Snow and Ice

I don't know why it's been a couple of months since I last blogged! Maybe I've been winding down with the year and getting into the doldrums of inactivity.... watching too much tele... not to mention too much eating and drinking!  I suppose that when I'm not travelling, with the excitement of new experiences and challenges, its all too easy to settle into a comfortable rut, although I quite like hibernating in my cosy room, like an old bear, as the days shorten and the temperature drops.

 The weather, meanwhile, has overcome us all, as you no doubt know and this picture was taken yesterday (Sat) on Llandudno Promenade.  Here by the sea, we never have it as bad as elsewhere and whatever snow falls rarely hangs around for long. However, this time it's stuck and frozen, as it has everywhere. Another Ice Age?

Lovely to look at but a pain to live with... sound like a relationship! Nevertheless, it does transform the landscape and affords beautiful pictures.

In training

I've been introduced to hospital radio by my new friend Marie and now I'm in training for one hour a week, learning how to use the controls and find the music on their computer system! This is voluntary and I'm loving it... writing my script, which includes subtle sugestions for reframing attitudes and playing old favourites... Sinatra, Ella, Nat King Cole and other jazz greats.

 This was my introduction, being interviewed by Marie last month. As yet we've had no feedback from the wards so I do hope someone is listening. Most patients now spend the minimum of time in hospital so its unlikely that the same people will be listening from one week to another.

Anyway... I trust its doing some good as I'm surreptitiously introducing the concepts of relaxation and EFT.

Autumn leaves

 A beautiful day out... visiting Bodnant Gardens... that's the famous Pin Mill and water lily pond.















Trees are beginning to put on their vibrant colours before the leaves fall... which reminds me of the poem by Jenny Joseph...

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
Witha red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

 I shall sit down on thepavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick al;ong the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other peoples' gardens
And learn to spit.
 ............................................................
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Love that!

The view from the top of the Sychnant Pass looking down to the Menai Straits... quite spectacular.

Revisiting memories in the Lakes

I've been very lackadaisical about keeping up this blog, although I always enjoy writing about my experiences, so here's a recent update. At the beginning of the month I joined my lovely sister on our annual holiday and enjoyed the last few days of an Indian Summer (without going to India!) in Cumbria... otherwise known as the Lake District.


It's many years since either of us visited here, but as Lancashire lassies, we have wonderful memories of trips to the Lakes with our parents, so this was a nostalgic revisiting of many familiar places... Keswick, Ambleside and Borrowdale, where we found the Bowder Stone, balanced on edge, where I'm sure we used to be able to shake hands from each side at the base... but not now!

We had some lovely sunny days, but as always, some cloud and rain, which only adds to the particular quality of this mountainous county.

We were based near Keswick, which has its own charm. The Museum is exactly as I remember it, with the amazing musical instrument of Slate keys, which the inventor played before Queen Victoria. When I spent my first honeymoon here, the ancient curator played it for us, which inspired my musical husband.
The week flew by but it was a holiday to treasure, as we realised how much we appreciated our parents' love of the countryside and enthusiasm for walking and exploring by bus and train, as in those days we had no car. Not such a bad upbringing.

Summertime... and the weather is... WET

Well, it rained on Saint Swithin's Day and true to form it's hardly stopped raining since. We did manage a Birthday picnic for Julie and Rich and the sun even made a brief appearance. So a good time was had by all!

I feel for the many families who choose to holiday in this country and recall camping experiences with my own young family so many years ago!

Caught in a sudden squall on the cliff-top camping site above Whitby, we all had to hang onto our frame tent to stop being blown away, which happened to other unoccupied tents.And Julie, who was wet, experienced a mild shock when she touched the metal pole.

On another memorable holiday with family and friends in bonnie Scotland we were literally blown out of Glen Coe at 10.0'clock at night, when a sudden wind riccoche'd (?) around the surrounding mountains. Sitting in our converted ambulance nursing a seriously sprained an ankle, (which happened while taking a short walk) I watched as the large frame tent, in which the young men and boys were bedding down for the night, suddenly disappeared, leaving a couple of young men standing in their underpants and the younger ones struggling in their sleeping bags, wondering what had happened!  The tent was recovered, but as night descended there was nothing for it but to bundle everything and everyone into the two vans and head south, braving the fierce gale that was bringing down branches from the trees. We stopped once, in eerily deserted Glasgow, to use public toilets, but as dawn broke over the Lake District, magically the sun broke through and we completed our holiday with tent repaired, in brilliant weather!

And the moral of this story? (There always has to be some moral for me.) So how about this one? Behind every cloud is a silver lining.
It gave us all a memorable experience and something to chuckle about ever since!

Memories are the glue that hold friends and families together and shared stories form strong emotional bonds; whether loving and joyful or unhappy and fearful.
My work in helping those with emotional issues is often through re-forming those memories and and releasing the bonds that have held them back and this is more easily achieved with EFT... the Tapping solution.
See www.patricia-wynne.co.uk for more information.

EFT at Findhorn

On the road to The Isles... Loch Tummell.

Julie shared the long drive with me to bonnie Scotland to visit Findhorn, a Spiritual/ Personal Development centre that we've known about for years, but never managed to visit until now.


While she stayed at the Findhorn community in The Park, near the small and pictureque fishing village of Findhorn, I had accommodation at Cluny Hill College, a very large, former plush hotel that now hosts many courses throughout the year.

I was there for a four day course i n EFT and what a great course we had, due in a very large degree to EFT Master, Rue Hass, who came from the US to impart her perspective on the Highly Sensitive Person. The setting was impressive, the group enthusiastic and I really appreciated the opportunity to experience Rue's inspiring approach to EFT.

Wisdom

I was interested to read in the Daily Telegraph last Friday, that according to the latest research, WISDOM comes from the brain slowing down in old age, making us elders less impulsive and driven by emotion. We may not hear so well either, so can take our time ponder over responses instead of simply reacting. If younger people get impatient with our lack of fast repartee, it's so they can learn patience, which is a great virtue!

Some have commented on my title of 'wisewoman' as being somewhat egoic, which I really must refute. What I aim for, in the words of this popular saying, is... to have the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change... the Courage to change the things I can... and the Wisdom to know the difference... and I believe that comes with maturity, whatever one's age.

'Wisewoman' is really a tongue-in-cheek reference to my business logo of the wise old owl. During the many years of my life I've learned much from study, training and life experience, which I'm able to pass on to help others if I can and that is my passion in life!!! Actually, I'm often not very wise at all, but don't tell anyone I said so.

Any comments will be gratefully received... to add to my wisdom... :)