Mindfulness

from The Irish Times 11th May 1996[Items in square brackets have been added since publication] When Eileen discovered she was pregnant she was terrified of telling her mother. “I would have had that baby in a shed or a ditch. […]

from The Irish Times 11th May 1996[Items in square brackets have been added since publication] Ann’s son is 34 and lives somewhere in the United States. She last saw him when she handed the 18-month-old baby to a nun at […]

by Padraig O’Morain, The Irish Times, Thursday 5th June, 1997 This book would make your blood boil. It tells the story of the ruthless determination of the Catholic Church in this country to export “illegitimate” babies to the United States […]

It is hard to believe that in the 1960s, seen now as the era of flower power and of the claiming of personal freedom, women who became pregnant outside marriage in Ireland could disappear into institutions run by religious orders, be […]

Few people understand today the irresistible pressure that was put on pregnant single Irish women and girls to have their babies adopted up to and often including the 1970s. In particular the adult children of these women simply don’t understand […]

Adoption society admits giving false information Padraig O’Morain, The Irish Times, Monday, April 7, 1997 NOTE: This article relates to events prior to April, 1997 and is not intended to reflect practices by St Patrick’s Guild adoption society in Dublin […]

​”Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.” When I included this quote from Thich Nhat Hahn’s book The Miracle of Mindfulness in my Daily Bell, it got a wide […]

​Mindfulness means deliberately returning your awareness to the moments of your day while cultivating acceptance in your life. How can you cultivate these qualities in 2017? Use these seven tips to make your year mindful: 1. Remind yourself every morning […]