Soothing my Soul

The level of planning, preparing and effort that went into getting this 20 minutes to sit and read a book, by myself (well nearly by myself as the children were playing in the sand in front of me!!) was CRAZY!!!

My husband snapped this shot of me as I fully immersed myself in this moment and wrapped myself in my own cocoon of repair and restore as I got lost in this wonderful book, which I would highly recommend, called Underwater by Claire Walsh!

Why do we struggle so much in expressing our need for our own time and finding the space to get it?

The answer is probably very simple …. GUILT and LACK OF TIME. Doesn’t so much of our lives and how we choose to live them come down to these two elements? There will always be something more important to do or places to go or errands to run than actually allowing ourselves to sit, in our own company and do whatever it is that soothes and ignites our soul …. RIGHT?

100% Wrong!!

It is CRITICAL that we all create, find and take time to connect to ourselves, to our souls, to our likes and loves every day! We NEED to find and nourish the parts of ourselves that we may feel disconnected from or that we may have lost somewhere along the road of childhood to adulthood or particularly as some of us may have become parents in our journey or are perhaps caring for elderly or sickly parents.

As a mum of three children myself, the struggle to gift myself a little bit of my own time is so real. It can be extremely overwhelming at times being blessed with the incredible opportunity to look after and guide these precious young people in their lives, especially without a parenting manual guide on how to do it!!!! The constant questioning and guilt that we can feel as parents and especially as mothers about putting ourselves before our little one’s can be very intense. But yet, if you listen to the safety instructions on board an aeroplane before take-off, it is recommended that parents, guardians or carers ‘fit their own oxygen masks first in the case of an emergency’ so that they are better able to help those that are in their care. Makes complete sense but so many of us would probably try to do the exact opposite in such an emergency and can’t seem to apply this rationale in our everyday living either. We tend to make sure that everyone else has enough air and oxygen and whatever else it is that they need before we do. Where do you think this will end up??

This is why it is imperative that we don’t get lost or defined in any of the roles that we play in our lives and that we do whatever we need to do to ensure that we lively truly, happily and wholly and that we show up and be present and understanding to the best of our own individual ability, while still feeling that we are a recognisable and loving part of ourselves!

My question to you???

What are you going to do today to help to ‘Soothe and Ignite your Soul’???

To leave you with a beautiful and inspiring quote by Michael Singer from his incredible book 'The Untethered Soul':

The truth is, everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything. And that's the only time everything will be okay.

Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul

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Leona McDonnell

Hi, I’m Leona McDonnell and I am a Mindfulness Teacher. I empower the children, teenagers and adults that I work with through Mindfulness, Meditation and Wellness with the belief that they already have all of the resources they need inside themselves to be the best version of themselves possible …. they just need to learn how to connect to and utilise these internal resources. I teach those I work with how to experience calm, peace and serenity in their everyday lives and I teach people how to reduce the everyday chatter in their minds. Having always being a very nervous and anxious child and teenager, from being afraid of my own breath, my own heartbeat, my own shadow, from undergoing numerous emergency medical surgeries with complicated recoveries, ICU admission, from anxiety, trauma and post natal depression to getting glandular fever in my mid 30’s, with 2 young children at home, working outside the home and also running my own Healing Practice, I hit breaking point in my own life some years back. I was stuck in a state of ‘Flight’, in a state of continuous panic. I had a broken mind, a broken body and a depleted soul. I didn’t know what to do, where to go, how to fix things. It was the toughest time and recovery of my life…. I then stumbled upon a local Yoga class and I decided to join it to see if I could create some calmness into my invasive mind and thoughts. I can remember not being able to even change my own natural breathing rhythm for the first few weeks, as I was in such a panicked state. As time went on, I grew to love Yoga as it made me reconnect with my body and my breath. It made me learn to trust my breath again. I then went on and sought out Mindfulness tools and techniques that I could introduce into my daily life. I slowly learned how to become more present in my life. I learned how to stop ruminating in my past and how to stop worrying about my future and just be present and accept the only moment I could change, which is the present moment, the most important moment. I learned how to ‘Train my Brain’ using Mindfulness tools and techniques. Coupled with Gratitude Journaling, Meditation and with a lot of time spent outdoors in nature, I began to feel much better. I began to feel much more centered in myself, more grounded, calmer and more present. After a number of years of my own daily Mindfulness, Meditation and Yoga practice, I felt amazing and had a zest for life! At this point, I decided that I needed to share with and help as many children and adults as I could with what helped me to transform my life! So I went on and did my Mindfulness training and here I am today!