Inspiration, Life

Nature’s Healing Gifts

When we take the time to see nature around us, we can learn deep truths about life. I live in the Northeast. The changes in the weather from one day to the next is a complete mystery this year….You never know what the day may bring. This can be true in our life too…we may wake up and expect the day to be one way, and it brings something completely different or unexpected. But when this happens, we have the choice to embrace the opportunity to be inspired by the experience or we can choose to completely miss it. This morning, I looked out my doorstep and saw this image in nature speaking to me.

This image is ironic in some ways. It’s the image of snow embracing a plant that has died for the season, against the backdrop of new life ‘springing forth.’ Walking out my door I could have just seen the snow, and the decaying plant, but instead, the green…the image of inspiration, and HOPE, caught my eye, and thus, changed the way I woke up to my day.

I felt

HOPE: New beginnings are just around the corner, for each of us, if we just open our eyes and take the time to look for them.

INSPIRATION: if nature can break through the winter and live, then we can break through those things that hold us back and LIVE our lives!

My invitation to you:

1.Take some time today to pause and look at life around you.

2. Note what you see.

3. Let yourself feel the inspiration within you.

4. Put the inspiration into your day and see where it leads you.

5. Write down what inspired you and where it lead you.

 

Blessings on your day!

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

See my Facebook page for daily inspirations and messages.

Discovering Strength, Healing, Inspiration

Messages of Hope, Healing & Love

What changed in your life to help you heal? How do you continue to offer yourself the gift of healing each day of your life?

One of the main reasons I began writing this blog, was to heal from my postpartum depression, and to find a source of fulfillment outside of being a new stay-at-home mom. I notice that many of us who write do so for healing, and purpose in our lives. It is amazing how now, our thoughts can be shared with thousands, even millions in seconds, whereas, in the past you would have had to hope someone would want to accept your manuscript for publishing.

Thank you to all of you who have shared in this journey with me, and offered your support, your comments, and just being you.

This past year has challenged me to look deep within myself and discover more fully who I am, just as me, and it has been quite a wonderful experience. I’ve learned more deeply how important my spiritual life is, how much I love to love and be loved, how much I feel blessed to be a mother and wife, and how it is truly a gift to share the gift of healing with others, and in return receive healing.

Since I often find it challenging to sit down and write, with a three-and-a-half year old always by my side, I have enjoyed writing on my Facebook page and sharing brief messages with those who stop by.  I want to share some of them with you because they are a great source of my healing, my heart, and my hopes for you & for me.

May you be blessed today and always!

Spending time with those who love you, and who you love opens your life for powerful healing, and pure experiences of joy. May you be blessed with love in your life.

____________________________________________________

Today is a new day!
It’s the start of a new week!
Your life can begin renewed when you choose to show yourself and others the gift of forgiveness;
when you choose to allow healing to bless your life;
when you choose to have a good day no matter where your path takes you.

____________________________________________________

Snow is blowing and falling here, winter storm Nemo. But within my heart and body I am calm. Embracing this inner calm  grounds me  when my world is in chaos.We all need to try to find ways to be centered and calm when life throws us a storm–whatever we can’t control outside ourselves. Because we do have the ability to control how we feel and react to the outside world.

May you be blessed with calm in your mind, body & spirit today and always.

____________________________________________________

Grateful today for the gift of the human spirit, that has the courage and strength to move forward even after faced with difficulties or challenges.

You have an incredible ability to heal, and move forward along your journey.

____________________________________________________

Blessings come in all shapes and sizes, some are expected, some unexpected. Keep your eyes, your heart and your ears open, so that you may receive blessings throughout your day.

May your day be blessed with joy ♥ Bella Bleue

and one of my favorites:

You are Loved Quote & Meditation

What has helped you heal?  I would love to hear your experiences or what kinds of rituals, or sources you use to offer yourself healing. Your wisdom is a marvelous and wonderous gift…

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

See my Facebook page for daily inspirations and messages.

Healing, Life

Taking time to Reflect & Heal

How often do you give yourself the permission to reflect on your life? How does this time for reflection effect your well-being?

These last couple weeks I’ve been needing some time to just sit back and be a part of life, rather than trying to push life in the direction I want it to go in. Allowing myself to be fully present in my life (accepting life as it is in a moment rather than trying to change people, things etc.) has been very healing. So often we hear how important it is to be proactive about our lives,to take action, to be intentional about the change we want to see in our lives. So I decided to be intentional about bring present in my life. I have been able to reflect, pray, and be fully present in the moments of my life instead of being distracted. As a result I’m appreciating more deeply the blessings I have in my life like my health, my son, my husband, my friends and family, and my spiritual life. This deeper and more intentional presence in my life is allowing me to feel happier, to not be as frustrated, and to be appreciative of my life.

This has been a much needed break for me. I often get angry and frustrated when life seems to be pushing or pulling me in directions I don’t want to go in. And feeling angry takes away from my happiness and diminishes my relationships. Therefore by shifting my focus and by being reflective and calm I have been able to reconnect to my feelings of happiness, and a sense of goodness in my life again.

I am also reading daily spiritual writings that invite me to intentionally reflect, and thus keep my focus on the positive instead of the negative. This has been my saving grace in so many ways because it grounds me back to where my heart and mind most naturally live: in a place of love rather than a place of disconnect.

And a big reminder that has resurfaced in my time of reflection: just be patient, the right answers, the right path will always be shown when the time is right…

20130221-211738.jpg

How about you? How does taking the time to be reflective enhance your life?

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

See my Facebook page for daily inspirations and messages.

Blessing, Discovering Strength, Inspiration, Spirituality

Keep Yourself Moving through Life

What keeps you moving in the world? What gives you the ability to overcome obstacles? What gives you the energy to be creative or inventive? What inspires you to go forward with the beginning of a new day?

There are so many question that can relate to this statement, “Keep Moving.” What question or questions do you have within you, that give you courage, strength, purpose, imagination, hope, etc. to explore another day of your life?

I’ve been tired, maybe a little weary from the long winter days, and my spirit seems to have ups and downs more frequently than during the warm spring and summer months. And life has taken me down a few unexpected paths, that I have been forced to accept with grace or be defeated by frustration. So I’ve chosen to be accepting, because frustration depletes my spirit.

And since I’ve chosen to be accepting of my unexpected paths, I have been reflecting on what has given me the courage to move forward. Do you ever reflect on your strengths as you move through life? Do you offer yourself credit, and celebration when you have overcome day by day, that which you thought you could never live through?

If you haven’t you should, and if you already are, Good for you!

Celebrating and recognizing your strengths as you move through obstacles in your life, gives you courage to keep going, and develops a deeper wisdom within you so that you keep learning. These gifts of courage and wisdom allow you to move through other challenges you may face along your path, so that you can always keep going, even when life seems like it wants to make things difficult.

For me courage has come from my faith. One day while I was going through my most recent challenge I decided that I was going to get out of my head, and lead my body, mind and spirit with my faith. And by letting go, and not trying to be in charge of everything…which I certainly know I’m not in complete control because if I was I would NOT have to face these challenges!…I began to feel at ease. (Why I wrote about feeling comfort last week). There is something completely humbling about “Letting Go” and as I like to say “Letting God.” My wisdom comes when I remember all the times when I have allowed myself to ask for help from God, the Universe, Spirit, etc., and let go of being in control, I actually begin to heal, to be at peace, to feel comforted, to feel an inner strength, and to trust again in this beautiful life that I have been given the gift of experiencing.

So the answer for me to all the above questions is it is my relationship with the Divine; it is my faith that keeps me moving forward always. It is a special relationship for me that is never forced, but waits for me each time with open arms to accept me where I am, and with whatever I have to bring to the table.

What about you? How do you answer the question of what keeps you moving through life even when life places challenges or obstacles in your life?

Blessing by Bella Bleue

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

See my Facebook page for daily inspirations and messages.

Blessing, Discovering Strength, Healing

Comfort Me

Prayer for Comfort by Bella Bleue

COMFORT

in the midst of your struggles
appears, when you call out of the depths
of your heart, asking for peace
like a soft quiet snow falling softly upon your face
it is so very gentle, yet powerfully transforms
your inner being into a sanctuary
where you feel safe, whole and loved
and fear, anxiety, anger and sorrow have disappeared
and been replaced by Faith.

Although last week left me feeling full of uncertainty, I have come to a place within myself that I call Comfort. I still do not have my answers, but I have prayed, and asked. I have searched, and been loved. And now deep within I know it is my Faith, that has given me the courage to keep moving forward. It is my Faith that has allowed, me to feel comfort, a wholeness, where once only anxiety and fear lived.

May you also be blessed with Comfort in all those places in your life, where you need to feel whole and at peace again.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©️2012-2020. Erin Keane. Bella Bleue Healing and Blessings. All rights reserved. No portion of any post or photo may be copied or reproduced without prior written permission from the author, Erin Keane. Find me on Instagram @Erins_blessings and at Facebook Bella Bleue Healing & Blessings by Erin Keane.

Discovering Strength, Healing, Inspiration, Spirituality

Attempting Certainty in Your Uncertainty

So you don’t know where life is taking you? Maybe you thought you were on one path and suddenly there is a detour, and you are forced onto a road you would never have chosen on your own. And as you are going down this path you keep looking for road marks that you recognize, and sometimes you find one, but when you get up close you realize it is not the marker you know. In other words, life is filling you up with uncertainty, and you are doing all you can to regain the certainty in your life.

Lately, I have been having uncertainty on a daily basis, and I don’t like the way it feels. I’ve been trying to just ignore it, which doesn’t work out so well. I don’t know how you are with uncertainty, but even if I’ve convinced myself that everything will be okay, my body does a 180 on me and messes with my system. And this underlying physical discomfort continues to remind me that I don’t really know what is going on, even though my mind is saying, “JUST LET IT BE.”

So I’ve been working at calming myself daily, to regain my center, to just feel like me again. And daily I seem to be discovering something that does allow my mind, body and spirit to regain some balance, even if I fall off track again.

For the first few days, I did my research. I educated myself. Sometimes this puts my mind at ease, other times it just creates more worry. But I like making sense of things so it mainly helps.

I looked for stories about other people who went through what I am going through to both normalize my situation, but to also find comfort in knowing that I’m not the only one who has the questions I do. There is something very comforting in knowing I am not alone in my journey.

I have reached out to those who I love, and who love me, and just asked them to listen. And to pray for me. I find that there is great power in communal prayer or intentions of healing towards those we hold in our hearts. So I always ask for prayers when I need them.

I have opened myself more to the Spirit, and offered prayers for myself, asking to have my mind and body calmed; for acceptance no matter what the outcome is; and for blessing upon me.

I have begun to pause throughout my day and be thankful for what I already have in my life, and to celebrate these gifts more intentionally throughout my day. Gratitude heals worry.

Every time, I remember to I try to breathe in, hope, peace, and love, and to breathe out all that burdens me. Giving intentionality to my breath helps my body relax.

I am attempting to exercise, to get the powerful positive endorphins moving though my body, so my cells can be filled with healing. This creates a better balance between my mind and body.

I’ve been using the gift of remembering to put my heart at ease. I look back at times when I was filled with uncertainty that I somehow made it through. This is a source of inner strength that I can turn to over and over: I’ve gotten through difficult uncertainty before so I can do it again.

And I have been remembering that even though when I am uncertain, and I want answers right away, that getting them right away isn’t always that easy. But that the answers will come when they are supposed to, and whatever they are, I will be okay.

And I am working at being in the present moment, instead of always looking at the future.

A message to leave you with:

Thich Nhat Hanh Quote by Bella Bleue

How about you? What do you do with uncertainty that helps you feel better?

I’m always looking for ways to help put balance back into my life. It certainly is a daily chore.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

See my Facebook page for daily inspirations and messages.

Inspiration, Spirituality

What does Faith Feel like?

Faith Quote by Bella Bleue

So often we hear the statement, “Just have faith!” or the question, “Why do you have so little faith in me?” In every day conversation we may talk with others about what we believe. Or we may discuss what faith means. But how often do you take the time to really reflect on your experience of faith and feel faith alive within your body?

I’ve been reflecting on what faith feels like for me lately.  I’ve been needing to connect to faith that is not just talked about, but felt within. For me faith that is really deeply felt is faith that is real. It is a tangible gift, that I can turn to whenever I need to, where ever I am, no matter what is happening in my life. It’s the kind of faith that is not just felt in my mind, but in my body. And because it is within my body, and because there is nothing more real than than what I  experience through my body;I know that my faith is real.

When we are yearning for something good in our lives, something we can trust in, something we believe has benevolence and love for us, it can only fill us with hope. This faith fills our inner being with a desire to be connected  to that which we feel desires good for us, and that will care for us. In other words, believing in the Spirit, the Divine, human goodness, etc. changes the way we feel within ourselves.  Once we are in relationship with this Benevolence  we become transformed within our very being.

For me, faith fills my heart with love. The kind of love that makes your heart soar to depths beyond you. My body feels transcended to the tops of the mountains where I become closer to all that is beyond me and at the same time my feet are on flat ground  where I can bend down and touch the petals of the tiniest flower and their softness between my fingers keeps me grounded here on earth.  This softness on my fingers travels throughout my being, and puts my body and mind at ease. The wind on the mountain top fills my breath with peace, and invites my arms to open wide, so that I might receive all that is being offered. I am in relationship with the Divine.

What does your experience of faith feel like for you?

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

See my Facebook page for daily inspirations and messages.

Healing, Inspiration, Life

Getting in Your Own Way: Missing out on Love

“Who holds you?”

This has been one of the most powerful questions I have ever been asked.(I was in my spirituality residency [chaplaincy] at the hospital, and my supervisor asked me this as a reflection question). I was stunned that as I tried to respond, I began to cry. It was the kind of cry, where you have to work really hard to get yourself together. My tears seemed to be the only answer I could give, because I honestly didn’t know how to answer the question at all. After I left our meeting, I reflected some more, and I still couldn’t put my finger on it. Why was I feeling so broken, so confused by this question?

I did the natural thing for me: Evaluate my feelings…figure out where they stemmed from…what was the reason for my tears? I even sort of fought with myself internally about my tears: I know I am loved. I come from a family that loves me. I have people around me who love me. I believe God loves me. So why then do I feel so darn empty inside, each time I try to answer this question?

This happened in 2004. Here I am 9 years later, and I still reflect on this question. The question of, “Who holds you?” for me has always meant “Who loves you?” For many years, I kept searching for what Love was supposed to be like: that perfect kind of love. But as time has gone on I realize that by searching for perfect Love, many times I’ve missed the opportunity to really embrace moments of Love in my life, because I was afraid that it wasn’t the “right” kind of love, or the way love was “supposed to be.” So I walked around life feeling empty, when Love was all around me, waiting patiently for me to let it in.

My answer to this question has changed over the years. I’ve found a peace inside myself over time…instead of trying to figure out my reaction to this question over the years, I’ve learned to  “Let it be;” i.e., trust more deeply that life will reveal its answers to me, when it is the right time.  And in many ways, I finally feel I have come to an answer that I feel to be most truthful to who I am both in my every day life and in my spiritual life. I now recognize that each time I was trying to figure out where Love was in my life,  I was actually preventing myself from experiencing it because I was searching too hard for it; i.e. I was getting in my own way of  really being able to feel “held.” Instead of searching for love in my life, I now allow myself to feel Love, to experience Love, and most importantly Love myself so that I can even more honestly share my love with others and receive love from others. In other words, I allow Love to be what it is, and not what I expect it to be. I’ve gotten out of my own way! Now I feel safe and secure with Love’s arms holding me up, with a strength that will  never break. Love is always there for me, and for you. It’s everywhere in nature, in people, in God, in the Spirit, in this amazing gift of Life, and inside you…you just need to give yourself the freedom to experience it without putting up so many walls.

How are you going to let Love into your life?

Rumi Love Quote

We all search for relationships in our lives, and deeper connections…open yourself to looking deeper within you, so that LOVE may spring forth anew for you.

You are Beloved. You are Loved.

So I leave you with my question today, “Who holds you?” 

…and just remember that whatever your answer is today, it may change again tomorrow: be gentle with yourself, offer yourself love…and your answers will come. I have faith that they will for you.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue

And if you use Facebook and would like daily inspirations and messages check out my page Bella Bleue Healing

Healing, Inspiration

New Year’s Blessing

New Year's Blessing

This Year opens a New Door
A New Story of your life
You have amazing opportunities
alive in you.
Your imagination is your greatest gift

it has the potential to:
Set new goals
Achieve new dreams
Heal broken wounds
Create and inspire
Forgive old hurts
Connect to friends
Paint a photo
Photograph a memory
Write a story

Your life is a wonder
Your mind is a masterpiece just waiting
to be revealed;
Your heart is an ocean that flows
with the tides, bringing healing, love, hope,
and peace to the places in your life where grief,
hurt or bitterness may have lived.

Heal yourself day by day,
and let your healing imagination transform your life.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

Happy New Year 2013!

What are you going to transform for yourself this year?

©Bella Bleue Healing™
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue

Blessing, Connecting to the wonder we are

You are a Living Blessing

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