Runnin On Empty- Call Me Stupid

My slide into a simple life was as a result of becoming ill with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) and even though there are things that frustrate me immensely about it, I’m also extremely thankful for what it’s taught me, that simple can be amazing and maybe that’s where we all need to get back to?  After all, wasn’t there a time where everything was simple? A time where people were very much aware of what was around them, what they had, and the importance of it?

My mum often echoes what my Nan used to say, that before, during & after the war, they didn’t have much and they worked bloomin  hard, but they were generally happy. There was a simplicity to life due to having few choices, and a goodness that came from a community that cared about each other. Tin baths, outside toilets, one TV channel, back doors left open as neighbours popped in and out, and kids with nothing but their imaginations to play with.

My generation was spoilt in comparison, we had the advantage of a proper bath, although small kids were still often washed in the kitchen sink which was fine unless someone left a fork in the bowl (Ouch!) we had an indoor toilet, three TV channels and to help our imagination along we had bicycles and roller skates, but we still knew the value of things & life still had a wonderful simplicity about it, and before the 1970’s mental illness was still very much a rarity amongst the young.

I can’t help but feel a pang of sadness for todays youngsters, because they’re overwhelmed with changing technology and a world that demands everything is instant. They have so many choices, how on earth are they supposed to make one?  Community has been replaced by “self”  and they live in a virtual world with 1000’s of “friends” they’ve never met and who won’t be popping in the back door with a casserole and some TLC any time soon.

In a world that has so much, shouldn’t it raise alarm bells that more people are suffering with mental illness than ever before, especially anxiety & depression?

So, back to how I began this Column, I believe doing simple things like pottering in the garden, enjoying wildlife and meditating continue to keep me relatively sane  and  able to cope with living with a chronic physical illness. As someone that couldn’t sit still for five minutes meditating took a lot of self-discipline as I began training myself , but for mental wellness and to help keep you grounded when life whips up a storm I think its paramount. I would love to see it taught in schools as I believe it would give young people a natural tool they could use to help themselves and ward off a lot of the mental illnesses that we’re seeing today. Life is simple, it’s people that complicate it, and with that knowledge we can all find a happier and healthier existence if we start with our own.

Unfortunately life is more David & Goliath than simple right now, Meditation and plenty  of deep breaths are going to be needed that’s for sure, and you can catch up with what’s been going on in a recent blog I wrote. http://runninonemptee.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/bullied.html

This weeks Gizmo/Gadget/Gift is certainly an unusual one, The Royal air force museum are offering you the chance to have your name or a loved ones added to the wing of a Red Arrows Hawk Jet that will fly all over the globe for the 2017 display season. Packages start at a respectable £30 and go right up to £25.000+  https://namesonaplane.org/

And I couldn’t leave out this sprinkles shaker Unicorn, especially since the price has been slashed, so you can now add a bit of Unicorn magic to your life for only  £4.95 available from http://www.prezzybox.com/unicorn-sprinkles-shaker.aspx

Charity Invest In ME are busy heading their Conference this week but they still found time to write the following for their readers:

Stacy’s theme is the simplicity of life, but for ME patients and their families the onset of the disease assaults all normality of life making things far more complex. Everything is turned upside down; normality no longer exists as parents struggle to get proper treatment for their child/children, as patients try to deal with the way society and healthcare ignore them.

Yet a paradox exists. As patients and families see friends disappear and as isolation of the patient increases, then so appears the awareness of what is important in life, family, true friends & health.

Tom Hanks said in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump

“Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get.”

Invest in ME Research have chosen only the best selection to include in its “box of chocolates’ when hosting an international ME conference and colloquium in London this week. It is a wonderful mixture of dedicated researchers, clinicians, patients, carers and patient group representatives from all over the world that attend these events each year to brainstorm and collaborate for a better future for ME patients.

The charity supporters are a wonderful group of people and they keep us going more than any box of chocolates could ever do. Thank you all.

There is a sea of change happening in the ME world and we hope it is not too long that patients and their families can reap the benefits for real.

Yet if and when they improve,  they will surely remember those simpler things in life that have seen them through.

I thought this week we’d look at the origin of the word  “Simple”..…but it’s a short one because it turns out it’s….er…..Simple. From latin Simplus,  in the mid 16th century it referred to medicine made from just one thing, usually a herb or plant . Over the centuries it’s use has broadened  to explain anything that was plain, easy, straightforward & uncomplicated, and later used as an insult to someone deemed to be of low intelligence “only one brain cell” ……Why do I get the feeling you’re all looking at me at this point?

So what's happening locally?  Well, health permitting i'll be heading down to the Centrepoint community centre Raphael Drive Radlett Road Wednesday evening  7-9.30pm for  Free Sahaja Yoga Meditation , yes you heard right, it's free. All the details can be found here:   http://www.meetup.com/Free-Sahaja-Yoga-Meditation-Watford/?

Any of you Word Pilots out there pencil  Wednesday 8th June in ya diary because  Watfords   Spoken Word Presents “diVERSE”  7.30pm at Rodells 94-96 Queens Road Watford WD17 2LA  it’s the first event and looks set to be a great night. You can check out more details &  show them some love by following them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/diversepoetry  & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Diverse-Poetry-1624717227850665/

Also on 11th June, Papermouth is back for Watford Live and as Mr Tom Craven points out, it will have some of the finest rock & pop acts from the local area taking to the main stage in the parade at midday going right the way through to 9pm. & there will also be the Acoustic Stage in The LP Café courtyard!

There are so many awesome artists in the line-up I gave up counting after twenty: Tom Craven, April Blue, Colvex, Sophie Ray, Lucien's Library and the list just goes on and on, if you love music you really don’t want to miss this event, it’s going to be an absolute stonking visual/audio feast. https://www.facebook.com/events/1664102150535319/

Before I ride off into the sunset on my roller-skates for another fortnight I couldn’t go without mentioning my sadness at the demise of yet another iconic high street store BHS, that opened its first store in 1928, Soon our high streets will be filled with nothing but bars and eating places,  in fact Watford’s pretty much like that already, but that’s the downside of technology and astronomically high rents me thinks, lets just hope M & S can hold on? 

          Stay Blessed, See you in a Fortnight Back Before Elvis  xxx 

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