The Rock

I count to five.

Then I count to ten.

Every so often I open my eyes and turn around mildly concerned that a stray tourist was making their way through the woods behind me, but it’s just a breeze rustling over the fallen leaves and branches that have littered around the small clearing. I was safe on this side of the lake, no access other than from the lake itself, my kayak safely wedged against a small rock, the water too still to carry it away.

Each time I turn with my safety reconfirmed to face again across…

We are still locked down and Claremorris hasn’t drifted any further towards the sea, so I’m still reminiscing on pre-Level 5 surfing days. The sunny respite today from this strange series of storms reminds me of one of my last day’s out, and yet despite the fine weather, it wasn’t the best day for surfing. So it goes with these things, the worst days for the everyday are often the best days for more alternative pursuits, and vice versa.

It was to Enniscrone, my last trip over county borders before the arbitrary boundaries withdrew but before the full-on suffocation of…

There’s a brilliant passage in Anthony de Mello’s book Awareness, itself a brilliant book and highly recommended reading, where someone asks a guru (a legit spiritual teacher, not a ‘guru’) what he needs to reach enlightenment, or improve his life, or be a better person or something like that. One of those innocent questions one might enquire about to a religious or spiritual figure, especially if it’s being told to you in a story.

The guru simply replies ‘Awareness!’ The enquirer follows this up with further questions, logical enough follow-ups to get to the root of the issue: “Awareness of…

A note on the word ‘positive’. There’s an assumption many make that ‘positive mental health’ or ‘well-being’ are about being happy all the time, or expressing or feeling happy all the time, or ‘chilling out’ more. Which isn’t true. Or, that the concepts are have been cynically appropriated by corporations to make workers more efficient, under the guise of caring. This is probably true.

Such assumptions inspire feelings of resentment: there is genuine uncertainty and injustice in the world, and there is evil to be fought that is causing it, and how dare you tell me to just ‘stay positive’…

Carrowniskey — October First

The waves were big today.

Carrowniskey — Ceathrú an uisce — is Irish for ‘washing machine’. This isn’t true, but it’s what comes to mind any time I think of this beach. It lies out on the far fringes of west Mayo, where an uneven and shallow beach receives a large and unpredictable swell.

The relentless onward nudge of the waves blankets the shore quickly and repeatedly. They carry sizeable rocks with it with surprising force — each time pulling back and the lo, the assortment of hundreds of thousands of large stones has been rearranged…

I was listening to an interview with Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk recently ( well worth listening to by the way, Palahnuik is an interesting guy and his perspectives on creativity are always fascinating), where he talked about the effects of liminal events on people — these are culturally designated periods of change and transition, like Halloween, Christmas or New Year.

These traditional events often have long-reaching roots back in time. They mark periods of psychological change, often in tune with the cycles of nature (People may be more familiar with the antonym of ‘liminal’ — ‘subliminal’ — as in…

“One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Yesterday I talked about one often-overlooked tool we have for maintaining our mental health, perspective on the world, and sanity: small-talk.

Being alone is seen by many as a bad thing, and there has been much recent psychological research and focus on loneliness — a relative to depression, it’s the feeling of being socially isolated and disconnected.

Today I’d like to look at the other side of the coin that is being alone and removed from others: solitude. You can look at solitude…

Here we go again

So we’re facing into the strictest of lockdowns, and it’s just been announced that we’re not allowed to visit each other’s houses. We’re not even allowed (legally? No-one knows) step into our neighbour’s or our friend’s garden.

You can practice anything, including being alone. And I’ve practiced it quite a bit. Which isn’t to say it won’t be difficult for me. One important thing to remember about personal well-being is that positive and negative thinking, and feeling and experience should be looked at as two separate scales.

It’s possible to feel strong feelings of both at once, or to feel…