flower – Leona McDonnell Mindfulness and Wellness https://leonamcdonnell.com Sun, 10 Apr 2022 19:01:30 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://i0.wp.com/leonamcdonnell.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cropped-faviconLEONA.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 flower – Leona McDonnell Mindfulness and Wellness https://leonamcdonnell.com 32 32 152530394 Nourishing your ‘Heart Flower’ https://leonamcdonnell.com/nourishing-your-heart-flower/ Sun, 10 Apr 2022 18:37:19 +0000 https://leonamcdonnell.com/?p=11171

What if your heart was enclosed inside a beautiful, soft, delicate but vibrant flower? It’s petals gently resting over your beating heart keeping it shielded and protected from the hurts and pains of everyday life.

If you had the option to leave this flower closed with your heart secure and tucked up inside it or if you could nourish, nurture and help this flower to slowly and gently open it’s petals, spreading them as widely as possibly and bathing in sunshine, warmth and love, letting your heart emerge and truly live, feel and love, which option would you choose?

I would absolutely choose to let my heart live and love fully and wholly! I have slowly learned that gently caring for and empowering my ‘heart flower’ to raise its petals and to allow my heart to surface and to feel the joys, hurts and pains of human existence has been the most transforming and life changing skill I have ever embodied.

Of course, we all want to keep ourselves safe and shielded from pain as who wants to feel mental, emotional or physical pain? Not many people I am sure. But unfortunately, as humans, we will all experience pain in our lives. So why not do this with a beautifully cared for and nurtured garden in your heart, where your ‘heart flower’ can fill itself full of the all the positive and nourishing elements from our environment needed to live through hurt and pain but also allowing it to gently close again when needed to shield and protect itself during times of increased stress or anxiety?

As beautifully described by Debasish Mridha:

“Nourish yourself with the water of love to grow flowers of happiness in the garden of your heart”.

This concept is something I have been working with a lot lately in my own personal daily living and I have also began to bring this learning and teaching into my daily work with children, teens and adults.

I find the analogy of planting seeds of love and kindness in our hearts and choosing to live with awareness and through acts of kindness, compassion and in particular self-compassion as a way of nourishing these seeds to full bloom so empowering!

I love how this theory and practise enhances anyone’s ability to introduce or increase their access to nature and to nature connection, whether in the mind, heart or body.

Research is mounting as to the positive health benefits of having some time connecting with nature daily. People have reported feeling less stressed, calmer with lower heart rates, lower blood pressure, better sleep, digestion and immune function after spending some time daily outdoors or through visualisation, listening to nature music or painting if time physically outdoors is not possible.

All of these examples help us to create a slower pace of living in our mind and in turn, our body positively responds!

The power of imagining your heart as being a garden and that you get to choose what kind of seeds that you want to plant in it, to prune, to nurture and to live with is incredible.

I personally find that this helps me create a softer, more loving and caring version of myself with a deep realisation that I need to invest the time, patience and energy into my own heart garden if I want to reap what I sow! I need to shower my heart garden with love and understanding if I want to help to bring it to full bloom.

In the words of Dr Armin A. Zadeh:

“Love is a delicate flower that needs nurturing and protection to bloom”.

HOW TO NOURISH YOUR HEART FLOWER:

  1. Take regular moments throughout your day to pause and connect to your heart and soul. Place your hand upon your heart and use your breath to send life force oxygen to your beating heart.
  2. Express thankfulness daily to your heart and every part of your body for everything it does to keep you alive every second.
  3. Nourish your heart, mind and body with kind, caring and compassionate words and thoughts, those that will help your ‘heart flower’ to bloom into vibrancy.
  4. Ensure that your environment is one that will help and promote the best personal growth and care for you. Plant the kind of seeds that you want to grow in your ‘heart garden’ and prune and weed out anything that you do not wish to live with daily.
  5. Understand that just like nature, everything takes time and patience. Trust in the natural process, just like Mother Earth trusts in herself and her natural cycles.
  6. Make time every day for self-care. Nurture your heart and body with the things that you love to do in life, things that ignite your soul and things that will help your ‘heart flower’ to open and emerge into full bloom!
Closed Flower_LMcD
Opening Flower_LMcD
Flower in Full Bloom_LMcD

Closed Heart Flower

Opening Heart Flower

Heart Flower in Full Bloom

Thank you as always to Brian O’Loughlin at The Westmeath Examiner and his team at Celtic Media Group (https://www.anglocelt.ie/, https://www.con-telegraph.ie/, https://www.meathchronicle.ie/, https://www.offalyindependent.ie/, https://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/ and https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/ for all their wonderful help!

As published by The Celtic Media Group 9/4/2022

leona-logo_transparent

© Leona McDonnell Mindfulness and Wellness 2022

]]> 11171 Be just like a ‘Snowdrop’ https://leonamcdonnell.com/be-just-like-a-snowdrop/ Mon, 07 Mar 2022 12:53:00 +0000 https://leonamcdonnell.com/?p=11127

Spring has arrived, with new life starting to push its way through the hard, frozen earth after the darkness and sleepiness of the winter months and filling us all full of hope, of new beginnings and optimism! It really is a tonic to the heart and soul to see the brighter, longer days, snowdrops and daffodils emerging, lambs bouncing around the fields and the overall smell and sense of another opportunity to start afresh and to embrace this period of gentle nourishment and growth!

I love the potential and possibilities that Spring brings in its air and in its presence. I feel it’s a peaceful time where we can slowly start to emerge from the depths of our souls and to revitalise and replenish ourselves with new and fresh natural healing and opportunities. Just like Mother Earth and all her beautiful natural creations, we too can rejoice that it is now time to arise from the long, dark evenings of winter and that it is time to start embracing life above the surface once more! As beautifully described by Robin Williams:

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s Party!'."

If you think about the natural life cycles of nature, each season takes the time it needs to plant and seed, to bloom and blossom, to shed and let go and to retract and hibernate. No season is rushed or panicked, each step is all in it’s own good time.

Nature has this innate ability to ‘just be’ in each moment, nothing ever seems hurried but yet everything still gets done. I try to live by own life by these incredible teachings of Mother Earth. Learning from her that everything takes time, patience and trust. If we allow ourselves to learn and listen from the best that is Mother Earth, we are gifting ourselves with the ultimate opportunity to truly feel alive in every moment and in rhythm with our own heart and soul. In the words of Mehmet Muratildan:

“Spring is the best life coach: It gives you all the energy you want, all the positive thoughts you wish and all the boldness you need!”

So how do we use this learning and knowledge to help to revitalise and replenish our soul? The answer is simple – we open our eyes and really look and see, we pause and notice, we smell, touch and taste nature’s healing and restoring properties, we use our breath as a gateway to the present moment we are in, we feel the earth beneath our feet, the coolness of the Spring air on our skin.

We commit to slow down, to have confidence in ourselves and in our abilities and we build on our resilience.

Think of a beautiful, delicate snowdrop! It is usually the first Spring flower that arises after a winter of hibernation, strong in its presence, resilient in pushing through the hard, cold earth after the respite of a winter underground. We too can build our resilience in our everyday living by taking the time to retract, rest, repair, restore, renew, revitalise, to nourish our soul with whatever it is that comforts and soothes us but yet ignites our heart at the same time.

Just like the snowdrop, we too can learn to sway with the natural rhythm and cycles of nature and we can also nurture ourselves and find strength and power that we might not have thought that we had!

Some beautiful words to leave you with:

Snowdrops

Always remember that if a small, delicate flower can find the strength to push its way through hard frozen ground year after year,
then the possibilities for humans are endless.
We have so much more strength and potential than we realise.
We just need to learn to use it in the correct way.
(E. Sirrell)

HOW TO BUILD THE RESILIENCE OF A SNOWDROP:

  1. Trust that you have everything you need to plant, seed, nurture, bloom and blossom in your current environment, you just need to find and connect to it.
  2. Believe that you have the strength and power to achieve anything you want to. It might not be an easy task but with time, patience, nourishment and belief, you too can make your breakthrough.
  3. Take time to rest, repair, restore, empower and strengthen yourself from the inside out. Do this through sleep, nutrition, exercise, nature connection, mindfulness, present moment awareness, meditation, whatever it is that lifts your heart and soul!
  4. Learn to shield and protect yourself from harsh elements, set clear and distinct boundaries to keep yourself safe and comfortable from anything or anyone that may pose a threat to your wellbeing.
  5. Raise your head with pride and joy every day. Look towards the sun and feel your whole body illuminating and radiating with hope, faith and a sense of endless opportunities!
Snowdrops LMcD

Thank you as always to Brian O’Loughlin at The Westmeath Examiner and his team at Celtic Media Group (https://www.anglocelt.ie/, https://www.con-telegraph.ie/, https://www.meathchronicle.ie/, https://www.offalyindependent.ie/, https://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/ and https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/ for all their wonderful help!

As published by The Celtic Media Group 5/03/2022

leona-logo_transparent

© Leona McDonnell Mindfulness and Wellness 2022

]]> 11127