Thought for the week: Good for the soul

LICENCE APPLICATION

Spreading the word of positivity

RONAN SCULLY

WE SHOULD try if we can on our journey through life, although the unpredictability of life can hamper it, but we should always try to make a sacred space for ourselves.

There is much talk in our world today about tending to our bodies especially from a physical and mental point of view. All types of media pour out the idea of taking care of one’s body, so we can be healthy, attractive and live longer.

But what of our spirit and soul? Surely, it has importance as well. Perhaps even more than we think! Every day, we have a choice whether or not to tend to our spirit and soul and to create a sacred space for it in our daily lives. Yes, we can neglect it if we want. But I feel when you neglect your spirit and soul and creating a sacred space for them in your life, the beauty and radiance of who you really are can lead to a life of despair, busyness, worry, fear, ego importance or confusion. We can lose sight of who we really are. Looking after the life of your spirit is like cultivating a sacred place where one can retreat too to spend time with God in our lives and nurture that all important relationship with him.

CONNECTION PLACE

Every soul deserves a sacred space, a place to connect to God, to focus on what is sacred, important and passionate within one’s heart. A sacred space is a protected area where hopes, dreams, visions, prayers for healing, and thankful joys, all can be placed in full sight upon a personal altar. A special focus where love can be celebrated and a place where sorrows, yearning and losses, can be mourned. Every woman, every man, every child, every soul deserves such a space. A sacred and personalized space to dwell in, for comfort and solace. I crave my sacred space times, meditation and prayer has become a habit. I go daily within here, praying for loved ones, for people who are unwell and have asked me to pray for them, visualizing healing for myself and others, and most important of all I replenish depletion of my life force by plugging into God.

I can’t imagine a day without connecting to God in a sacred space. If not at my altar, then on a nature walk or by the ocean, on a mountain or in my pretty little back garden. We have sacred sanctuary all around us, and we can personalize a sanctuary in our own homes. A beautiful and balanced sacred place does not happen without effort.

Once you begin to construct your sacred space and once you are ready to use it, you will find yourself drawn to this place more and more as you’ll crave the solace, peace and comfort it provides. Place all the loose ends of your life here and see what happens. Sit here and listen to your soul and spirit. Pray, contemplate, meditate, reflect, listen and dream the dreams of the creator. As you carve out your own piece of heaven on earth you not only uplift your soul and spirit and create harmony in your life but transform every aspect of yourself. Create your own sacred space where you can soak in the Presence of God and be restored in your prayerful and reflective devotions. In the process, you will begin to expand and notice that every space becomes sacred. You are bringing heaven on earth. You are creating a place that grounds you, a place that helps you dwell in God and God in you. Whether human-made or springing from the natural world, a sacred place connects us to a reality that transcends our fears.

The ocean, the forest, a home-made altar or space, the rising or setting sun may all define “Sacred”. We all can make places that hold and extend the best in us beyond the world that inevitably threatens and saddens us. We can all create places where we feel part of a Sacred reality. In our busy hectic lives, our sacred space can give us the chance to ‘Be still and know God’, to refresh, reflect, renew, reengage and relax in God’s presence.

Soul Maintenance

An important step in soul maintenance is to cultivate a sacred place where you can nurture your relationship

Imeachtaí/Events: with God through prayer, contemplation, meditation and reflection. With proper care, reflection, contemplation, meditation, prayer and love, our spirit and soul lives can thrive and flourish. However, should we neglect ourselves and our soul and spirit, we wilt, sink, fade, and wither like untended flowers. This neglect often comes during difficult, stressful, worrying, sad and chaotic times in our lives. But spending time reflecting and praying, be it for two minutes or two hours at any time of the day or night, can help restore and rejuvenate us and give us strength to allow us to resume running around dealing with life’s ups and downs. Visualising the soul as we dwell in a sacred place helps us to really feel an inner space and peace that is sacred, beautiful and filled with life. Here, we can sow the seeds of all our most cherished loving and wonderful life experiences and weed out the self-defeating doubts and worries we have acquired from the time on our life’s journey so far. We must try to establish this awareness more firmly in our lives in the present moment, so that we can experience our souls and spirits more consciously. Such efforts can be distilled down to a central, core practice of one of quieting the habit-mind and concentrating, contemplating and praying fully on the moment at hand. As time moves forward on your sometimes short journey of life you may be surprised to discover a bountiful harvest of blessings, not only in your own body but in your radiant spirit and soul, as well.

Thought For The Week

As your thought for the week, always remember like John to share from your sacred space the life giving gifts of love, mercy, forgiveness, truth, kindness, compassion and hospitality to your world around you. Try to create a sacred place the way God might do it. Remember to smell the flowers along the way, because we need to see the beauty that God wants to reveal to us along life’s pathways. May God’s sacred space continue to grow in your soul and may your spirit of goodness always thrive as you make your journey through this sometimes short life!

9am. Seol nuacht chuig: Donal@clare.fm

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