Pat Connolly Psychologist

21/07/2019

What kind of a future Irish beef farmers will have when Brexit comes into operation?And also the potential importation of 100,000 tons of meat that will be coming into Europe from mainly Brazil . And being sold at almost half the price of Irish beef,effectively wiping out Irish farmers.

Its crazy to even envisage that Europe will even allow that to happen.The answer is that Germany wants to capture the Brazilian market for selling cars and car parts into Brazil.To wipe out thousands of acres of the Rain Forest to rear cattle and then ship meat almost 7,000 miles to Europe is total environmental madness.

It shows up the hypocrisy of Germany and a lot of other countries in Europe where the environment is concerned.

13/05/2019

"Awake!Awake! The sun begins to rise, and gives to all a taste of paradise!"
Just a few words from that great poem by Omar Kyham.
Yes, to live fully is to experience paradise.In the space of a lifetime a person can experience a whole range of experiences and emotions, some good and pleasurable and some not so good and unpleasant.
But to be alive, to feel the sun on your face, to view a vista of stunning beauty,to feel part of this great mystery of life, is to be alive, fully alive.
No one knows for certain how long or short a life span one has.just be grateful for today and live today as if it was your last day on Earth,. And one day, eventually, that will turn out to be true.
Be grateful for the food you have to eat.Be grateful for the place you have to shelter in from the elements.Have compassion for others not as fortunate as you, and try to help those people to share in the bounties that this Earth provides.
As Marcus Aurelius says,"Do not think that you will live for a thousand years. Death is hanging over your head. While you have life , while you may, become good."

16/09/2018

"Life is a funny old thing.You will be lucky to get out of it alive!" said Groucho Marx
We get a finite time on this Earth , some get more time than others.How do we use this time?Do we use it wisely or squander a lot of it in various ways.Some spend most of their lives in a constant flurry of work and more work.Certainly there are some people who , through necessity, have to work long hours. But there are a lot of people who are financially secure, but still feel that they need to work long and hard to prove that they are worthy citizens.
To know when you have enough pf the Earths resources,is indeed wisdom.To allow others to share some of this Earths resources is indeed compassion.To help others live a fulfilled life is indeed divine.

I am a psychologist, psychotherapist, counsellor and clinical hypnotherapist ,based at Enniscrone,

20/09/2017

Life is short. But is long enough if you use every minute of it effectively.Don't dwell on the past. Its gone and can never be resurrected.Don't fear the future. It it is like a blank canvas that a painter has still to paint on.Be that painter, and create the best painting of all times.
Try to live mainly in the present. That's the only reality you have.Do the best you can.Treat others with compassion and respect.Learn from your mistakes and endeavor to live each day as though it was your last day on this Earth.That will allow you to appreciate the joy of being alive on this beautiful Earth.
One day,sooner or later, will be your ,and mine , last day on this Earth. Until that time arrives, live well!

20/09/2017

" It's a funny old world.You will be lucky to get out of it alive"Groucho Marx

16/08/2017

'Psychologists' goldenpages.ie Lacken Enniscrone Co. Sligo

02/08/2017

25/03/2017

The philosopher Seneca said,"Life is short, but is long enough if you use every minute of it."How many people fritter their lives away. Living in the past or in the future.Lamenting their past or fearing their future.The past is gone and cannot be changed.And the future is a story yet to be written.
Embrace the present moment. It alone is the only real time that we have.Use it well.Be thankful to be alive. To be able to breathe, to be a part of all living things.

11/11/2016

Well, the American people have spoken.Like it or not Donald Trump is the next president of America. Will his policies impact on Ireland? They certainly will , if he reduces America's corporation tax to 15%. Also if he deports the 50,000 illegal Irish that are in America at the moment.
We also have the uncertainty of Brexit hanging over us in Ireland.
There is a Chinese saying,"May you live in interesting times."How true that is at the moment.

20/10/2016

Are we in Ireland heading for another property crash?Societies tend to not learn from the mistakes in the past and tend to repeat them. The housing situation in Dublin and the other major cities is appalling.Thousands of our citizens paying exorbitant rents and also exorbitant prices for houses.I lay the blame squarely on our politicians and legislators. Many years ago, they should have tied the price of rental to the level of inflation, but choose not to.Why? It is a common practice in other countries.Could the answer be that we have an excess of politicians in this country, and quite a few of them are owners of property as well. If we compared the number of politicians in England with a population of well over 60 million,England has over 600 MPs. Ireland with a population of less than 5 million has over 150 TDs. You can make up the sums yourself.
Is it that we have an excess of politicians, but a huge scarcity of statesmen/women?

21/07/2016

On a cold Winter morning the Scottish poet Robbie Burns , who at the time was working as a travelling farm laborer, was ploughing a field of stubble with a couple of horses , to allow the frost break down the soil in preparation, for the next years crop,spotted a field mouse running for its life as the plough ripped through the mouses nest.
A few hours later, after Burns had completed ploughing the field, while taking his dinner, which probably consisted of a bottle of cold tea and a couple of slices of bread,he noticed the mouse starting to build another nest for himself.
This inspired him to write that great poem ,To a Mouse.
Disaster had befallen the mouse. His, or her, house was completely demolished. Colder weather was coming, and without shelter the mouse would perish. Instead of bewailing the situation, giving up or committing su***de , as many humans are prone to do, the mouse just obeyed its instinct and endeavored to rectify the situation by building another nest.
I can still remember a few sentences from that poem ,To a Mouse,'The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft aglay, and lead us not to promised joy.But och! I sometimes backwards glance oer prospects drear , and forward ,though I cannae see, I guess and fear."
I know , a mouse has sense reaction consciousness, while we humans possess a supposedly superior level of consciousness, self consciousness.Yet the mouse was in survival mode and was dealing with the situation.How well does humans deal with similar situations?

01/07/2016

Thee philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said,"A humans worth is not linked to his/her usefulness. For he/she would continue to be worthy even if there was no one in the world for him/her to be useful to."
And this poses a problem for many people, especially in this busy modern day world. Most people,whether they admit it or not,would judge busy hard working people as being more worthy than less motivated ones.
I think it was the writer Thoreau who said,"Do not be annoyed if other people are living their lives at a different pace to yours.Perhaps they are listening to the beat of a different drum."
Many books have been written on how to live a happier life. How to live an authentic one.What does that mean?Authentic living means being at one with oneself.Knowing ones strengths and weaknesses.Knowing what to strive for in life, what to become.
A part of a poem comes to mind,"I took the road less travelled by, and that made all the difference."

25/06/2016

"Life is a funny old thing,"said Groucho Marx,"We'll be lucky if we get out of it alive."
What is the purpose of living, if we are programmed to die?
Many people,philosophers, intellectuals and the ordinary man and woman in the street have tried to come to terms and answer that question.
A religious person would say that the human body is the receptacle for the soul, which is immortal, and that when the body dies,the soul goes to either Heaven or Hell, depending on how that person behaved when alive.
An agnostic could say that as part of a biological species,we are programmed to live, mate and bear offspring, to perpetuate the species, and then die , to make way for the next generation.
A natural order.A life comes into being,flowers for a while, and then dies.
Is it just the perpetuation of the species, and or to help other people, to acquire knowledge, skills etc? To work to keep oneself and ones family? To save money, perhaps buy a house, take holidays, etc.?
Is it to become rich and famous, to acquire property,to have streets named after one?To change the course of history by becoming a politician or some famous influential figure?
Is it to become a worthy human being? and just what does that mean?Is it to comply with all the social rules and norms?To work hard, to help others,to seek social justice.
The philosopher Fried rich Nietzsche said,"A humans worth is not linked to his/her worthiness. For he/she would continue to be worthy even if there was no-one in the world for him/her to be useful to."

08/06/2016

Man is born free, but in modern civil society, he is enchained at birth.Enslaved by his obligations before the law, to other men , and to their institutions.
So states Rousseau in The Social Contract.
Is that the case?
Is a person really a slave to the society he/she lives in?
Many people would agree. Also many people would disagree.
Those that disagree would say that a person is more free under the laws of a society than if he/she lived in the jungle.In the jungle ,he/she has to conform to the laws of the jungle,namely, the survival of the fittest.In a society,he/she is protected by the laws of that society.
Many people would say that modern society is a form of jungle.Programmed to believe that to be successful you have to earn more, consume more,acquire more property,citizens join the rat race.Without thinking,without questioning,they become pawns to the powers that rule their lives.
Fed a daily diet by newspapers and television,they are manipulated to consume,consume!
A few opt out of the rat race,but they are looked at with disfavour by the majority.The programming is so complete that most people see them as drop-outs or lazy.
John Cowper Powys said,"Are we to make it the main purpose of our days to so drug ourselves with our work and our labour , that the
incredible chance of our being conscious at all on this magical earth is hardly realized before it is snatched away."
That is not to say that it is correct to be a burden on society.A person should work to provide for himself and his dependents, if he/she has any.
The tension that exists between individual identity , and social consensus is always present.
Jean-Paul Satre said that all that we are is the result of what we have thought.. He goes on,"There are many precautions to imprison a person in what he/she is,as if we lived in perpetual fear that he/she might escape from it,that he/she might break away and suddenly elude his/her condition."
And Nietzsche said,"Behind the glorification of 'work'and the tireless talk about the 'blessing of work', I find the same thought as behind the praise of impersonal activity for the public benefit,the fear of everything individual. The value of an individual does not lie in his/her usefulness,for it would continue to exist even if there were nobody to whom he/she could be useful."
The result of present-day living,with its materialistic emphasis, its nuclear family,with few or no offspring,is a mushrooming of old peoples homes.A true growth area!
And this is thew reality facing most people as they become unable to look after themselves.Wrapped up for years working and acquiring assets, they now face the prospect of parting with quite a lot of it , to keep them in an old peoples home for the remainder of their lives.
How real then are the so-called advances in our society?

20/07/2014

I have been reading about that terrible event of the downing of the Malaysian plane with all 298 people on it killed.It seems that it was shot down by a missile while over territory controlled by pro Russian militants.

14/07/2014

I have been reading a book by Jiddu Krishnamurti called,Beyond Violence. Krishnamurti says , "that to pass beyond violence,there must be a fundamental change in the human psyche;and this can only come about through complete freedom from fear."