sharings from Pauline O'Shea, Patient Advocate, Public speaker, Media spokesperson & Writer on the challenges & healing that life has to offer
Back in my student days, I lived in a house where an art therapist also resided. Art therapy wasn't a big thing in those days. He was viewed with a mixture of fascination and pity... pity for how little demand there was for his business and how 'broke' he always seemed to be, fascination for… Continue reading Could your CREATIVE talent become your healing therapy?
With patients, ‘that place’ can refer to the venue where they received their diagnosis and/or treatment, or 'that place' where they were when they first noticed the lump, or experienced the sudden pain that would change their lives utterly. For others, it can be more of an experience, 'that place' in memory that holds the… Continue reading “I JUST CAN’T GO THERE!” But what if going to ‘that place’ is key to helping you heal?
I have always been a reader, in fact books are my ‘shoe addiction’. A bookshop is my go-to place. Little wonder then that when I have faced the challenging times in my life, I have dived into the world of books, in part to seek connection with someone else in my predicament, but equally to… Continue reading BOOK MEDICINE… GREAT READS to help heal the heart, mind and soul!
On this month, 10 years ago, my life changed forever. On the very day I brought my beautiful baby daughter home from the hospital, I suffered a condition called SCAD, where a tear occurred in one of my coronary arteries, causing a heart attack. I was 38 years old. A trip to A+E, a medical… Continue reading 10 YEARS on from a SCAD & HEART FAILURE diagnosis … here are some of the things I’ve learned…
Wishing all the wonderful women of the world in the home, in business, caring for others, dealing with wars, in the world of sports, art, media, volunteering in their communities, in religious life, dealing with challenges, dealing with loss, dealing with children, dealing with elderly parents, living alone, bereaved, separated, living with a health diagnosis,… Continue reading Happy International Women’s Day 2022 💗 from Pauline O’Shea
Main photo by Michelle Leman from Pexels thank you to Michelle and to her brave and beautiful model. In a recent conversation with a fellow heart failure patient, who has had the condition for five years, she began to cry when she talked about her interactions with a lifelong friend post diagnosis. With her permission, I quote her… Continue reading The INVISIBILITY of our illnesses or struggles can be an extra challenge, but there are ways to overcome…
Love is in the air this week, in case you've missed the card and chocolate stands emblazoned with reminders of February 14th being Valentine's Day. We have been commercially encouraged everywhere it seems to deliver our love in the form of chocolates, flowers, cards and well, whatever else we might be willing to stretch to… Continue reading To LOVE regardless… how St. Valentine’s message can help our wellbeing & healing
It happens to us all. We have the blazing row with someone, or take offence to what they said, or choose to ignore the one who has hurt us, certain that our hostility is the right and only course of action to take. Fueled by pride and anger in the aftermath of the 'offence', we… Continue reading “Finding grace”… how healing can become a beautiful thing… by Pauline O’Shea
In his books about the physiological effects of love, hope, positivity, and joy, on his patient’s recoveries, American oncologist, Dr. Bernie Siegel , leaves the reader in no doubt that these elements are important medicines for the human body. Having read his classics, Love, Medicine and Miracles and Peace, love and healing, I found his… Continue reading The medicine of JOY…
We’ve all heard the message, ‘It’s OK to not be OK’, to reach out, to tell someone how you feel… but the response to such a statement can perhaps be as vital as the admission itself, for the one who is seeking healing. I recently watched a documentary called ‘The Weight of Gold’ narrated by… Continue reading “It’s OK to not be OK,”… but is the RESPONSE to that admission causing more hurt than healing?
Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a presentation and discussion on the psychological impact of diagnosis. It’s a topic close to my heart, having experienced all manner of psychological fallout to my own misdiagnosis, eventual diagnosis and horrendous legacy of both, from stress and anxiety, to lows and PTSD (more on… Continue reading The PSYCHOLOGICAL impact of illness… why we need to HEAL OUR MINDS, as well as our BODIES!
It’s been a manic few weeks in my world, as I am sure it has been for many of you. September, with it’s new ‘opening up’ and ‘returning to normal’ strategies has seen lots begin again and anew for us. For me, it meant, one child embarking on college, two others returning to school, patient… Continue reading Sorry, but I NEED to say “NO!”
We’ve all been there at some point, been in that parent child type scenario with a fellow adult, where the other is leaving us in no doubt that they are the expert and we, the floundering, less important of the two. Alas our healthcare systems can be rife with this type of relationship, the doctor… Continue reading Why the PATIENT needs to be treated as an EQUAL in our healthcare systems…
You know how it is, your life turns upside down, while everyone else’s looks rosier than ever. Your Facebook feed is full of smiling family pics from the latest staycation hotspot (is it Donegal this week, or has it moved back to Kerry?). You even notice the odd ‘Playa de something or other’ creeping into… Continue reading ‘CLICK & CONNECT’… why finding your tribe, is a UNIQUE and VITAL lifeline in a struggle…
There are a lot of books written on overcoming life challenges, 5 steps this way, 10 steps that way, all trying to produce the complete, ‘over it with these strategies’ result. Having been through a few big life challenges myself (cardiac arrest and marriage breakdown, to name but two), I can see the appeal of… Continue reading ‘RISING STRONG’, yes Brené Brown, I think that’s the call, when cometh the life challenge
When you’ve been through great pain, there is something within, that wants to help prevent that pain for another, or at least help them get through it, if indeed they have to bear it. It is hard to explain that feeling, or why it is there, but throughout the world, we hear this reaction from… Continue reading HEALING through HELPING… and how it sows seeds for the better
I won’t lie, there were lots of nerves, pressing the publish button on my blog. What if’s were rampaging through my head… most of them accompanied by some vision of a catastrophic outcome… ultimately all being about whether baring my soul, my struggles, my wounds and revealing how I try to overcome them would become… Continue reading Feeling the FEAR but doing it anyway
The healing of life 