The importance of sleep, wisdom from nature

I think, yet again, that we can take our lesson from nature.

A marigold, not yet seen the light of day. © Corina Duyn 2014

"Sleep, is a relaxation during which tissues are repaired", states the Rev. Charles A. Hall in his 1926 book Wild flowers and wonderful ways, Peeps at nature. If we don’t sleep, or as many of us dealing with ME/CFS don’t have a restorative sleep, we don’t have the time to repair our tissues, and can be further harmed.

A marigold, slowly unfolding. © Corina Duyn 2014

Rev. Charles A. Hall explains: “Plants, like animals, need their periods of rest, not only the great rest of Winter, such as is seen conspicuously in many trees, but regular hours of what may be likened to sleep. Both leaves and flowers take up sleeping position, which is not generally so apparent as in the case are dainty little Wood Sorrel (Oxalis Acetosella), sometimes called Shamrock.” I see the same in the marigold flowers… and I took some photos to show you what I mean.

A marigold, with petals soaking up the sun. © Corina Duyn 2014

“The sleep of plants, like that of animals, is a relaxation from certain activities during which tissues are repaired in preparation for work it to be accomplished. During sleep we protect ourselves from the cold by covering ourselves with blankets, but plants secure the same results by the sleeping position of the leaves, in which the surface is exposed as little as possible.”

A marigold, going to sleep for the night. © Corina Duyn 2014

In the same little book the Rev. explains how Charles Darwin showed by experiment that “leaves, when compelled to remain in their stretched out the position, were injured by cold, whereas leaves of the same plant allowed to take up their sleeping position were not harmed.”

Sleep tight!

From: Wild flowers and wonderful ways, peeps at nature. Edited by the Rev Charles A.Hall, F.R.M.S. 1926 Page 33 and Page 44

the very book I read during my stay at Annaghmakerrig

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homehelp in Ireland

This article has also been published on thejournal.ie  Friday 23 May 2014

there are some great comments from other people dealing with issues with HSE 

please read, it make your heart boil.

Early April a request was made for home help and carers allowance. As of today, the 20th May I hadn't heard anything from either of those application. I rang the public health nurse who had made the application for home help on my behalf. Apparently she had received a letter on 24 April that my application had been refused. That is all, the letter said. Refused. She had assumed, rightly I think, that I would have received a letter too. Not so.
I am furious and disappointed that nobody bothered to tell me that I was not going to get homehelp. 

Does the HSE think that it is a novelty to get home help? That it is easy to acknowledge that one cannot look after oneself any longer? Let me tell you is the worst thing of being chronically ill. To acknowledge that you have lost your independence. To acknowledge that you need help with the most basic daily needs. To have strangers coming to your house. Does the HSE think that anybody in their right mind in Ireland would request homehelp and willingly go through this humiliating experience just for the fun of it?

Being ill is hard. Having to fight for every basic human right is much, much harder. You hear heart wrenching stories everyday on the radio.

It feels a bit like there is somebody sitting in an office with a pen and just decided to tick the box 'refused', without any further explanation necessary to the person who made the request, and who needs the help. Maybe this is not a fair assessment of the public servant, but that is what it feels like.

Having a home help is not a novelty. It is an unfortunate necessity.

I'm furious that the government for not looking after the very people who need the care of the state the most. I nearly screamed at the television when I heard the news that the government was talking about 30 million being spend on a sports stadium in Cork, money given to the GAA. Don't have enough money already? Both Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore were so proud to make this announcement. They were glowing. 

In the meantime people are losing their medical cards, they don't get homehelp, carers allowance is harder and harder to get, young children in wheelchairs which they have outgrown, are being told that there is no money for a new wheelchair, or physiotherapy, or for speech therapy... To to attend a daycare.

Having people on trolleys in A&E is becoming the norm. Waiting lists to see a consultant are months, even years. It took me nearly two years and several letters, and degrading tests to receive a mobility scooter from the HSE. At least this time round they didn't say that 'a motorised aid would make me lazy'. That was a plus!

I am nearly sixteen years in this 'game' of dealing with the so called 'health' board, and have seen a deterioration in the care provided by the state.

I am not looking for easy handouts. I am too proud to be able to look after myself as best I can, but there are times I, like many others, do need the support in order to take our meaningful place in society.

This article has been published on thejournal.ie 

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"Re-Emerging" sculptures

'Happy to re-emerge'
16x16x15cm
© Corina Duyn 2014

'Happy to re-emerge'
16x16x15cm
© Corina Duyn 2014

"Happy to re-emerge" is available for €145, but with the understanding that the sculpture is available for the exhibition and book launches in September 2015

To reserve it  please email me

'Emerging'
17x11x19cm
© Corina Duyn 2014 

'Emerging'
17x11x19cm
© Corina Duyn 2014

"Emerging" is available for €145, but with the understanding that the sculpture is available for the exhibition and book launches in September 2015

To reserve it  please email me

Once a day I try to work on my sculptures. Twenty minutes at the time.

Even within these short times, there is stills something to show for in the end.

If you are interested in any of these sculptures, please do get in touch.

Both stones were brought to me by friends. Thank you!

And these were the sculptures I made during my stay at Dechen Shying and are in their collection.

all together at the edge of the Atlantic, outside my glorious conservatory at Dechen Shying

'Sinking'
15x19x11cm
© Corina Duyn 2014

'reaching for the light'
10x10x11cm
© Corina Duyn 2014

'Emerging (one)'
11x12x19cm
© Corina Duyn 2014

The sculptures found there place on the window sill at Dechen Shying

For images of my weaving, please see here
Artworks which were on show at the Seeders Exhibition see here 

commissioned stone-sculpture. Stone supplied!

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Into the Light

Again, thank you all for comments about previous blogs via email, text messages and message on this blog. It is lovely to know what my thoughts and adventures mean to others.

all the notes collected,
waiting to make it into my "Into the Light" book.

I would like to ask you for a little bit of thinking time to help me find ways to gain practical support to be able to use my spars and immensely valuable energy solely on my art and writing to publish "Into the Light". This need was very much brought to my attention during my stay at Dechen Shying.
For the purpose of my book, I am re-reading my journals and found the exact same conclusion at least eight months ago... This made me laugh out loud.

During the past month I have been pushing doors open of every Disability Organisation in Ireland, and many other funding organisation, but unfortunately many doors stay firmly shut. Either no response at all to several emails, others don't fully grasp what I am looking, others are understanding but simply do not have funding themselves. Other doors I was able to wiggled open a bit further, inviting the organisation (public and private) to think outside the box, but so far to no avail.
And I have made Arts Bursaries applications too. Please give these applications some positive energy when you have a minute? ... Thank you!

A lot of time spend on getting help, which I hope will pay off in the end and I can truly use a lot of my energy on my work. The help I am looking for is someone to work with me in the studio and transcribing handwritten notes onto computer.
Or possibly funding for more residency time at Dechen Shying, where I can fully concentrate on my work?

One idea, recently hatched, is that of exploring the so called "Crowd Funding"route, in which the 'funder' pledges money for my project (in this case to buy in support) in turn for my books, or art, or gift vouchers, or free studio time... or what ever else would be appropriate.

Another idea is to find somebody locally who would be interested to "Barter" with me. The person helps me in return for books, art, free studio time, garden plants...

I would dearly love to hear what you think about these ideas.
Or you might have something even more exciting and workable...?

Crowd funding, as far I understand it, can require quite a lot of social media time, which I simply don't have. A friend has offered (bartered for a sculpture!) to look at options as well in the next few weeks, but while the topic is 'in the air', I thought I'll ask my readers and followers of my work too, in order to get the idea rolling.

Thank you for your time to read my thoughts.

love to you all
Corina

ps. As I no longer have a Facebook or Twitter account (find it all too confusing...) but you think this Blog deserves to make a presence there, please feel free to link it on your page. 

Thank you!

my own little piece of heaven

I made soup this morning. It felt a bit as if I had run a marathon on hands and feet up and down the mountain. I was so tired afterwards that I pretty much spend the following five hours horizontal. 

What harm! 

It happened to be a gloriously sunny and warm spring day, so I cuddled up on my garden bench, wrapped in a blanket when it was still a little chilly, and later protected from the sun by an umbrella when it got to hot for me. Watching the happenings in my garden, see the short video.

Garden heaven from Corina Duyn on Vimeo.

I watched and listened to the many birds around me. One is chirping right now, just feets away from where I sit. My cat is a bird watcher too, and luckily to lazy (?) to go after any.
I saw blue tits, great tits, a dunnock, siskin, coal tit, chaffinch and gold finches. Bees, and very pale looking tiny flies. Entertained was provided by all the birds, flying to and from bird feeders and on the ground where the gold finches had ditched unwanted seeds from the feeders. 

A great tit sitting on a branch of the contorted willow tree, slapped a mustard coloured worm to stop it wiggling. Having  it's feet on one end of the worm, it tried to pull the worm apart, stretching it like an elastic band. Gobbling it up with great delight not much later. Another great tit, the same perhaps? is building a nest in the wall.

The greatest and most unexpected entertainment was provided by ants.When I picked up a long lost smashed dinky toy car buried in the garden by previous residents of my house, a large amount of ants came running out. I had disturbed their very special home! 
Who would know what adventures are awaiting me in my own little patch of heaven?

ant-residency

Maybe my garden views might not be as spectacular as I experienced at Dechen Shying, but very beautiful all the same!

ps. As I no longer have a Facebook or Twitter account (find it all too confusing...) but you think this Blog deserves to make a presence there, please feel free to link it on your page. Thank you!

Dechen Shying, a place of extraordinary generosity

I had heard about the Dechen Shying Care Centre  in West Cork from several friends. I had looked at the website many many times since. In March I finally made plans to visit, to stay for a week and  find my "balance" again.

Am I glad I did!

Dechen Shying, means Heaven of the Great Bliss in Tibetan. Their website states that Dechen Shying is a unique place in an area of unspoilt natural beauty in West Cork in Ireland. We aim to serve people from all walks of life facing life challenges, such as ill health, disability, life-limiting illness, or a bereavement or loss, as well as families, carers and supporters.

What I found was a place of extraordinary beauty and generosity. For starters, please watch the VERY short video I took from outside the conservatory of room 1. It finishes with a view of the circular mediation room, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking these glorious view.  

Dechen Shying from Corina Duyn on Vimeo.

I had come to find peace again. Peace with the deterioration of my health.  

I found an awful lot more.

Sinking © Corina Duyn 2014

For the past few months I had the feeling I  had sunk into a very rough place, and had found it much more difficult to find a way out again.  Although I obviously have dealt with challenges of relapses before, I somehow seem to have lost the ability to see beyond it this time round.  As one friend stated in an email, " I know you will make it fuel for your creativity whether you like it or not".
Of course she was right.
Initially an image of a figure rising out of a rock came to mind. But while at Dechen Shying, I realised there were images proceeding this re-emerging. One of sinking into the stone, one of a hand reaching out catching the light again and drawing it into the darkness.

Reaching for the Light © Corina Duyn 2014

Throughout the week, I worked a few minutes at the time on my sculptures in my beloved conservatory.

conservatory Dechen Shying 

Sculptures (all my art) arise from a very deep part of me. It possibly brings to fore what I can not express in words.  Creativity, became once again a big part of my life.

A great deal of this realisation was rekindled by the loving staff and fellow guests, for which I am immensely grateful. Thank you all, from the deepest part of my being.

I had lost my way. I had lost trust in my own abilities. They help me find it again.

...can one fall in love with a chair? I did.

Throughout the week I rested, meditated, contemplated, reflected, cried, laughed, slept, ate, wrote, talked with fellow guests and staff, and just looked out the window at these glorious views.

Dechen Shying is a place where you can do all that. It is a place to rejuvenate, to take time to evaluate where you're at, with the background support of the staff.

Twice a day there are guided mediation's, which I joined when I could. Provisions were made to make sure I was comfortable. Also one of the spiritual guidance staff was available to me to talk with during the stay. Not a counsellor, but a loving, listening understanding ear.
I had landed in heaven, at the edge of Ireland.

one morning's sun rise

 Not all the realisations were as easy as the creative one.  I realised I need to ask for more practical help, that I am not able to look after my own needs as I was before.  I realised I needed my mobility scooter to get around the building, which by the way is fully wheelchair accessible, as I could not trust my legs.
Acceptance.  That big word. Acceptance.
How many times do we have to enter this uneasy space...?
(I am in the process to obtain support... but that is a story in itself.)

Creativity is my way to combat the challenges. I accept that!
I very much enjoyed working on my sculptures, which I left in the collection of the Centre. I called them "Work in Progress" as they are not really finished, but neither is my journey of re-emerging.

"Work in Progress" in collection of Dechen Shying © Corina Duyn 2014

Re-emerging © Corina Duyn 2014 

Re-emerging, and taking with me the wisdom and strength from the earth, from the rock. I am one with the earth.

One of my other hopes was to really get started on my writing of "Into the Light". I brought a few of  the now cut up sheets with me, and placed them around me. And hung them in the shrubs, like the Tibetan prayer flags...!

my writing sheets as prayer flags

prayer flags outsude Dechen Shying

I did a tiny bit of work on the book, but enough to bring back the confidence that this is what I need to do. Again, the support from people around me helped me see this.

I have the fortune to be able to go back there in August, supported by a bursary from the centre.

This truly a remarkable place, and I for one am forever grateful I made the decision to go there.
Explore it here: Dechen Shying Care Centre and go and see for yourself if you can.
It is great for small groups too.

If you like to hear more, or have some questions, please email me, or leave a comment on the blog.

Best wishes to you all
Corina

ps. As I no longer have a Facebook or Twitter account (find it all too confusing...) 

but you think this Blog deserves to make a presence there, please feel free to link it on your page. Thank you!