St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday that falls on March 17 each year. In Ireland it's celebrated with parades, community feasts, singing, dancing, and church services, all in honor of St. Patrick, an English man who lived in about 400 A.D. 

Pat’s whole name was Magnus Sucatus Patricus. When he was 16, Irish raiders carried him off from England to Ireland to work as a slave. He escaped six years later, traveled and studied for many years, and became a Christian missionary. He returned to Ireland, and grew famous for all the miracles he performed and for converting many Irish people to Christianity.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "Reset"

2. Resilience skill

3. Prayer of St. Patrick

4. Plant peas and my straw doll

5. Enjoy hot Irish coffee

1. Read "The 5 Resets":

For Lent, I'm reading "The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience" (2024), by Aditi Nerurkar. My goal is to get wiser, stronger, and more adaptable.

I've been working at the first reset - to Get Clear on What Matters Most. I set some realistic goals, and made a realistic plan - By Easter I will adopt many healthy choices for snacks and meals without processed food, and be less addicted to easy carbs; integrate most if not all of the Emotional Balance Workbook exercises into my everyday life, and feel emotionally grounded, aware, and regulated; and complete at least three art projects of some kind. 

I also made a plan for adding daily joyful activities, such as planting starts, painting, writing lessons, and doing art with my grandsons.

The second reset is to Find Quiet in a Noisy World. She spends several pages discussing smartphone and screen time addiction: Digital noise causes us stress. And we give away too much precious attention to screens, considering that attention is not an infinite resource. My brain gets exhausted even when it's just TV I'm filling it with.

She suggests I create boundaries around my valuable attention bandwidth, and reconsider my relationship with my phone.

2. Resilience plan:

Today I've made a plan for how to fit in some steps towards my goals and also some joy activities into each day:

• Monday: Paint a butterfly on my bathroom wall
• Tuesday: Make a rainbow collage with my grandson.
• Wednesday: Dye eggs for Nowruz, and decorate for spring
• Thursday: Paint banner letters, and solo library visit.
• Friday: Paint banner letters, and bake cookies with my grandson.
• Saturday: Plant spinach and beets, sew my banner together, and take it to an earth care event!

3. Prayer of St. Patrick:

The word "Christ" in this prayer means the Chosen One; I believe we are all chosen ones, with "that of God" within - that was Jesus' message to us.

Christ, shield me this day:
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

It's very powerful to ask to be surrounded and protected by a world and people filled with the love of God, and feel the Spirit of Love within and all around me.

4. Plant peas and my straw doll:

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is the traditional day to plant peas and potatoes (or so some people say), so I've planted my second row of peas, and also my straw harvest doll.

The custom in Europe was to make a straw figure out of the last sheaf of wheat that was harvested, so the spirit of the grain had a place to live through the winter. Then it was planted again in the spring.

I make a corn or straw doll each fall. (For how to make this simple straw doll see this post on the autumn equinox.) Today I've returned her to the earth, and with luck the grain in her hair will sprout into a sheaf of wheat to harvest again in the fall!

5. Enjoy hot Irish coffee:
Ingredients:

• 1 c. freshly brewed strong black coffee 
• 1 jigger (1-1/2 oz.) of Irish whiskey 
• 1 tsp. to 1 Tbsp. brown sugar 
• heavy cream (not whipped)

Yield: 1 serving-
1- Warm a mug with hot water and then empty it. Pour piping hot coffee into warmed glass until it is about 3/4 full.

2- Add the brown sugar and stir until completely dissolved. (The sugar is essential for floating the unwhipped cream on top.) Blend in the Irish whiskey.

3- Shake the heavy cream a little, then pour it carefully over the back of a spoon, held just above the surface of the coffee. The layer of cream should float on the coffee without mixing. Serve hot, and drink the coffee through the layer of cream.