little things

Keep your eye on the ball!

| Mairead

21 8c

(My Dad’s garage and petrol pumps in the 1960’s)

My Dad had a saying “Keep your eye on the ball.” It probably comes from his days teaching young lads to play hurling, encouraging them to  look at the ball while they raise the hurley to hit it. He used it with us kids to tell us to stay focused on what we were supposed to be doing. Like the customer service competition….

21 8b

(Hoare Abbey near the Rock of Cashel)

My Dad had a garage and petrol pumps and sometime in the 1960’s or early 1970’s there was a competition between all the Esso garages to find the one with the best customer service. This was a time when there were pump attendants and the customer never needed to even step out on the forecourt to have the tank filled. My brother and I were working on the pumps in the summer time so we were included in the training for the competition. We were trained to give the customer a nice experience. I’m sure Esso had a vision of creating great service in all their garages… my Dad’s vision was to win the competition.

 

(Our playground as kids)

This week in Ireland petrol prices will top €1.70 per litre, you’ll have to fill your own tank and no one will offer to clean your windscreen. Back then you could fill your tank with £10, pump attendants were the norm and they were friendly by nature. But this competition focussed that natural friendliness. By the end of the training my brother and I had a clear goal – happy customers. It started as soon as we saw a car approach. We guided them to the front-most pump (so that the second pump would be clear for another great customer experience). We smiled and greeted warmly. We talked about the weather, the traffic (only heavy on a GAA match day) we inquired whether they needed help with the route to their destination. But most important we asked if they wanted their oil and water checked or maybe their windscreen washed. Usually they said no thank you but it was clear they were happy to be asked. Happy customer.

For that summer we kids kept our eye on the ball and we won every time we created a happy customer. Our Dad kept his eye on the prize… and he won the competition! In fact I think he won it at least twice!

Keep your attention on what you want, Mairead.

Ps and if you don’t know what you want, keep you attention on discovering what you want…

Hit the nail… not the thumb!

| Mairead

20 8c

(Love my little empty frame)

I was hanging some picture frames on the kitchen wall yesterday. I think it took me two hours but the time flew and my mind wandered to thoughts of “noticing what’s right“, again. Putting my attention on what’s wrong is like hitting my thumb with a hammer…. when what I want to do is hit the nail.

 

20 8b

(Some of my finished wall… Look Nolene it’s your painting!)

We’ve all had the experience of hammering a nail into a wall. When I was being shown first by my Mum or my Dad, I can imagine I was hyper excited to get the hammer into my hands. It looked so easy and such fun, whacking a bit of metal and making loads of noise. I held the nail in one hand and the hammer in the other and took a big swing… and hit my thumb!

 

 20 8a

(Hit the nail, hit the nail!)

 

From that moment on it was no longer fun… I watched my thumb like a hawk and each time I aimed for the nail I was looking at my thumb. Of course I hit it again. After that first lesson it took me a while to go back to hammering a nail and it never seemed as much fun….

20 8d

(Hen picture… Look Ciara it’s the charity shop frame!)

Put your attention on the nail – the thing you want to hit! That might be good grades, or good health. It might be a life purpose or employment. It might be a holiday or friendship or even peace. If you continuously worry (i.e. think about) the opposite – bad grades, ill-health, lack of purpose, unemployment, no holiday, no friends, war – then that’s what you’re aiming for.

 

You don’t want that do you? Mairead.

 

The Walking Machine…. another gadget or a guru?

| Mairead

16 8a

(Collage)

We have a walking machine, we’ve had it about six months now. Having one doesn’t contribute to good health but using one might… I’ve started using it. It has an added benefit of allowing my mind to drift away and have some interesting non-worrying thoughts. Yesterday I was walking along when something popped into my head about noticing the stuff I do that’s ok.

29 6e

(Notice the pretty patterns… instead of the peeling paint)

Usually when the drift away thoughts come into my head they’re in the form of a big picture concept. Like a collage and it takes a little time to look at all the details in the big picture. After that it’s possible to unravel the concept in order to talk about it. I’m unravelling it this morning. In normal life we have the tendency to notice what’s wrong. With the weather, the newspaper article, the dinner, the artwork. Sometimes in our work it’s necessary to notice what’s not right, in order to fix it, make it right. So when we consider ourselves we use the same logic – notice what’s wrong in order to fix it.

29 6f

(Notice something beautiful about this picture)

Other people help us in this work – they notice what’s wrong and they tell us! But I’m not so sure this works well… Mark Twain said If you always do what you always did, You’ll always get what you always got!  So it might be useful to try something different. My big picture was… What if I began to notice what was right? What if I ignore (for a certain period of time) what’s wrong and notice what’s right?

What’s right with you? Mairead.

We found the perfect rice cooker!

| Mairead

14 8b

(Sky over Strangford Lough)

From time to time we buy gadgets and I don’t mean the computer type of gadgets, I mean the kitchen ones. For a time these beauties take pride of place on the kitchen counter but eventually one by one they all make their way to the back of the larder. We always have very good reasons to buy them in the first place. They promise to cook food in a healthy way (the steamer and the George Foreman), they promise to help prepare healthy food (the instant shredder/dicer and the food processor), they promise to make a particular yummy food (the bread maker and the smoothie maker). But no matter how excited we are about the potential outcome, the journey to the back of the larder is always their destiny.

14 8d

(View from our boat trip)

The latest to make the journey to the larder spent about eight weeks on the counter, a relative short time when you consider the smoothie maker’s eighteen months. It was the instant shredder/dicer, a beautiful and colourful piece of engineering. In fact it’s attractiveness was probably the reason it remained in view so long, but it had a flaw – it didn’t instantly shred or dice. It squashed and spat. If you’ve ever bought a gadget that didn’t do what it was supposed to then you will know the sinking feeling of regret. Your dreams dashed and yet you have some hope so you keep it on the counter. Until the next gadget finds its way into you home.

14 8e

(Island on Strangford Lough)

We were on that cycle again this week but something different happened. We were looking for the next gadget  – a perfect rice cooker. We had begun the research and had visited a kitchen gadget shop. Although their model was attractive we have been fooled by beauty too recently so we took a step back and went home to the internet. Well, there’s a lot to read about rice cookers but mainly they allow for the steaming of rice. Steaming…. a memory floats back into consciousness, don’t we have a steamer in the back of the larder?

15 8a

(Flowers in the garden at Mount Stewart)

We put the beautiful gadget into the larder and pride of place on the kitchen counter goes to… our old steamer and surprise, surprise it steams rice perfectly. Not as pretty as the last occupant but it keeps its promise – to steam.

I think I’ll have another look at the bread maker, Mairead.

Princess Affreca and my new hens.

| Mairead

7 8j

(We travelled the peninsula and the lough)

We went to Northern Ireland for the weekend to visit friends (Hi Naomi and Liam!) They were excellent travel guides and packed a lot in – including a picnic. I’ve grabbed a map from Wikipedia to show you where we went. Even though it’s only three hours away from our house I had never been to this part of Ireland and it is truly beautiful. Our friends live less than thirty minutes from Belfast but we didn’t visit the city… this time.

07 08a

We began Saturday morning in a pottery for a breakfast of scones and coffee! Yes, I know how great! There were plain scones and fruit scones and rhubarb scones and another type of scones, possibly almond, all yummy. It was here I spotted my new hens. Yes I have hens. It was a difficult decision but… I bought a cereal bowl with hens on it and a plate with a cockerel.

7 8i

Then we set off to visit Grey Abbey a Cistercian abbey in the town of Greyabbey. The abbey was founded in 1193 by a princess called Affreca, her father was King of the Isle of Man. She was married to John de Courcy who ruled most of this area at the time. Anyway, she had a rough sea crossing from the Isle of Man and set up the abbey in thanks for a safe landing. On the way in we met Stephen, the guide to the Physic Garden, so he gave us a quick tour. I thought this might be something to do with mind reading but no… it’s to do with healing.

7 8b

There were lots of gardens at the abbey which were mainly tended to by the lay monks. As well as orchards and kitchen gardens there would have been the physic or medicinal garden. Stephen was very informative and funny and I now recognise some herbs from my own garden that I thought were weeds! By the way, if your roses are bothered by green-fly, then Calendula (also good for liver problems, insect and snake bites) attracts hoverfly who in turn eat green-fly. If you become overrun with hoverfly then let me know and I can give you Stephens’s number. After the garden we had a look at the abbey and the interpretative center.

7 8k

(Calendula, English Marigold, loved by hoverflies)

More from Grey Abbey tomorrow, Mairead.

Pause…. now, have a look at that thing you did….

| Mairead

30 7a

(Seagull, taking a pause in Bath)

I was digging in the garden yesterday and my project is very close to completion. You might remember the garden was overrun by weeds and I wondered how I might clear it? Turns out clearing it one step at a time works! At the moment though it looks very bare and I almost miss the green of the weeds… There’s a layer of weed control membrane and pink-grey stones, soon it will need some pots and colours, but not today. Today my body is aching and it may be a little time before I return to the land. In the meantime I can enjoy just looking at the stones…

30 7b

(Taking a pause looking at the sea in the ferry)

This looking got me thinking about all the times I’ve completed something and I didn’t take time to appreciate it or me for the completion. Take something as simple as cooking dinner, when it’s cooked we eat, we clear away and we go onto the next thing to do. When I finished school I went straight into exams and then worried about getting into college. Last night I had a dream that I was back doing those exams! When I finish posting this blog I will get my breakfast and go straight to my to-do list.

30 7c

(Pausing to look at the coffee in 3fe, Dublin)

Maybe not today. Today, I will remember something I learned a long time ago on a mindfulness course. It was about pausing between tasks. When one thing is done, pause, before beginning the next. When you do this there’s a chance you notice you have done something and you prepare yourself to begin something new. Noticing that I have done something gives me a sense of completion. Completion is nice!

You’ve come to the end of reading, pause……. Mairead.

The sun always shines… even if we can’t see it.

| Mairead

26 7a

(Shadows)

Would you believe, it’s very sunny today? It is! It’s not very hot and there are a few black clouds on the horizon but overhead the skies are blue and the summer shadows are very pretty. I was thinking that it’s only when the sun shines that we see those shadows and then we can choose to sit in a cool shadow or sit in warm sunshine. When the sun is behind the clouds we only have the shadows and it seems like the sunshine is gone for good.

26 7b

(Shadows)

It reminds me of the Hero’s Journey. How we’re all on a journey (or journeys) throughout our lives. Just like the hero we have to deal with difficulties on the ground, we have to fight battles or maybe even save maidens, but those bits are not the only story. The big story can only be seen from way up high, in the sky-view. Sometimes we get stuck in the ground view and we can’t see the bigger picture, we can’t see our beauty. We can’t see our sun shining behind the clouds.

26 7c

(Shadows)

When I was a young parent, I was very stuck in the ground view. In the nappies, in the crying, in the doctor’s visits, in the tedium. I thought my life would always be this way, the sunshine gone for good. I rarely saw the beauty of my hero. Whether you are a parent or an aunt, an uncle, a grandmother, a grandfather, a daughter, a son, a niece, a nephew or completely alone in the world, you are a hero and you have a hero role and it’s always there. Whether the sun shines or not, whether you are stuck in the mundane or not, you are always a hero.

Wear your hero hat, Mairead.