HI, Martin here. As you have no doubt realized, working with Ferdinand as the narrator of my book gave me the distance I needed to deal with issues such as adoption. I am very grateful for his collaboration. In fact, I have found myself wondering how anybody can write a book without a bear as his or her co-author!
2020 has been a difficult year for everyone with Coronavirus upsetting a lot of people’s plans. Ferdinand and I finished the book just as the pandemic was starting. As I’m writing this, Melbourne is still in lockdown but there is some hope that this will soon change.
I have been able to continue to “go to the gym” virtually, through Zoom sessions with two wonderful trainers named Georgie and Rebecca. And this has led me to an important realization: for most of my life I have focused on the mental and the spiritual but not the physical. But working on my physical fitness has also produced huge benefits for my mental health; my moods have been much more stable and my general level of anxiety has reduced. I now realize you neglect the body at your peril!
By the way, St Paul speaks of human beings as being made up of “spirit and soul and body” (1 Thess 5:23), “soul” being the mind in more modern terminology. I believe that this is a really good working definition. Human beings are a unity, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the words “holiness” and “wholeness” are related. We should be in harmony with ourselves and with others. It is really that simple, and that difficult!
I must also mention the latest addition to our family: a beautiful cat named Violet. Ferdinand was a bit unsure of her at first, but now he loves her, although he doesn’t appreciate cat hairs sticking to his fur. She has brought great joy to our lives.
Although life still has its challenges (in virus form and otherwise) I am increasingly able to look at life with gratitude. And that, I suppose, is the greatest lesson I have learned.
Martin S. Murphy