Transcendental Meditation

For many years I have been actively practising transcendental meditation.
This all started for me in the mid 1970’s when I wanted to know what all of the fuss was about as newspapers of the day were issuing warnings that it was a dangerous practise.
I felt that they were wrong and needed to find out for myself. 
To this day I have no idea where their fears came from, to my understanding they were incorrect.

I know that my practice of T.M. has benefitted me greatly over the years. My first gain was a sense of bliss which was a good experience. My mentor told me that was just the first rung and I needed to work beyond that, to get past the greedy ego. I recall feeling a bit disgruntled at the time for what seemed great to me was just swept away as if it was nothing. I know now that it was nothing
and merely like learning how to look into the mirror when first driving a car.

After a few years my mentor said “It is time now for you to deliberate on your own, for you do not need to consult with me.” Had that been said earlier it would have been a big wrench for me however, we both knew that the time was right for me to go forward alone.

My practice of morning and evening meditations every day of the year became second nature to me and still are. When necessary I can drop into that mode momentarily for it is a useful tool to aid concentration, as well as relieving stress and lowering blood pressure.

I also receive information regarding my inner self and have strengthened my intuition, which I have learnt to rely upon.
This learning is an ongoing quest, the more I have understood, the more I desire to know.
There are other attributes that one gains which I decline to share, for I believe that they need to be gained by each practitioner lest they become a target of egotism.


Today there is a similar exercise known as Mindfulness which has it’s base in T.M. from what I have learned it is a shortened version of 6 to 8 weeks with specific targets such as Behaviour and Relaxation etc. for which an expensive fee is charged. I do not endorse business.

The Dundalk Debacle Continues

the ex holding site.

I was hoping not to have had to post on this subject again. Unfortunately because of the lack of common sense and total inability to have one milligram of humanity within  All of the operatives of Louth County Council, I am doing so.

Here is the latest news on this inhuman debacle.

Families who are being evicted from the illegal halting site at Woodland Park in Dunkalk say that neither of the short-term solutions proposed by Louth County Council last night are workable.

A number of families met with an auctioneer appointed by the council this morning, however they say they were told no suitable accommodation was available. 
The Louth C.C. cunningly used this auctioneer to do their dirty work for them knowing fully well what the message was going to be;lets hope it was for more than just thirty pieces silver ?

The families have also raised concerns about proposals to relocate them to halting sites outside of Dundalk.

Their concerns include the distance from where their children are in school, isolation, the fact that families may be split up and that one of the halting sites will not be ready for a number of weeks.

Local solicitor Eleanor Kelly, who represents a number of the families, sent a letter to the council this afternoon highlighting her concerns and requesting further discussions.

Louth County Council said it is continuing to work with residents and representatives to meet their accommodation needs.

Meanwhile, the last of the mobile homes at the site are being voluntarily removed by residents.

The final mobile home will be removed tomorrow morning at 8am, while the second last home is being removed this afternoon. 

Louth County Council is accommodating five families in B&Bs until Friday.
The question is what happens next L.C.C. for these people are your responsibility ?

The buck stops here....

The manager of Louth Co Council 

Philomena Poole

To obtain a better understanding of the situation please read http://leargas.blogspot.ie

A FACIST ACTION IN LOUTH

On the day that Ireland defended its actions on the rights of children before UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. The barbaric Louth County Council took the opposite point of view and created unnecessary pain and suffering to Traveller Children.

Pavee Point calls on Environment Minister, Alan Kelly TD, to intervene as a matter of urgency to compel Louth County Council to provide alternative accommodation for 17 Traveller families evicted from a halting site in Dundalk today (15th January 2016)

The families were evicted from a Traveller local authority halting site that had been decommissioned by Louth County Council.

Pavee Point condemns these evictions as unnecessary and unwarranted. “This is one of coldest nights of the year and these people have no where to go,” said Martin Collins, Co Director of Pavee Point. “It is clear that Louth County Council has absolutely no concern for the health and safety of these families”

“Louth County Council has totally failed in its duty here. It has a policy of not providing Traveller Specific accommodation such as halting sites or group housing schemes,” said Martin Collins, “They are trying to force Travellers into social or private housing and this is in total breach of the 1998 Traveller Accommodation Act.”

“There is a demand for Traveller specific accommodation in Dundalk and these families are the living proof.

“These families have children at school in the town. Think how these children will be affected by this !

Pavee Point urges the Environment Minister to intervene to find a solution and make good undertakings that there would be no mass evictions of Traveller families as a result of fire safety audits on halting sites in the wake of the Carrickmines fire tragedy.

These evictions are confirming fears that Pavee Point had that local authorities would use the fire audits in a cynical way to evict Travellers.  It is important at this stage that Travellers engaging with the Environment Dept in its safety audit can have trust in this process.

Minister Kelly put a Community Initiative in place at his Department to deal with any issues around fire safety on Traveller halting sites and it is through this Initiative that any fire safety issues on sites should be dealt with.

January 15, 2016 at 7:45 pm

To my blog readers:
Just imagine how you would feel if your local authority were to rescind the planning permission on the house that you had lived in for years. Then arrived at your home, along with the police, on a very cold day in January to evict you.

Can you imagine how these people must feel?

Additional Information:-

Today, Eleanor Kelly, solicitor for six of the evicted families said the youngest family member is eight days old.
Four of the families stayed in B&B accommodation this weekend, while two others stayed with their families and friends.
“The youngest is eight days old, there are 17 families in total,”
“The difficulty is that they were given 48 hours to find alternative accommodation.”
She said she had been in contact with Louth County Council about the site at Woodland Park last August, but did not hear back from the council until last week when the families were being delivered 48 hours’ notice to be evicted.


A fire officer visited the site in October and deemed it to be a hazard.
“If there’s work to be done, there’s work to be done.” But she added: “I was in contact with the council last August”
“The ideal situation is to allow them to go to a halting site but there’s no other halting site in Dundalk.”
“These are Dundalk families, they want to be in Dundalk, but I’m aware the halting site in Drogheda is full anyway.”
The council met with Traveller representatives on Saturday to agree on temporary accommodation for the 17 families involved.


FOR LATEST INFORMATION PLEASE READ COMMENT NUMBER 22

Links:http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx
http://www.paveepoint.ie
http://www.childrensrights.ie
http://www.louthcoco.ie/en/Louth_County_Council

BETTY GOES ON....

BETTY

Here is Betty at 18 years young with 149,000 miles on the clock. She has just flown through the NCT (MOT) without any bother whatsoever, in fact she has never failed her road worthiness test in all the years we’ve had her.

Our Betty, named after an old aunt of mine who was a nonagenarian, is a 1998 Toyota Starlet 1330 cc and as lively now as she has always been.

Her driver now is Lady H who passed her driving test last year which is why we have a N plates front and back of the car. They will remain there for two years and indicate that the vehicle is being driven by a newly qualified driver.

Other road users and drivers of more modern cars are often surprised by her acceleration when we over take them, not that we make a habit of driving fast but the power is there when needed. We often have people stopping at the house, especially young men, wanting to know if we will sell her. Our answer is always “No” as Betty is far too useful to us.

When the back seats are folded down she becomes a mobile kennel for Toby our dog who often travels with us. He is carefully attached and restrained by the rear safety belts to prevent any injury to him, or to us, during an emergency stop.  He considers himself to be a rear seat guard dog barking at the cars behind when they get too close to us.

On sunny but windy days Betty becomes a reading room for Lady H who is always accompanied by her faithful Toby. 

Armed with a mug of tea and a book she has been known to spend an afternoon immersed in a good story surrounded by sunshine and birdsong.

Well now that Betty has clean bill of health we can look forward to sunny days and more adventures for me to tell you about.

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

I heard a noise, the clink of the post box lid. In fact it awakened me from my slumber and I thought “There ought not to be any postal delivery it being a Saturday" even though it is my 73rd birthday.

So I quickly threw on my dressing gown went outside and opened the box and this is what I found.

Not our correct address by any means. It is though our Otherworld address known by the good-people

I turned over the envelope to see who the sender was and sure enough it was from my friends in the otherworld.

Look they even have their own postal 

service too 

The front cover of the card.

 Inside is Hazel holding a heart

On the back he is waving goodbye.

This is one of the joys of having friends in

the otherworld.

Women's Christmas 6th January

Today is Women’s Christmas or Little Christmas which has many different names including ‘Nollaig na mBan’ in Irish. It has been a long-standing tradition in the West of Ireland, particularly in counties Cork and Kerry, when women celebrate the end of the Christmas season. The festive decorations are down, the long season of preparation and cooking is over and the women folk gather together to have a celebratory meal. Nollaig na mBan is also celebrated in Newfoundland which has a strong affinity with Ireland and in some states of the United States of America where the tradition was kept alive by Irish immigrants.

On this day it is the tradition in Ireland that men stay at home minding children & doing housework whilst the woman take it easy and celebrate together. In the past children bought or made their mothers and grandmothers presents to be given on this day, rather than Mother's Day. 

The fascinating thing about Nollaig na mBan is that, rather than dying out like so many other traditions, its popularity has begun to grow and it is now being celebrated across the country. Women in Dublin organize lunches for their women friends, the women of Offaly, Limerick, Laois , Sligo and Westmeath are meeting in their own homes for meals and gatherings. Women only ‘get-togethers’ are being organized all over the place and long may it continue!

Happy Nollaig na mBan (pronounced null-ag na man) to all readers!

To Followers and Readers

At midnight last night Mrs H and I went out into the front garden and held hands as we danced around the garden in total darkness singing Auld Lang Syne.

So to you my Followers and Readers my appreciation for your support over the past year
 I wish you all a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year !

So in your own different languages:

Bledhen Nowyth Da!

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

" S Novim Godom “

Bonne année !

Athbhliain faoi chaise duit

 Bliadhna Mhath Ùr

Happy New Year

Frohes knees Jahr

Gelukkig nieuwjaar

Onnellista gutta vuotta

Eutychismenos o kainourgios chronos

Szczesliwego Nowego Roku

Feliz año nuevo

La Multi Ani si Un An Nou Fericit

Felix sit annus nous

Boldog uj evet

Manigong Bagong Taon

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu

Sawatdee Pi Mai

Kul 'am wa ant bikhair

Urte Berri on