Lockdown story

Random lockdown thoughts

By William T Ahern

I am a OAP, have COPD and am in a wheelchair so am considered vulnerable to the current virus. My social life is a weekly trip to the supermarket. This current lockdown has even denied me this outing.

I have a good working brain, am fully independent in all aspects of personal care and am in good general health. My continuous prayer is that I continue in this situation. I am supremely happy.

Writing and books play a huge part in my life. During the last lockdown I wrote a researched article on Fr. Mathew and sent it to the Holly Bough. I did not make the final cut and on viewing the contents of this year’s magazine think that my effort was too academic and did not match the general tone of the articles published. The project kept me busy and meant that I was able to look back on a satisfying day at bedtime and sleep soundly.

At the moment I am planning an article on yawning. It is at the advanced research stage and I hope to start writing it soon.

I love books and in normal times a trip to town had to include a visit to a bookshop. Two or three volumes are brought and added to my already bulging shelves. These new items may be read in the following days or stored until later. I have books which are unread for years. I needed a method of being able to find any book and have filling system where each item is stored by subject.

Spirituality and the soul have always fascinated me and there are several books on this subject on my shelves. The human form is made up of the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual and it is now recognized that each plays a part in the well-being of the person.

Mindfulness is a popular form of spiritual - psychological exercise and is now being taught to those people leaving Irish jails on completing their sentence. It is also being investigated by the scientific community who want to know how and why it works. I looked into it and discovered that its basic teaching is “ Living in the Now.” I have been using this philosophy for many years. In my younger days I was taught that to ask for something meant a lot of prayer, penance, a promise to be good and to stay away from sin. Your wish may be granted if it was considered good for you I have recently discovered a book which says there is another easier method.

The title is The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel – Shinn. She says that “ The Game “ cannot be played without knowledge of the spiritual law and of the Old and New Testaments give the rules of the game and gives many examples of the spirit working, I will just note one.

A woman came to the author in a state of worry, dejection and discouragement. She had just $8 to her name it was blessed and was told to multiply with these words “ Infinite spirit open the way for great abundance for she is an irresistible magnet for all that belongs to her by divine right ” . Later she met a person from who she received thousands of dollars.

I have been using the wheelchair for the past six years and until recently often had the thought that if I could get my walking sticks, put on my jacket and go out when I wanted too. I came to the conclusion that these thoughts were negative energy and that I could use it in a positive way. I feel a lot better in myself.

Before I finish I must tell a funny story. Some weeks ago my sister was going to Cork City to get her eyes tested and I decided to go too. My nephew parked me in a well-known bookshop and I brought a couple of items. I came home happy but it took me two full days to recover from this outing.