Tag: spirituality
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Forest lessons…
As part of my working day, I have been taking my coffee breaks outside. And while I am currently at my cabin in Canada, this means that I have been sitting and watching the forest. Only, I am not the only one doing the watching. There is a wee squirrel who has been slowly moving…
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Our inner wilderness
I have arrived! I am at my cabin in Northern Canada where I will spend the next few weeks writing manuals for the Sanctuary’s brand new Nature and Healing programme. Where I am is a wild space. And no, I do not mean that I am feeling out of control- well at least not all…
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In service…
This past weekend was an exciting one. It was the very first weekend that the garden room in the Sanctuary was open for course participants and I was fortunate enough to both teach and be part of the experience. It was clear that the Sanctuary team paid loving attention to every detail in making sure…
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Searching, only to be found
This past weekend, I was up in Ards, Donegal. I had a few days of meetings as the Joy farm readies itself to embark on a social farming venture. As well, we all woke for the Dawn Chorus as our declaration of peace. It was inspirational to see some of you rising at 4.45am to…
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Embracing both/and
Recently, my daughter has been sending me gorgeous photos of spring time in Vancouver. She moved over there last September and just missed the long summer days and ocean breezes of July and August. Instead, she walked headfirst into the misty skies and darkness that can be associated with a coastal winter. Truthfully, she would…
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Energy follows focus…
There’s a phrase that the Buddhist teacher Rob Nairn uses when teaching mindfulness: energy follows focus. This simply refers to the concept that wherever it is that our attention has gone to, our energy follows. In terms of our meditation practice, when we become entangled in our thoughts, we feed energy into the habit of…
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Causes and conditions…
It’s Brigid’s weekend over here in Ireland. Whether one celebrates the Saint or the Goddess, it doesn’t matter. She’s definitely within the collective conscious. There has been much talk about putting scarves out on her eve so that they can be blessed and imbued with her healing powers for the year ahead. As well, the…
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Trust Emergence
There is a beautiful poem by John O’ Donohue called “Fluent”. It is not long. It’s simply: I would love to live Like a river flows, Carried by the surprise Of its own unfolding. I can still remember the first time I heard these lines. I was with a gang of fellow mindfulness practitioners on…
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Christmas tree lights…
My mom and my brother arrived this past weekend for the Christmas season. There was a lightness in my step, as I left the house to travel up to the airport. However, there was also a sense of needing to ‘get through’ the first week of visits as I am smack dap in the middle…
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Embracing the dark
Up here in the Northern hemisphere, we are officially in the darkest days of the year. The birds at my feeder seem hungrier, there is ice on my windscreen and the pale, silvery winter sun casts warm hues on the tops of buildings, requiring us to look up a bit more. These can be hard…
My Silent Place 