The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 722

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. The joys of spring are everywhere so revel in mother earth's joy. After months of damage and travail she is back now full of the joys of spring for us all to share and enjoy. Nature is the embodied spirit of our Lord and is expressed in its beauty. To realise and appreciate this beauty will bring us all great joy and blessings. Nature will also heal and help us in our daily travels. Look at the flowers, the daffodils, their perfume and beauty. It is up to us all to live a heavenly life here on earth so be happy, be joyful, be thankful, fill up your senses and continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Tuesday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 721

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. Today, 7th March, is my late Mams birthday and it was always a lovely day of celebrations. It will be today too as she watches over us all. Kipling said God realised that he could not be everywhere, that is why we have mothers. My version of this is when God realised he could not be everywhere and could not do everything he ordained mothers. We all know how dear, gentle, beautiful and kind our mothers are and whose nearness always fills the air and stills the sounds. We could have grown nowhere else. From the depths of your heart to the centre of mine and yours. Yours was the first home sound. We heard you before we knew each other. Happy birthday Mam and all mams. Your voices will always soothe. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Monday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 720

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. It is another beautiful, amazing and sunny Sunday morning here this morning and with all that is going on around the world such as the Corona virus and the war in the Ukraine, a morning like this morning gives us hope. We are all praying for an end to these two wars and we pray and hope for an end to all conflict in the world. When we have real and true hope it is different, it is beyond the imaginable. True hope is divine, it is beyond most of our dreams, our expectations, our imaginations. It is the voice to be who and what we are not. Just like the snowdrops, daffodils and bluebells before spring preparing to emerge from the cold soil, like babies in the womb, urging slowly, surely forward, forming always and waiting even more. We must all have this hope on a beautiful and amazing sunny Sunday and we must pray for this hope for all people who are suffering now, wherever in the world. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Saturday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 719

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. This day, March 5th, will always be a special day to remember. On this day 18 years ago my Dad passed on to his eternal and spiritual reward. Today I will spend much of my time in the fields and gardens in his spiritual company and discussing all relevant issues. He worked and loved the land in his own quiet, consistent way. He was always gentle but firm and there was always a climate of kindness around him. His presence was like a sheltering oak tree. He understood the earth, the land and the earth trusted him. Today, together in our fields of distance we walk together, we talk together, we pray together. At times there were many things we could have said but words were never wanted. We always quietly sensed that in each others heart there was an inner companion. Thanks for everything Dad and remember that no matter how life changes, no matter what we do, a special place within our hearts is always kept for you. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Saturday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 718

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. On this day in 1977 I met Miriam, my now wife at a dance in Dublin in the Tara Club. Forty five years later we are still walking on the same path, thank God. All paths are full of potholes and stumbling blocks but we must always persevere and tune in hope. Hope, in my experience, is best on prayer, thanksgiving, blessings and trust. All these acts combine in our ability to believe and expect that what God has promised us will always come through if we have faith and live by faith and not sight and allow us to live in the miracle of hope. It has served my family and I well over the last 45 years and many more prior to these years in my beloved West Limerick. I will set my face to the wind. I will set my courage and faith to keep facing the wind. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 717

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. I speak and write a lot about hope. My book, Hope in a time of crisis, refers to the first 365 days of lockdowns during the corona virus epidemic. We have to have hope. We know the dawn of day always comes. There will always be brighter days, fresh growth colour in the garden and fields. I believe hope is beyond our imagination and that is why we must continue to pray earnestly. Spring always comes. It may be different each year but it always comes. We must trust in the river of life. I certainly do as from childhood I have always walked by its banks. The river of life has an amazing and astonishing way of taking care of us all. Flow gently with us all. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Thursday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 716

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. They say that you can't be happy all the time but I say "yes you can". There are varying types of happiness and if we place our moods all into the happy frame then we are in a very healthy situation. If you are feeling sad then say to yourself "this is the happy/sad me" and if you are really on top of the world with happiness you say to yourself "this is my super happiness me". We must try and wear our happy face every day and take special care to infect and encourage each other towards happiness. We can lighten the burden of people when we share a happy smile. When someone is feeling hurt a warm, welcoming smile will lighten up their hearts and let spirit flow through their souls. Spread the happiness around and continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Wednesday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 715

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. It is the first of March and a lovely, fresh morning on the farm and gardens. Grass is growing, the camellia are beginning to flower, the daffodils are nodding their heads gaily and the sap of spring is rising in the plant life and our life also. It is the season of renewal that inspires new beginnings. This inspiration can urge us all to do something creative. The days are getting longer, the light shines brighter to fill our hearts and souls. We give thanks and all else comes in the form of blessings to shower us all. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Tuesday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 714

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. On my morning walk this morning I came across a noisy and busy group of starlings. It was cold, wet and windy but it didn't seem to bother them. They were dancing about, chirping madly and flying all over the place. To me it seemed that they were very happy and expressing themselves despite the severe weather conditions. I thought to myself that each day can be a field of brightness where the invitation of our life unfolds and is sent to us to awaken and challenge us. No day is ever the same and no day stands still and certainly these beautiful little birds I saw this morning are an example to all of us. Each one of us is an artist of our own days, the greater our integrity and awareness the more original and creative our lives will become. Isn't that a great motto for the week ahead? Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Monday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 713

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. Yesterday I was in the pleasurable company of a group of people who have had many challenges in their lives over the years experiencing much joy and much trauma. Now we are all in similar places in our lives. The very nature of change takes us down avenues never anticipated. It helps us develop a heart that is generous and equal to this complex and challenging growth. Creativity dwells in all our hearts; it just needs to be urged and coaxed into new territories. It is devastating to feel trapped in any form of life , you don't take joy or pleasure in what you do and your heart and soul are haunted by the life you never had. All your gifts are locked away and may never emerge when this happens. It is time to change when you find what you love to do and what you were born and brought here to do. It makes for a rich and very contented life. That is what I am celebrating here on this Sunday and I am doing it in a very simple manner through peace and this peace is achieved through daily thanksgiving, prayer and blessings. All of this I wish for you all today. Have a beautiful, peaceful and mindful Sunday and wear your Sunday best smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 712

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. Yesterday I was reacquainted with an old and beautiful friend and we reminisced about days gone by in the west when we would work and discuss many issues as we traversed along the beautiful atlantic coastline inspired by all the beauty at our feet and at our sight. Before and after each walk we always gave thanks for this beauty and the blessing Mother Nature laid before us to admire and inhale. One step at a time was our motto and we always agreed that a grateful and thankful heart protects from negative thinking. In everything we gave thanks and many times we would stop off somewhere and have a glass of wine or maybe two. Memories like these are wonderful. Nature is amazing and it is our very best medicine. Go out there and enjoy it, bring a friend and you will enjoy it even more. Forty years later it is still as beautiful and alive as ever. Rest easy was another agreement we shared. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Saturday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 711

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. As you, my followers, are all aware that we are in the hospitality business and it is our duty to welcome all with open arms and release the warmth we possess so they will have a wonderful experience. Everyone must feel wanted. It is our duty to share the fullness of our experience in the business to share joy, love, happiness, our food, our time and when we do so such wonders do unfold. Our home in West Limerick was always an open house and my mam used to say "The glory of an open flower is beyond all our telling and understanding". Her word was when you give out the above with a glad and true heart and hand. It will always come back in abundance. She was also a wonderful gardener and the gardens at Ballinwillin are styled and dedicated to her. Was it Kipling who said "God can't be everywhere, that's why we have mothers' ". So for today, pray for sharing and pray for mothers and power blessings and healings to all who need it and wear your Friday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 710

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, Gardens and RetrEat centre. It is a thunderous, wet, windy and stormy morning here in the west. The waves are crashing off the rocks, the spray is driving 30 - 40 feet into the sky in white sheets of spray. The beauty is both wonderful and terrifying and I am so lucky to be alive to the thrill of it all. I walk down daringly a little so that I can wash my face and feel the spray softly against my skin. It feels warm although it is freezing on the outside. Tonight I will sleep by the ocean and listen to its seamless buoyancy and when I dream it will be of happiness and thanksgiving for the wonderful world we live in. We must be alive and waiting so that we can fill our hearts with the divine flow of the ocean. Feel wild with surprise and have the courage to live your life as you would love, to postpone your dreams no longer, do what you were born to do and waste your heart on fear no more. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Thursday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 709

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. At this present time The Mindful Farmer and his team are putting the final polishing touches to my book "Hope in a time of crisis" and I am living in solitude and peace to concentrate on the editing. But what I have discovered in this peace and quietness is that we really discover and become aware of our uniqueness. In my present peace I can clearly hear my clock ticking and I can also hear the voice of my intuitive heart which is normally flooded with the noise of a busy world. What I find really beautiful in this quiet time is that silence can breach the distance between me and other people and leaves me with a crystal clarity of my own self and my inner peace and happiness. It is in tranquil settings that the rivers of healings cleanse. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Wednesday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 708

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. It is calm after the three storms of the past week. I must confess, there were a lot of prayers offered up in this house that all would be well and safe and thank God, it was. We trusted, we prayed and now we are thankful. Trust always protects us from worrying and obsessing. Thankfulness keeps us from criticizing and complaining. My Mam used to refer to the latter two as "the sister sins" and she would follow up by saying that they have no place in our home. The first choice we have each and every day is to trust in God and the more we trust the easier, more beautiful and peaceful we become. We must live by faith and not by sight. When we trust and live by faith an everlasting pattern is etched in our brain. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Tuesday smile. Be mindful, be peaceful, rest up a while and regain your strength.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 707

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. The stormy weather hasn't left us here and I think it is the most stormy day we have had this week in the midst of the three storms. We are busy checking the farm, gardens and buildings and carrying out the repairs as they arise but thank God we are all safe. Granddad Jack as we call him, my father in law, had a fall and is not in great shape. He is nearly 104 years old so we have to take great care of him. The light of all our souls need to mind him now and I hope and pray that he has reserved enough passion to heal him now and his hurt. With maturing age it is important one can retain one's dignity to feel free and that eternal light will continue to shine within him. May the worry and anxiety of his time be transfigured. We will warm your mind and heart with our prayers Granddad Jack. Continue to pray, heal and power peace to all who need it and wear your Monday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 706

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. It is another Sunday here at Ballinwillin House. It is stormy, wet and windy. The wind howls with regularity and then suddenly gusts with violence. I retreat to the shelter of the big old oak tree and suddenly it forms my place of shelter when all dangers seem to fall away from my shoulders like the leaves of this beautiful, old tree. My friend, I find peace here while sitting on your lap of welcome. This safe place and this Sunday morning is full of understanding and acceptance. When I can be me to heal and grow in the patience of my spirit. There are many such trees here on the farm to welcome all who visit and no one leaves without their blessings. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Sunday best smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 705

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. We had all kinds of weather here yesterday and this morning. High winds, sleet, snow, heavy rain all at different times and it was and is bitterly cold. Thankfully we had no major damage on the farm or to the house. All the animals are fine but we are giving them extra feed to help keep them warm. When nature throws a little bit of a tantrum like she is at the moment we must be patient with her and allow her to withdraw for a little while into her own tranquility. She will recover from her wounding and rediscover her lost dignity.She knows there is a time for everything and that time will come soon when she will lead by the hand and draw our attention to her wonder of this life for everything. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 704

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. We are experiencing a wave of storms at present. We were just done with Dudley last night and this morning Eunice is ripping through Cork and Kerry, our farm and gardens leaving a lot of repair work to go through. When natures storms arrive it leaves us powerless, sometimes wounded and broken. Nature repairs itself quickly and naturally. In our case as humans when we are wounded it can lead to places of purification and repentance. The more open we are to recovery, the greater the wholeness. Pain is life. The sharper the pain the more evidence of life. When pain arrives we must practice humility just like the humility of the earth. Even during storms, it transfigures all that has fallen of outlived growth. We must now ask for the forgiveness of earth and Mother Nature for our sins against her. Her beauty will return and so will ours with patience and kindness. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 703

Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. It was a very stormy night here at Ballinwillin House but I thank God it has calmed now. Our work today will be checking all the fences to ensure no trees have fallen on them. It is always a worry when you farm wild animals as they will escape if the fences are down. This work always takes me out of my routine and that is a good thing, to break the dead shells of yesterday. We all know each day contains 24 hours and every single second, minute and hour all represents a unique set of circumstances so it is important not to fit today into yesterday's world. Instead we must open up our eyes to seek and find all the wonders and beauty God has prepared for us on this special day. Let us all welcome the field of brightness that awaits us today and may our minds come alive to its invisible geography and not waste our hearts on fear no more. Continue to pray, bless, power healing and peace to all who need it and wear your Thursday smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick