Body Mind & You

Living by the spirit means connecting with the Heart, a vital aspect of spiritual care. When I sit at the bedside with patients in the hospital, I witness their vulnerability. They often sense that their illness is intertwined with other facets of their lives, such as losses, stress, love, and challenges. By offering compassionate listening, I provide a cathartic experience that can initiate the healing process. In the practice of Spiritual Care, I don’t just hear their words; I listen to their hearts, recognizing that our core personality, outlook, and tendencies reside in the physical Heart.
What is dangerous to our health is the persistent decrease in our parasympathetic - or life-restoring activity.
Engaging in life-restoring activities, such as connecting with nature, nurturing loving relationships, building trust, and engaging in healthy physical activity, isn’t just beneficial - it’s regenerative. These activities are not just a balm for the soul, but a source of rejuvenation. They foster hope and optimism, making them even more beneficial for our hearts and overall well-being. In nature, there’s a deep connection between our bodies and the earth’s energy. Our biological systems genuinely thrive on the infrared wavelengths emitted by living beings.
Have you ever noticed that when you want to express a deeply held belief, the hand is held over the Heart in a clenched fist? Funny how a clenched fist is the same size and shape as our Heart. When we want to make an emotional connection, express our deep feelings, or demonstrate that we are dealing with our ‘essence’ as a human, our Heart rushes forward in that experience.
The currency of the Heart is a true transaction, and it’s free. It’s a reminder that the most valuable things in life are often the ones that don’t cost a thing. The love, compassion, and understanding that we can offer and receive are priceless, and they come from the Heart.

Gardening is like a contemplative practice. While tending to my garden, my mind naturally wanders and connects with reflective meaning, often drawing parallels to my life. I find this fascinating, and so I consider my winter gardening to be a spiritual exercise. As I prune the roses, I wonder how I am drawn to contemplate the meaning of discernment. Discernment is a term that often needs to be more understood and used. It is not so much about decision, but more an art of observation. Discernment has less to do with deciding between right or wrong, good or better. Discernment is more subtle than that. It’s about noticing the slight difference between what is life-giving and what is life-limiting. As I prune, I look at the plants branches and look for signs of new growth. Some branches have entirely died at the base. A new stem has formed in other places, ready to support new life. During the pruning process, some rosebuds are inadvertently cut off before they can fully develop, and others remain. The sacrifice of one for the other is a crucial aspect of discernment that requires thoughtful consideration. In the practice of discernment, I still value and enjoy placing my rose cuttings into a vase on the kitchen table. 💚🌹

Nature. Beauty. Love.🌹

This may become my new winter pilgrimage -Bathurst winter Festival❤️

The dead are not distant or absent. They are alongside us. When we lose someone to death, we lose their physical image and presence, they slip out of visible form into invisible presence. This alteration of form is the reason we cannot see the dead. But because we cannot see them does not mean that they are not there. Transfigured into eternal form, the dead cannot reverse the journey and even for one second re-enter their old form to linger with us a while. Though they cannot reappear, they continue to be near us and part of the healing of grief is the refinement of our hearts whereby we come to sense their loving nearness. When we ourselves enter the eternal world and come to see our lives on earth in full view, we may be surprised at the immense assistance and support with which our departed loved ones have accompanied every moment of our lives. In their new, transfigured presence their compassion, understanding and love take on a divine depth, enabling them to become secret angels guiding and sheltering the unfolding of our destiny.
JOHN O'DONOHUE

Home

Evening❤️

Melbourne Art and Culture precinct🌻

❤️Blue hour - the twighlight before the sun arrives - the quiet period when dreams merge with reality.

Being with what is.
Nature and Grace, both sacred gifts.
“The gift of grace which is awakened in us through compassion, is not opposed to the gift of our nature. Rather it restored us to the heart of our nature”. 🌤️
❄️winter*beach*retreat*

A perfect day for it☀️❤️

On the God spectrum❤️

GOD be with the mother. As she carries her child may she carry her soul. As her child was born, may she give birth and life and form to her own higher truth. As she nourished and protected her child, may she nourish and protect her inner life and her independence. For her soul will be her most painful birth and her soul will be her most difficult child, but her soul will be the dearest sister to her other children.
Amen, Michael Luenig

Mud and a pub💕 love hanging with my babes and a Luke Combs play list🙌

Golden hour on Golden pond ❤️

Home body comfort❤️

❤️

A home is not simply a building; it is the shelter around the intimacy of a life. Coming in from the outside world and its rasp of force and usage, you relax and allow yourself to be who you are. The inner walls of a home are threaded with the textures of one's soul, a subtle weave of presences. If you could see your home through the lens of the soul, you would be surprised at the beauty concealed in the memory your home holds. When you enter some homes, you sense how the memories have seeped to the surface, infusing the aura of the place and deepening the tone of its presence. Where love has lived, a house still holds the warmth. Even the poorest home feels like a nest if love and tenderness dwell there.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his books, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace (US) / Divine Beauty (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Cottage Window
County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

Are you the angel who brings calm amongst the chaos? In a world where mental health is increasingly under threat, today's meditators are the courageous soldiers in the unified field of heart coherence. The tragic sense of life is not unbelief, pessimism, fatalism or cynicism. It is just ultimate and humiliating realism, which, for some reason, demands a lot of forgiveness for almost everything. Meditation is a transformative practice, bringing about emotional resilience, healthy relationships, work/life balance, clarity, and focus. It is the practice of turning inward to the light that keeps the human heart from closing down and the soul open for something more, instilling reassurance and optimism.
Yes, classes continue on Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm, Ringwood.
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lol...❤️

Autumn ❤️

Spiritual Health Care. The connection between spirituality and mental health is undeniable. By prioritising spiritual care and support, we can help individuals navigate their challenges and find meaning and purpose, and inner peace in their lives. ❤️

Spiritual Health Care.
The connection between spirituality and mental health is undeniable. By prioritizing spiritual care and support, we can help individuals navigate their challenges and find meaning, purpose, and inner peace in their lives. ❤️

The grip on the heart that is felt when someone dear to us passes and leaves this world can almost be too much to bear. Those moments come unexpectedly and painfully. There is too, a strangeness in the way the heart releases the grip into a sweetness as a loving memory comes to mind, bringing such comfort and ease of heartache.
Honouring the sacred art and ritual of mourning in setting spiritual 🔥 to the 💦.

Lectio Terrestrial: Earth as the original monastery. Or in my language, quite simply put as Friday evening backyard vibes❤️

Join me live, or watch the recording. This month, I lead you in an exploration of your inner mystic. In this session, we will cover differing approaches, perceptions and conceptions of how the human mind is an extension of the divine mind. Love, love, love these explorations. Register for the event here and catch up on all the other recorded sessions relating to your Spiritual Growth and Leadership.

wellnessuniverse.learnitlive.com

The ancestor of every action is thought.
I love this, and for this reason I take time out for reflection. The spiritual practice of reflection takes place in the mind and when we look at ourselves in the light of thought, it is said we discover that our life is embraced with beauty. I am grateful for time, place and friend Adam Magennis who cares for and creates sacred ground that honours nature and spirit. The rich mind lies in the sun and sleeps, and is nature; and with a little consideration of what takes place a round us every day would show us that a higher law than that of our will, regulates events.

My mornings have a new look🌼

For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you have outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with you life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

By John O’Donohue

The flute of interior time is played
Whether we hear it or not,
What we mean by ‘love’ is its sound coming in.
When love hits the furtherest edge of excess,
It reaches a wisdom.
And the fragrance of that knowledge!
It penetrates our thick bodies,
It goes through walls-
It’s network of notes has a structure
As if a million suns were arranged inside.
This tune has truth in it.
Where else have you heard a sound like this?

Kabir

The promise of the new year.
The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Gen 9:12-17