leona mcdonnell – Leona McDonnell Mindfulness and Wellness

This is IT, this is NOT a rehearsal

Leona McDonnell — Fri, 27 May 2022 11:15:21 +0000

Recently, as I was watching my daughter train with her GAA team at our local football pitch, I was casually chatting to a lady about a couple of different books that we were reading and we were swapping thoughts about them. One of them was ‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig and the other was ‘Awaken your Power Within’ by Gerry Hussey.

As we talked about which book we couldn’t put down, the lady then made one of the most striking statements that I have heard in some time! She said that both books helped her to realise that “This is it, this is not a rehearsal!” She continued by describing how we only get one chance at life and that this chance is now, that we don’t get a practice run!

I was stopped in my tracks by such powerful statements and it really made me think of everything that I have in my own life. It really made me realise that by me having a freak out over the mess of the house, in particular the children’s playroom, of falling behind on the laundry, of feeling that I don’t have enough time to do all the things that I want to do is completely pointless!!

If I knew that today was the last day of my life, would I want to spend it cleaning my house, tidying a ‘lived in’ and very happy playroom, stressing about not having time to work on new and existing projects? Absolutely not! I would direct my time and energy towards my family, my animals, my friends, to spending time outdoors in the beautiful elements of Mother Earth. I would sit in the ‘messy playroom’ with my children and embrace their laughter, their fun, their innocence and their sheer joy in their every moment!!

While I was talking to this lady, I had an empowering realisation, that I don’t get a second chance at living my life. I don’t get to run through a dress rehearsal every morning. But I do get to live presently in each moment as I move throughout my day, whether that moment is one of pleasure or pain, I can choose to be consciously alive in it, rather than just a by-stander, observing from the side-line.

I can accept whatever my current experience is, whether I want to be experiencing it or not and that in itself can bring huge healing and surrendering in the moment, as acceptance is purely recognising the way things are in any given moment. With acceptance comes healing and happiness.

Once you can accept where you are and your experiences in any moment, you can experience peace, comfort and safety within yourself, as you are truly present and alive in your moment. As described by George Orwell:

“Happiness can only exist in acceptance”

Each night as I pull down the window blinds before bedtime, I have a strong realisation that ‘another day is nearly gone off my life’. I experience a strong awareness that I will never get the day just lived back again and I also experience a recapping or reflection of how I was during the day.

Some days, I feel pleased and proud of how I ‘performed or lived’ during my day, of how I coped with the stresses, strains, hurts, pains, demands and tiredness of normal human life. Other days, I feel embarrassed, ashamed, guilty and disrespectful to myself and others for not coping as I would have liked to during the day.

It is on these harder days, that I really need to show myself extra love, compassion and understanding, as I am only human after all!! To leave you with a lovely quote from quotesgram.com:

“Life is NOT a dress rehearsal …
The curtain is up and you are on …
So get out there and give it your …
BEST SHOT”

Reflective questions to ask yourself as your sun sets each day:

Take a moment as your sun sets each day to reflect and to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Was I kind and caring to myself, others, my animals and Mother Earth?

2. Did I meet myself with compassion and understanding?
3. Did I thank my amazing body for everything that it does to keep me alive?
4. Did I take accountability for my actions today? Did I apologise to myself or others if I said or done something unkind?
5. Did I carry out an act of kindness for myself or someone else?
6. Did I laugh today? Did I see the lighter side of life and enjoy myself?
7. Did I eat the food that is suitable for my body?
8. Did I fuel my body with enough water and rest?

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 7/5/2022

Nourishing your ‘Heart Flower’

Leona McDonnell — Sun, 10 Apr 2022 18:37:19 +0000

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:

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.
Express thankfulness daily to your heart and every part of your body for everything it does to keep you alive every second.
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.
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.
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.
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 Heart Flower

Opening Heart Flower

Heart Flower in Full Bloom

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

This is YOUR story and YOU are in charge of each chapter!

Leona McDonnell — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 11:40:26 +0000

Another year has past and we now find ourselves at the beginning of a new year, a blank slate, endless opportunities, hopes, dreams, personal and/or career aspirations or maybe nothing at all. Maybe, it’s just another day and you are happy to be alive and to have made it through another year. There are no rules, we are all uniquely individual!

As we close off 2021, it’s so easy to get caught in the trap of demeaning and degrading ourselves, of feeling a sense of failure or disappointment, as perhaps we didn’t quite achieve or carry out some of the things that we would have liked to during the year. This sense of failure and inadequacy can set a really challenging tone and presence as we try to move forward and in being able to feel motivated, empowered and excited to be starting into a fresh new year ahead.

But one of things I love and we can forget is that ‘we are all in charge of our own story, the content of its chapters and the ending’. No matter what has happened to us in the past, or whatever might happen to us in the future, we ultimately have the power to choose how we want to live our lives and how we want to respond to any life stressors. We have so much more influence and insight into our own life stories and of how we want them to play out than we may realise. In the words of quotesgram.com:

“At any moment, you have the POWER to say this is NOT how the story is going to END”

I feel that by allowing ourselves to carry our hurts, pains or grievances forward, we are allowing ourselves to dampen the creativity, light and love in our hearts and souls. If you stop and think about it, when we breathe, it is not possible to take another breath in before letting the last breath go! It is physically impossible!

So in terms of our thinking, why do we find it so hard to ‘LET GO’? One reason may be that we don’t know how to actually allow or help our mind and body to do this. We may not know how to give ourselves permission to set ourselves free of our burdens and to allow ourselves to live more happily, safely and peaceful in the present moment.

So why not make a commitment to yourself TODAY that you will ‘let go’ of anything that is not serving you well, anything that is not aligned with ‘your story’? Why not embrace your individuality, your uniqueness, everything that makes you the person that you are today?

Not the person that you were yesterday and not the person that you want to be tomorrow, just the person you are NOW in this very moment. Why not take ownership of how you want your story to be written this new year ahead? Don’t let anyone else hold the pen, be in charge of what you want to put into your life story and what you would like to take out of it!

Make a commitment to yourself to surround yourself with only people who will help you to raise your vibrational level, that will help to lift you higher than you could lift yourself and that will not pull you down!!

HOW TO TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR OWN STORY

Here are some tips on how you can take ownership of your ‘own story’ and how you can ‘let go’ of anything that you do not want to see in its chapters:

Every morning, upon wakening, express thankfulness for being alive and for everything that you DO have in your life. Focus on your blessings rather than on the things that you don’t have.
As thoughts, worries or negativities arise in your day, ask yourself, “is this thought, worry or negativity helpful in this exact moment?” 99% of the time, the answer will be NO! Then affirm to yourself, “I give myself permission to disconnect from this thought, worry or negativity NOW and I WILL NOT ALLOW myself to become consumed by it”.
Bring your attention to your breath and consciously take three nourishing self-care breaths, in and out. If you find it difficult to focus on your breath, bring your attention to your feet and where they connect to the earth beneath you. Feel yourself becoming anchored and increasingly present in your moment.
Take a few moments after doing this practice and notice how the intensity of the original stressor has subsided and how you chose not to let it catapult itself into the writing of your story!

We are all beautifully unique and individual

As published by The Celtic Media Group w/c 01/01/2022