Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT #nonfiction #memoir Watching The Daisies by @watchingthedai1

Today’s team review is from Robbie, she blogs here https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/

Robbie has been reading Watching The Daisies by Brigid Gallagher

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Watching the Daisies is an extraordinary memoir of a woman’s life, starting with her childhood and moving step-by-step through her life to the present day.

I enjoyed learning about Brigid’s life growing up with her three siblings in Scotland and their wonderful holidays to visit relatives in Ireland. The devastating death of her Mother at a young age is very poignantly described in this book, together with the far-reaching impact of the loss of their Mother on the children and their Father. The descriptions of the scenery in Ireland are compelling and beautiful.

Brigid’s high school career paints a picture of an overachiever who finds herself ill-suited for her chosen career and takes the brave step of giving up her studies in favour of a path that is more suited to her personality and life needs. The background and detail around alternative medicine and the commitment and learning necessary to become an alternative healer are well described in the book and understandable to a novice. The areas of alternative medicine that Brigid becomes proficient in over years of study are colour healing, crystal and electro-crystal healing, reflexology, aromatherapy, nutritional medicine, counselling, spiritual healing, radionics, space clearing and Feng shui.

Brigid does well with identifying pivotal moments in her life, which all contribute to her becoming the woman she is at the current date. The anxiety and frustration of a failed marriage, early loss of a pregnancy and development of a chronic illness which is finally diagnosed as fibromyalgia and the impact on these events on her life and career are expressively conveyed. The reader is able to follow Brigid’s journey to find the best possible medical outcome for her symptoms and to celebrate her successes in researching more successful treatments and therapies.

There are also some interesting holiday experiences and interactions with other cultures and lifestyles and are depicted in the book. Brigid’s joys and happy moments are very relatable to the reader.

I rated this book four out of five stars.

Millions of people around the world suffer from fibromyalgia; the majority of them are women. As yet, there is no cure.

In this memoir, Brigid P. Gallagher shares her experiences on:

The busy life she followed before succumbing to this debilitating disease
Stopping and soul searching for answers to her vast array of symptoms
Entering a new life of SLOW
Drawing on her knowledge and experience as a Natural Medicines therapist, she seeks out therapies to aid her healing and integrates a variety of self help techniques and lifestyle changes. She also unearths a love of solo travel including Egypt, India, Rome, Lourdes, Carcassonne and Bali…

Brigid learns many insights about LIFE on her journey, the most valuable being:

“First learn to love thyself.”

In 2006, she began a new career in Organic Horticulture eventually teaching part time in schools. Although she has now retired from teaching, she continues to pursue her lifelong passion for gardening and watching the daisies.

Brigid published her memoir “Watching the Daisies – Life Lessons on the Importance of Slow” in November 2016.
She aims to inspire others on their self healing journey through her book and her blog.
Brigid was a natural medicines therapist for 20 years, and facilitated many classes for community projects and self help groups. She was an Open Studies and Summer Schools tutor for Stirling University from 1993 to 1999, and was also inspired to set up the Scottish School of Holistic Healing and a therapy centre and shop.
In 1999, she returned to the home of her ancestors in Donegal, Ireland but sadly succumbed to a mystery illness in 2003, which was eventually diagnosed as fibromyalgia.
Creative writing has played a key role in her self healing.
Brigid retrained in Organic Horticulture and taught this subject in schools until 2016.
She continues her passions for organic gardening and world travel, sharing many insights on her journeys to India, Bosnia, Morocco, Rome, Bali… in her memoir.

Brigid P. Gallagher