Tag: Children

Blessing, Connecting to the wonder we are

You are a Living Blessing

Erin Keane

Once blessed, [you] are blessed forever.

–Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

The verbal act of blessing is a marvelous gift. I have been pondering the gift of blessing more intentionally as I look upon my 3 year old son this week. I have been very attune to my feelings as a parent these last days, thinking of what it is like for all these families of Sandy Hook Elementary  who have suffered so greatly because of the loss of their children  and daily sending my prayers around them. It  has been touching to read about the acts of service that have been offered to honor the lives of those who have died. See Ann Curry’s  #26 Acts.  But as I have thought about these acts,  I have also began to think more about the children who have lived through this terror: the children who will carry the fear, the hurt, the loss of their childhood innocence with them forever,and I realized they too need to be remembered. They too need to be celebrated. They too need to be blessed. They need to be allowed to be children, and to be celebrated as children. We need to bless the living while they are here, so that they recognize their lives as blessed.

One of my favorite authors introduced to me in my training as a spiritual counselor was Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen. She shares stories that invite you to look more deeply at your own sacredness, and that invite you to celebrate your life as you are living. The quote I shared today, comes from a wonderful story she shares called, Blessings, from her book, My Grandfather’s Blessings. She shares a story of how her grandfather would bless her each time she was with him…how he accepted her and celebrated her for just being the little girl she was created to be right there in the moment. And that these blessings have stayed with her forever.

So I invite you to act out service whenever you can, but make blessing those you meet a part of your day every day, by receiving them just as they are at that moment, with an open heart: Sit with those who are grieving and listen, praise your children for just being the wonderful individuals that they are,  tell your friends that they are a blessing in your life, and so on.  And remember that no matter how life treats you or what befalls you, “Once you are blessed, you are blessed forever.”  So even if that blessing came along when you were 1 day old, you are blessed each and every day since then:

This is a blessing that says you are a wonder of the world, you are amazing just as you are, you are a beautiful soul, a wonderful friend, a Divine creation, a symbol of love; you are a blessing unto others, and to yourself. 

By offering blessing to those we meet, and by recognizing ourselves as a blessing as well, we heal the world, and celebrate life.

I join you in this offering of blessing. I will continue to work at teaching my son how to love, how to do acts of service, how to “pay it forward,” every day of his life. But right now, most importantly I will bless him, and love him for all that he his, so one day when he walks out the door, and I am not there to guide him through his day, he will know he is beloved, so no matter what struggles he encounters, he will already know deep in his heart he is blessed; and that will be something no one can take away from him, but it will also be a reminder each day for him, that he is wonderful, and that his life matters. And by blessing him, I will teach him to bless others along his journey: to take the time to be present to people, to celebrate their lives, to bless this gift of life that he has and that he shares with all of us who live on this planet.

You are a blessing quotes

You are a blessing!
Blessings to you, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue

Discovering Strength, Healing

Loving the Best We Can: Living through Tragedy.

Erin Keane

Yesterday, afternoon, my son and I were visiting a friend and her daughter. The children played and we talked about the challenges of being parents, and how hard Life can be when we love our children so deeply. We had no idea about anything that was happening in Newtown, CT, as we discussed the challenges of life. Life was happening right where we were, and yet LIFE was also happening only a couple hours away from our home.

As we went about our visit, we engaged our children, resolving conflicts and teaching them how to acknowledge each other’s feelings, especially when they hurt the other child’s feelings. Sometimes the children  freely went up to the other to say I’m sorry, other times they resisted feeling they had a right to defend themselves. And yet, through it all we offered them our LOVE, in the very best way we knew how…accepting and receiving both children as beloved, beautiful, and whole…we affirmed them, redirected them, challenged them, we mirrored empathy and compassion for the other, as well as for self.   Both my friend and I, acted out of LOVE for our children, and for each other’s child as Sacred, Beautiful, and Whole.

After we said our good-byes my son and I got into our car, and turned on the radio, and then we began to hear The News. But none of the radio stations mentioned what had happened. It was as though, God, was watching over me as a mom, to not know what happened as I drove,  because when I took a moment to cook dinner and go on my phone to check the web, I began to sob, and the sounds of the cook vent drowned out my tears, as my son played on the floor with his cars in the other room. I would have probably had to pull off the road if I had been driving, and how would I tell my 3 year old son why mommy was crying?

Our hearts ache as parents, as people who love, as people who are deeply good. Every day, we Live, we have to work at Life. There is something about encountering the Sacred innocence of children in pain, that breaks at our souls. Its a deep hallow grief that goes to our core. This pain we feel, says something about who we are as we have been created: We were not made to be so broken. We were not made to ache the way we do. Our created selves were made to be whole, to be filled with love.

So I ask myself, deeply, as a parent, a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, am I loving the right way? As I engaged my child and lead him in conflict resolution, and learning to accept and love the other even when your feelings have been hurt, I wonder, am I teaching him LOVE? I hope and pray that I am every day of my life.

What happened in Newtown wasn’t just about one person, it is about all of us. It’s about our culture that glorifies violence, and death. We hush our voices when we talk about God, and so often we give up on trying to learn how to Love the other, because it’s too hard or he or she doesn’t complement us the way we feel they should, so we give up and fill ourselves with emptiness or loneliness instead.

Life goes on around us all the time. We may not be in the middle of the chaos, or we might be right in the center of Ground Zero; where ever we are Life is happening. We have a choice each day, how we are going to offer our love to our children, our spouses, our friends, and neighbors. We have a choice to stop and pause, no matter how busy our days are, and let someone else know, “I SEE YOU. I AM TOTALLY PRESENT TO YOU: TO LISTEN TO YOU, TO LOVE YOU, TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY BOTH IN YOUR WORDS, AND IN THE EMOTIONS OF YOUR BODY.”  We also have a choice to let God, Spirit, Love, into our lives more, so that we don’t have to do all this hard work alone. For we have a Creator who desperately wants to be a part of our lives, and to carry our burdens for us. But so often we don’t want the help, or we are too lost to ask for help, because so many of us are just too busy to notice when someone is hurting or we turn away.

So today, and every day, remember to take the time to LOVE. It will be the greatest gift you can ever give, and ever receive. And keep trying, Keep Loving the Best you can every day, for you, and for all those you cross paths with.

May God, ease the pain of the brokenhearted, and enter our lives, to teach us more deeply about LOVE.

Tell and show those you meet along your walk in life & Tell and show yourself:

You are Loved Quote

May you be blessed by Love, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please Visit my Photography blog: Photography by Bella Bleue

Connecting to the wonder we are, Spirituality

Your Spiritual Path is a CHOICE.

Erin Keane

What kind of wonders in your life have you chosen to be open to lately?

Your stories: the ones you choose to remember,  and the ones you choose to define yourself by effect your spiritual life, and who you are. We all are spiritual beings in some shape or form. We all long for something beyond ourselves, even if we feel secure here in this world. It is a natural part of our human existence to always be searching, to always be looking for ways to feel fulfilled. And thus, we are always growing spiritually, because each of us are growing and developing the unique, marvelous persons that we are. Furthermore, your life is effected by spiritual moments because you have a choice to be open to receiving and allowing wonder to be a part of your being or you can choose to be closed, and completely miss the opportunity; i.e.;  if you are open to experiencing your life you will receive much, on the other hand, if you choose to be a bystander in your life, you will receive little.

Looking out into the crisp November sky, as I hold my three-year-old son’s hand, and talk about squirrels gathering nuts, birds flying home, and cool cars driving by, I realize how this is an incredible  moment in my life. It is a moment of feeling blessed to be a mother; it is a moment of embracing the openness my of my son to experience the newness of life; it is a moment of feeling connected to what I can see: nature, my son’s little hand in mine, and that which I cannot see, but feel: the transcendent power of God and Spirit in my soul.

I have chosen to be intentional about embracing the wonder of life, such as re-experiencing the world through the eyes of my son. This choice has continued to nourish me spiritually…I find myself to be like a well, that always has room to be filled more. Looking at the squirrels today through my son’s eyes, allowed me to celebrate the mystery of their lives: right now they are gathering food, and building warm nests from the fallen leaves. They have no one telling them this is what they are supposed to be doing, they just know. This gathering and preparing is a natural part of their creation. In so many ways, you and I are like the squirrels too, when we allow ourselves to naturally be who we are, we discover our spiritual path is a natural part of who we are, and thus become open to the gifts a spiritual life  offers.

What kind of spiritual path are you on right now?

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue

Connecting to the wonder we are, Inspiration

You’re Just So Good

Erin Keane

“You are such a good person.” “Your dog is such a good boy.” “You are such a good friend.” “You always take good care of your plants.” There are so many times a day that we say someone or something is GOOD.   Having positive feelings and acknowledging the “Good” around you and in your life opens yourself to accepting and loving yourself and others more deeply. But I wonder, for all the goodness around you, how often do you look at yourself and say, deep down inside, “I am good?” 

I know for me that believing and saying  this statement can be challenging at times. I often ask myself: “Am I good mother? Am I a good wife? Am I good believer? Am I a good person?” It can be so frustrating that negativity sneaks into our hearts and minds at times, and does its best to try to beat us down. So how do you change this belief so that you can really believe you are good?

I’ve been reflecting on this a lot lately. My son is three-years old now, and I’m noticing how much my reactions to him seem to effect the way he views himself. I’ve been trying to be encouraging, as he attempts to do new things, like potty-training, even when he is unsuccessful or stubborn. I am intentional about saying to him, “Good Job;” or “You are being a good boy.” We’ve put stars on a chart when he is successful in his endeavors, and provide him with praise. But sometimes, I fail and get frustrated, and express my disappointment.  And I notice his face will become sullen, and then I begin to judge myself, and wonder, “Am I taking away from his ability to trust in himself as good?” Here I am as a mom, trying to instill deep within my son, that he is a good person. I want him to trust in this as his truth. I want him to believe deep down inside, “I am good.”  So that no matter what he faces in his life such as let downs, mean people, or a break-up, that he can trust in his inherent goodness. 

I wanted to divulge deeper into this because this sense of goodness  is not just about me or about my son, but about all of us. It’s a question each of us ask ourselves, no matter how absolutely perfect or imperfect we believe we are.

So, here I am working on it. And I turn back to the words, I just wrote: “inherent goodness*.”  Inherent means, “existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute.” (Online definition). I am good. You are good. I was created with goodness deep down inside. You were created with goodness deep down inside. But its not just deep down inside—your goodness is a part of your being…it’s in your eyes, your heart, your mind, your feet, your ankles, and elbows, it’s even in hairs on your head. And if this goodness is all over you, then you must be “Good.”  There’s no getting around it, as long as you can trust in it.

But! of course I get in my own way, and I don’t trust, saying, “Well, you might be good, but you are broken too. You aren’t always so wonderful to be around. And at times you can be really mean.” And then my day, turns the corner and I’m back to forgetting about my wonderful, amazing, “inherent goodness.”  It is this on-going battle that can be harmful if the power is given to the negative. I realize that embracing inner goodness, comes from acknowledging that we need guidance about what can be harmful to us, as well as, affirmations about what can be helpful to us, so that we don’t get stuck in this on-going battle of am I good, enough? Thus, begins the answer, to the question: How can I believe that I am good?

I can trust that I am good, even when I feel I am broken, or mean, by admitting when I am wrong, by asking for some guidance when I need to change my inner direction towards that which is good, rather than the negative; and to recognize that celebrating my inner goodness also means I need to have a healthy balance between my expressions of frustration and affirmation. For example, I need to remind myself that my feelings of anger, or frustration do not change my goodness…these feelings are here for a reason when they occur, but I need to let them go, so they do not consume me, and I need to reconnect to my deeper goodness—which for me is also my connection to God.

How would you answer the question, How can I believe I am good? 

  • Take some time and reflect by imagining a circle where I am good is at the top of the circle, and you create your answers along the path of the circle, that bring you back to your truth: I am good.

——————————————————————
*Inherent goodness, as I am using it, also means that there is a deeper longing in us to connect to the Sacred, that which is truly good.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™ All Rights Reserved.

Connecting to the wonder we are, Healing

Healing Wonder is All Around You

Erin Keane

Children remind us that wonder is all around us. All we have to do is look.

May the world you see around you bring wonder through your eyes,

and fill your body with healing joy.

Remember that one of the gifts of life is to take the time to PAUSE and soak up life. The more often you do this the deeper the healing that will happen in your life. This “down-time”—will rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit. You need to open yourself to these healing opportunities in life…because they can easily be missed if you are too busy.  

Life already has healing available to you everywhere. It is just a matter of allowing  yourself to experience it.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™


Inspiration, Life

Being Playful is Essential to Our Humanity

Erin Keane

Children running around at a city fountain. Laughter everywhere. Cameras flashing.  Water spraying. Horns honking. Music playing in the air.

I am always awe-struck at how much I learn about myself, and what it means to be human when I’m watching my son  run around and play. I think part of the reason we were made, is to simply have fun. There’s something very invigorating and inviting about being spontaneously playful—like running through a fountain just because it’s there. This playfulness seems to awaken our bodies and fill them with life. Maybe it’s the surge of energy running through our veins, or the positive endorphins that ignite playful cheer in our cells that makes us feel alive.  But I’d like to think it’s more simple than all that: You feel alive because being playful is a part of what makes you fully human!

This is a good reminder that life needs to be fun..and to get there, you should return to the roots of your early days. Return to the freedom of being a child; return to the spontaneity and worry-free mind-state of your younger self—the one who sees splashing water as an invitation for being playful, for laughing, and for freeing your spirit.

Let go of the worry, the responsibility, and the pressure you put on yourself to be a certain way, and instead just be.
Be free.
Be human.
Be YOU.
And run through a sprinkler…

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Invitation for Your Life™

Please visit my new site: Photography by Bella Bleue

Connecting to the wonder we are, Inspiration

Inspiring Thoughts: Learning from our children

Erin Keane

Sometimes we need to be like a little child
and soak up the world with a silent wonder
in our hearts
the kind of wonder
that makes us pause long enough
to receive life with a feeling of awe
of how deeply connected
we are to this immense and powerfully soothing natural world
with every ounce of our very being.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™ All Rights Reserved

Life

Washing Away Our Scratches

Erin Keane

So the inspiring moment I want to share with you today comes from my 2 1/2 year old son…from the ‘Mouth’s of Babes’ we learn deep truths about our humanity…the truths we often forget when we are adults…

Me: “S, you have a scratch on your head.”

S: “I do?!”

Me: “Yes, right above your eye.”

S: “Okay mama. Can you wash it off for me?”

And with that…

Wouldn’t it be nice if all we had to do was wash away our scratches at the bathroom sink?

Sure it would.

We have the chance to wash away our bruises, scratches, boo-boos every day—even the ones deep down inside us.

How are you going to take care of yourself today?

  • Set a realistic goal about self-care
  • Be intentional about carrying it out
  • Reward yourself for your good deed…for you!

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™


Inspiration

Open Your Eyes and See…

Erin Keane

This is what I see…

What do you see?


Take the time to pause and notice life around you. Your eyes are a gift and the world we have to see, somewhere, somehow, holds something beautiful for you to behold every day.

 

 

 

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™

Health

Healthy Living is Worth Laughing About!

Erin Keane

Yesterday, I was tickling my son. His laughter rang through my ears, and actually caused me to start laughing too! He loves being tickled, and loves laughing! It’s amazing how fabulous laughing makes you feel! When I was starting to feel well after my long bout with post-partum depression, I sat down and watched, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and I started to laugh! Until the laughter started, I hadn’t realized how long it had been since I last laughed! And at the same moment, I realized how good I felt! And I stared laughing throughout the movie. And it seemed that after I laughed that night, I was finding things in my life to be happy about again!

It’s amazing how easily and readily children start laughing. Its a part of who they are. So…we were all children once upon a time, thus laughter is in our blood-literally! Children are spontaneous &  often do things in life that, we as adults, wouldn’t think twice about! Put your chocolate birthday cake all over yourself and smile about it!

 

Are you smiling yet?! Maybe even feeling a bit like a laugh could come along?

I know when we are stuck in a rut, or feeling depressed, its really challenging to just read along and change your state; so do something intentional to change your state:

  • Turn on a movie that’s always made you laugh,
  • Go on YouTube and search for something funny
  • If you have your own little one, laughing along with them while you tickle them.
  • Go out with friends, who always seem to laugh about something
  • Play with your dog or pet

Whatever it is that you discover to make you laugh, know that by laughing, you are making yourself healthier!

Laughter encourages health:

  • Laughter relaxes your whole body
  • it boosts your immune system
  • it releases endorphins–your body’s natural feel good chemicals
  • it protects your heart–protects your blood vessels and increases the flow of blood
  • For more medical support on laughter’s good effects, check out:

Give Your Body a Boost-With Laughter by WebMD

Stress Management: Laughter is Good for You 

So do something really wonderful for yourself and Laugh-Out-Loud! LOL!

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue


Copyright, the blog, Bella Bleue Healing Health and Inspiration for Your Life