The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary 317
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre on day 27 of our latest lock down. This morning the neighbourhood is cold with the winter freeze but soon we will experience the death of winter and the birth of spring, but also this morning in Ballinwillin we mourn the death and passing of Joe Mulcahy our neighbour, a legend in the music business and a founding member of the famous Maurice Mulcahy Band. A band that gave huge enjoyment to thousands of people worldwide. This morning our prayers are with his family, friends and neighbours. Now destiny calls Joe to a place of music where his trumpet will sound again for all our spiritual enjoyment, where his heart will always remain generous, all heavenly doors will open to his musical light as you now quietly befriend your death and you have no need to fear. You are among your own orchestra in the big band with your pure white suit you are now equal to your destiny and nearer to Earths heart. Rest in peace Joe. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 440
the fine day had me busy on the farm and in the gardens as everything is late this year. We were trying to catch up after all the bad weather and it was great, we got a huge amount of work done in the fields getting ready for the May season.
Good afternoon everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. The Mindful Farmer is coming to you much later than usual but the fine day had me busy on the farm and in the gardens as everything is late this year. We were trying to catch up after all the bad weather and it was great, we got a huge amount of work done in the fields getting ready for the May season. Last night on The Late Late show I watched Katie Taylor, our amazing boxer being interviewed by Ryan Tubridy and it was beautiful to see that after all her world titles she put most of the credit to her faith in God, a lesson for us all. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Saturday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 439
We are all creatures of clay with porus skin and minds and we are quite incapable of hermetic sealing. There are many other ways of saying things like completion. It has a sense of the whole sameness about it even though it may have been awkward or painful.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. Oftentimes when we hear on the media references being made to closure as I heard yesterday in relation to a certain incident, I believe it is an ill chosen word. It is a word not faithful to our Celtic rhythm or our rhythm of experience. We are all creatures of clay with porus skin and minds and we are quite incapable of hermetic sealing. There are many other ways of saying things like completion. It has a sense of the whole sameness about it even though it may have been awkward or painful. The nature of the Celtic mind is linear. It has to have a beginning and an end and this is how pur spirit unfolds and deepens. Completion to The Mindful Farmer is when the depth of our spirit is already arriving home. I always prefer the old words of meaning. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 438
Joy and happiness should not depend on what happens because joy should stem from the core of our being.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. As I look out my window of wonder this morning I see much more nowadays than when I was hectically busy rushing around and working 18 hour days but when you get a serious health scare and wake up call you begin to see things in a different light. The more hectic our lives the more willing we are to trade beauty and happiness for success and desire and then the less we are able to discern the difference between the two. Joy and happiness should not depend on what happens because joy should stem from the core of our being. It is a gift from God. It should be our wholehearted response to whatever comes to us at any moment. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Thursday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 437
Everything in my life need not be beautiful to the naked eye, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and may every dawn await our eyes with wonder and may beauty of any form sleep lightly within all our hearts.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. The Mindful Farmer has been very adventurous in the garden this year - I have planted a border all around the orchard with wild flower seeds. Now, at the moment, it looks anything but pretty in comparison to the rest of the beautiful garden but here's hoping that by mid summer and into Autumn I will have a beautiful blaze of colour for us all to admire but more importantly, for the bees to enjoy and pollinate all about them. Everything in my life need not be beautiful to the naked eye, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and may every dawn await our eyes with wonder and may beauty of any form sleep lightly within all our hearts. Continue to pray and admire beauty all around us. Continue to bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Wednesday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 436
Joy is playful in the fields at present. Young deer jumping about, young lambs doing likewise. Squirrels flying up and down the trees, birds paddling in baths. Joy is light hearted and everywhere. Joy is lively, joy is the river flowing fast down the Galtee woods over the rocks. Joy is at one with each moment.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. Joy is playful in the fields at present. Young deer jumping about, young lambs doing likewise. Squirrels flying up and down the trees, birds paddling in baths. Joy is light hearted and everywhere. Joy is lively, joy is the river flowing fast down the Galtee woods over the rocks. Joy is at one with each moment. The bees buzzing around the May flowers or Marley, our golden retreiver, sunning himself in the perfect spot. Joy is this morning looking out my window of wonder and the days work being rained off but The Mindful Farmer can read and write instead. Joy is living in the now. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Tuesday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 435
Bringing mindfulness to eating reminds us how ordinary meditation can be and is best achieved in silence and when we chew our food slowly we are more aware of the crunchy texture of the vegetables, the juicyness of the meats, the delicate flavour of the spices and we become more aware.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. On Sundays, a special effort is always made for a special family meal and it is always a great social occasion and it is great to take time over food as it takes about 20 minutes for our stomach to inform our brain that we are full so if we eat too quickly it is too late when we receive the message that we have eaten too much and this is what happened to yours truly yesterday as Aisling put on an Italian dish that was amazing but The Mindful Farmer ate too much. So from today on I must practice a more mindful eating habit for at least a while anyway. Bringing mindfulness to eating reminds us how ordinary meditation can be and is best achieved in silence and when we chew our food slowly we are more aware of the crunchy texture of the vegetables, the juicyness of the meats, the delicate flavour of the spices and we become more aware. So for this week at least The Mindful Farmer is going to be more mindful at meal times and at all times. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 434
We all need good friends so hold them with both your hands.
Good afternoon everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. The day is just about clearing up now after a night and morning of torrential rain and out of the blue I received a beautiful and thoughtful call from a friend who I hadn't heard from in a while. A friend is one who pours out all the contents of onss heart, the great, the bad and the ugly, all together, all in the mix. Knowing that the gentlest hands gift and message it and it will keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness and understanding will blow away the rest. We all need good friends so hold them with both your hands. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Sunday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patric
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 433
As I gaze out my window of wonder this morning nature opens up to me offering its usual gifts but the only gift that is greater than beauty is our awareness of it.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. As I gaze out my window of wonder this morning nature opens up to me offering its usual gifts but the only gift that is greater than beauty is our awareness of it. Nature opens windows of wonders to us daily but it is up to us to open the windows and to look through them. If we do this we look each day against a collage of wonder. Beauty and only beauty in the beholding and the appreciating will save the world and all of us in it. As the breath of light awakens colour, may the dawn against our eyes with wonder. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 432
We know full well that we only have one mother, so patient, kind and true. No other friend in all the world will be the same to you.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. It must be the time of year as The Mindful Farmer is remembering the passing of my dearest mother Lizzie, May 21st 2010, 11 years ago and she is still as present in my daily life as she was when she was with us and I value uer daily guidance dearly. We know full well that we only have one mother, so patient, kind and true. No other friend in all the world will be the same to you. We were all formed from the depths beneath your heart, you know us inside out, no deeds, or seas or others could erase that. Mam, your nearness will always fill me and the air around me, my family and my home. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Friday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 431
I pray that your going will be sheltered and your welcome to the heavenly garden amongst your own will be assured. May your beautiful and pure soul and smile embrace all of those who have waited for you.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. The Mindful Farmer is in mourning today as Auntie Phylis has passed away. A gentle, kind and loving lady who looked after everybody with a full heart. I pray that your going will be sheltered and your welcome to the heavenly garden amongst your own will be assured. May your beautiful and pure soul and smile embrace all of those who have waited for you. And for those loved ones you leave behind, may you see the reflection of your lifes kindness and beauty in all the tears that fall for you and for all those may they also find a different locket of jeweled words to be worn around their hearts to warm your absence. You have now joined our ancestral, spiritual angels to watch over us and guide us. God bless Phylis. Ar dheis de ar a anam. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Thursday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 430
I make the most of all that comes my way and the least of what goes by my way
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm,gardens and RetrEat centre. We all believe at various times that we have conquered ths secret of life and that is a wonderful thing for as long as it lasts. I remembered a saying from my great uncle Jack who was always in great humor and lived up to 98 years of age. I remember once when some American relatives visited and asked him what the secret of his happiness was and he said without hesitation "well" with his eyes dancing in his head with unquenchable youth, "I make the most of all that comes my way and the least of what goes by my way" and he then went on to recote some of the poems he had written and I think we can all benefit from Jacks philosophy. Jack was a simple man who lived off the land and was the land. God bless you Jack and the wonderful memories you have left with us. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 429
One thing I love to do in the morning is to walk through the woodland area of the Thinking path at Ballinwillin House. I long for the day, and it is not too far away, that our guests can also benefit from the wonderful clean air breathed out by a canopy of trees.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. One thing I love to do in the morning is to walk through the woodland area of the Thinking path at Ballinwillin House. I long for the day, and it is not too far away, that our guests can also benefit from the wonderful clean air breathed out by a canopy of trees. I am convinced it has huge benefits and health properties for all who pass this way. Clean fresh air makes the distance kind, opening pathways for the feet and for the eye and in praise of the air, the breeze and the wind. May our souls stay in rhythm with our eternal breath. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Tuesday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 428
Often when our body is engaged in the process of walking our mind is free to wander and wonder. Answers to problems that previously appeared insurmountable often occur to us when our minds are free but we all know that there are many great benefits to walking and the outdoors. For every step you take a new world awaits you.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. This morning The Mindful Farmer had a good dose of Salvitur Ambulando and in case you are wondering what kind of medicine that is it means "cured by walking" in my own best latin translation. Often when our body is engaged in the process of walking our mind is free to wander and wonder. Answers to problems that previously appeared insurmountable often occur to us when our minds are free but we all know that there are many great benefits to walking and the outdoors. For every step you take a new world awaits you, a world you were never previously in, so tread softly and mindfully. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 427
As a family we sit at night and discuss all the good and bad of each day and the hearth of the fireplace is our councillor. Brilliant therapy where the flame of passion burns away all that is false and the embers of trouble and anger lose their glow. May our courage cause our lives to flame and may the flame illuminate all our hearts. May darkness never again burden.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. As I was driving along yesterday I was listening to the Brendan O Connor show and he was interviewing Professor Niall Mayna - what an amazing story he tells about his life experiences. His main points on physical and mental health are that as a nation we spend too much time on gadgets, phones, computers etc. We don't get enough exercise and we don't sit around the fire at night and discuss all the happenings of the day and as I have said recently in one of my blogs, that is where we, as a family, sit at night and discuss all the good and bad of each day and the hearth of the fireplace is our councillor. Brilliant therapy where the flame of passion burns away all that is false and the embers of trouble and anger lose their glow. May our courage cause our lives to flame and may the flame illuminate all our hearts. May darkness never again burden. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Sunday best smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 426
This morning as I look through my window of wonder I think peacefully as I gaze at the stillness of the morning grass and I thank the earth for teaching me to be as humble as the beautiful blossoms that radiate from the garden and for teaching me not to be afraid
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. This morning as I look through my window of wonder I think peacefully as I gaze at the stillness of the morning grass and I thank the earth for teaching me to be as humble as the beautiful blossoms that radiate from the garden and for teaching me not to be afraid, like the big oak tree, to stand on your own even if you are alone at times and for teaching me that all human beings have their limitations so rest easy with them and fold into the arms of Mother Nature for this weekend and always. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Saturday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 425
In such times there is an unusual beauty in having friends who are profoundly faithful to us. There are many frontiers in our lives that we could never endure or cross without the inner sheltering of these friends. To be a true friend I believe you have to experience the trails and difficulties of life and you will notice that their true spirituality draws no attention to itself. These are simply pure and gentle people with a shy beauty within their sacred lives.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. Yesterdwy while travelling and listening to the radio, Ryan Tubridy's callers were dreading things opening up again and having to put up with the falsity of some people in their lives and then I thought to myself how lucky am I to have such good and real friends, especially during the last 14 months. In such times there is an unusual beauty in having friends who are profoundly faithful to us. There are many frontiers in our lives that we could never endure or cross without the inner sheltering of these friends. To be a true friend I believe you have to experience the trails and difficulties of life and you will notice that their true spirituality draws no attention to itself. These are simply pure and gentle people with a shy beauty within their sacred lives. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Friday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 424
Today, May 13th, is always a very special day in our lives as it is our son Johns birthday and it is always an amazing blessing to any family when a child is born
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 424Thursday 13th May 2021Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. Today, May 13th, is always a very special day in our lives as it is our son Johns birthday and it is always an amazing blessing to any family when a child is born to that family and your prayers and hopes for any child is to be happy and that they would blossom with kindness, vitality, patience and good health and that they would always place music in the heart of others. To this date John has certainly done all of the above and as my own parents always reminded us "honour thy father and thy mother" a commandment that will never grow old. Happy birthday son and have a wonderful, joyous day. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Thursday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 423
You know well you don't have to practice to enjoy the dawn chorus, the sunrise over the mountains or the sunset on your favourite beach.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. There is no doubting that mindfulness plays a huge role in my daily life and can in your life too if you practice it a little bit every day just don't over complicate it and make work out of it. You know well you don't have to practice to enjoy the dawn chorus, the sunrise over the mountains or the sunset on your favourite beach. What do we need to learn about the beauty of a garden full of flowers or the deep blue of the sky, just be quiet and silent and inhale all. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Wednesday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 422
My home is my happy place and where I love to be. If I am ever sad or feeling down it enfolds me in its embrace and steals away my gloomy thoughts and fills my heart with grace.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. I feel very lucky during this pandemic to have my farm and gardens as our sanctuary. My home is my happy place and where I love to be. If I am ever sad or feeling down it enfolds me in its embrace and steals away my gloomy thoughts and fills my heart with grace. Many of us have our special places to find peace where our weeds of old just shrivel up and seeds of hope get sown. This place of mine has many corners which offers our family and tourists a peaceful base where all souls find sanctuary in our special happy place. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Tuesday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 421
I hope that all the people in our beautiful country will be well on their way to living a life of freedom, a freedom that will allow us to open up our wings again and fly into new voyages, allowing us to loose 14 months of emptiness and allowing a new and vibrant life to awaken again.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. Well, The mindful farmer received his Covid19 vaccine yesterday and is feeling well and happy that the process of safety has begun. I must now wait for 12 weeks to get my next shot and by that stage I hope that all the people in our beautiful country will be well on their way to living a life of freedom, a freedom that will allow us to open up our wings again and fly into new voyages, allowing us to loose 14 months of emptiness and allowing a new and vibrant life to awaken again. We deserve this new freedom that our hearts have been screaming for and now it is time to soar high again. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Monday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick