The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 217

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre on yet another beautiful Sunday morning and day 12 into our new lock down. Last evening I took a little time out to visit one of my favourite meditative landscapes by the Atlantic ocean and as I worked my way through narrow bumpy roads flanked by pale white and grey limestone I finally reached the end of the road, no further to run only straight on to the wild Atlantic. What was the welcoming party? Well at first it was the 3 grey and majestic Connemara ponies and then further on at the lands end, basking in a cook pool of calm, sheltered ocean were two beautifully white swans circling around like two ballerinas occasionally lifting and flopping their wings to welcome me and welcome me into their territory , doing their dance for me. I could not but be taken by how much they embraced their place, their place of belonging. What occurred to me was in this beautiful, peaceful paradise we can all at various times in our lives have all the world has to offer in terms of status, achievements, possessions, yet without our true sense of belonging like my 2 swans, our lives can feel empty and pointless and here like the ocean returns each time to share a sense of belonging liberated me and empowered me to trust fully the rhythm of nature. I am sure we all have our favourite place, so go there. It will help shelter you from the loneliness of this pandemic during this time. It became very clear to me during this visit that we all carry a unique world within our hearts and that we are so special and should remind ourselves each morning that we are so special and unique and it will empower us to be at peace within our hearts and soul and be the beauty like my two majestic swans that we were born to be. We all have a chance. You can look outside yourself to feel cherished or you can cherish yourself. So today on this beautiful Sunday go somewhere you feel that you belong most, dream a while, pray a while and send blessings and healing to all you know and encounter and wear your smile. It will warm your heart and the hearts of others.

God bless you all from a very peaceful Mindful Farmer.

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 216

Welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre on day 11 into our new lock down. Another beautiful morning here this morning and during meditation this morning my mind roved towards what I have here at Ballinwillin House and how I should appreciate it more and more. Often what is beautiful and at our feet and always around us we tend not to notice or appreciate enough. What did I see this morning on the farm? To start with, the dew laden grass, the different shapes in the sky, the garden leaves beginning to carpet the grass. Everywhere seemed to be speaking to me, the crisp morning air, the changing morning light, it all seemed like it was all created especially for me and a new window into another dimension of life was opened to me and it seemed that this experience would last forever, but it didn’t. It is now changing again and again just giving me a glimpse of the divine energy and presence of God. While this pandemic lasts I urge you all to live as much as you can outside and in nature and in the now. If we lack the desire to live outside we will lack the beauty in our lives and we will suffer similar disturbances in our soul. Continue to pray, bless and send healing to each other. Be careful. Be mindful and be who you are meant to be and wear your smile - it will warm your heart and the heart of others.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick 

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 215

Welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre on another beautiful morning here and day 10 into our new lock down. It is as if the light and the beauty of the weather is nursing and nourishing us forward into positivity and warmth. Last night, and most nights during Autumn, Winter and Spring we always have a blazing warm fire in the living room and I always say it is another personality in the room and I always like to praise the presence of fire. For centuries we have sat around the heart of the fireplace. We have dreamed into it. We have watched the flames spurt forth light reminding us that our flame also burns from within and it is from within we all find our own home, our own happiness that helps us breathe a new urgency into our life. It is a very short time from spark to flame and this time will pass too, this time of suffering that we are enduring now but breathe in the embers of this pandemic. We will rediscover our drive, our ambitions, our passion. We will find the courage to cause our wonderful lives to flow again and the flame of who we are meant to be will glow ever brightly. If you will, have a fire tonight or if not light a candle and dream into it for a brighter and glowing future. Continue to pray, and send blessings and healings to each other and wear your sunny smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 214

It is another beautiful day here at Ballinwillin House Farm and it looks like we are looking into more severe restrictions on day 9 of our new lock down. We had some very dark news again last night. More restrictions to our movements and business. It is very difficult for people of the nation to cope with and similarly here on the farm. Sales start to stop, the B+B will close again and the RetrEats we so badly need are all cancelled. How I manage to deal with this crazy pandemic world is by prayer and meditation and sending healing to all who need it. Up to March 2020 we were all used to a free life and always needing to be in control but now we see who is in control. But now is the time to be strong, in a quiet, gentle and sensitive way and we must trust God to take control. What other way is there? Mother Nature is deeply wounded. Many of us have a blind hardness when aspects of our life is threatened but it is the gift of prayer that softens and nourishes our hardened and fearful hearts. Now as I write my blog, I know and believe God will rescue us but we need to learn our lesson and pray daily and send blessing and healings to each other and support each other. Be careful. Be mindful and smile with softness and knowing.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 213

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre on day 8 of our new lock down. It is another beautiful, mild morning here this morning. The silence is beautiful only to be broken intermittently by the rutting stag telling us it is his time and that’s for sure. It is amazing how natures clock works for all animals and I believe it is fantastic how you cannot control them – just leave it be. They are happy and happiness only comes to us in the present moment. If you are happy now then there is nothing else to accomplish and if you dare wonder if you will be happy tomorrow or in the next five minutes from now you will lose the now and forget to be happy now. All our planning, scheming and dreaming takes away from the now and your present happiness. So for today, focus on the now happiness and be still. Be who you are meant to be and don’t forget to pray and send healing and blessings to each other and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 212

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Ballinwillin House Farm on day 7 of our new lock down. It is a truly beautiful day here on the farm and during meditation earlier when I was sitting still and resting I thought how beautiful it is being alone with oneself hand here on the edge of the gardens I can certainly say I am living joyfully and at peace and I sense the birds and the animals sense this also. There is great relaxation and happiness in not wanting, in not being something or someone and in not going somewhere. When I sit in silence here and gaze at the beautiful flowers and trees and the coloured leaves falling back to Mother Earth or the clouds moving slowly across a tumbled sky. In there moments I am released from the dependence on the future and I have no longings to be other than where I am and who I am meant to be. So why not try to do likewise today? I assure you it is very nourishing for your mind and body. Continue to pray, bless and send healing to each other and be mindful and careful and above all else, smile on the world.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 211

Good morning everyone and welcome once more on this beautiful sunny morning and day 6 of our new lock down. Now, it is another Monday so gather up your energy and positivity for another week ahead. Last evening, I don’t know if you were watching or not, Joe Duffy spoke with Catherine Coreless on TV about the meaning of life and the contents of this great and brave womans account into uncovering this scandal were frightening. It is difficult to believe that my age group growing up in the 50’s and 60’s lived in a parallel universe to all these happenings. It was with us in every parish, the clergy, the nuns, the Gardai and even the teachers may have been involved. I must state that we were very fortunate in West Limerick in that the clergy we had when I was growing up were great, upstanding men outwardly in any case, but recently I have heard stories about women being taken away in the middle of the night and also young men being packed off to faraway armies. Little did we know as we knelt down each night to pray the rosary at our sugán chairs on the limestone flags what suffering was going on around us, suffering to our women. Many young and beautiful and their pathway to life completely cut off. Much is said to the priests and nuns and Gardai and so on but did anyone ask where were the men and who were they that fathered these children? It will take a lot of forgiveness and prayer and cleansing to make up for the dumping of these infant babies into a cold and wet pit. It is now the nations duty to recognise all these babies and for us all to pray for their spiritual forgiveness so they can join us all in our spiritual and every day goings on and our surrounds. I don’t want to start the week on a sad note but I feel so strongly about this matter I felt I should bring it to your attention and for you to pray and bless and send much needed healing to all involved and wear your smile today and a tribute to all involved and please keep them in your prayers and have a very caring and mindful day.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 209

Good morning everyone and welcome once more on day 4 of our new lock down. It is a wet and windy morning here this morning and one of the first jobs I did this morning was to set the fire in the kitchen and light it. It brings a presence to the entire home. Then I did a short gratitude meditation to prepare me for the day and the days work ahead. Today is a most important day. It is world mental health day and never more important. Many of you out there are feeling the cloud weight of this pandemic so today why don’t we all band together and do a few of the following in the mirror and just say to yourself “I love you. I am going to be kind to you today and I am going to treat you today to maybe something small like your favourite cup of coffee and a nice meal this evening, healthy food and maybe a glass of wine”. It is important that we look after self and then we are well placed to look after others and always remember your genuine self is already beautiful and you were born with love and hoy and passion. Our freedom of mind lies in accepting ourselves as we are and giving up the need for perfection. Good enough is enough and remember our 10 little words “if it is to be, it is up to me”.

Have a great and wonderful day and don’t forget to send healing and blessings to all you meet today. Pray and wear your beautiful smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patirck

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 208

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre on day 3 into our new lock down. I had a beautiful early morning meditation this morning and I was just thinking how lucky I am to have this place as my real home, my true home and it also reminded me that our true homes are in the present moment, “the now”. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on our beautiful green Earth of Mother Earth and in the present moment to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available here and now. So for today visit your “true home” and give joy and happiness to all around you. Continue to [ray and send blessings and healing to all and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patirck

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 207

Good morning everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens and RetrEat centre on day 2 of our new lock down. My message to you this morning is to stop the noise. I mean all the wall to wall media reports, nothing but Covid. It is poisoning minds and damaging our mental health. It is time to switch down and switch off and switch off the sound and spend time in silence, stillness, meditation and prayer and as I say – the greatest gift we can give to ourselves is to pray for the health, happiness, love and wellbeing for everyone in their lives, those who they dearly care for, those they love and those whoever they may meet on a daily basis. So for today, stop! Don’t let the noise in and listen to the wonderful sounds of Mother Earth and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 206

Welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens and welcome to our new lock down, day 1. What can I say? Everything closed down at Ballinwillin again. What are we going to do? Well, I will tell you. Small producers like Ballinwillin all over the country producing wonderful organic and natural foods are going to join hands with Mother Earth and savour her fruits and then distribute these fruits to their local communities and supply them with health food products for the health of their bodies, brain, gut and mental health. That is what we are all going to do together through social media and Neighbour Food markets and our own farm shop online platform. There are many bad things happening all over the world right now and Mother Earth and nature is not happy and is lashing out at us all. We must readjust and follow on from the above mentioned we must sit for a while each day in silence, stillness, meditation and prayer drawing from the limitless spirit within us to lead us into kindness, openness of heart, goodness, wellbeing, generosity and goodwill. Lets bring good news and as we say daily the greatest joy we can bring to ourselves is to send prayer, blessing and healing to each other and all who we meet on a daily basis and wear that smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 205

Well, well, well, we are back in lock down on the magical round number of 100? The answer is YES. I speak of Ballinwillin House and gardens, we are now in phase 3 which has us in lock down again. How do we deal with this? My answer is when you live in Cork the glass is always half full. But now that half full glass is smokey dark and difficult to see through, half way between visible and invisible. This is the time for our most creative conflicts and challenges to come alive with this another new beginning. This is why I believe it is necessary and a perfect time for blessings. In times like this in the confusion, fear and uncertainty we must call upon the invisible structures of our natural and original kindness to come to our assistance and open up pathways of possibility by refreshing and activating in us our invisible potential. When we bless each other we work from a place of inner vision, clearer than our hearts and brighter than our minds. Blessing is the art of harvesting the wisdom and spirituality of the invisible world. So when I ask you each day to send blessings to each other, please do so in the belief that it will lead us safely into our new world.

So today, give the joy, give the blessing and healing. We all need its power and it is power.

Wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 204

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens on day 99 out of lock down. I wonder will we make it to 100 days out of lock down? Stark news from Dr. Tony Holohan today but we will wait and see. It is the beginning of another week and another toe step into our new unknown world. To me it is like being reborn again into a new world so lets see. We are adults and now we know that life is not perfect, we are not perfect but maybe our new freedom lies in the fact that a little imperfection is ok and we need to give up our exhaustive need for perfection. Good enough is enough. Anyway, who even said we should get all that we wanted? No God ever said this. Your genuine self is already beautiful. You were born with love, joy and passion. We can all now rewrite our new world script. We can all reclaim our innocence. We can all become that real, whole person we were born to be and never let others evaluate you. We are all too unique and precious to let this happen. And finally, my big message for the beginning of what I believe will be a testing time for us all, rise above it all and never let others evaluations define us and I now return to what I passionately believe is that the greatest gift we can give to ourselves is to pray for the health, well being and happiness and love for everyone in their life, those who they dearly care for, those they love and those who they meet on a daily basis. Continue with the prayers and continue to send blessings and healing to each other and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 203

Good morning everyone. The Mindful Farmer Patrick here with you again on a blustery Sunday morning and day 98 out of lock down. On a morning such as this with the wind howling and the rain pelting down on the roof and we all having a day of rest, it is a great feeling to spend a little time this morning and every morning if you can for only a few minutes to savour some pleasant sensations. The first sip and smell of coffee or a nice green tea, or if the day permits, soak up some suns rays for your vitamin D. A hug from someone you love, the sound of laughter, children playing, the smell of a Sunday morning fry – take time out to notice, appreciate and experience these joys. They are simple but real life and no better real life than what is going on around you. “Simplicity”!

So today, rest for a while and remember the greatest gift one can give to themselves is to pray for the health, wellbeing, happiness and love for everyone in their life, those they love dearly, care for, those they love and those who they meet on a daily basis. I would also like to say this morning that during this past 6 months many people have requested me to pray, bless and send healing to friends, family etc who are experiencing various levels of health, both mental and physical and I do so every day and we all have this power to use and send everyone that is in need – so do so.

God bless all, The Mindful Farmer Patrick and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 202

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens on day 97 out of lock down. This morning I am going to chat with you about nourishment. In our world there is nothing, no person, no thing, no thought, no experience, no sadness or joy, nothing too great, nothing too small that cannot be gathered or embraced for the nourishment, the beauty and the good of all. It is a pity that we live our lives without proper nourishment of the mind, body and soul and that we realise, sometimes too late, that we never really learn to be fully present to ourselves and others near and dear to us. We have been too busy to the real beauty around us. We live from the crumbs of life and unaware that no moment, no experience should be lost. So for this weekend be present in the now, be mindful and caring and remember that there is no greater gift that a person can give to themselves than to pray for the health, wellbeing and happiness for everyone in their lives, those they deeply care for and love and those who they meet on a daily basis. Continue to pray for an end to the Corona Virus and continue to send blessings and healing to each other. Be mindful and wear your smile. Have a great day and nourish yourself.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 201

Good morning everyone and welcome to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens on day 96 out of lock down. You know, it is a great feeling to have survived the past 200 days together as a family, as a group with The Mindful Farmer. We have all played our part through thick and thin and yes there was plenty of both. A great friend of mine said to me yesterday “why don’t you smile more?” but I said I am always smiling inwardly and it is not necessary I feel to smile outwardly all of the time. When I began these daily blogs it was to let you all know what was going on around the farm and gardens on a daily basis during Covid19, what is going on with The Mindful Farmer, how he feels about issues and what messages I like to humbly share with you and then you share with me. It is working beautifully and nit is real life and it demonstrates to us all that each of us has an extraordinary and unique gift and expressing our divinity on earth. We do this when we carry out our daily work with love, care and mindfulness, irrespective if it is our work on the farm, or in the home, cooking or baking, walking or talking or even like last weekend minding our grandchildren. We are all following our time path of peace and justice and helping to bring peace to all around us and helping to make the world a better place and Mother Earth more sustainable so yes, we are in this together. So continue to pray, to bless, and send healing to each other and wear your smile, be it inward or outward, your heart knows best and it will heal all around you. There is no greater gift that a person can give to themselves than to pray for the health, wellbeing and happiness for everyone in their life, those they dearly care for, and those who we may meet in our daily lives.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 200

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens on day 95 out of lock down. When I say we are 95 days out of lock down I hope the trend continues but there is a lot of nervousness in Cork today as we fear we will be locked down again. As they say in Connemara “Tá mo chroi bhriste”. My heart is broken and I will tell you why. As a small, organic farming business of 37 years, we were closed for business in the B+B for about 5 months and then we began to crawl out of lock down and re-establish only about 20% of our normal business. Then Dublin, who are one of our main outlets, got locked down and now it looks like Cork will be too. This means we will have no business again and yes I am angry. Why? Well I will tell you why - there are sections of our community, our people, behaving irresponsibly and not only putting our lives at risk but also the lives and livelihood of all the people and families who play by the rules, be they school kids, parents, grandparents. All these law abiding citizens need the respect, care and attention in our society from the “irresponsibles”. Another question - what are the state services doing to prevent this behaviour going on in the streets, party houses, sheebeens etc. It is time that we get the protection from the state that we as tax payers pay for. I feel very strongly and upset by all these goings on and I know many of my family, friends and fellow business are appauled at the section of society that are selling us in hell. We need to pray more, that I am sure of. We need to send blessings and healing to all people. Be mindful, be caring and wear that smile no matter what.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 199

Good morning everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens on the last day of my favourite month September and day 94 out of lock down. Harvest over and I am very grateful for a generous and yielding summer of plenty though not without its stormy challenges but The Mindful Farmer is a very positive person and now looking forward to our Autumn/Winter programme of events, RetrEats, yoga, mindfulness and many more. Check out www.themindfulfarmer.ie for more details. What we aim to achieve from this programme is that life’s spirituality is expressed through us presenting the various courses and then all of you out there need to be open to it, all you need to do is seek it out, desire it and pray for it and listen to the melody of unconditional love that will flow through veins being pumped by a joyful and full heart. We all have to be present and in the now to receive full signal and in doing so we will find ourselves in a peaceful place and we will know that it is not what we do that matters but why and how we do it. We will arrive together at a place where our inner and outer worlds meet, in a garden full of fragrant roses. Smell the roses. Breathe it all in and continue with the prayers. Continue to bless and send healing to each other and wear that smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 198

Good morning everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens on another beautiful September morning and day 93 out of lock down. The Mindful Farmer is in great form again this morning. I had a beautiful early morning gratitude meditation and my mind was bent and directed to the beautiful day that I had yesterday and of course it was coloured and tempered by some great people that I met or that was influenced my business with help and kindness. Each and every person I met yesterday or that met my team all helped to make our day, my day, as perfect as you could wish for and I will pray for all of them during the day. It is wonderful that people can shower joy towards us in the midst of darkness and struggle and m any times in our so called bust lives moments of joy can be forgotten but we need to rediscover ways to remember things and times of beauty in our lives. Moments of joy that can lie buried within us. So today, lets reopen that treasure chest of wonderful moments in our lives and let the sparkle of September sun shine brightly on us all, setting a happy tone, setting a meditative time. Beauty doesn’t go anywhere we just need to readjust our shades. Continue to pray, bless and send healing to each other and thanks again to all you inspiring and lovely people that made The Mindful Farmer a very happy person yesterday. Wear that smile.

God bless you all.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 197

Welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens on day 92 out of lock down and hopefully we can keep it that way. Many cases in Cork now. Today is another beautiful September morning. We are living and experiencing some very difficult time at the moment as Covid19 is striking back and we feel very vulnerable but this morning I feel very strongly that we must trust ourselves and we must all trust the part of ourselves that is most like God. That pure spirit that lives within us all that is divinely planted deeply within our souls and in difficult times like these will protect and gather us together safe and in peace. We must embrace and mind each other now and live carefully and respectfully and we will come out the other side of this awful time a better and more caring people. The Lord himself only knows how much more of this lesson we need to learn so that we will revert to respecting each other as he would wish because for 2000 years we have been in His sight and right now we need to all pray and heal each other, mind each other and send blessings to each other for an end to this virus. God bless you all from a worried but mindful farmer.

Wear your smile and wash your hands.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick