These are examples of us giving out good energy to other people.

Forever and Ever

We keep connections that are healthy and which give us a positive feeling. Sometimes, this even means that people who have passed on still remain connected to us. The first way that children are taught about death that the person is not gone, but they live forever in our hearts. This is quite a beautiful way to view death. It can help the grieving process to know that the connection is different now, but it is not over.

Conclusion:

Connections are like bonds between two atoms. We form and break connections all the time. There are strong, weak, short-lived and long-lasting, positive and negative. Some take time to develop or heal once broken. The cosmic dance of relationships is for our greater good. Always.