Meditation is not just for Grannies! but it helps them too

odd socks

lego all over the place

Meditation is not just for Grannies.  But of course Grannies have more time or so you might think.  I started meditating when I had a whole heap of children, scattered lego not in sets, socks not in pairs, rugby matches to watch and kit to wash, then with the girls, my little pony, hair clips and Flossie Teacake books to endure.  The thing is/was that I thought this was going to go on forever even though the evidence of feet growing out of first baby gros, then trainers, trousers and shirts seemed to indicate that the bodies of my babies were their own self growing things and when they developed their own good and bad habits, that their minds and desires were also their own.  Of course, I thought that the foreverness would endure and they would always be coming home to us and over the intervening years Grandpa and I have made a million pots of marmalade, filled our larders and deep freezes, made the beds up, got the logs in and waited for "the family" to arrive.  Of course they do, but now they have their own lives, their own wives and their own families, their own houses and their own socks to put in pairs and we are learning to shop with a basket over our arms not with a socking great trolley.

A good demonstration of We and Tea!

There are of course advantages!  We can sit in bed with a cup of tea and read, sometimes to ourselves and sometimes to each other.  We are much more sleepy now we are older, we go to bed earlier and sleep like logs.

We were surprised about the change from the central parenting, working identities we had enjoyed for so long but that change surprised us into realising the fragility and impermanence of those identitities.  So, the meditation we had practised over the years which had acted as a calming influence in the search for socks has become essential to the next transition.  And it works.  Not always of course, sometimes meditation is a struggle to sit and dodge the thoughts which try to bludger their way through the quidditch park of the mind.  Sometimes the golden snitch is elusive but oh when you get it, a great peace and confidence seeps through your whole mind and body and the real Self you are comes and softens the edges of inner conflict, the pains and pleasures of life and the next transition doesn't seem to be a big deal.  It also gives understanding of where other people are in their own conflicts and perhaps Grandpa and I and others like us who believe in the something otherness of existence and who aim for the golden snitch make a difference.  If you want to make a difference too, why not follow the signs in this newsletter for Just this Day and join us by coming to London or by switching on your computer, going to www.justthisday.org at 10..0 am GMT and following Brahma Kumari Isabelle Gauthier as she leads us into a meditation.  Then stay on line and listen to Valery Rees introduce Dr David Horan, a meditating translator of the dialogues of Plato who with Mrs Laura Hyde, a director of Education for St James Schools, London, education consultant and former Headmistress will show how the silence and stillness behind words can transform our words and actions.  It will be well worthwhile hearing them.

Life might improve for these two if they read to each other and meditated!

preparing Grandpa for marching

Well, here we are in London, banner at the ready and out of our country characters and into march mode.  Grandpa would love to watch the rugby really but he is sufficiently fired up to come and march for his doctor daughter, his doctor son-in-law, their doctor friends and even more for his own
well-being because who else is going to look after him when he falls sick.  You can hear the case laid out by Peter Stefanovic, a lawyer by listening to this little film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXeZkU2EZoA&sns=em
So, how do we prepare ourselves this morning!
First, a cup of tea and then he reads aloud a chapter from Saviour of the Nation, the poem about Churchill which tells us about the darkest hours and the spirit of fight which Churchill infused the nation with. We rise and dress with some care!  I put on warm clothes, fluff my grey hair into it's biggest and best shape and spray it with march resistant lacquer!  I put on very very bright lipstick. I want to put on the march from Les Miserables! but instead we meditate, trying our best to keep our minds steady.
We raid Rachel's fridge for fighting fare....a couple of bagels and marmite, we share a cup of coffee, I find the march from Les Mis
on YouTube and pocketing our freedom passes we head off for the bus, the tube and the march humming it. You can too

unfurling the Granny banner

Find us out of the garden in Waterloo Place tomorrow

Here we are practising unfurling the banner, maybe it should be called the Granner!  It is stapled on to two walking sticks and you will be able to see it from far away!  Does anyone out there know Jeremy Hunt or David Cameron?  Please pass on our intentions to march to them and our fondest hope that they will be putting on their sound economic thinking caps and realising that the only person who can really deal with the sick persons is the doctor, he/she is quite one of the most important people in the health service.  We need to keep the  ones who have been beautifully trained within the N.H.S to look after it and us.  This is long-term forecast not a short term project.

Rise from your Granny seat and see what you can do!

This is our banner

Grandpa preparing to go

 Come on all you friends and blog readers, this is the time to get into action not just to sit about meditating!  Think about the times you go to hospital when you really need help.  When your child or grandchild swallows a grape and chokes, when Grandpa manages to stick his fingers together with superglue, when you are suddenly doubled up with stomach pain, or can't breathe or worse, you have a stroke or you find yourself facing a life threatening diagnosis.  You really know then who you value, you really know which is the doctor who gives time, which is the doctor who isn't frightened to speak to you, who isn't frightened to make sure you get the best treatment, who will stick it out with you until you are treated. Now what are you going to do when that doctor has gone to Australia or has decided that in order to pay their mortgage they will change career.
So, what are you going to do about it?  You can get up to speed by reading the sent letter from the BMA Junior Doctors (click to download it) representative to Jeremy Hunt to see why they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  You can sign the petition.  You can talk to your friends about it, they probably don't realise how close we are to losing doctors and our precious National Health.  And you can come and find Grandpa and I on Saturday at Waterloo Place just before 2.00 pm with our banner (6ft wide), our sandwiches and a few old friends and march with us and the good doctors to make the point that this is just not on.  You might even be on the telly!

Every age and family member needs doctors too!

Grannies marching and meditating

With all the blogging about junior doctors you may have thought that Grandpa and I have become activists and left our meditation seats behind.  Not a bit of it! we come out of meditation even more determined and Jeremy Hunt, we are going to be marching on Saturday hopefully with a lot of other determined Grannies and this is why!
Jeremy, when you talk about junior doctors you make them sound as if they are newly hatched pip squeaks not grown up practicing doctors who have studied for 5 years and many of whom have been working for up to and over 10 years after that.  Some of them are over 30 years old and their next stop is being a consultant.  You won't need reminding that the years between qualifying and becoming a consultant are mostly between the ages of 24 and 34 and during that time, many people are looking for a mate, finding a home, thinking about children and generally becoming useful citizens.  If you get your way, they can't guarantee being able to pay a mortgage, they can't easily take maternity leave so must leave having babies until they are about to become consultants.  Surely you want your consultants to be well on their way to having a house and a family and ready to really assist in running your health service not starting that household business then.
Now Grannies and others, get behind these doctors and show them that we really value the doctors and need them to stay in our NHS, come and join the BMA Junior Doctor march on Saturday at Waterloo Place near Westminster and then you'll see that those juniors aren't pipsqueak juniors, they are big hardworking, self-sacrificing people and they deserve to be negotiated with not shoved into a contract which doesn't benefit them or us.  Come ON, https://www.facebook.com/events/1695649857321169/ Grandpa and I we will be there with our banner, see above, bright pink and we'll look forward to seeing you.  I will have Lion Bars in my pocket to give you if you come. Let me know if you are coming by Facebook or by commenting on this blog.

Grannies need doctors, doctors need you to sign a petition

Following on from my letter to Dave which I don't think he has read yet (although I am always hopeful) I am going to suggest that we all take action.  Sign the petition (click on the word petition) and if there is a march to Downing Street on October 17th, you will find a large placard saying Grannies for Doctors and Doctors for Grannies and you can join us there.  Bring your own placard and your own zimmer frame. I will post the details on the blog

Moving fast for junior doctors!