Tag: Mindfulness

Healing, Life

Taking time to Reflect & Heal

Erin Keane

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…

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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.

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Health, Life

Creating a Healthy Life

Erin Keane

So one of the formulas for living Healthy:  

Live in the Moment: In the Here and Now and 

1.) Let wisdom guide you:

  • choosing those things in your life that are right, just and true because these choices will lead you to have deeper more meaningful relationships with others;
  • and  you will have less worry about the future because you know you are living life the best way you able to.from moment to moment

2.) Lead your life with your heart and mind:

  • living life the best way you can comes from deep within you. When you choose to be intentional about allowing wisdom to guide you, you are connecting to the deep truths about who you are as a human being.
  • Thus, you are not denying who you are, and therefore you become healthy in your daily life.

If we are not able to be healthy within ourselves then no diet, doctor, medicine etc. will be able to really help us.

And thus, the challenge is to really deeply love yourself,

and by doing so, nothing else at any given moment, will have the power to take You away from Who you are.

Look at yourself in the mirror today and know that you are BELOVED.

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

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

*Post originally published March 2012

Connecting to the wonder we are, Health, Life

Show Your Body Love: Creating a Ritual of Tenderness and Self Love

Erin Keane

Your face holds the stories of who you are, and where you’ve been. They are the stories that lie deep within your bones, your cells, your very being. These stories might not be visible to the eye with a look or a glance; those who see you may be completely unaware of how much you hold inside. Of course your whole body holds your story, but there is something extremely tender about how your face holds your pain,your joy, your excitement, your fear,  and so on. When you cry, the tears fall down your cheeks. When you laugh the sound comes from your voice, but your smile lights up your face. When you give and receive love, so often your face is a deep part of that connection.

Do you truly take time to notice yourself and tenderly care for your body?

I see myself in the mirror every day. I comb my hair, brush my teeth, wash my face, put on my make-up and go about my day. And I think very little about my body, nor how much better I feel after I care for myself, because doing these things are a normal part of the day and often done in a rush. But today, I paused for a moment as I dabbed the face-soap onto my hand and looked at my face, and said to myself,”Hey, there.” As if it was the first time I’d seen myself in a long time. And I thought,wait a minute why does this feel so strange? 

I looked down again at my hand with the soap, and came back to reality: the task at hand: Washing my face. I had to think for a second though, how do I do this, wash my face? Usually I turn the water on first, rinse my face off, and then put the soap on my fingers. But not this time. Maybe I was being more intentional about connecting with myself because of my glance in the mirror; or maybe it was the sensation of splashing water on my face with one hand. Whatever it was, I paused, gently began to rub the soap along my cheeks, and suddenly became profoundly aware of the  connection between my fingers touching my cheeks and my face receiving the tenderness of my touch.

As I stood there with my eyes closed and moved my hands around my face I began to have a knowing of my face through my finger tips: my cheek bones, my brow, the softness of my skin. The touch of my fingers awakened me to understanding why my glance in the mirror stuck me. I so often forget to take care of myself, and offer myself gentleness and love.  Touching my face with this love, intentionality and awareness connected me to my life, my story, who I am right now. This is the face people look at, and see through their eyes. My face quite often is how people remember me and make sense of who I am at first glance. But as I washed my face, I realized this wasn’t what was speaking to me. Touching my face with this gentle love, became less about how I was going to look to the outside world, and more about the deeper parts of me.

Love and connection.

  • Touch your face and be mindful about each and every bone, curve, bump
  • Hold your face in your hands for as long as you need to, to really feel and be aware of your story within.
  • Send yourself love, reverence, compassion through your hands, and thoughts

I’m learning and working on loving myself better every day. Sometimes I’m not so good at it, other times I get a gold star for effort. Today, I learned something important for me. To release the pain, the stress, tension I need to touch my face with intentionality and compassion. I need to hold my face in my hands and focus my heart and my thoughts towards self-love and reverence.

Usually, washing my face is a daily task, but I am going to be better at being mindful to practice it as a ritual. (I’ve included washing my face as part of the ritual to help me sleep at night, but never with the intentionality and mindfulness I am starting with today). Not only will washing my face be a ritual of letting go of the things that I want to wash away, so that I can find peace, but it will also be a symbolic action and mindfulness towards self-love.

Ahhh…I am already beginning to feel better.

How about you?

What do you do to offer yourself self-love: loving your mind, body and spirit?

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

Health

Show Your Body Love: Be Mindful About What You Eat!

Erin Keane

Your Body is an amzing, beautiful creation! Love it! Nourish it! Be kind to it! Eat well! Let the foods of the earth bring harmony and healing into your body with every bite, every taste, every smell!

Love your body! Love yourself!

Today I am pausing and focusing on my body: I nourished my body by reading an article on the Huffington Post called, “Could Mindful Eating Wean us From our Bad Food Habits?” by Harbir Kaur, a UK science teacher. She states, “Allow your senses to be electrified by something as simple as a slice of bread.” To be so focused on something like a piece of bread, to savor every single bite; to let your mouth be conscious of how the bread feels on your teeth, and your tongue to notice every flavor and texture takes a lot of intentionality. Of course it does! But who really has the time to truly enjoy what they eat? That there, is the challenge-making the time! So challege yourself: make yourself feel alive! Savor your food and enjoy it more; notice how you begin to eat healthier and thus, your body reaps the rewards of healing and wellness. Congratulations to you! You have joined celebrities such as

Oprah Winfrey as an advocate for ‘Mindful Eating.’ In fact if you are interested in this even more there is an entire organization centered around the goodness ‘Mindful Eating’ does for us:

Mindful eating has the powerful potential to transform people’s relationship to food and eating, to improve overall health, body image, relationships and self-esteem.-The Center for Mindful Eating.

Okay, so if other people are talking about this, it must mean something! Pause! “Let me take a bite of this grape. Ahhh..refreshing, crunchy, wet. sweet and a bit sour…”

So today be intentional about eating your food!

  • Enjoy every bite.
  • Recognize what a wonderful gift it is to be able eat food.
  •  Take the time to pause and reflect on what an amazing creation your body is: You open your mouth, take a bite, and your body knows just what to do with the food you eat: giving you energy for the day ahead, healing your wounds, bringing you back to a childhood moment of something good…all happening in moments without any effort from you other than eating your food.Today be intentional in your life, and see what wonderful things may happen! Heal your body!

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™
Parts of this post were originally posted February 2012.

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