“I think you are born to do this!”
“You look like you’re
enjoying it!”

– Yes, I guess so friend –
The softening of the body
is out of this world

Continue reading “All kinds of rainbows” →

Confidence is being open to connection. It includes openness to intimacy, acknowledging and allowing my real self and accepting my truth. I honour my strengths and weaknesses and I build courage to share my heart. It also includes calmly and assertively communicating my needs, despite pushbacks and challenges.

Continue reading “Confidence tools” →

In this poem I continue to imagine the embodiment of parental love. It is an extension of my previous short poem (a Haiku) called Parental Bone-Weariness.

Continue reading “Vanilla love” →

A friend recently shared the poem ‘The Invitation’ by Oriah Mountain Dreamer in which the following words deeply resonated with me:

I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

Continue reading “Parental bone-weariness” →

Roshi Robert Kennedy SJ, an Irish-American Zen master and Jesuit, put the following challenge to us after we sat in silent meditation at the Earth + Sky Dojo (meditation hall) in Dublin. He said: “Why are you here? Why are you doing this? You need to know why you are doing it because Zen demands a lot from you.”

Continue reading “Zen spirit in poetry” →

I was probed by an aggressive man while on holiday in the Irish countryside. I didn’t expect it coming during a time of peace and consolation. Like a trained interrogator, he asked question after question on the subject of my personal life. He laid into me about not doing enough paid work in my career. I gave him the benefit of the doubt – thinking it would be good to give him a half hour of my time. But I shouldn’t have given him a minute!

Continue reading “Shine” →

Compassion begins with the soothing look, the disarming stare and the gaze of wonder.

I threw myself into one of the best stories ever told by contemplating its significance with my senses, feelings and easing of the body. The Story of the Good Samaritan gripped me once again as I imagined being the bruised and battered man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers did their job most effectively by emptying me of my pockets and they attempted to take away my dignity. The priest and priest’s assistant passed me by, but the Good Samaritan stopped, looked me in the eyes and was totally present to my painful condition. His eyes seemed to say it all and I felt redeemed, worthy and loved.

Continue reading “Comfort in the discomfort” →

Seeing beauty is not always like the way a lover meets his beloved for the first time. Sometimes it means seeing black as white and white as black.

Do you ever wonder what goes on when you pray or meditate? Perhaps you maintain an upright posture, breathe rhythmically, and behold an image in your mind’s eye. But what exactly is going on? I invite you to accompany me as I meditate on two of Jack B Yeats’ paintings: The Singing Horseman (1949) » and For the Road (1951) ». Each work contains an animal and human figure offering a profound insight on how we see reality today.

Continue reading “Yin and yang of Yeats” →

A mental health professional recently told me that while most people have their ups and downs in life, they don’t normally have to worry about being unbalanced. It got me thinking… if people don’t really worry about being unbalanced, do they care enough to be deeply balanced?

I had good reason to explore deep peace and balance in my own life as I participated in an 8-week wellness course organised by Aware, the Irish mental health organisation. Here are eight tips I learned from the course. I believe they may help us all live well this holiday season:

Continue reading “A deeply peaceful Christmas” →