![]() Yes, it does work for reducing stress, and making people happier. It is being taught by well-meaning people, without regard to the context of the original meditation traditions. As a Buddhist priest involved in teaching meditation for the last eight or nine years, I have seen meditation and mindfulness increasingly advertised as a means to reduce stress and anxiety. So says Ron Purser the author of “McMindfulness: how capitalism hijacked the Buddhist teaching of mindfulness”, in an interview with Mary Hynes on CBC Radio’s Tapestry, “a weekly guide through the messy business of being human.” ![]() ![]() ![]() As a result, mindfulness, a tool of awakening, is being used to perpetuate our massive distraction from the major problem of our times: climate change. In a tragic twist of irony, mindfulness is used to calm the overworked Silicon Valley inventors whose job it is to create new and better apps to amuse us. It is pushed by big business to put the onus of responsibility on the very workers the businesses have stressed by their all-out race to make investors happy. These are good things, but mindfulness is also taught to soldiers to make them better killers. ![]() Mindfulness, such a big push in the media these days, has been used among other things to reduce stress, anxiety, and migraines, perhaps give us a sense of peace for a few moments a day. ![]()
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![]() ![]() The setting is the fictional village of Ledwardine in Herefordshire, one of the ‘black and white’ villages, with an ancient parish church, a cavernous timber-framed vicarage, and an apple-growing and cider-making tradition that reaches far back into the mists of time. She is also someone who has the gift of making people to open up (Maybe that’s one of the advantages in a clerical hero – people unburdening themselves and thereby furthering the plot is just that little bit more plausible). She is the focus around which the characters delve into minds and memories to dredge up the clues that clump together to form the mystery. The word ‘catalyst’ is used in the novel and I think that is a good one. Merrily Watkins is a breath of fresh air as a protagonist – I hesitate after reading this to call her a sleuth, as she is not the only one who is following clues and solving mysteries in this novel. So, I’ve been looking forward to a new discovery. A bit of a recurring theme in my reviews too is finding books with a whiff of the supernatural that weave their way past my mental block. ![]() Merrily Watkins is the protagonist of 12 mysteries by Phil Rickman, dating back to the 1990s. I really enjoy clerical sleuths, and I don’t know why it has taken me so long to find this one. The Wine Of Angels (Merrily Watkins Mysteries 1), by Phil Rickman ![]() ![]() Keep up to date with the latest sports news in Ireland UK Scotland Northern Ireland World Keep up to date with the latest live local breaking news, sport, politics, weather & more in Ireland UK Scotland Northern Ireland World Mid West - Latest News Business Sport Jobs by Limerick Live Nenagh Live Clare Live Tipperary Live South East - Latest News Business Sport Jobs by Carlow Live Tipperary Live Waterford Live Kilkenny Live Midlands - Latest News Business Sport Jobs by Kildare Now Kildare Live Leitrim Live Laois Live Longford Live Offaly LiveĮast - Latest News Business Sport Jobs by Louth Live Kildare Live Kildare Now ![]() ![]() North West - Latest News Business Sport Jobs by Donegal Live Derry Now Leitrim Live Inish Live Team Bringing you live local breaking news, sport, politics, weather & more in Ireland UK Scotland Northern Ireland World ![]() ![]() ![]() Joining him on the tour are four horrible blighters:Īugustus Gloop – a great big greedy nincompoop, Veruca Salt – a spoiled brat, Violet Beauregarde – a repulsive little gum-chewer and Mike Teavee – a TV addict. One miraculous moment changes Charlie Bucket’s life forever.Ī boy who only gets to eat cabbage soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner finds a Golden Ticket that will take him into Willy Wonka’s magical chocolate factory. Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Gold Ticket from Mr Willy Wonka! I shake you warmly by the hand! Tremendous things are in store for you! ![]() Charlie is the last lucky winner to join Willy Wonka in a tour of his factory – where some amazing surprises, both good and bad, await the children. ![]() It’s the prize of a lifetime and all you have to do is find one of the five Golden Tickets. Charlie Bucket loves chocolate – and Mr Willy Wonka, the most wondrous inventor in the world, is opening the gates of his amazing chocolate factory to five lucky children. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Letters and photographs were exchanged before Christine Collins paid for the boy to be brought to Los Angeles. Then, five months after Walter's disappearance, a boy claiming to be Walter was found in DeKalb, Illinois. The police faced negative publicity and increasing public pressure to solve the case. Walter's disappearance received nationwide attention, and the Los Angeles Police Department followed up on hundreds of leads without success. They had a son, Walter, in September, 1918.Ĭollins' son disappeared on March 10, 1928, after she gave him money to go to the cinema. ![]() Collins was born Walter Joseph Anson, and hid his past from her. Her search for the whereabouts of her son was the subject of the 2008 Clint Eastwood film Changeling, in which she was portrayed by Angelina Jolie.Ĭhristine Collins was born in 1888 as Christine Ida Dunne. During the trial testimony of Gordon Northcott, the state of California concluded that Collins's son had been murdered in the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, which were led by a man named Gordon Stewart Northcott, who was executed at San Quentin in 1930. Christine Ida Collins (Decem– December 8, 1964) was an American woman who made national headlines during the late 1920s and 1930s after her nine-year-old son, Walter Collins, went missing in 1928. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() She sings Happy Birthday to classmates in the lunchroom, props a small. Formerly home-schooled, Stargirl comes to their Arizona high school with a pet rat and a ukulele, wild clothes and amazing habits. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock cannot quite believe the new student who calls herself Stargirl. We are, for a few brief moments, anything and everything we could be. Newbery-winning Spinelli spins a magical and heartbreaking tale from the stuff of high school. We are untitled, unnamed, natural, suspended between was and will be, the tadpole before the frog, the worm before the butterfly. We are not the people we know as ourselves, but creatures more in tune with a tree than a keyboard. For those few moments we are unformed, uncivilized. We have just slept the sleep of our most distant ancestors, and something of them and their world still clings to us. ![]() For those few seconds we’re something more primitive than what we are about to become. You know, there’s a place we all inhabit, but we don’t much think about it, we’re scarcely conscious of it, and it lasts for less than a minute a day It’s that time, those few seconds when we’re coming out of sleep but we’re not really awake yet. She seems to be in touch with something that the rest of us are missing. Sometimes I thought she should be teaching me. How did this girl come to be? I used to ask myself. And her parents, as ordinary, in a nice way, as could be. ![]() ![]() ![]() I was quite sad to discover the fact that Boggarts were A Thing when researching them online. Now its resting place is the same but the carriages are a lot faster and the prices at the nearby inn a lot dearer.Ī Boggart is a household spirit or a malevolent genius loci inhabiting fields, marshes or other topographical features.īoggarts, like scold’s bridles, Alcatel phones and leech bleeding slipped gently into a superstitious uncivilised past, forgotten and ignored until they suddenly and surprisingly became big on the internet due to their appearance in the Harry Potter books and films. When it was entombed or tricked into its residing place, Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers had been recently marching through the near vicinity. ![]() Under a carved stone down an ancient quiet lane in deepest darkest Lancashire, supposably lies a trapped boggart, a relic of olde times, the said boggart maybe still alive and plotting for when it escapes into a much changed world. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Part One really captured not only the essence of our race into space and to explore the universe beyond our small part, but it also caught the feeling of hope, longing and sometimes utter hopelessness we feel as humans knowing that big thing, we dream of will never occur in our lifetimes. The collection is split into four parts so I will be reviewing each part separately then concluding with my thoughts on the collection as a whole so you can expect this review to be a lot shorter than my regular reviews. ![]() Review: Many of my readers will know I don’t read a lot of poetry often but this short collection apparently has a real sci-fi theme to it and the cover is stunning, so I couldn’t resist picking it up. ![]() ![]() ![]() Other notable differences include the addition of several new characters, such as Belle’s father Maurice and the castle’s servants who are turned into household objects. This is in contrast to the original story, which gives much more attention to Belle and her inner beauty. ![]() The focus of the movie is very much on the Beast’s character development and his eventual transformation back into a human prince. For starters, Belle is not the story’s protagonist in the Disney film – that would be the Beast. How Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Differs from the Original Fairy Taleĭisney’s Beauty and the Beast is a much-loved 1991 animated feature film that differs significantly from Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s original 18th century fairy tale. ![]() Beauty and the Beast continues to captivate audiences with its timeless story of love and redemption. The story has been adapted numerous times for stage, film and television, including Disney’s iconic animated feature film from 1991. When the beast is revealed to be a prince, they marry and live happily ever after. Despite her fears, she befriends the beast and eventually falls in love with him. The story tells of a beautiful young woman named Belle who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Beauty and the Beast is a French fairy tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740. ![]() ![]() The Latin inscription, taken from an epigram by the 1st century AD poet Martial and the Roman numerals represent the date of his death. Giovanna is shown wearing a richly embroidered dress and, in the background, is a selection of her personal belongings, a hanging coral rosary, and a prayers book. The portrait followed the classical style of the period when the body proportions were idealized, and the faces conveyed character without expression. Giovanna is depicted in a traditional profile pose, which was favored due to its association with ancient coins and medallions. There is also a medallion showing her likeness and her name. This panel is a powerful example of the late 1400’s Florentine portraiture. Giovanna has been identified as the subject of this portrait, thanks to her other named portraits, where she has the same hairstyle. Her husband, Lorenzo Tornabuoni, was deeply stricken by grief and commissioned this portrait of his wife to commemorate and honor her memory. She died in childbirth, giving birth to her second child in 1488, and this painting was painted after her death. “Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni” by Domenico Ghirlandaio portrays Giovanna degli Albizzi, a Florentine noblewoman. ![]() ![]() “Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni” by Domenico Ghirlandaio ![]() |