Growing up in Ireland in the 1980’s and 90’s, the catholic church was the most powerful institution in the country. It had a vice like grip on it’s people with thousands flocking to the monolithic churches each and every Sunday morning for the weekly installment of Catholicism. Fast forward to today and the picture is very different.
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Deciding to run 26.2 miles continuously is an act of sheer madness to most people. This year, a record 25,000 tickets have been sold for the 1st in person Dublin City Marathon since 2019, which makes this the biggest Dublin Marathon yet. I have completed this marathon on three different occasions, so here are my top tips for making it through what could be one of the best/worst days of your life.
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Does the dread of the working week ahead ever sneak up on you on a Sunday and ruin your last evening off work? Welcome to the Sunday Night Rats.
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Life in 2022 can be very stressful and if left unchecked, can run riot over your health, causing and contributing to a wonderful array of bodily disorders and chronic diseases. So what can be done to keep stress in check?
These are the best techniques I have found.
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As a lot of countries begin to reopen everything post covid, we find ourselves in the midst of the inevitable return to the office conundrum. For many, a covid enforced working from home policy was a gift from the gods (I’m looking at you introverts) and for others it was a jail sentence.
Which side of the fence are you?
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Ever wonder why you go to the gym? Or why you get up early to write another few crappy pages for that book you want to publish? Or why you bother to cook a healthy meal? Or why you continue to make sales calls when you never get a response? Or wonder why the weight scales is not moving? Or maybe you do none of those things and you are fine with that?
Whichever side of the fence you find yourself, you are likely experiencing what I call the compounding effect.
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Christmas is a tricky time for weight management, that’s for sure. It follows hot on the heels from Halloween at the end of October, which is itself often a sugar-fest. So by the time December 1st comes around, we could start compounding any weight gain experienced from Halloween. On top of that, in Ireland, the darker wintry months start to kick in around November and this can often be a trigger for many people to consume more food than is necessary, in an almost hibernating fashion.
So this year I tracked my own experience of the holiday season for Christmas 2021 and here’s what I learnt.
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Tonight I’m going to discuss a concept that has helped me a lot over the last number of years. It’s a simple concept which helps you identify what builds and what destroys your health and wellbeing. It takes a little time to complete the exercise but it is well worth it. So let’s dive in.
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Time is the ultimate gift
But in a world that is so full
So loud and so fast
Time alone is often last
It is only when we stop
The volume of life
Is allowed to drop
When we strip away the noise
The everyday commitments
The responsibilities
The endless to do lists
That we make space just to be
To listen to the little voice inside
And what he has to say to me
Some call this intuition
Others call it your gut
Whatever name you want to use
It’s time to listen and muse
But too often we spend our days
Looking outward
Rushing around in a haze
That we forget to listen
To what he has to say
Until all is quiet
At the end of another busy day
Much love x
JP
How often do you find yourself saying I Am <blank>.
For example, for myself, “I am” could look like:
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Today, I attended the funeral of yet another one of my neighbors growing up. I grew up in the house right next door to this lady. She was the mum to 7 kids, which we all knew so well. There were 6 of us kids growing up so between the 2 houses, there were 13 kids running around. Unimaginable by today’s norms.
This was typical of Ireland in the 1970’s and 80’s. We had very little in the way of material possessions but we were rich in the ways that mattered – community, friendship, fun, play, family, love and connection. In fact, the very things that we, as a society today in 2021 are lacking more and more. I’m thinking about the inverse correlation between wealth and the accumulation of material possessions (houses, cars, clothes, stuff to fill your house with) and to what degree community, fun, family, love and friendship play in our modern lives – are these inversely correlated as one goes up, the other goes down? I starting to digress here so let’s get back this post….
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Losing life remains the ultimate cost in this pandemic. Yes there will be untold economic damage, stress, financial burden on business owners and the banks, in the end, will again be deemed too big to fail and be bailed out by taxpayers along the way. The ultimate price we pay is with our lives and unfortunately more and more people are passing away as the health service struggles to cope with the number of admissions, ICU care beds and containment of Covid-19 in the wards.
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There is one button that I think could well be the most important button on the internet for me.
I have ignored this button for quite some time now, since before Christmas and I am not entirely sure why. Writing regularly is part of what keeps me well, part of what I call “building my base” – a toolkit of sorts for keeping my life on a good path. These are the things I do on a daily or near daily basis that bring me joy, purpose, meaning, connection and fulfillment. Other base building activities include meditation, reading, exercise, eating well and learning.
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It seems that Ireland are once again returning to the most restrictive lockdown-esque measures in an attempt to curb the rise and rise of Covid ahead of the run into Christmas 2020.
It’s most likely a strategic attempt to save Christmas and make sure that we are all out spending our Covid savings on stuff we don’t need in 9 weeks time. I get a feeling that saving actual lives is running 2nd place to saving the economy right now and in a way I can understand that.
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I hope everyone is doing ok out there in the world where Covid-19 still rages wildly. Here in Ireland, we are seeing cases rise now each day and have begun to reintroduce restrictions into society to try and suppress the virus once again.
It is an unbelievable time of uncertainty and for alot of people this brings new levels of heightened anxiety. I feel it too. What happens if this happens, what happens if that happens….it’s an endless spiral that does you no good.
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I haven’t written in nearly 6 weeks which is a record for me. Why is this? Well the last 6 weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind haven’t they?
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Always interesting to see what people carry around with them all day in their pockets and bags. I recently turned mine upside down after a trip away and here’s what I found.
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We nearly have January in the rear view mirror and this is the first time I have sat down to write. A sin! The truth is January has been insane for me so far with college assignments and releasing a new product to market in work, there hasn’t been much slack for writing thus far.
February is also shaping up to be super busy with alot of work related travel, yet more college assignments due, 3 family birthdays to celebrate and a trip away with my Mum and brothers. It’s all feels a bit relentless right now but without the sludge of the alcohol in my system, it’s doesn’t feel like it used to be. It feels doable and less stressful than in previous years.
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From a look at the data for the Christmas period in Ireland this year and observing how people are behaving, speaking and generally listening to the way people are feeling and thinking, I believe we are currently in a time of greed.
People have become conditioned to believe that their role in society is that of a “consumer” and their default behaviour should be to buy things where at all possible, and it is always possible. With online marketplaces like Amazon open all year around 24/7, while the bricks and mortar shops sleep on Christmas day, you can always buy online, it never closes.
This famous phrase from Warren Buffett has been ringing around in my head for the last few weeks as I drive around Dublin city and in general observing society.
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As a child, I was naturally curious about everything I saw and heard around me. At some point in my life, and I’m guessing it’s the same for alot of us, this curiosity seemed to disappear, somewhere in my 30’s.
I think for me, the combination of increasing responsibilities, marriage, kids, jobs, mortgages just sucked up almost all of my time and energy. Most if not all of my hobbies took a back seat as I tried to navigate these choppy waters. There was simply no time or energy left in my day for me to be curious and follow that curiosity wherever it led.
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The Health Project 