Horrific moment nurse, 21, breaks her NECK doing somersault into foam pit at gym
Footage shows Brooke Bowen launching herself into the stunt from a trampoline, inside a West Yorkshire gymnasium, on April 22 earlier this year.
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Brooke Bowen's fractured spine was missed by hospital staff after the injury
Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media
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The 21-year-old had been practicing somersaults at a gym
Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media
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She landed on her head and hit the hard floor
Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media
The paediatric nurse completes one backwards somersault before appearing to land head first halfway through her second flip.
Brooke, from Wakefield, told
The 21-year-old had attended the session with a friend after their cheerleading practice was cancelled.
She was rushed to Pinderfields Hospital A&E after suffering excruciating pain through the night.
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Despite describing her agony, and showing nurses a video of her flip, she was sent home after an X-ray.
However, Brooke's condition failed to improve over the next couple of months.
She grew tired of constant GP appointments and pain medication prescriptions.
In the end, the young woman decided to go for a private scan and demanded answers.
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Doctors discovered she had actually fractured her spine in two places, the C3 and C4 vertebrae - which are both located in the neck.
The cheerleader was also told her C5 and C6 were bruised and compressed.
England hero Lucy Bronze reveals she played whole of Euro 2025 with BROKEN LEG
Fortunately, her fractures were stable, but medical professionals gave her a list of life-threatening symptoms she had to watch out for.
Fearing she may be paralysed, Brooke was rushed to hospital in June after experiencing pins and needles in her legs.
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Doctors fobbed her off again and said her symptoms were "all in her head".
Brooke has since returned home from hospital but must go through six weeks of hydrotherapy.
She still struggles to walk properly and suffers from left-sided weakness in her arms and legs.
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The cheerleader went to A&E the following day after her pain worsened
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Brooke eventually went private after being fobbed off
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Medical professionals discovered she had fractured her C3 and C4 vertebrae - both located in the neck
Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media
The nurse claimed if she had been diagnosed properly by hospital staff in April, she wouldn't have been left with such chronic problems.
A consultant informed the youngster just this week how her legs could one day become paralysed.
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Brooke added: "I'll always think that if I was treated at the start I wouldn't be in this position now."
Dr Mark Freeman, deputy chief medical officer at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust said: "We pride ourselves on providing the best possible care to our patients.
"We are sorry to hear Brooke is not happy with the care we provided to her on this occasion.
"If Brooke would like to contact the Trust we would be happy to meet with her and discuss this in more detail."
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This comes as two former trampoline park bosses faced jail afte
Scores of people were injured on a daily basis at Flip Out — including three who fractured their spines on the same day.
David Elliott Shuttleworth, 33, and Matthew Melling, 33, were slapped with fines and costs totalling £72,800 for health and safety offences.
Between December 10 2016 and February 3 2017 more than 270 visitors were injured using the facility's Tower Jump and Pit.
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Of those casualties, 11 suffered significant spinal fractures and four needed surgery.
Meanwhile, 123 injuries resulted in dental damage, facial cuts and bruises and well as broken ribs.
Liza Jones, 26, said she felt a searing pain when she smashed into the foam landing below the four metre high "tower jump".
The cardiac nurse was rushed to hospital where she discovered she had fractured her back and burst a vertebrae.
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She had to undergo surgery and have metal plates and screws inserted in her back.
Fellow victim, Ceri Jones, told how she fractured her back at the attraction.
The 21-year-old claimed she was left "in agony" and feared she could have been paralysed after smashing into the foam landing pit.
Third-year student nurse Ceri said: "I was not there long and I looked at the instructions and landed on my bum - it felt like I had just landed on the floor.
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"I immediately heard my back 'crunch' when I landed and I couldn't talk or breath - it felt like I was winded.
"When I got to the hospital and my parents arrived, the doctor asked if they could speak to them without me.
"As a student nurses, we almost know too much and one of my friends started crying because she knew that it must be bad if they were telling my parents before me when I am 21.
"The doctors said that my vertebrae had exploded from the pressure if I was to walk then bone fragments in my spinal fluid could catch on my spinal cord and I could be paralysed."
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Brooke has been left with lasting symptoms and struggles to walk
Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media
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The young woman has been told there's a possibility legs may eventually become paralysed
Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media
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Brooke believes she would not be suffering as severely if her injuries had been picked up early on
Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media
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The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
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There is thought to be about one TEN case per one million patients - about 60 every year, according to the University of Liverpool. SJS is more common, with an incidence rate of about one in 10,000. Source: NHS Five years on, Aleshia is still recovering from long-term complications associated with SJS but is determined to raise awareness of this life-altering disorder. She says: 'We believe it was all triggered by taking ibuprofen. 'I took it twice a day for the C-section recovery pain, then continued taking it to ease my pain and swelling [when I developed flu-like symptoms]. Advertisement 'Ibuprofen was my go-to med. I'd basically taken it my whole life since I was 14 to help with period pains. 'They don't know why I had this reaction to it. Doctors don't really have an explanation for it. 'They just said my body decided it didn't like it one day. It's very upsetting and confusing. 'There's no prevention, and once it starts, there's nothing you can do to stop it. 'And there's definitely a chance I can get it again at any time.' Advertisement 15 Aleisha was treated for sepsis and multi organ failure Credit: Kennedy News 15 Aleisha's whole body blistered before her skin peeled off. She is pictured as her wounds heal Credit: Kennedy News 15 The mum's skin was left discoloured following the ordeal Credit: Kennedy News 15 Aleisha even had blisters in her mouth Credit: Kennedy News 15 Five years on, Aleshia is still recovering from long-term complications associated with SJS Credit: Kennedy News
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- The Irish Sun
Fat jabs are a nightmare for anorexics – I'll never get over my girl Nikki's death but I'd worry if she was still here
Sue Grahame makes a stark warning four years on from her beloved daughter's death, and recalls Big Brother star Nikki's tragic last days in unbearable pain and unable to bathe or dress herself DYING TO BE THIN Fat jabs are a nightmare for anorexics – I'll never get over my girl Nikki's death but I'd worry if she was still here NIKKI Grahame was just seven years old when her mum said she came home from gymnastics club upset because another child had said her bum looked big in her leotard. That one tiny comment sparked the beginnings of an eating disorder in Nikki, which would see her spend the next decade in more than 18 different institutions, including two-and-a-half years in Great Ormond Street Hospital. Advertisement 16 Nikki Grahame shot to fame on Big Brother in 2006 Credit: Getty 16 Nikki with mum Sue Grahame before her 2021 death from anorexia Credit: David Cummings 16 Sue said she'll never get over the loss of her 'darling Nikki' Credit: David Cummings When she shot to fame on Big Brother in 2006, fans had no idea that behind her iconic diary chair meltdowns was a lifelong struggle with anorexia so severe that even the most experienced doctors described it as "the worst they'd ever seen." Now in a raw and emotional interview, Nikki's devoted mum Sue relives her gruelling journey with anorexia and recalls the last days before her tragic death from the disease, aged just 38. And she warns against the use of skinny jabs such as Ozempic or Mounjaro by people who are already slim - saying it could trigger or worsen eating disorders. 'Worst they'd ever seen' "I think these jabs are a nightmare for people with eating disorders because they are already skinny and it means they can restrict their food even more," Sue, now 71, told The Sun. Advertisement "It would have been a worry for me while Nikki was alive. I don't know if Nikki would have taken them or not. She was already limiting her calories every single day, that was a huge part of her life. "I wouldn't have let her take the jabs, I'd have said, 'over my dead body'. "For people like Nikki, everything is counted, measured and weighed; it becomes their whole life. She would weigh herself before breakfast and again after each meal. It's constant. "To me, it's a short-term fix, to get an injection, because you need an education on how to look after your body, how to nurture it, how to nourish it. And just getting an injection, that's not going to change your ways, is it?" Advertisement When shown examples of "thinspiration' content which can be found on social media sites such as TikTok, where influencers post images of ultra thin women and what they eat, Sue was shocked. 'Nikki used to go on sites like this and look at this kind of thing," she said. Nikki Grahame goes mad in Big Brother house in emotional scenes in new documentary 'I know when I've walked into the room and she suddenly turned her phone off. 'Back then there were lots of websites about how to be as thin as you can. These people should be bloody locked up. It's disgusting. Advertisement 'People should be locked up' 'I can honestly say I've never been on a diet. Never. And so it wasn't something Nikki learned from me." Sue said the first signs of Nikki's anorexia came when she was seven and she suddenly stopped eating and became withdrawn. 'There was the comment from the girl in gymnastics and she started to become withdrawn, that was the first sign," Sue said. "She started to get smaller and very picky with her food, so the alarm bells started to ring. Advertisement 'I took her to the GP and he stood her in front of him and he asked her what she had eaten today. Of course she lied to him. 'She was so young, doctors refused to believe there was anything wrong with her." 16 Nikki became known for her meltdowns and tantrums in the diary room Credit: Rex 16 Nikki was just seven when she started suffering from anorexia Credit: David Cummings Advertisement 16 Nikki on the balcony of the London flat where she died age 38 Credit: David Cummings Sue remembers being fobbed off by doctors until one day, Nikki was so weak she couldn't stand, and she carried her into the GP surgery where she refused to move until they admitted her daughter to hospital. "I didn't want her to be admitted to hospital but I couldn't get her to eat anything, she'd trick me," Sue said. 'It got to the point where I had to make her eat naked so she wouldn't stuff food in her knickers or anything. Advertisement 'Because it started so young, by the time Nikki became an adult it was so engrained for her. Her purpose, her way of life, was to stay as thin as possible. 'She was very competitive about it. She'd walk on to a ward and want to be the skinniest anorexic in there. I would despair. 'When she was in Great Ormond Street, she had this wonderful doctor Professor Bryan Lask and he said 'You're not the worst I've ever seen Nikki, you are by far the worst I've ever seen' - and he travelled the world lecturing on anorexia." 'Don't leave me mummy' Sue recalls the heartbreaking day she left seven-year-old Nikki as an inpatient in hospital for the first time. Advertisement 'She kept saying 'Mummy don't leave' and I said, 'Nikki I don't have a choice because you won't eat for me'," Sue said. 'Then they said, 'You can't see or speak to her for two weeks'. I said no, but they insisted. 'As we were leaving Nikki was screaming and these people just came from nowhere and pinned her down on the floor while we were rushed out of the unit. It was hell on earth, it was unnecessarily cruel." Sadly, Nikki did not improve. Advertisement She refused to eat and became so thin nurses would have to force her to eat through a nasal tube. 'It got to the point where I had to make her eat naked so she wouldn't stuff food in her knickers or anything Sue Grahame Later on, she had to have a tube fitted surgically direct to her stomach as she kept pulling the nasal tube out, but that didn't work either as she pulled the tube out of her body. Sometimes she'd be sedated for a month at a time, as doctors desperately tried to increase her BMI with forced feeds. Sue said it some of the treatments were so "cruel" it was "gut-wrenching". Advertisement 'The whole system of trying to treat anorexics it doesn't work," Sue said. 'I've been to all those units and some of them are pitiful. 16 Nikki spent most of her life from age 7 to 18 in and out of eating disorder units Credit: David Cummings 16 Nikki before she entered the Big Brother house Credit: David Cummings 16 Nikki's anorexia worsened during Covid Credit: Splash Advertisement 'In my mind none of them delivered for Nikki, it just strengthened her resolve. 'There was one place that I'd have to bring her back to after a weekend visit home or something, and she'd lie on the floor and beat her hands and feet and scream and cry and say 'Mum don't leave me here, please don't leave me!' 'But I didn't have a choice because she wouldn't eat for me, what was I supposed to do? 'Barbaric' treatments 'There was one place where they'd melt Mars bars down and make them set the table until it was gone and if they didn't finish it they'd have to sleep on the kitchen floor. Advertisement "At one point she was put her under for a month to be tube fed. So I just used to go and sit by her bed and talk to her and hold her hand. 'She'd wake up and say 'I can feel all that food inside of me - I can't take it mum, it's torture'. 'Staff weren't always very kind. A lot of things I could accept if it was making a difference but it wasn't. 'It was very barbaric and cruelty just doesn't work." Advertisement Nikki's admissions to hospital stopped when she reached 18, but her struggles with anorexia continued and she also developed severe OCD behaviour around hygiene and preparing food. Sue said she was supportive of Nikki entering Big Brother because she was pleased to see her having some fun after the "hell" she'd been through as a child, however she did worry about how she'd cope with her eating disorder in such an environment. 'Going on Big Brother was great for her, it did give her a taste of a normal life, but obviously those demons were always there," she said. Because it started so young, by the time Nikki became an adult it was so engrained for her. Her purpose, her way of life, was to stay as thin as possible Sue Grahame "When she got a call to say she had been chosen she started jumping around saying, 'I'm in, I'm going into Big Brother!' Advertisement 'I was pleased for her but worried because at the time she couldn't eat in front of people and she wouldn't allow people to cook for her. 'I couldn't even cook for her because it she had this OCD as part of her illness and she became obsessed with hygiene. 'She had to clean her own plates before she'd eat on them, she had lots of rules. "That was the thing that worried me. But I just thought you know she's been in hospital from age seven til 18. Give the girl a bloody break. She had no life up to that point. Advertisement 'This is why she used to have hissy fits in the Big Brother house because she learned in these units that if you shouted the loudest you'd get attention. "I used to watch her on the live stream and I could see she was having fun but I also knew when the s**t was going to hit the fan. I could predict it when she was heading for a meltdown. I'd think 'Christ here we go' and all of a sudden she'd let rip." 16 Nikki won a National TV Award for her appearance on Big Brother in 2006 Credit: Rex 16 Mum Sue with Nikki as a baby Credit: David Cummings Advertisement 16 Sue said she vowed to always support Nikki through her illness Credit: David Cummings After Big Brother, Nikki enjoyed the fame the show brought and would travel the country doing appearances, even landing herself a magazine column. She entered the Big Brother house a total of five times, including the Canadian version. When TV work dried up, she moved to Nice, France where she worked in a Hard Rock Cafe branch, and learnt to speak French. Advertisement After moving back to London, she went back to college to try and get her Maths and English GCSE and got a job in a local junior school as a teaching assistant. Sue said that in the years after Big Brother "she held her own" in her battle against anorexia, but Covid exacerbated her condition. Nikki would walk on to a ward and want to be the skinniest anorexic in there. I would despair Sue Grahame 'She had a flat with a gym so she wouldn't come and stay with me during Covid, but then they closed the gym and so she spent £900 on a cross trainer," Sue said. 'I used to illegally drive up to London because she was so isolated. Advertisement 'And while I was there she'd get on this cross trainer obsessively and I'd beg her to stop. I'd say, 'I don't want to lose you' and she'd say 'I'm not going anywhere. I said, 'Yeah that's what Karen Carpenter said'. 'Covid definitely didn't help Nikki, but I can't help feeling she'd already thrown the towel in. 'Because for months before, we'd be walking. I'd turn around, she'd be on the floor. Her legs would just gave way. 'Her body was packing up. She had been starved for so long. She never even had periods. Advertisement "I don't think she was ever meant to make old bones in this world." 16 Big Brother gave Nikki the chance to travel the country doing PAs and writing magazine columns Credit: PA 16 Nikki with her friend Imogen Thomas Credit: INSTAGRAM/IMOGEN THOMAS 16 Mum Sue was pleased to see Nikki enjoy life after her difficult childhood Credit: David Cummings Advertisement 16 Sue said life has been tough since Nikki's death but she's trying hard to heal Credit: David Cummings In the weeks before her death, both Sue and social services tried to encourage Nikki to become an inpatient again but she refused. Instead she decided to travel to her mum's in Dorset, stopping on the way at a pharmacy to pick up her meds. 'She was only 10 minutes away when she passed out in the pharmacy, hit her head on the floor and they had to blue light her in to Dorchester hospital," Sue said. Advertisement 'She was in there for two weeks and I went in every day for the two weeks because it was just a regular ward, not an eating disorder unit and I wanted to take the weight off of the nurses because she needed supervising. 'If they brought her food, it would either go down the toilet or in the bin or out the window. 'I moved into a Premier Inn so that I could just walk there each day and I used to shower her and and watch her eat her meals. 'The mental health team said there was an eating disorders unit but it only had six beds and they were full. That might have made the difference. Advertisement I have never been loved as much as Nikki loved me Sue Grahame 'The nurses at the hospital were quite aggressive with her. Maybe they resented her. No one ever has any patience for anorexics. 'Her BMI was dangerously low. She was just skin and bones. She was pitiful to look at. "Then this nurse came in and said 'This isn't the place for you. This is a surgical ward. Nikki if you can walk up and down those steps outside there you can go home tomorrow. 'And I looked at her and the state Nikki was in and I couldn't believe it." Advertisement Final journey Nikki was discharged from hospital later that day alone and took a taxi to her flat in London. 'She rang me from the taxi and said 'Hi Mum, I'm on my way home'. She was so weak, I couldn't believe they'd discharged her," Sue said. "She told me she really needed the toilet and the poor thing had an accident in the taxi she was so ill. I told her to get her friend to come over when she was at home and help her clean up and then I'd come over in the morning. 'Then she rang me up half three that morning. She used to do that a lot but it was usually when she was out clubbing. Advertisement 'She said 'My friend came around and she helped me in the bath and put me in my jimmy jammies and then she saw me into bed, but I just wanted to tell you that I'm coping all right. ''I've just got up and been to the loo by myself on my walker.' 'I said, 'Every day take it slowly, you're not in a hurry, you'll get there. 'She said, 'Mum I'm tired. I love you.' I told her to go to bed and that I loved her." Advertisement Nikki died that same morning. Sue was on a train on her way to London when Nikki's friend called her and broke the news. 'Goodbye darling' She rushed to Nikki's flat, where she said her final goodbye. 'I just lay on the bed with Nikki and cried," she said. Advertisement 'The worst thing was watching the undertakers come and put her in a body bag and taking her out. 'I went down in the lift with them and we got to the outside door and I said 'Which side is her head?' 'They said it's up there. I just stroked the bag from the outside and said 'Goodbye darling'. It's awful, awful. I'll never get over it. It was the worst day of my life." Sue said she blames the hospital for Nikki's death and even looked into taking legal action but no law firm would take the case. Advertisement She believes it was irresponsible for them to discharge her when she "couldn't even bathe herself or dress herself" and says she should have been transferred to a mental health unit. 'Even if I'd have taken it to court and won, I didn't want the money," Sue said. "I wanted things to change. Maybe I would have tried to get a unit built somewhere that would help others with anorexia. 'That nurse shouldn't have said, 'If you walk up and down the stairs, you can leave', because she clearly wasn't well enough to leave the hospital. If that's a rule, it shouldn't be. Advertisement 'Nikki died on a Saturday morning. And I was walking my dog on the Monday morning when that same nurse rang. She was crying and she said, 'I'm so, so sorry. She shouldn't have gone home.' 'They shouldn't have let her home just because she put a bit of pressure on. She didn't know what was best for her." Signs and symptoms of anorexia if you're under 18, your weight and height being lower than expected for your age if you're an adult, having an unusually low body mass index missing meals, eating very little or avoiding eating any foods you see as fattening believing you are fat when you are a healthy weight or underweight taking medication to reduce your hunger (appetite suppressants) your periods stopping (in women who have not reached menopause) or not starting (in younger women and girls) physical problems, such as feeling dizzy, dry skin and hair loss Four years on from Nikki's April 2021 death, Sue says she's still struggling emotionally. She has relocated from Dorset and lives in East Sussex with her chihuahua Joey. Advertisement Just two months ago, she suffered another heartbreak when she had to have Baby, Nikki's chihuahua who she had cared for since before her death, put to sleep aged 19. 'Until the day I take my last breath I won't get over Nikki's loss," she said. 'Nothing in this world scares me anymore because the worst possible thing has happened. "Life is tough, but since I came down here I'm trying extremely hard. I've made a couple of really good friends. Advertisement 'But I have to say I have never been loved as much as Nikki loved me. And it wasn't because I was a pushover, it was because from day one of her illness I was fighting for her. 'I try and be philosophical because at the end of the day, she was mine for 38 years. How lucky was I? And people still write lovely things about her. They still love her. 'She wasn't everybody's cup of tea but for me she was very special. And even if I died tomorrow, I know I was truly loved in my life, and that's something not everybody can say." Advertisement If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, the charity Beat offers support, call the helpline on 0808 801 0677
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
‘Just be in the present moment': the tyranny of western McMindfulness
Sometimes, the present moment is precisely what we need. Sometimes, it is unbearable. The present moment is not a benign psychological state of calm and tranquillity; it is to be approached with caution because it is potent with possibility and the potential to unravel our cobbled-together lives. 'Just be in the present moment,' we might say to the overstretched parent, the struggling adolescent, the commuter getting home in the dark or the junior doctor 11 hours into another Friday night working in A&E. Often this is a heartfelt and well-intended response to witnessing our fellow humans in distress; an expression of a genuine desire to offer comfort and support. However, this is not always the wisest response; it ignores what we know about the human mind, obscures the structural issues that underpin much human distress and runs the risk of victim blaming. READ MORE Like every generation before us, when faced with the inevitable challenges of being human, we seek simple solutions to complex problems. We turn to our contemporary healers seeking a balm or a quick fix for the troubled heart and mind and the exhausted body. And now, more than ever, we place our hope, perhaps too readily, in the promise of the present moment, overestimating its power and mistaking it for a cure. These minds of ours seem to have minds of their own sometimes. Racing ahead, spiralling back, caught in loops or worry and scenes we never meant to replay. There is little doubt that the human mind needs to be rescued from the rollercoaster of worry and rumination, the cycle of graphic catastrophisation we are all gripped by from time to time. However, the imperative to simply 'be in the present moment' is often a well-meant but naive response that fails to grasp the complexity of the human mind. The 'just be in the present moment' cultural obsession has taken firm root over the past two decades, emerging in part from the oversimplification of mindfulness meditation. This trend has been described as 'McMindfulness': a westernised, reductive, fast-food version of Eastern meditation practices, stripped of their ethical and moral foundations. [ Anyone else had their fill of mindfulness? Opens in new window ] Experienced meditators might smile at the naive expectation that one could inhabit the present at will or, indeed, remain there for prolonged periods of time. Or that 'being in the present moment' is a straightforward choice; like flipping a switch and we're suddenly in the arms of the present moment, luxuriating in contentment and calm. Worryingly, the present-moment obsession locates the source of distress firmly within the individual, overlooking the structural and systemic conditions that underlie so much human distress. In so doing, the concept of 'the present moment' is co-opted to serve an increasingly individualistic and meritocratic social narrative. The current obsession with the present moment also plays into the lucrative wellness culture we find ourselves immersed in. A wellness culture that also seeks to exist in the absence of meaningful social critique. This culture places an unsustainable burden on individual bodies and minds, demanding self-optimisation without addressing the broader conditions that cause distress. In such a culture underpinned by insatiable individualism, we find ourselves stumbling towards a new kind of exhaustion, present-moment burn out. Sometimes, the present moment is simply too much to bear. Sometimes, it's too painful. Sometimes it's overwhelming. And fundamentally, that is not a failure of will; it is simply not how the human brain works. Advances in neuroscience tell us the brain does not behave like a machine, responding to commands, and switching gears on command. It is the product of millenniums of evolution, shaped to anticipate, remember and protect. It does not yield easily to commands such as 'just relax', 'don't be worrying' or 'be in the present moment'. Our brains are primed for vigilance, to detect threats, escape danger and act fast, not linger and reflect. This immediacy and reactivity once gave our ancestors a survival advantage in a threat-ridden world. It's a 'better safe than sorry' brain in the main; reflection weighing the pros and cons comes later; survival comes first. The human brain's ability to psychologically avoid and deny the present moment is a highly evolved way of protecting ourselves from being overwhelmed. At times it might be the only option, even the wisest one, when life's harshness is unrelenting, when the forces of social and economic deprivation offer no reprieve, and when the lottery of life seems incessantly cruel. [ Has mindfulness become just another wing of capitalism? Opens in new window ] 'Just be in the present moment' can be a brutal ask that risks exposing the human heart and soul to more than they can bear. In the face of adversity, temporary emotional avoidance may be precisely what's called for. Denial, so often maligned by present-moment enthusiasts, can in fact be our ally. It can serve as an adaptive, protective and even compassionate reflex in the face of the cruelty we can encounter as we make our way through this life. The danger lies in becoming trapped in a pattern of denial: the psychological toll involved in persistent denial is considerable. A little denial can go a long way, but we get into trouble when avoidance becomes a way of life. A life lived in a continual state of denial and avoidance will blunt all of life; we risk living a life that feels hollowed out, flattened. In the present moment we are invited to bow to our smallness and insignificance, where we recognise our place in the vast web of existence, our place in the 'family of things' as the poet Mary Oliver described it. The immensity of the universe is laid bare when the present moment is encountered; this immensity slowly and softly reveals itself to us, offering an invitation to breathe deeply and live more wholeheartedly. In the presence of this moment, our interconnectedness is felt viscerally again, as if for the first time. The present moment pulls the rug from beneath us, uproots us from an anaesthetised individualism and reawakens us to the sharpness and subtlety of our shared humanity. Our long-standing ill-at-ease, out-of-sorts hen on a hot griddle eventually gives way to a bewildering vastness: sparkling with marvellousness and insignificance, tipsy on the freedom of it all. Our current cultural obsession with the present moment often obscures its radical potential, attempting to neutralise its potency. The present moment does not exist in an abeyance of our past or our imagined future. The present moment is never cut off from our past or imagined future; it is carried on the wings of memory and anticipation, rooted in what has been and lifted by what might be. The present moment, nestled quietly here, is not a refuge of sameness or shallow calm. It is the threshold where the familiar comforts of predictability begin to loosen, making space for the life that has been quietly waiting for us all along. Dr Paul D'Alton is associate professor at the school of psychology, UCD
