OMG!
There are big challenges facing us right now - as individuals, our health, our loved ones, for personal finances, for the wider economy, as a multiracial, high-tech society, for world peace, and even for the continuing existence of life on this warming planet. I must admit I had a couple of ‘down days’ recently in the face of some challenges that are going on for me. More about that at the bottom of this. I understand how overwhelming things can get.
Luckily I was able to turn to some friends who always seem to be offer sage advice at just the right moment:
John O’Donohue was an Irish author who wrote several books including ‘Anam Cara’ (literally ‘soul friend’) that talks about ancient Celtic traditions and their relevance to sprituality, both then and today. He has a wonderful, poetic style of prose, which sings to the core of us.
“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”
In another book, ‘Divine Beauty’, he wrote:
“When the mind is festering with trouble or the heart torn, we can find healing among the silence of mountains or fields, or listen to the simple, steadying rhythm of waves. The slowness and stillness gradually takes us over. Our breathing deepens and our hearts calm and our hungers relent. When serenity is restored, new perspectives open to us and difficulty can begin to seem like an invitation to new growth.
“This invitation to friendship with nature does of course entail a willingness to be alone out there. Yet this aloneness is anything but lonely. Solitude gradually clarifies the heart until a true tranquility is reached. The irony is that at the heart of that aloneness you feel intimately connected with the world. Indeed, the beauty of nature is often the wisest balm for it gently relieves and releases the caged mind.”
Thich Nhat Hanh in ‘Your True Home’:
“Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in. You are free of any intention to judge, find fault, reject or cling, and you maintain that freedom in relation to whatever is happening. When you get angry or depressed it is the same. You simply recognise what is there – anger, depression, and so forth – without any sense of disapproval or rejection. If you recognise emotion as existing in the moment, you will not feel upset. There is no battle to win or lose – this is Buddhist meditation.”
I think if we let ourselves be human, be gentle with ourselves, take the advice above, simplify, come back to the present moment, with nature or our breath, then we put a kind of space around our troubles that causes them to soften somehow. Then in the quiet moments when ‘our hearts calm’ new possibilities will gradually reveal themselves.
New Upper Hutt Venue - Coming Soon
Unfortunately, the wider economic situation is playing havoc with small business revenues, including mine, as well as my great friend, Monique Ballinger, at FXU Vibe, where I rent a therapy room Wednesday to Friday. She is being forced to restructure her business and relocate premises from the end of July. However, we are working on a new plan to ensure continuity of both our businesses at Upper Hutt. I will reveal more details next month and talk to individual clients who have appointments booked there.
There are no changes to my services at Ngaio, still Monday, Tuesday and Saturday.
I am so grateful to my loyal clients for sticking by me in these challenging times. We will get though this together.
If you would like to discuss these concepts, or just get rid of some body-held tension, then please book a session with me.