Welcome to Monday’s memory Lane where I share a post from before we came to know each other.
What does feeling confident mean to you?… Feeling Confident is…
I wish you a day filled with love, particularly self love, the kind that gives you the courage to be comfortable in your own skin!
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
May 12th was Fibromyalgia awareness day…
Welcome to my Fibromyalgia awareness day post… yes, a few days late! Why?
Simply because…
Fibromyalgia doesn’t play by the rules! It doesn’t respect you just because you plan to write a post for Fibromyalgia day…
Fibromyalgia is unpredictable and messes with your plans!
But, life still carried on and the world didn’t fall apart. So this is for all who live with Fibromyalgia as a companion …
Fibromyalgia is…
F athomless, it’s an
I illusive illness, that’s painful & perplex,
B oth ruthless and instructive,
R uins you
O r
M atures
Y ou,
A s it
L languishes or livens your soul;
G rab it to you, seek out its gifts
I nscribe your name on it, as you
A chieve your dreams & nothing less!
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
Today I realise that the Universe has a plan for us all. The reason behind this realisation is because today…
I brought home the beautiful print created for me by Philip Abang. Philip asked to take my words and use them as part of his project. I am so greatful for the beauty he has brought to my words. You can read how it came about here
I’m not good at identifying and setting goals. I’m more a ‘trust the Universe’ and a ‘let it happen’ type of person.The Universe is taking my little steps and reflecting them and more back to me. When I shared my first blog post I couldn’t have imagined that blogging would bring me to a much more positive place. A place where I’ve written over 300 posts some of which are part of a series on bullying and its impact on us as a family, with a focus on recreating a better life beyond bullying.When I started out I never thought about what time and a little blogging could open up to me.Now I know I only have to keep blogging, keep sharing and encouraging… the Universe will bring about the rest.
Le grà,
Marie xx
Welcome to Monday’s Memory Lane where I share a post from back before we came to know each other.
In this short post I considered the ties that are part of life and how best to set yourself free.
How do you feel today? How do you intend to feel tomorrow?
Le gra,
Marie xx
My writing has brought me through the best of times and the worst of times to a Spring of hope from a Winter of despair to paraphrase Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of two Cities.”
I’m breaking with my usual routine of sharing at the end of the week because, lets call a spade a spade, I have been let go again, unpaid, like every year, for 11 years now, for every holiday, from my teaching post until after the Easter holidays and so I get to spend time with my much loved and enjoyed family and writing instead of being with my much loved and enjoyed students, whose willingness to share their true selves with me… has brought me through the best of times and the worst of times to a Spring of hope from a Winter of despair!
And thanks to Paulas Light and her 3TC prompts for helping me to voice this…
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/74951/posts/2244712447
NAMELESS…
She might have thought
She got the sauce
When she retired
To a lush and early pension pot,
That Principal
With no principles or thought for
The children in her care,
Those innocent children, each a
Diamond, she was entrusted to polish
To bring them from the rough
To their most lustrous, luminous shine
She denied,
And so she left him,
unaided,
when he bravely told her
He was being bullied
Him, she left in no doubt,
That he was nothing;
NOTHING in her eyes
Far from a diamond,
Thanks to her cowardice…
“Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself”
As she said
Her damage, that depleated
The diamond of his right
To glow and shine,
Or brought his sister to the front of class
And belittled her grasp of maths
Until her peers laughed
Because of what as a
Principal and Teacher she had lost or
Worse still maybe never had..
But fear not
All is not lost,
Those diamonds
Once voiceless and violated
Have, thanks to the power of
LOVE
AND
LIGHT,
Found their inner sight and
Right to luminosity!
And fear not Mrs Principal
with no principles
Or thought for the children entrusted and dependant on your care,
For Face you will, the
Lynx that latently lies,
Lurking
Within
And your
Lush pension pot and early retirement
Will like the diamonds you failed to polish,
Quickly lose their shine and
Your demise will be one of unrelenting
SHAME…
You took our childrens childhood happiness by trampling on their cries for help,
whether it was the bullying you ignored or the bullying you perpetrated yourself
or the mental health implications,
You were implicit in creating or ignoring,
You crept inside our home
And you depleted
Our childrens childhood happiness
And bullied us, we now know, through their distress and left us unrequited…
But one day I know you’ll read this and you’ll realise, without a doubt, exactly who
You are
and what you’re made of,
And you’ll answer for it…
Have you been failed by the education system? Have you been bullied? Just know that I have your corner, I hear you and you are a true and beautiful Diamond and you are not alone!
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
It’s Paddy’s Day… it’s a special day…take time to paws and enjoy!
Much love & warm Irish wishes,
Marie xx
I wrote this post one morning as I really struggled to cope, to accept, to hope…ACCEPTANCE!
When I think back I can still recall how visceral my emotion was that morning.
We had struggled under the weight of both our children being victims of bullying and its short and long term consequences. We watched both our children suffer and we searched for answers to many questions…
With no avenues left to follow, sadly one day we were forced to accept that the situation was outside of our control. I recall the pain of frustration and of what felt like failure.
We offered it up to God, to the Universe, to the silent expanse of the countryside… We were exhausted, depleted and we knew we had to sit back and develop patience.
We tried to listen with love, we spoke with love and we encouraged with love. We learned to trust, to hope and to let go control. We let go our need to fix, our need for things to be as we thought they should be.
As I look back now, it’s amazing how acceptance, love and time changes things!
Hardly two years on, time has intervened…
With time, he re-tuned his body clock. He began to re-engage with life. His motivation to study slowly improved. He spoke of sitting his exams. We quietly encouraged him to do what he thought was best for him… And it worked!
He took back power over his own life. He regained his voice; the damage from bullying being slowly put behind him. He decided how he wanted his future to look…
Now reaching towards the end of his second term of college we see… that acceptance, love and time... was the key.
For our daughter, who continues to struggle with her mental health, a mischievous puppy named Andy may well be… the key!
If you’d like to follow their journey as Andy works to become the first Psychiatric Service Dog in Ireland and Emma resorts to training him herself, while continuing to lobby politicians; although losing hope that her months of requesting them to help her make this service available, will come to any fruition… then you can find them on Instagram @reallyhandyandy or on Facebook at Emma and Andy.
Has bullying impacted your life? What was the key to overcoming your challenge?
Much love,
Mindfully Marie xx
Hello Norway,
Welcome on board! And thank you…
Actually, I’d like to take a minute or two to thank everybody!
I won’t start naming Countries or individual names because you know I mean you, and all because you stopped in to visit and share such kind and encouraging words this past week, since Andy joined our family.
The thing is you will never know how much of a difference your words have made to both myself and Emma!
And of course to Andy…as you can see he’s under so much pressure!
Emma has just started an Instagram account and she would love you to visit her and Andy @reallyhandyandy where she will document and share their journey towards improved mental health and where she hopes to fulfill her dream and goal of paving the way towards the availability of Psychiatric Service Dogs in Ireland.
This post explains in more detail… Bullying & Beyond… 10.Painting the Pain, part two.
Do you have a dog or other amazing pet? What difference does your pet make to your life? Have you heard of Psychiatric Service Dogs?
With heartfelt wishes,
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
It has been just two weeks since I shared my last post in this Bullying & Beyond series. It is not an easy read and comes with a trigger warning. You might like to access it, to give you some background to today’s post… you will find it here… Bullying & Beyond… 10.Painting the Pain, part one.
Those past two weeks have been very challenging for our daughter as she tries to cope with her anxiety but she refuses to give in and her resilience is remarkable. She has been pressing political representatives and support organisations for many months to try and access the support of a Psychiatric Service Dog. Sadly in Ireland this support is unheard of. While there are guide dogs for the blind and companion dogs for autism, access to Psychiatric Support Dogs does not exist. To understand the whole area of Psychiatric Support Dogs, Emma has been busy educating and informing herself via books, online sites and Youtube and has decided to go it solo for the moment.
She hopes that in time and with the correct training Andy will be able to pre-empt the onset of panic attacks which are having a life limiting effect on her.
She has just started an Instagram account and she would love you to visit her and Andy @reallyhandyandy where she will document and share their journey towards improved mental health and where she hopes to fulfill her dream and goal of paving the way towards the availability of Psychiatric Service Dogs in Ireland.
Do you struggle with mental health issues? Do you have panic attacks? What do you know about Psychiatric Service Dogs? Do you know anybody who would benefit from reading this post, if so, please feel free to share.
Le grà,
Mindfully Marie xx
