So here are a collection of videos.
I had wanted to share more with people but felt unable to express myself. Then some deep healing experiences helped to tip the balance and slowly I was on the road.
I make them for many reasons. Some of which are:
To help me to sing. To help me feel well by expressing things that are important to me. To connect with my friends around the world. To use things that I love to help make a positive difference in the world. To get past my own fears. To have a laugh. To be really serious. To figure things out. To have fun.
Enjoy!
Take Care Together! January 23rd 2017
For the times we live in, here is a little poem by the little man.
“Take care” by Michael D Higgins.
Ultimately we are all going home.
Against all odds . 13th Friday 2017
A late night love song with a stuffy sinus.
And you can even watch me gently message the sides of my face (I did not realize I was doing that).
Peace and love.
M
Thanks Phil!
Song : Phil Collins – Against all odds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aXde4Y70yI
Bye Bye 2016. Hello 2017. January 8th 2017
Hello 2017!
I wanted to make a video for some time. Here it is now.
A tribute to 2016 and all its madness and mayhem and terror and death and also to the wonderful, simple, joyful things, and to all the great people who make life here on earth so much better by the magical things they do, big and small, by climbing through all the shit and still coming out with love and joy and hope and care and being their true selves whatever that maybe. Thank you.
I’m a slow enough learner at times but this past while I figured the death and sadness will never leave us. And yes timing is everything. But also that art and comedy and music and song and dance are things that can help us get through it all. And it is as much a mark of respect to embrace life as best we can here and now rather than dull ourselves down.
Birthday Thank YOU. 27th September 2016
Hello. Thank you for the birthday wishes!
Really and truly.
Next year I want cards and money!
Or maybe just money!
And cake…
Definitely cake!
Also, if you can bear with me in the video I am talking about stuff that I find hard to talk about but it is important for a wider campaign. (and some part of me hates doing campaigns but I got to suck it up for this one)
The campaign is related to home care in Ireland and is an appeal to the government to make adequate funds and resources available to support care at home in all types of cases including dementia
#dementia #alzheimers #homecare #ireland #dementiacarebeginsathome
please take a few minutes to add your voice to the list
click here for a petition + info.
http://alzheimer.ie/Get-Involved/Campaigning/Current-Advocacy-Campaigns/Pre-Budget-Submission-2017.aspx
or here to send a quick letter to your local TD
http://www.alzheimers.promozoo.ie/launch.php?dm_i=2KSO%2CWNBS%2C6B0H5N%2C2H440%2C1
There are many people who take upon themselves the role of being a carer at home 24/7. Many are not even registered and manage to hold down day jobs. I don’t know how people do it.
For me the role as a carer to my mum is incredibly challenging on many levels – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, energetically. Sometimes it gets the better of me. The past few weeks, well, that was one of those times. But it really showed to me how difficult the task is, and how much support is needed for carers. I am lucky in many respects. There are many people who have it tougher.
But that is not to say that I should stay quiet.
The difficulty for caring for someone at home, in my experience, is hard to describe. People are doing it but at what cost to their own lives!? And at what cost to the person being cared for. More help can lead to better care for everyones health.
I feel that carers are being loaded with too much – no-one is directly at fault. But if the load can be lightened by sharing the burden, allocating more resources, and creating new structures then by all means, let it happen.
Caring at home is too much for one, two, or three people. It requires a community!
Thanks,
Micheál
…oh and here is the song I sang
Masterpiece by Big Thief
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0E5vMkDfOI
LOVE. 28th August 2016
(and by love I mean, an acceptance and deep appreciation of yourself & others – not just the romantic stuff.)
It seems to be partly an inside job. What you give out you get back and all that.
You can’t really feel love or give love until you feel it inside and really love/accept/appreciate who you are.
It has certainly been the case for me.
What you think to be true usually feels that way unless something drastic shifts that thought.
It seems to be a lifetimes work.
Jolly good…
Have a spiffing day chaps & chappies!
Back for good. 17th August 2016
I am seeing the fears in me more clearly.
There is a little more space for me to notice. Before they were just there. Normal. My head. My body. My sight. Was full of them. Not much space to breathe fully.
Now, thankfully, I can discern a little more whether I choose to really believe them or not. It is benefiting me in untold ways.
I am seeing the light in me too.
I want to thank any person who has supported me to keep going, being myself, loving myself, expressing myself, making art. I do appreciate it.
Hang in there!
Back for good by Take That.
Here is the Karaoke video I used – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVxGYOaVrkY
T-shirt is from here – https://www.threadless.com/product/5941/Hang_In_There/tab,guys
Seabirds. After a summer break. 11th August 2016
I have been away and it has been too long.
I need to sing and share with people… whether I am “good” or “bad” at it. Life is too short and precious for that shit.
So here you go. With LOVE and APPRECIATION.
Seabirds by the Alessi brothers – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgz9k46o7tI
The Greatest Love of All. 14th June 2016
Life is crazy here on earth. It seems like there is so much shit and delight and love and hate.
While I dream and long for a place where we can all love ourselves and each other I guess it ain’t going to happen here. It is not what this place is about.
However it doesn’t mean that we can’t love ourselves and work for a brighter life here on earth.
May we love and accept ourselves more fully.
The song I sang is The Greatest Love of All – http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/georgebenson/greatestloveofall.html
You are always on my mind. 3rd June 2016
You are always on my mind.
I am realizing just how much I have been living from a fearful, critical, judgmental place in my mind. It has just been a habit. Like walking or talking. It goes unnoticed because it is everywhere around us, almost.
It has stopped my flow of creativity and expression and my sharing that love with the world. It is not a good place to try to live a flowing creative joyful artistic life. It gets myself stuck, rigid, paralyzed.
And what about my heart?
Well, it takes an awful lot of trust to live from the heart. It requires me to let go of the control. Obviously I had the habit not to trust, that it wasn’t safe to let go of control. I’m slowly becoming more aware of this and how it shuts down my life.
This song isn’t really about that, but I liked the line… “You are always on my mind”. Do you ever get that craziness when you in a intimate relationship with someone? The mind goes into overdrive. Things become manic. Things tighten. Fear sets in. Grasping for something. I thought that was love. I’m thinking now that it is just more thinking, not love, not trust, not joy, but tight ass, rigid, fearful thinking. So that means love is a whole different thing.
And thank the Gods for that.
I can’t wait to explore more.
The song: You are always on my mind.
Inspired by the Willie Nelson version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7f189Z0v0Y)
Original song by Brenda Lee.
Lyrics : http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/willienelson/alwaysonmymind.html
Lady in Red. 24th May 2016
The crazy fearful stuff in your head about the future may or may not happen. (Most likely won’t)
And the stuff that is gone isn’t exactly as it seems.
And eventually there might be a time when you won’t even remember any of it.
So please please please enjoy the moment. Stay in the moment… without letting the crazy chatter in your head block it out with fear and judgment and shit.
Allow yourself to trust. To trust in your intuition. To trust that you can handle what will happen.
Love. Love. Love.
Here is a classic
Lady in Red by Chris DeBurgh
The karaoke is from here https://youtu.be/uD5yCuYuEEE
End of the road! 8th May 2016
Hello Folks,
haven’t been singing and sharing enough lately… Here is a classic.
Boys || Men – End of the Road.
Backing Music – Sing King Karaoke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjPg9JqTxkY
We deserve to be treated well. We don’t deserve shit from other people. You are worth respect.
Feeling like a mad puck goat. 8th April 2016
Hello People.
I was feeling worn out and demented today… Like we all feel from time to time.
Here was part of my medicine.
…”An Poc ar Buile”
an old irish traditional song about a mad goat running wild in the countryside of west Cork and Kerry.
here are the english lyrics from http://www.irishpage.com/songs/pocbuile.htm
Happy Easter everyone. 27th March 2016
The song is by Backstreet Boys – “I want it that way”.
here are some notes to make sense of the video:
-I wonder what my fire/love/passion is? What is yours? What brings your through the tough times? What causes you to rebel?
-It is so easy to be overwhelmed by negative thoughts…I know it is for me. So I need to shift my focus and ask better questions like… what am I grateful for?
-I read a little of Victor Frankl’s work in this article… great stuff. https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/03/26/viktor-frankl-mans-search-for-meaning/
… a goal is important. Humour too.
many thanks for the backing track + lyrics … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXXQVir7yTw
Enjoy! (and sing and dance along)
A blessing. 22nd March 2016
A blessing for us all.
We are all in this thing together.
So much killing. So much fear. So much sickness.
LOVE, MORE LOVE.
poem : Beannacht (for Josie) by John O’Donoghue
A total eclipse of the heart. 10th March 2016
Hello People,
It was a massively powerful new moon and SOLAR eclipse (I said Lunar eclipse in the video) this week… a time of healing old wounds and big change.
I was certainly feeling fairly shitty, wrecked, lonely and very sorry for myself despite me having great friends and so SOO SOOO much to be grateful for.
It’s a weird old internal thought pattern and energy that manifests in my system. Trying to see it more clearly – Exactly what this old healing is about.
See this website for great details about the new moon and solar eclipse. http://chaninicholas.com/2016/03/the-courage-to-heal-solar-eclipse-in-pisces-2/
Song: A total eclipse of the heart by Bonnie Tyler
Backing track is here: https://youtu.be/pnJRZU4oAi8
T-shirt from: https://www.threadless.com/
In the middle section I talk about the need for us to be compassionate to ourselves and stuff like that and how I am trying to make meaning from the shit that happens. Nothing too major.
May you heal your old wounds.
love.
M
General Election in Ireland RANT . 8th March 2016
Hello good people! This is a rant and then a poem.
I needed to get some stuff off of my chest and express what was inside of me ( both what I perceive to be “good” and “bad”). It is hard for me to get in touch with anger and then express it. But I see now how VITAL it is for a healthy life and that anger is not the opposite of love… far from it in fact. The anger can be as a result of real love and passion.
I have seen myself depress and repress my anger for too long. And with it I have regressed my vitality and life force. Here is an action to get past this habit.
Have a good day.
The poem “For what died the sons of Roisin?” is by Luke Kelly.
The rant is by me.
Hold Me Now by Johnny Logan. 26th February 2016
Singing is such a tonic, for me at least.
If I was too worried about what other people think of me (Which I have been for way too long), I wouldn’t dare sing and never mind share it.
BUT… I’d miss out on all the fun and sharing with others.
I saw a quote that was something like… If only the best bird was to sing, then we wouldn’t have the morning chorus. …you get the gist… We all don’t have to be be perfect or the best. It ain’t about that.
So, pardon my wobbly voice, enjoy my attempts to share and have a great weekend. Oh and do the things you love and bring you joy.
Happy Valentines day. 15th February 2016
Valentines day got me thinking about love and how I want to be “in love”.
Then I am like, Micheál, get your head out of your own arse!” coz The thing is, is that I have so much love for the world and life in general whether I have a girlfriend or not. And I need to share it or else I will get sick.
So I have to get over my ego on this one.
Here is an offering for you (and me)
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. 2nd January 2016
My attempt to share this poem with you.
A healthy and loving New Year to ye all. 31st December 2015
Starting to sing. Slowly slowly.
The rain, the gray, the time of year. 30th December 2015
Sad but not too serious.
Happy Holidays – Dec 27th 2015
Beginning to mess with emotions and taking things more lightly.
Micheál Rowsome (art and other things) 