I try to give the impression of being busy. But I am dead idle. I am wedded to idleness. I love it when you can just sit and think. Or sometimes you can just sit.

One of my favourite things in life is tootling around the garden talking to my roses. I love the garden, I love the feel of earth. I love the beauty of roses. I love just seeing things growand I love knowing the names of things and seeing them asmy close friends.My own garden is big enough for one person but Iwish I had another acre to grow roses. My favourites are the old scented ones.

My real job is in Southill. I work there two or three mornings a week. I work giving Reiki or doing the Brandon Bays process. Brandon Bays is the name of the person who developed the therapy and she trained me. It is a simple but very avant garde psychological process of getting in touch with emotional blocks in the psyche that youmay have totally forgotten about but which are affecting you either physically, energetically or spiritually. It is about exploring those blocks, reliving them and with forgiveness then comes healing. It is demanding but I enjoy it.

The people of Southill are marvellous. They are extremely open. They are so much in touch with their own emotional lives. They don't wear masks. They are so honest and open. They are a dream to workwith. The process can be traumatic at the time. But the results are so beneficial, they are delighted. You can see the clarity in their faces or in their eyes when they have come through the whole process.

Often, I have middle-class women coming to Southill and it is so difficult to get them in touch with anything. Image is very important to them. Throughout their lives, as they grow older, a lot of people become the image that is either imposed on them by society or their family or that they choose and they lose the spontaneity of getting in touchwith their real selves.

It is an inner journey. It is scientifically proven that we are entirely made up of atoms and molecules of emotion. Candace Perth, a very famous biochemist who was nominated for the Nobel Prize, wrote a book "The molecules of emotion" where she proves that our physical bodies aremade up of emotion.

The thing that bothers me most is negativity. I think, to quote a friend of mine, that when we talk about divisions between people, it is not division between black and white, between Irish or Chinese or even between male and female that counts. There are only two types of people – radiators and drains. I really believe that. I believe there is no such thing as a passive encounter with anyone, even someone we pass on the street. They go past you feeling better for seeing you – or worse.

I think we all connect but some people connect, celebrating the joy of life and others connectwith disappointment or misery or lost in their own sadness. If they paused to look around they would realise howblessed they are.

I spent most ofmy life teaching. I love kids from age 12 to 18. I find them totally fascinating and I think they are brilliant. I think they are amazingly exciting and stimulating and to teach them is the greatest privilege. I taught a lot abroad. I went first to Nigeria, then to Greece for a while where I was teaching in Crete and then I spent several years in Milan. I pick up languages very easily but I amno good at grammar.

I think I started painting because of boredom. But I haven't paintedmuch for a while. I am very interested now in abstract work. I like to think of communicating through shape and colour. You are getting beyond the visual and really putting down your emotions, getting that communication straight without the intervention of things. But when I take art classes, I let people do exactly as they please. I feel most people are extremely talented and it is just amatter of having confidence to express themselves.

I love being back in Askeaton. I love the pople here. I just find my roots are here and what I like is the feeling of joy of having an open house so that any friend can drop in at any time and that I amequally welcome in other houses. Even shopping is a pleasure because you are encountering people you have known since you were a child or young people whom it is a joy to watch.