… of an Irish mind.
One my favourite old sayings is Tuar an t-ádh agus tiocfaidh sé – Predict good fortune and it will come. Irish optimism at its best. This seanfhocail says fortune/fate is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Envisage it as good and it will come good. Start as you mean to go on. Intent can manifest destiny, intent can […]
MoreAmidist the covid-19 pandemic and beyond the physical health scare, the toll on mental health that it is taking, I am reminded of another wonderful Irish proverb ‘Is i ndiaidh a chéile a thógtar na caisleáin – Castles are built one after the other’. In life, no experience is ever wasted, it is all a […]
MoreThe world is in crisis amidst this pandemic and we are all experiencing an array of emotions and rationales. Some can easily comply with the tight safety restrictions, others are climbing the walls. Some are missing their every day experiences – of going for a coffee or jog along the scenic route, even just the […]
MoreIt ever was thus but now more than ever we need to hear and acknowledge that joyous truth of a seanfocail ‘Maireann croí éadrom a bhfad – A light heart lives a long time’. Yes a light heart, a heart unburdened by the heaviness of worry and pain, a heart filled with joy and hope, […]
MoreNothing beats a bit of realism and the Irish proverb Is annamh earrach gan fuacht – Seldom is spring without cold is certainly sobering if not a genius prompt to resilience thinking. The climatic truth is that even after a long winter, the Spring still has some cold within it. The proverb reminds that while we […]
MoreThere is a beautiful Irish proverb that’s says Éist le fuaim na habhann agus gheobhfaidh tú breac – Listen to the sound of the river and you will catch a trout. Now maybe it is about how to get your supper but it is also about the wisdom of being present, of using the senses […]
More‘Gan scaoll’ means ‘without panic’. Not a lot of that in modernity. The modern world built upon apprehension, fomo, hyper-vigilance and status anxiety. You can’t spell pandemic without p a n i c … but the way to survive it is with calm rationality and appropriate behaviour. Survival is not always running faster than the […]
More‘Sharp’ is word that Irish people use to mean clever – you know “the sharpest tool in the tool box” sort of thing – or “not the sharpest tool”, as the case may be. A sharp tool is a sharpened tool – honed, worked upon, cared for, appreciated. One of my favourite seanfhocail is ‘Aithnigh cú […]
MoreThere is a great Irish saying ‘Bíonn dhá insint ar scéal agus dhá leagan déag ar amhrán – There are two versions to a story and twelve arrangements to a song’. As humans, we are the stories we tell ourselves – there is no getting away from it. It is hard wired into our brain […]
MoreIn the Irish seanfhocail tradition you often find the best advice wrapped in wonderful imagery – it sinks the lesson in that bit deeper. One of my favourites is Ná bris do loirgín ar stól nach bhfuil i do shlí – Do not break your shin on a stool that is not in your way. […]
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