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 446
This morning as I gaze from my window of wonder I see two young deer bounding about the fields and this beautiful and pure sight fills my heart with hope and joy
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. This morning as I gaze from my window of wonder I see two young deer bounding about the fields and this beautiful and pure sight fills my heart with hope and joy as I approach this new day full of dreams, possibilities and promises and when this day is done I hope to be gracious and fulfilled and I will go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected. On this beautiful June morning may all our souls be calm, consoled and renewed. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Friday smile and have a beautiful, mindful and restful weekend.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 445
open your eyes to all around you with an open mind
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. As I gaze through my window of wonder this morning what do I see? What do you see? We all need to cultivate the ability to see. We need to get out of our own way to see all around us and to see into the hearts of others. Our parents taught us to do things correctly always and that there was only one way of seeing things and that is seeing the whole of them. So today, open your eyes to all around you with an open mind and continue to pray, bless and power healing to all that needs it and wear your Thursday smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 444
When I look around my garden this morning and admire the beauty and all the painstaking work planning and planting over the past 40 years I couldn't help thinking that if people, including The Mindful Farmer, touched everything and everyone with the same love and respect that I have shown all these flowers, trees and animals, what a wonderful world we would have.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. When I look around my garden this morning and admire the beauty and all the painstaking work planning and planting over the past 40 years I couldn't help thinking that if people, including The Mindful Farmer, touched everything and everyone with the same love and respect that I have shown all these flowers, trees and animals, what a wonderful world we would have. 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 443
It is up to us all to make the best of every day and to find perfection in some part of every day. Difficult you might say but how about a little mindfulness in your day, a little quiet and tranquility?
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. Today is the first day of June and officially the first day of our summer but ironically it is raining here. It is up to us all to make the best of every day and to find perfection in some part of every day. Difficult you might say but how about a little mindfulness in your day, a little quiet and tranquility? It might be the laughter or playfulness of your children or grandchildren, it might be a quiet walk in the woods or on a beach. The perfect day is hard to find but June and this summer will give us some very fine days. It is up to us to fill in the details and make them perfect for us and all around us. 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 442
Well it is another Monday and a special one as it is the last day of this beautiful month that conjours up all kinds of memories even back to our childhood. We sang the May song which I always remember my own Mum singing.
Good morning everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. Well it is another Monday and a special one as it is the last day of this beautiful month that conjours up all kinds of memories even back to our childhood. We sang the May song which I always remember my own Mum singing. Also, the sunny May days meant freedom from the classroom to the fields and nature. We were busy making daisy chains and busy in the meadows. We were able to wear ankle socks and light Summer clothes. We watched butterflies and bumble bees on their busy ways, buttercups and blossoms of all kinds to be seen and smelt. I could sit by the river in the shade of the old oak tree. Memories of this beautiful month always shoot straight to my heart and are always there and I like to think of them every time the sun shines. Today I will thank God for my May memories from childhood to now. Continue to pray, bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your May smile.
The Mindful Farmer
Patrick
The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 441
I would like you to remember something for the rest of your life, when words fall out of your mouth they fall in front of you and as you walk along you ask yourself do you want to walk on thorns or rose petals? It is up to us all to walk on rose petals.
Good afternoon everyone and welcome once more to Ballinwillin House Farm, gardens and RetrEat centre. What a beautiful day we have on this Sunday, a day of rest. A great friend of mine back home said to me years ago on a Sunday morning after leaving the church yard "Patrick, I would like you to remember something for the rest of your life, when words fall out of your mouth they fall in front of you and as you walk along you ask yourself do you want to walk on thorns or rose petals? It is up to us all to walk on rose petals. Enjoy this beautiful Sunday. Rest. Be mindful. Be peaceful. Be caring. Bless and power healing to all who need it and wear your Sunday 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