Thursday 31 January 2013


February 2013
 

In this issue:


Reflections: Rediscovery
Inspiring Book and links: The Prosperous Heart Julia Cameron
Late Notice of a workshop this Saturday 2 February

Reflections: Rediscovery
 

A definition:
Rediscover: to find something or someone again after losing or forgetting about them for a long time. (Cambridge Dictionary Online)


My reflections recently have been around 'ending the struggle' and not feeling that is necessary to keep on seeking. I recently discovered this poem:
 
To Come Home To Yourself

May all that is unforgiven in you
Be released.
May your fears yield
their deepest tranquilities.
May all that is unlived in you
Blossom into a future
Graced with love.

~ John O’Donohue


As my regular readers will know, I often refer to John's writingsthere is such wisdom in his words, and the Celtic Irish heritage of his work chimes with my home here in Cornwall. (See more links for John O'Donohue below)

I feel I have been on a spiritual path for a while now, perhaps you do too, At times it seems I am always seeking. Finding new ideas and teachers, reading new books, listening to online seminars. Longing to find what I am searching for – maybe not knowing what that is.

And at various times I realise I am rediscovering something about myself that I have lost or forgotten about for a long time, and wondering how that could be. Then life goes on, maybe I become disconnected again, caught up in the successes and stresses of daily life. Absorbed in the excitement and drama around me, lost in personal joys and sorrows.

Then something prompts me to look up, and to look within, to see with new eyes, to step back and remember the part of me that is the observer, the eternal one. Aha, I think, here I am again – and my higher self rejoices: “There you are dear one. You had forgotten again and lost touch with yourself, welcome back.”

Many spiritual writers would say that this is the journey of our lives, that we arrive in this world still connected but forget in order to experience again all that being human means, to learn and grow and love and feel.

As a very small child, 
while ill with quite a serious condition, I had an experience  which I remembered for a long time: hearing a voice at night that spoke to me. Then I forgot, and it was years before I recollected having the experience and only very recently that I remembered one day during meditation what the voice had said to me. Back in the shape of that little girl, afraid of the dark and of being unwell, I heard a powerful yet gentle voice say: “You are safe my child.”

My adult self wept, with joy and with gratitude for so simple and so profound a message. A message rediscovered at a time in my life when I can begin again to truly believe that my fears may yield their deepest tranquilities, that all that is unlived in me can still blossom into a future graced with love. (With gratitude to John O'Donohue for his words included here)

And I know now how I can use my grand total of sixty years of experience in this life, I know what I was searching for over the last year, as I have shared with you here at various times.


My voice that says “You are safe my child”, now also tells me not to berate myself for “losing or forgetting about my true self for a long time”, but rather to celebrate the journey. From my time being a 'seeker in the surf of the Universe' (and thank you to my dear friend Callie for that phrase, see links below) - I am moving on to finding my fountain within. Or rather, rediscovering my fountain, my connection to universal wisdom.

For you to reflect on in your journal or meditations:

Firstly relax in the way that works for you, using yoga breathing or scanning over your body and feeling each part stretch and let go.

Then feel and go within, inside you where there is a connection to infinity. Ask your heart how it feels, what you need to feel loved and cared for, what you can do now:

  • walk
  • swim
  • sit in the sun
  • watch the sea
  • play with your children and/or your dog or cat
  • read
  • listen to music
  • potter in the garden
  • run
  • play a vigorous sport
  • meditate
  • write
Choose whatever appeals to you in the moment to reconnect and celebrate who you really are  today. Perhaps come back to your journal and write some more.

I will be sharing with you a way you can explore your own rediscovery and the process of coming home to yourself - and remember that truly 'you never left'. Look out for an email with a Special Offer for Newsletter subscribers. This will be for a 'Personal Rediscovery Session' of 45-60 minutes by telephone or Skype.

If you choose to try this, you will give yourself the gift of a quiet reflective time with me as your companion, to explore what really matters to you, reconnect with those things that make your heart sing, and arrive at a way forward to continue the process – by yourself or with my support whenever you wish.

I am developing this process based on all my previous experience in coaching and healing, and would be very grateful for your participation - so the offer will be at a special price for you. The new service is still evolving, at present I see the personal rediscovery sessions as something you might choose to take up at intervals, perhaps three or six months. In between you might identify things to work on in an action-based life coaching format, or you might like to take up email support or subscribe to weekly prompts to keep you focused in your journal reflections.

Please do write and send me any thoughts that my 'thinking aloud' here have prompted: it would be very helpful for me to know if this appeals to you, and if not, why not. And if it does appeal, what type of format would work for you, of those described above (or any others you may like to suggest).

I wrote the piece below a while ago while thinking about developing workshops based on the rediscovery process:


Finding Peace within the Successes and Stresses of Life

Are you tired of feeling out of place in your own life? Weary of feeling you are struggling against the current? Tired of seeking and not finding?

Would you like to recover the peace and serenity of a swan, to rest and preen with self-care, and reflect in the cool water?

  • Recognise your inner strength and glory?
  • Remember you are a human being not a human doing?
  • Feel your right to rest in grace and peace?
  • Love the life you live and the work you do? 
And doing this, allowing this, coming home to yourself, then – whenever you are ready and so decide – you will also recover your zing, ignite again your inner spark, release your creative genie, become inspired to go out into the world, regain self-belief and confidence to make changes if you wish.

There are as many ways to find your own peace as there are writers, poets, philosophers and teachers – and none are better than any other, all are right for different people – and your own way is the way for you.


I moved on after writing this and decided it may be useful to more people if I offered a telephone session before developing workshops - and the concept of finding peace is encompassed in Rediscovery. 

So - work in progress for me, and in a few days (or maybe a week or two!) I will be sending you the special offer with details of the Personal Rediscovery Session, so do look out for that if it is resonating with you. 


Inspiring Book and Links: The Prosperous Heart Julia Cameron

I'll start with the links I referred to in Reflections above: 

John O'Donohue: - there are a number of links from the main website, and one I found for the first time today provides recordings of John (who passed away in 2008) reading some of his poems, it is wonderful to hear his voice.

Callie of
CreaTEAvity - a great inspiration to me, one of my amazing friends. She is full of energy and ideas. Reading about Callie's latest Prosperity Circle - which started on 28th January, introduced me to a book from one of my favourite authors, which I immediately ordered from Cygnus Books. (And I will be looking out for the next Prosperity Circle)

The book is The Prosperous Heart by Julia Cameron. I can't write a review as I have not yet read the book, however, knowing how much her other writing has helped me (from The Artist's Way onwards), I know it will be another treasure. The subtitle itself Creating a Life of 'Enough' brought me a feeling of 'ahh', release and relief. If you have already read The Prosperous Heart, would you like to write a review to be featured in a future newsletter? It would be wonderful to hear from you, just drop me a line.

Late Notice of a workshop this Saturday 2 February: I am attending this event with the talented and intuitive spiritual artist annie b. The title is: Art from the Heart: Painting your heart's true desire. If you are in Cornwall and able to join us, do contact annie b to ask if there are any spaces left, it would be lovely to share the day with you.

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