Beannacht

Starting this new venture, the blog, I wanted to pay homage to the Irish poet John O Donohue whose work offers many

blessings to shelter and comfort us on our journey through life. He gives us a vision of hope and possibility for the present

and the future.

Sadly, John died January 2008 but he has left us words of great beauty.


I offer this beautiful poem of John's to;

those living with pain and illness -

those living with chronic fatigue syndrome, myalgic encephalopathy/ m.e.,

those living with the pain syndrome fibromyalgia / fms ;

those living with psychological pain -depression, panic, anxiety attacks, mood swings.


I wish for all

Metta – may you be free from danger, May you be happy, peaceful, strong, healthy, and have ease of being.
Karuna – may you be free from suffering.
Mudita – may your wisdom and goodness ever increase.
Upekha – although I have these wishes for you, you are the heir to your own karma. Your happiness depends on your own actions and not my wishes for you.




From Benedictus –

a book of blessings - john o' donohue -

when the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks,
Then all the unattended stress falls in
on the soul like an endless, increasing weight.

The light in the mind becomes dim,
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laboursome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you.
Dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down,
And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest.
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.

At first you thinking will darken.
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have travelled too fast over false ground.
Now your soul has come, to take you back

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles your rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of colour
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.

Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually you will return to yourself.
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells deep within slow time.