We’ve had quite the week in New York. Some here might relate, then, to the old Irish proverb: “Na trí cairde is fearr agus na trí naimhde is measa: tine, gaoth is uisce,” which translates as, “The three best friends and the three worst enemies: fire, wind and water.”
It’s collected in Fiann Ó Nualláin’s “52 Proverbs to Build Resilience against Anxiety and Panic,” which is subtitled “Irish Holistic Wisdom.” But the proverbs are not week-specific, despite that number.
Here are just a few that might prove irresistible to the curious reader at any time: “One should first of all loosen the knot that is nearer the throat”; “Instinct is stronger than upbringing”; “A bad bush is better than the open field”; “A good word never broke a tooth”; “A sharp hound knows its faults”; “A greyhound finds its food with its feet”; “It is a wedge of itself that splits the oak” and “A hen carried far becomes a burden.”
“The book is on one hand an exploration of ancient Irish wisdom,” Ó Nualláin told the Echo, “the seanfhocal or proverbs are the survival advice batons passed from generation to generation, kept alive through our heydays and our troubled history. I wanted to look at what was so special about them that we continue to keep them current in our culture.”
The author added, “On the other hand, in the wake of recent global troubles, from wars to pandemics, to daily uncertainties, it is perhaps even more relevant to explore the sage advice that these old words speak to modern generations and their crises. The book complies the proverbs with modern psychotherapies and life strategies to navigate how to conduct oneself amid complication, confusion, anxiety and panic - how to survive it, how to thrive beyond it."
He said, “We talk about learning from history and not repeating it – well here are the gems of our cultural heritage and collective consciousness, in pursuit of helping every generation achieve a positive and full life.”
Ó Nualláin writes in the introduction: “The aim of this book is to hone resilient traits and acquire a renewed resilient mindset – resilience is an inherent human trait after all, we stumble our way into walking, we babble our way into talking, we learn from failures and setbacks, we thrive on adaptability, we continue on to the next challenge or learning/achieving opportunity. Our anxiousness may have may us lose connection with that part of ourselves but the 52 proverbs of this book and the exercises that accompany them, aim to make that connection again.”
Fiann Ó Nualláin
Birthday: I am a July baby.
Place of birth: born and resident in Dublin.
Published works: There is a series of practical herbalism books with Mercier Press in Ireland, under the holistic garden banner – first aid from the garden, beauty treatments from the garden, natural cures for common ailments and a quick cuppa herbal. And there are two mindful manuals with Dover/Ixia press in the USA – “By time is everything revealed” and “Seeds of mindfulness.”
What is your writing routine? Are there ideal conditions?
I am one of those people who wake just at the start of first light, usually with an idea for an opening sentence or just having dreamt of a solution to the paragraph or chapter that was stumping me last night. Apparently there are worse afflictions. Anyway, while I am awake and the world is asleep, I grab a coffee and get to it, 4 or 5 hours later, I hopefully have put down some coherent sentences and feel content enough with it to go shower, have breakfast and join the wider world. Later I will come back to that morning’s work and work it, but I find that that early start, that separation from distraction and noise and bustle is essential to unhindered concentration, to finding oneself in the joy of synapses firing and connections leaping from head to paper or screen – to being in the flow of it, oblivious to anything but the purity of the craft and the graft.
There is the old proverb, “Is binn béal ina thost – the silent mouth is sweet” and maybe if I was writing fiction, then the bin trucks, the neighbor’s loud radio, the bustle, would feed into plot lines but with non-fiction, the hermits dell or the prison cell is the ideal. That said, may the latter be deferred a little longer.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Do it is the answer, The ancestors would remind that “Cleachtadh a dhéanann maistreacht – practice makes mastery.” By doing you hone your skill, by doing you learn from mistakes, get better, become over time the talent that will eventually delight. So, whatever about all the stick with it, your passion will prevail, you can be it if you believe it sort of stuff – okay, but talent or mastery is still a vital component of success.
The other thing is they say writers don’t earn a living only a noble or ignoble death. And after seven books in, I do believe them. So be prepared that you may still need a day job or to do other things to supplement your income. That is not a defeat, it is keeping the electricity in the laptop and your passion and aspirations alive.
Name three books that are memorable in terms of your reading pleasure.
When I was teenager, I found “The Devil’s Dictionary” by Ambrose Bierce, I delight in it every couple of years since. Flann O'Brien’s “The Third Policeman” likewise. Then anything by Joseph Campbell, Anthony de Mello or Éamon MacThomáis.
What book are you currently reading?
I am forever fascinated by how humans communicate so at the moment I am halfway through “The unfolding of language” – Guy Deutscher.
Is there a book you wish you had written?
No, just books I am glad I read.
Name a book that you were pleasantly surprised by.
The hope is that everything one reads will pleasantly surprise, if not joyously edify.
If you could meet one author, living or dead, who would it be?
I am of the “best not meet your heroes” school, and as for foes, I know life is too short for revenge fantasies but Gerald of Wales needs a smack in the mouth, so I’ll take that time jump.
What book changed your life?
That first book in school, as a 4- or 5-year-old, that you have to read out loud with fellow classmates, it might have been something like “Ann and Barry go to the park.” I can’t remember the plot twists but it taught me to persevere and more it taught me to enjoy “reading” - the great liberation from ignorance and boredom, the world opened up.
What is your favorite spot in Ireland?
That’s a tough ask, there are so many ecosystems, beauty spots and places of cultural significance that inspire me continually. I am reminded when in our mythology the Tuatha Dé Danann offered to divide Ireland in half so as to strike a peace with Milesians, the Milesians chose the above half, honor-forcing the Tuatha to go underground and become the Sí and the fairy folk. So can I have the above ground spots?
You're Irish if...
you know they are only jealous.
