Love Of Reading

Ever since I can remember I’ve loved reading. Maybe because it takes me to a whole new world, to lives and scenarios so different to my own. I can escape the chores for a moment, ignore the dirty dishes or the pile of ironing awaiting me and get absorbed in something new!

When I was little I’d snuggle up in bed all safe and warm and read. I remember Enid Blyton’s Enchanted Wood tales were the first to get my attention. They were introduced to me by my favourite teacher Miss Hughes when I was 6. The class would all gather on the carpet every day in school to hear her read a few chapters of the magical stories. I absolutely loved listening to the adventures of Joe, Beth and Frannie on their visits to the Faraway Tree and so I began to collect all the books and read them to myself at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That love to read has never left me. To me there’s not much better than snuggling up in a blanket with a cup of coffee and one of my favourite books. It may have got a little harder over the years with three children running around the house but it hasn’t stopped me… There’s always an afternoon when the girls are in school, an hour or two snatched when they’re out playing or late at night when they’re fast asleep. There’s been many a time when I’ve read until the early hours of the morning with burning eyes because I’ve been unable to put an intriguing novel down. We can all be snuggled up watching a movie but we all know in my house that my eyes will inevitably leave the television, will be drawn to my latest novel and before we know it, it’s in my hands and I’m lost in the story again! I would much rather an imaginative picture in my head than a story played out on the big screen. To be honest I can read anywhere, in bed, in the garden, on the beach, in the car (though to be honest reading in a moving vehicle can leave me feeling a little sick..) In the midst of chaos I’ll drown out the noise and escape for a while! And I don’t tend to escape to an idyllic, peaceful or romantic story either, most of my books tend to be gritty crime novels where my heart pounds with the thrill of the chase, where I become the hard working and weary detective or medical examiner where work is my life and I’m trying to piece together evidence to find the perpetrator. I connect with the characters and for a short time their life becomes my life.

Crime thrillers are what mostly fill my shelves and some of my most favourite authors are Agatha Christie, Patricia Cornwell and Lee Child, and there’s also Karin Slaughter and James Patterson and Torey Hayden, although they are just a few names in my ever growing list!

 

 

 

My shelves are filled with books, in fact I’m fast running out of room to store them! I need more bookcases or my very own library. Oh if only…! Because of this and to try and make space I recently turned to iBooks for the Rizzoli and Isles series by author Tess Gerritsen. What do you prefer, a screen or real pages? Although I found reading very easy on the eyes and comfortable on the iPad I have to admit that there’s nothing like the real thing and I’ll just have to return to buying books soon. I miss the smell of a new book and the feel of the pages between my fingers. I miss the collection on my shelves in my home as I really don’t want to have to turn on the iPad to see a virtual shelf filling with my latest purchases, personally I need them on hand to see and to touch and to share with friends.

I’ve just finished reading Catch Me by Lisa Gardner which was truly captivating and so her books are next on my list to collect. It seems that the latest craze is to read the Fifty Shade’s Of Grey books, my Facebook news feed seems to be filled daily with rave reviews of it from avid readers but I have to admit that I haven’t read any of them as yet. Part of me is very tempted to see what all the fuss is about so they may very well be added to my bookcase soon!!

I hope that my love of reading will pass on to my daughter’s who I’ve always encouraged to read from an early age and of course have always been surrounded by books. As I mentioned earlier my favourite childhood books were written by Enid Blyton and so I asked my girls if they liked reading and what their favourite books were and these were their replies:
Darci (age 9) looked at me thoughtfully and said; “I love reading, I like my 50 Fairy Stories book and my Harry Potter books and magical books. Reading helps me learn new words. My favourite author is J K Rowling.”
Jordan (age 11) smiled at me and said; “Sometimes I like reading and when I do it takes me to a weird world of my own. I like reading books by Jaqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl.”
Roxy (age 5) said; “I like you reading to me and I like stories of rabbits and cats! I like the Velveteen Rabbit book I had for Christmas.” (Author Margery Williams)

 

 

 

 

I’d love to hear who your favourite authors are and why you like reading them? Maybe you could introduce me to something new?

And maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll write my own and take you to another world..

Memories Of Yesterday

 

 

Exploring the beach, just the two of us…

“Don’t grow up too quickly lest you forget how much you love the beach”

Michelle Held

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I dropped a tear in the ocean and whenever they find it I’ll stop loving you, only then”

Anon

Apache Blessing

May the sun
Bring you new energy by day,

May the moon
Softly restore you by night,

May the rain
Wash away your worries,

May the breeze
Blow new strength into your being.

May you walk
Gently through the world
And know its beauty all the days of your life.

~Apache Blessing~

Happiness

“Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier.  The way it actually works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.”  

Margaret Young

My question for you today is;

Are you happy?

I want to make you think…

Do you feel happy today? Are you being the real you and doing what you need to do in order to get what you want?

There are so many quotes and thoughts on happiness and I want to inspire you with some of them today!

Who or what is responsible for your happiness? Do you think its money and material possessions that make you happy? Are you one of those people who say, when I have a bigger home I’ll be happy? Or when I have more money I’ll be happy? Do you rely on other people and your circumstances to make you happy? Or maybe you have everything and are still unhappy? Maybe you don’t even think you need to be happy, maybe you’ve just given up on trying to find happiness?

So often we blame everything but ourselves for our lack of happiness. What if it’s down to us to be happy regardless of our circumstances?

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Philippians 4:11-12

“According to my experience, the principal characteristic of genuine happiness is peace: inner peace.”

 Dalai Lama

Are you content regardless of your situation? Have you found inner peace?

Maybe it’s all about perspective?

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Dr Wayne Dyer

By happiness I mean here a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind. This is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of being. Happiness is also a way of interpreting the world, since while it may be difficult to change the world, it is always possible to change the way we look at it.

Matthieu Ricard, Happiness / A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill

When we focus on the bad things we wonder why the good things in life never come our way. If we just change the way we look at things it’s amazing how our environment can change too. If we can stop focusing on why we’re unhappy and stop giving attention to those things that aren’t quite right and start fully giving our attention to all the good things that are around us, maybe we’ll start to feel better.

Can we really choose to be happy for no reason? If we are successful in being happy for no reason then it doesn’t it matter what our circumstances are because we will be looking at them in a different light.

 I think happiness can affect our health and well-being so I think happiness is very important in our lives. So now is the time to start thinking about you and what makes you happy. Stop the struggle and make some time for you to do those things that make you smile. Often we think that we can’t do this and we shouldn’t do this. We think; there’s not enough time, we have too much to do! But if we actually put it in to practice we can realise we’re not indispensable and we can take time out and that really it’s for the greater good.

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” 

Bob Dylan

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

Buddha

CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR STATE OF MIND?

MAKE BEING HAPPY YOUR PRIORITY!

The Inspirational Story Of Stone Soup

Stone Soup

A kindly, old stranger was walking through the land when he came upon a village.  As he entered, the villagers moved towards their homes locking doors and windows. The stranger smiled and asked, why are you all so frightened. I am a simple traveler, looking for a safe place to stay for the night and a warm place for a meal. “There’s not a bite to eat in the whole province,” he was told. “We are weak and our children are starving. Better keep moving on.” “Oh, I have everything I need,” he said. “In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you.” He pulled an iron cauldron from his cloak, filled it with water, and began to build a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a silken bag and dropped it into the water. By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come out of their homes or watched from their windows. As the stranger sniffed the “broth” and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their fear. “Ahh,” the stranger said to himself rather loudly, “I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage — that’s hard to beat.” Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a small cabbage he’d retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot. “Wonderful!!” cried the stranger. “You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king.” The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . and so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for everyone in the village to share. The villager elder offered the stranger a great deal of money for the magical stone, but he refused to sell it and traveled on the next day. As he left, the stranger came upon a group of village children standing near the road. He gave the silken bag containing the stone to the youngest child, whispering to the group, “It was not the stone, but the villagers that had performed the magic.”  Moral:  By working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved.     This is a simple version of an old folk tale which tells of a hungry stranger persuading local people in a village to give him food. It’s believed to be hundreds of years old and told all around the world in many variations. The main character convinces the people that they can make soup out of a simple stone. They come to believe that the stone is magical when really it’s the people that are creating the delightful soup. It’s a story that can make us think about our own lives and how quick we may be to say; “No, we don’t have enough to share!” Surely we all have enough to share something. Seemingly from nothing these villagers prepared a feast, each providing something as small as a cabbage or a potato or an onion.   It helps us remember that If we each are willing to give a little then we can achieve a lot.   What will you give today?

NEW BEGINNINGS

NEW BEGINNINGS

She really wants to start a new chapter

In the book of life experiences

Wants to taste a different tang

Wants to smell a different scent

Wants to let her heart skip a beat

And DANCE

To the heartbeat of the universe

This thing called life

It’s a new flower

Petals opening ready to bloom

It’s the sun rising

ready to SHINE

It’s that light

ready to lead the way

in a crazy tunnel of freedom

filled with a mosaic of colour

It’s like a rainbow on a miserable day

That little ray of HOPE

Clouds are beginning to blow away frantically

It may just be time for this star to shine

Brighter than the moon

A grain of sand on the beach is all that she is

But not all that she can be

The waves are rolling in and the thunder claps are loud

It’s a dangerous place to be

But still full of those endless possibilities

Once that candle is lit

It’s going to be hard to quit

This tiny flame is breathing light to another

And on it goes

She can feel a raging FIRE about to roar into LIFE

The Placebo Effect

Placebo – the dictionary definition:

Placebo – Pla-ce-bo

Noun

A harmless pill, medicine or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect.

A substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs.

ORIGIN – Late 18th Century. From Latin – literally ‘I shall please’ from placere, ‘to please.’

The Placebo effect is a phenomenon that has intrigued doctors for decades.

Placebo’s have been used for years in drug research and by doctors. Medical research has confirmed that a ‘fake’ treatment, made from an inactive substance, can have a ‘placebo effect.’ ‘Fake’ surgery and ‘fake’ therapies are also considered to be placebos.

What are your thoughts on the placebo effect? How powerful is mind over matter? Is belief a powerful medicine?

I can’t help but believe in mind over matter, I’ve seen the effect of positive thinking in my own life. If someone gave me a pill and told me it would make me better then I think I would have faith that I would feel better regardless of what was actually in the pill. But just how powerful are our thoughts? Can illnesses actually be cured with a ‘sugar pill?’ I wanted to know more…

The Research

The idea of the modern placebo originated with H.K Beecher. He evaluated 15 clinical trials concerning different diseases and found that 35% of patients were satisfactorily relieved by placebo alone. (The Powerful Placebo 1955) Beecher started a wave of studies aimed at understanding how something (improvement in health) could be produced by nothing (the inactive placebo). Studies have since calculated the placebo effect as being even greater than Beecher claimed.

A patient is given an inert pill and is told that it will improve their condition but isn’t told that the pill is inert. This may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change their condition. This belief can then cause the patient to feel their condition has improved. Usually this treatment is used as a control to an experiment. One group are given the placebo and the other group are given the actual drug. The greater the difference between the results of the control group (given the placebo) and the experimental group (given actual medication) would mean the greater effectiveness of the drug being studied. However the effects of a placebo can be as great as that of medication. In fact, recently, drugs are having a hard time beating the placebo effect. It is believed that the placebo effect is psychological, due to a delusion on the part of the subject that the treatment will work. This effect suggests that a hopeful outlook on treatment can effect physical well-being. The power of a thought, although delusional, has the ability to create physical changes in the body.

Research has shown the placebo effect is particularly apparent in illnesses that have a strong psychological component such as anxiety or depression. Using a brain scan technique called quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) imaging, UCLA researchers conducted a nine-week examination of electrical activity in the brain among patients treated for depression with a placebo and among those treated with antidepressant medication.”Our study shows, for the first time, that among those patients who did show improvement after receiving placebo treatment, the prefrontal area of the brain became more active, while those who received medication showed suppressed brain activity as their conditions improved,” Dr Andrew Leuchter said.

 

What about people suffering from chronic pain? Can it be that just thinking that a medicine will relieve pain is enough to prompt the brain into releasing it’s own natural painkillers? Is a spoon full of a sugar and some faith all we need? A study carried out by the University of Michigan in 2005 provides evidence that endorphins (the body’s own pain relieving chemical) play a role in the placebo effect. Previous studies have shown that the brain reacts physically when given fake medication but this study  pinpointed a specific brain chemistry mechanism for a pain related placebo effect. After the study Jon-Kar Zubieta M.D Ph.D, associate Professor of psychiatry and radiology at the University of Michigan Medical School said “This deals another serious blow to the idea that the placebo effect is a purely psychological, not physical, phenomenon. We were able to see that the endorphin system was activated in pain-related areas of the brain, and that activity was when someone was told they were receiving a medicine to ease their pain. They then reported feeling less pain. The mind-body connection is quite clear.”

Neuro Scientist Tor Wager of Columbia University says, “We usually think a drug does something to you, but there are examples in which the drug doesn’t do anything unless we have the correct belief,” he said. “You need both the chemical and faith that the drug will work.”

Should we be spending more time researching the power of the mind? Joan McGregor Professor of philosophy and bioethics at Arizona State University, agrees that the mind can influence the body, “We waste a lot of money on drugs and invasive therapies when we could go in another direction,” said McGregor. “We ought to be studying this and harnessing the power of the mind.”

A process of treatment that involves showing attention, affection and care to the patient, a process that is encouraging and hopeful may also trigger physical reactions in the body and promote healing. The process reduces stress by providing hope or reducing uncertainty about what treatment to take or what the outcome will be. The reduction in stress prevents or slows down further harmful physical changes from occurring.

The are numerous other experiments that have been carried out.

 

IS A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR AND FAITH ALL WE NEED?

 

 

My Thoughts

The placebo effect may not help everybody in all situations and to be honest there seems to be a lot of skepticism out there. Some people think that the improvement in health seen is real but is due to other factors such as spontaneous improvement, fluctuation in symptoms or even just politeness with the subjects involved wanting to please the researcher.

However it  seems to me that there are a few factors involved here. Having a belief that a pill/procedure/therapy will work to improve symptoms plus the added ingredients of hope, faith, encouragement, care, love and attention equal making someone feel physically better. I think we certainly do have some control over our health and well-being, if we take a few deep breaths and stop stressing out about an illness we can start to feel better.

The question is, does it really matter if it’s a placebo if it makes us better? If it works then it works!

Clearly the power of the mind cannot be ignored and I think more research is needed into this intriguing subject. I feel the power of the mind clearly has an affect on the process of healing even alongside real drug treatments or procedures. We need to truly believe that whatever we’re doing to make ourselves better is going to work. Maybe in time we will all learn how to use this  mind power more effectively.

 

Personally, I think hope, faith and love work wonders!!

 

 

Happy Days On Blue Monday!

It’s arrived! It’s Monday 24th January, also known as Blue Monday! So are you feeling blue?

I’m happy to report that I’m happy, happy, happy! This Monday has not brought doom and gloom for me.

There’s nothing like someone telling me that this is the most miserable day of the year to make me more determined to actually make it the happiest! That probably says a lot about me!

On my previous blogs Blue Monday and How To Make Yourself Feel Good I’ve talked about how we can all feel a little down this time of year with lots of things affecting us like the weather, failed new year’s resolutions and credit card bills rolling in after Christmas. I’ve talked about how I really haven’t been myself lately.  I’ve also talked about how we can feel better, being positive about our situation, looking for the good in things and doing things that make us happy.

This weekend I’ve followed my own advice! I wanted to feel better! I’ve dared to dream about how I’d like the future to be! I’ve spent quality time with family. I wrapped up warm and went for a long walk on the beach. We think of visiting beaches in the summer when the sun is high in the sky and the temperature is hot but it’s actually quite nice to visit in winter. I love the beach at any time of the year! There’s not many people around, you can walk for miles, you have time to think, you can feel the wind in your hair, you can feel so free in the wide open space and the fresh air done me the world of good!

I actually went to bed last night with excitement bubbling away inside for the first time in a long time. The future can be bright if we dare to believe it!

Have you dared to dream? What are you doing to lift your spirits on this Blue Monday?

I hope Blue Monday becomes a turning point for you as it seems it has become for me. Thoughts that bring good feelings mean you are on the right track.

 

 

Let’s leave this Blue Monday behind and move on to brighter things

 

Inspiring Children

I wasn’t going to write a blog today but I just had to take the time to share this with you. It seems so appropriate after the last blog where I talked about being thankful for things in our lives and thinking positively about everything all around us. We traveled yesterday evening to spend some time with family and last night while we were all talking, eating and generally catching up, my three daughters got pens, crayons and paper off Nanny and begun to show off their creativity. A little while later  my 10 year old daughter came to me with her piece of paper that had a heading of Positive Things. I thought “This is interesting!’ As you can imagine this brought a little smile to my face and I settled back in my chair to read what she had wrote…

 

THE POSITIVE THINGS

 

LOVE

is when you are happy and you smile

and can’t live without someone

HOPE

when you wish and want something to happen when something is wrong

PAMPER

laying in the bath and relaxing and chilling out

BELIEVE

is when you trust someone and you feel comfortable and following you heart

 

CLOTHES

dresses  t-shirts

blouses  skirts

jeans  fabric

 

FOOD

egg beans & sausage

salad sandwich

LIFE

is when you have been born and have a healthy body

 

SLEEP

is when you relax and your body slows down and you suddenly fall quiet

 

ANGELS

are blessings and they have 2 wings and sometimes more

DREAM

is when you follow your heart and when you think of nice things

 

UNDERSTANDING

is when you know what things mean and you don’t forget

 

 

 

HAPPY

smiley, laughing, content

 

POSITIVE

when you are not thinking of bad things

and you think about good things

and you think straight

 

HEALTH

is when your body is well and you are on a balanced diet and you are NOT ILL

 

 

I was so impressed with this piece of art and fell in love with her words and understanding. Clearly lots of things Mammy was talking about had rubbed off on her and she wanted to be part of this positive message to the world. I had no idea that she had taken in and understood so much. She had put on paper what she thought these words meant and she had included lots of things close to her heart. My younger daughters had also been busy and creative and written me a story about a mermaid and had been filling pages with beautiful colours.

 

HOW INSPIRING CHILDREN ARE

 

 

 

 

How Can I Make Myself Feel Good?

If there’s one thing that writing my last blog taught me it’s that I’m not alone and it’s okay to feel a little down, it’s okay not to be myself sometimes, as long as I recognise what’s wrong and I do something about it.

So, what can we do about it? We have the winter blues and nothing feels right, how can we lift our spirits? It may just be the winter blues and we may not have any serious clinical depression but hey, it still feels pretty bad at times right? It can still feel like the end of the world…

Well let’s imagine that it’s not. In my experience there’s no harm in a little dreaming! Picture those things that you want and let your mind wander. Let yourself feel that you have these things that make you happy, those shoes that you seen last week, that handbag, that car, that X-Box, the holiday in the sun… Feel as though you really have them ‘right now’ in your life. Don’t get caught up on why you may not have them or how you can surely never have them, just let yourself dream and let that negativity go floating away.

Also a positive attitude helps! We can go on thinking the worst about our situation, our job, the people around us, the lack of money and keep on feeling miserable or we can make a choice to start to feel a little more positive about what surrounds us. Look for the good in things, ALWAYS look for the good in things however bad the situation may be. Let’s rest assured that however bad things may be right now they won’t be like that forever.

And what about being thankful for the things we have got? These days we’re so busy we don’t take the time to think of the good things, once you start to think you’ll realise that it’s not as bad as you first thought. It can make you actually smile again, if your children are healthy then be thankful for that, if you have a roof over your head then be thankful for that. Do you have good friends? An adorable pet? An amazing partner? You’ll probably end up with a pretty long list, longer than you thought it would be when you started! An attitude of gratitude goes a long way to making you feel good!

Finally what about pampering yourself? You needn’t spend a lot of money here, it could just simply be having an hour to yourself, taking a long hot luxurious bubble bath, taking a walk along the beach or in the woods. Maybe buying a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates or lighting those candles and cuddling up with a hot chocolate and a good book or letting your hair down and having a good night out with friends. It may be that you’ll take time go for a run, go to the gym, play a game of footy, remember exercise releases those feel good endorphins! What ever it takes then do it, you’re worth it. Always remember that. If you don’t have anyone else in your life to remind you of that then you need to tell it to yourself. Every day.

These things may seem simple but I can honestly say it makes a big difference if you take the time to do them. The trouble is remembering to do it! Stop for a second and think about how much running around you do for everyone else, in work, at home, for the children, for your parents, for everyone but you. Now it’s time to give something back to yourself.

Personally I can find it hard to think positive, at this time of year it doesn’t come naturally to me at all. If you’re like me then maybe this is a gentle reminder for you that you can do it and you will benefit from it. All I know is that when I do it then it works and I smile and I become me again! It’s freezing cold but a beautiful bright day out there today. As I write this I’m looking through the window and the sun is shining and the frost on the grass is sparkling in the sunlight, it’s almost like it’s winking at me! The tree branches are bare but it be won’t be long before spring arrives and everything turns a lush green again. I can’t wait to enjoy my garden again when the flowers are blooming and the barbecue is lit and the children are running free with our pet rabbit Tink at their feet! For some of us that’s all it takes for us to feel human again. Until then be gentle with yourself.

If you take just take one thing away from reading this today then I hope that it’s that you can

~ DARE TO DREAM ~