Friday, 1st May was National Well-Being Day. My workplace provided loads of well-being courses/webinars to sign up for on-line. I took advantage of as many as possible. At 10 am, we had an interactive workshop on ‘Resilience’ with Pat O’Leary. Pat described ‘resilience not so much as a trait that you’re born with but more of a process that you develop as you go through life.’ Resilience is not necessarily about bouncing back to your original state, it is also about developing the skills to move forward and emerge as a different person with the qualities to pull yourself through a challenging time. Resilience is that ability to access those qualities within us to help us move from our current situation to a desired situation. When you widen the comfort zone to allow for increased flexibility, you shift the curve of suffering towards flourishing and well-being. Pat told us that the first step to doing this is to anchor yourself. The breath is a good starting point as it is always with you. By focussing on the breath, it anchors the mind in the present moment as you ask yourself ‘What is going on for me right here, right now.’
At 11.30 am, Dr Eithne Hunt gave us a 45-minute talk on Self-Care and Self-Compassion. Dr Hunt told us that self-compassion is the antidote to self-pity. I took notes. The benefits of meditation practice is that you are less likely to ruminate. When you practice mindfulness, you come to realise you are not alone in your suffering and by practising self-compassion, you are equipping yourself to be kinder to yourself which then acts as a buffer for your mental health. Dr Hunt explained that mindfulness is the acceptance of the experience itself and self-compassion is being kind to yourself while you are going through that experience. She urged us not to clench, resist or fight what is happening but to lean into it and allow it to be there. By doing this, you are then putting yourself in a better position to deal with what is in front of you. Dr Hunt described the inner voice of self-criticism as, “When we criticise ourselves, we are both the attacker and the attacked.
At 1.10 pm, we had yoga with Karen Mortell. I moved with my laptop to my bedroom so I could lie down. Karen showed us that when you lie down and flop your feet to the sides, this enables the hips to open up and is a good counter exercise for sitting at a desk all day. When you lie absolutely still, your body is signalling to your brain that it wants to slow down, and the brain responds. If you synchronise your breathing through your nose while moving your arms slowly from the sides of your body to over your head until you touch the floor behind, this has the effect of slowing down your parasympathetic nervous system which in turn lowers your stress levels.
At the end of this perfect morning, I felt well enough in myself to call to my friend Kathleen and pick up the lettuce seeds from her husband Leo. I slathered on the factor 50. There were white streaks all over my face which refused to blend. Even my bandages were covered in white cream. I needed a hat. A balaclava would have been perfect. Son (22) lent me a baseball hat in tasteful mint green. It matched my t-shirt, but it kept sliding off to the side as it was too big. Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun. Leo and I sat in his front garden under the 2 0’clock sun discussing seeds and skin cancer. He uses cream on his but it’s only available on prescription. He told me that while the cream treatment is non-invasive, it takes weeks to work and, in the meantime, it causes the skin to flare up and become very itchy.
I then walked to my mother's house to deliver the seeds. She was delighted. While I was there a neighbour named Mary called to the door and dropped off a bucket of surplus plants from her garden. I told my mother of my hat woes; she promptly gave me hers saying it didn’t suit her anyway. It has a full brim, it’s not wide but it covers the top half of my face. It’s navy, I’d prefer white and it has ‘Jerusalem’ embroidered on it. Hubbie said, “People will think you’re a religious nut.” It can’t be helped; I’m wearing it until the shops open again.
That evening, we all listened to Leo’s speech after the 6.01 news about lifting the restrictions. From Monday, he’s extending the travel limit from 2 km to 5km. Oh, how we cheered. That means we can cycle/walk the fat arse mile between the Rochestown Inn, and Blackrock Castle and I can meet my sister halfway. Leo went on to explain the five stages of phasing out the restrictions. It looks like I won’t be going back into my physical place of work until August. My Vipassana retreat booked for June in Galway is out and my back up for the retreat in Drogheda in July is also out. Maybe I could do my own at home.
I spent the rest of the evening lying on a couch in my sunroom – with my back to the sun – listening to Amy & Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout, the book club choice for May on Audible. I fell asleep of course.
At 11.30 am, Dr Eithne Hunt gave us a 45-minute talk on Self-Care and Self-Compassion. Dr Hunt told us that self-compassion is the antidote to self-pity. I took notes. The benefits of meditation practice is that you are less likely to ruminate. When you practice mindfulness, you come to realise you are not alone in your suffering and by practising self-compassion, you are equipping yourself to be kinder to yourself which then acts as a buffer for your mental health. Dr Hunt explained that mindfulness is the acceptance of the experience itself and self-compassion is being kind to yourself while you are going through that experience. She urged us not to clench, resist or fight what is happening but to lean into it and allow it to be there. By doing this, you are then putting yourself in a better position to deal with what is in front of you. Dr Hunt described the inner voice of self-criticism as, “When we criticise ourselves, we are both the attacker and the attacked.
At 1.10 pm, we had yoga with Karen Mortell. I moved with my laptop to my bedroom so I could lie down. Karen showed us that when you lie down and flop your feet to the sides, this enables the hips to open up and is a good counter exercise for sitting at a desk all day. When you lie absolutely still, your body is signalling to your brain that it wants to slow down, and the brain responds. If you synchronise your breathing through your nose while moving your arms slowly from the sides of your body to over your head until you touch the floor behind, this has the effect of slowing down your parasympathetic nervous system which in turn lowers your stress levels.
At the end of this perfect morning, I felt well enough in myself to call to my friend Kathleen and pick up the lettuce seeds from her husband Leo. I slathered on the factor 50. There were white streaks all over my face which refused to blend. Even my bandages were covered in white cream. I needed a hat. A balaclava would have been perfect. Son (22) lent me a baseball hat in tasteful mint green. It matched my t-shirt, but it kept sliding off to the side as it was too big. Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun. Leo and I sat in his front garden under the 2 0’clock sun discussing seeds and skin cancer. He uses cream on his but it’s only available on prescription. He told me that while the cream treatment is non-invasive, it takes weeks to work and, in the meantime, it causes the skin to flare up and become very itchy.
I then walked to my mother's house to deliver the seeds. She was delighted. While I was there a neighbour named Mary called to the door and dropped off a bucket of surplus plants from her garden. I told my mother of my hat woes; she promptly gave me hers saying it didn’t suit her anyway. It has a full brim, it’s not wide but it covers the top half of my face. It’s navy, I’d prefer white and it has ‘Jerusalem’ embroidered on it. Hubbie said, “People will think you’re a religious nut.” It can’t be helped; I’m wearing it until the shops open again.
That evening, we all listened to Leo’s speech after the 6.01 news about lifting the restrictions. From Monday, he’s extending the travel limit from 2 km to 5km. Oh, how we cheered. That means we can cycle/walk the fat arse mile between the Rochestown Inn, and Blackrock Castle and I can meet my sister halfway. Leo went on to explain the five stages of phasing out the restrictions. It looks like I won’t be going back into my physical place of work until August. My Vipassana retreat booked for June in Galway is out and my back up for the retreat in Drogheda in July is also out. Maybe I could do my own at home.
I spent the rest of the evening lying on a couch in my sunroom – with my back to the sun – listening to Amy & Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout, the book club choice for May on Audible. I fell asleep of course.
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