mindfulnessrootedecotherapy – Leona McDonnell Mindfulness and Wellness

Soothing my Soul

Leona McDonnell — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 19:50:24 +0000

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

Try thinking about what your eight-year-old-self would do

Leona McDonnell — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 19:38:56 +0000

Have you ever caught yourself thinking back or referring to how simple most of our childhoods were? You got up, ate, dressed, went to school or played outside, maybe watched a small bit of TV, if you had one, played some more outside, went to bed!

The majority of us may have memories of playing outside until dark, rolling and jumping in muck and dirt, splashing in puddles, having fingertips almost frost bitten from playing in the snow and a having a feeling of infinity and of having so much time and endless hours in every day!

If you pause and observe, you will notice how blissful, how peaceful, how playful most children are and how completely immersed they are in their moment. You can see that they are almost on a different wavelength than us adults, something that many of us may be so envious of! That’s because they are. They are high on theta brainwaves.

Until the age of eight years, children live in this beautiful brainwave of bliss! They can download their experiences from their environments at an incredible speed, they have the ability to learn multiple languages, they see and notice everything around them, they believe everything that they see and hear and what they tell themselves. This is also the time where their core beliefs are formed. This is the lovely dreamy, hypnotic, meditative and subconscious frequency where anything is possible!

I find that by continuously checking in with my mind, body and emotions and by asking myself the question, “what would your 8-year-old-self do in this situation”?, I am better able to take myself less seriously, to immerse myself into the lighter and less stressful side of life. I am better able to enjoy the simple pleasures that brought me so much fun and laughter as a child, like riding a bike, spinning around on roller skates, splashing in puddles, bouncing on a trampoline, going on adventures in the woods, watching the clouds pass by…

All these precious little moments and elements that help us to feel truly alive, present and very peaceful in any moment. In the words of Dharma Mittra:

“If you open your heart and become like a child, you will always be blissful, always content”.

For example, I was out walking one of the days last week with my little baby on a cool, bright, fresh winter morning. As I got hotter, my body was screaming to me “take your coat off and enjoy the fresh cool air on your arms!”. But, my conditioned adult mind, my ego, was fighting back saying, “you can’t do that, it’s too cold, you will get a chill and get sick”. Having asked my inner child, my 8-year-old-self, “what would you do?”, I threw off my coat and I can’t describe how alive and present I felt!

It really is possible to just let ourselves go, to move outside of our comfort zone, to unleash our inner child and to wholly live and experience any moment you are in. We just need to increase our awareness as we move through each moment. This way we can truly learn how to ‘show up’, ‘be present for’ and to ‘really experience our daily lives’ and not just coast through on auto-pilot or live at the mercy of our ego!

This week, make a commitment to yourself to try to live more presently. Use any or all of your 5 senses to help you to show up in your life. Embrace nature, kick a ball, ride a bike, splash in a puddle, find a frog, pet a bird, walk on a tree plank, do something, anything that will ignite that fun loving and playful inner child inside of you!!

As beautifully put by Deepak Chopra:

“Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real”.

HOW TO CONNECT WITH AND HEAR THE VOICE OF YOUR ‘8-YEAR-OLD-SELF’:

To connect with and to hear the voice of your inner child, your 8-year-old-self, create an awareness of the moment you are in by using your senses and by asking yourself “what would my 8-year-old-self do?”.
Envision the carefree, fun loving, blissful theta frequencies that you may have experienced in your own childhood and allow yourself to embrace these feelings, emotions and memories and to feel the excitement and opportunity in your moment.
Allow yourself to laugh and to see the lighter side of your moment, allow yourself to find the silliness in your day!
Fully and wholly immerse yourself into enjoying ‘just this moment’ and treating the harder and complicated moments with the pure, innocent and unconditional simplicity that an 8-year-old child would!

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 29/01/2022

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?

As published by The Celtic Media Group 7/5/2022