Stay Positive & Look on the Bright Side
This is the time when we have time to do the things we told ourselves we did not have time to do.
A hardback copy of former Taoiseach Sean Lemass’s biography by John Horgan has been on my bookshelf for twenty years. Over these years, I have picked it up numerous times and promised to read it, but never did.
This week I am well into the book, which is bringing back memories of conversations with my mother about her growing up in Enniscorthy and being shot at from the Castle, when coming from mass on Bloody Sunday (1920) as an eight-year-old child and remembering her older sister of eleven, telling her to jump up and let the bullets pass under their feet, as they ran home.
I also remember her stories of smuggling messages inside her bicycle pump, given to her by her Father when passing through checkpoints during the Civil War.
Another thought that struck me was listening to the hundred-year-old lady on the radio recently who could remember hearing her Grandparents talk about living through the Famine in 1840.
We’ve come through tough times as an Island Nation, and we will come through tough times again.
Our current difficulties are now starting to hit home, as we personally know people who’ve been touched by the virus.
Yet, my thought is that we have been given good advice by caring people and in taking their advice, the majority of us will come through, well and healthy.
The Monty Python song says, ‘Always Look on ‘the Bright Side of Life’.
It’s advice I take; I suggest you do the same.
So, make the best of this time to get fitter, read some good books and the occasional poem. Try out some new recipes and have the occasional glass or two of your favourite tipple.
Personally, I am enjoying having the time to do all of the above, along with a little DIY. I am feeling more rested, as a result of not running hither and thither.
In the television show ‘Home of the Year’, the homeowners are asked to identify their favourite spot in their home. They identify this area by placing a red disc a the spot.
I am sitting in what I call my creative chair and my favourite spot (which is an old wingback chair, see photo above) while writing this article.
In the next few days or so, why not find a spot in your home, where you can be creative and take time to benefit from the opportunity that life has thrown up?
I would love to hear how you are adjusting to our new situation and the advice you may wish to pass on to me and others.
Please forward on this article to friends/colleagues who you think may enjoy it.
