Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Not an awful lot, clearly Around four months ago, maybe less, I agreed to do a half marathon. Because someone asked me. Yes, run all thirteen miles. Now, this was when I was running not very much... so this made me think, yes, I have to start training for this... and all through the summer hols in Singapore I ran. Around 25 minutes, 30 minutes a day. This is the actual amount of time which I enjoy running. Maybe another ten minutes, but this is the happy place. I do the run, very slowly and then I go home and do some sit ups and I feel great. Since returning to Ireland, more than a month ago, I stopped drinking alcohol. I have kept to that. Not a single drop. No wine, no beer, certainly no whisky or gin. Nothing. The net result of this has been slow by discernible weight loss and feeling much better all round. It is still a novelty to me. I'm sure it will all wear off, but until it does... well, I will probably keep blogging about it.  Anyhow, I am a lot fitter tha...

I promised a photo for each blog post ... and the easiest thing are photos of me... This morning - well 2.30 am this morning - I was writing in my journal, when I noticed something very odd. The aches and pains which I had complained about yesterday had weirdly disappeared. To be honest, I had noticed that things were not so achey earlier in the evening but made nothing of it and then when I was lying in bed and scribbling I noticed that my hip, the right hip which I had been living with and resigned myself to surgery in fifteen years time, had suddenly just sort of sorted itself. It was GONE. The sockets of my arms which had been sore all of last week were now fine, and finally, my back was also no longer in pain. OK, so one of two things: first, my body has acclimatised to the exercise, which can't be true because I had these aches BEFORE i started exercising. The other thing, the exercise has sorted the aches and pains - and probably losing weight has also helped. Carryin...

Having a clean house does that to you Today, after my run in Belvoir, I got down to doing the kitchen. I roped Ghin in, and then Oisin. It went more quickly and it was also fun. I organised the pots and pans and the spice and sauces area and then the plastic containers and then the cups and glasses. I also got some laundry done. It took me about three hours... or maybe it was two and a half. In any case, by the time it was all done, I was delighted. Tonight we are having vegetarian nut roast with sweet potato fries, creme fraiche and salsa salad. I washed, wiped, threw things away - when I told Oisin to clear away the blue bin recycling box he was, Already? Yep, I said, throw it away. Recycling took place today. There is nothing QUITE like having a semi organised kitchen. The drawers are still amess but it is a start. Most satisfying was organsing the pots and pans. Ghin was... wow... at first it looks like you have thrown things away but actually you have just organised eve...

Well last week has now gone. Here we are sitting in the dying hours of Saturday and I have managed to tidy the house. The best thing about the last three weeks... things ... running. I am now running almost everyday and I am now swimming on Mondays and Fridays. Yesterday when I got to the pool and began my laps it was simply amazing - I hit the waters and went on for 1 km. Yep, that's a 1 km swim. So the running and the swimming PLUS not drinking, that all adds up to dropping a dress size in three weeks. Yesterday someone asked me, do you miss it? I said, yes I do but I tell you what's really nice is feeling bone tired and thinking that it is related to alcohol, it is feeling like you have no sugar in your tank, it is not exhaling alcohol fumes, it is being clear headed, it is being able to be present and enjoy the moment... it is all those things and more - and when I have alcohol, it is a temporary thing. And I did think to myself, well i COULD have it for the weekend, but ...

The oak grove Last week it was very hard to get up at 5 am. Especially since I was soooo tired from the first week of school. It was easy to get up for the run. I love running now every morning.... but to get up to write, that was tough. I forgot how difficult it was to set a time, stretch and get over the pull of the warmth of bed, and then extricate myself from the tangle of bedsheets and do something as mundane as WRITE. Then I decided to frame the 5 am writing appointments in a different, but true way. Somewhere I read, Steiner said this, create a gentle routine for yourself. IF you say you are going to do something every day at a certain time, do it. This is an appointment you make with your angel and your angel will show up everyday, don't let it down. Show up for your angel. I am on very good terms with my angel. He has protected me a million times over a million times. My angel is one of the most vigilant, overworked angels in the angel system. So I should at least be...

It's amazing what the hair does for you So I promised myself that I'd get my hair done again when I got back. What did I wait so long for? I think that not drinking and running has made me feel much better about myself. If i am being perfectly honest, over the past six months I have been a bit in hiding. Not really felt like being noticed. I couldn't tell you why exactly, but it was probably a combination of being very busy and just not really paying any attention to the way I felt. Outwardly. BUT THEN... well Eugene Schwarz said, this is the year you have to dress up for the children. Dress up for the students. Wear something nice, do up your hair, wear make up, make the kids know that you are part of the real world too. And so, I said, ok, it is just as well he suggested it. That motivated me into getting the exercising done and my hair done this week. And man, I think i forgot that I was not a bad looking lady. Three colours were put into the hair Capri b...

Greek Sybil - Class Seven's door based on Michaelangelo Well, that was a day and a half. And it went so well. After all that prep... and suppose that is why we do all that prep huh? I am feeling quite emotional. I was supposed to go swimming this afternoon, but instead i cam home cos Ghin has an injured eye and I can't take him swimming with me. Tomorrow we start with perspective drawing. God I am utterly tired out but also hyped up. It is all that adrenaline that comes from having a good first day. Absolutely beautiful weather. Our long hot summer has extended into an Indian one. The air is muggy and cool., which makes it very pleasant. I just wish it could be like this forever. I settled in the class today and then after that we did some singing and some hard craft while I did gardening with the little ones. I forgot how small they are. To me my babies are my babies. But also my very grown up ones. I am DYING for some meat. I think I need to cut down meat con...

Today's picture is a Turnstone Well it has been a week and bit since I returned from the Singapore. Compared to Singapore Northern Ireland is a sort of very quiet, idyllic rural paradise - and I'm talking about Belfast here. If the politicians could only see the hot complicated project that Singapore is, they would hang their heads in shame. If people here saw how hard the construction workers and maids worked there, they would be grateful and maybe make more of their lives. Sometimes when I return from Asia, I wonder what is wrong with people here. The lives which people lead in Asia are immeasurably more difficult due to the lack of human rights, safeguards, lands... and also sheer craziness. Of course now with the advent of the right-wing mania, Europe is looking less pleasant and Asia more so. But by and large, human beings... I was prepping for my class yesterday, as I have been doing now for the past week or so. So, this has been the past week. I have exercised e...