Home
>
Spirituality
>
Anam Cara - Watching The River Flow

Anam Cara - Watching The River Flow

I love rivers. I have for many years lived away from rivers. Yet, when I ever felt unhappy or uninspired I would seek out a pathway along the nearest river to my home.

I have returned home to Ireland following many happy years in England. I am blessed now to live close to the River Shannon near to the first village on the Shannon. This is the village called "Dowra." In Irish the name is an Damhraith, which translates either as "the black stream" or "the stream of the oxen."

I live near the source of the Shannon. This is called "Shannon Pot". This place marks the beginning of the longest river in the British Isles. This is a place where the beauty of the land and myth come together. This is a deep place not just symbolized by the deep, dark peaty waters of the pool.

The Shannon Pot is a place of placidity. It reminds me of how I am to move in the world. It reminds me to go placidly amidst this noise and haste of 21st Century living. It reminds me to deepen my connection to this extraordinary flow of energy we call "life."

Here at this place of beginning I am reminded of the timeless. I am reminded of the boundary between the now and forever and our everyday social reality. This river is where the maiden Sionann devoured the "salmon" of wisdom and then dissolved into this great river. It is a place of magic and mystery.

Rivers flow. They are feminine. They are powerful beyond measure. They do not force but find a way past any resistance. They are eternal. Yet, they come and go. You cannot ever say where a river truly begins. Is it in the raindrop? Is it the cloud above the ocean? Is it the dew upon the grass? Is the ice cap of the Antarctic?

Hermann Hesse in his wonderful book Siddhartha tells us that Siddhartha Gautama became enlightened when sitting contemplating a river. Rivers are like life ? they have no beginning and end. You cannot hold them. The life of a river is in this flow to the sea and its' return.

The Shannon Pot is a physical place but in truth it is not the source of the River Shannon. Our bodies are a physical reality but they are not the source of our being. Like a river, our bodies are a flow. Like a river, they are mostly a flow of water. Water is the symbol of our feeling energy.

Like a river, we sometimes hit rough water. Our fixed ideas are the boulders that block the free flow of our feeling energy. We all have boulders in our Pandora's box of "bad thoughts." Some are big and some are small. Some are so huge that we dam our energy and we become damned. We block our life force and we become dis-eased.

When this happens we need to return to the source. We need to return from the exile of our feeling selves and go home to the homeplace of our heart. We have to stop trying to make the river contained. She has power beyond our limited knowledge. She is contained in the wisdom of your body and when you allow her to flow you let the healing begin.

A very dear friend is currently feeling stuck. When he wisely returned to one of his sources, she told him to make a beginning. First, he was to turn off the television for one week. Second, he was to go to the sea.

When he is at the sea he will be at a place where the end and the beginning meet. The river flows to the sea and turns towards the sky. The clouds pass over mountains and fall upon the land. This water flows to pools, streams and rivers in a cycle of forever becoming.

Return from exile. Come home to your "being." This is your true source and what we call in Ireland "The Homeplace." This homecoming will be a delight to your heart.

May the river of your life flow with blessing for you, your family and friends, so allowing the return to the source of all love. This is God. This is the Beloved. Yet it is beyond all labels and words. This is the dance of life, ever becoming everlasting. No beginning. No end. Only the ever present flow of now.

Tony Cuckson is an Anam Cara. This Celtic term means "Soul Friend." He specializes in providing insight for the spiritual journey, Blessings for YOU, words of wisdom and finding inner peace. Visitors to Irish Blessings Matter website and Tony's Blog get the opportunity to develop a purpose driven life through articles, newsletters and other programs.

Get your free report called "7 ways to it's a wonderful life" at http://www.irishblessingsmatter.com/, or go to Tony`s Blog at http://www.irishblessingsmatter.com/ where you will find links to information related to spiritual parenting, spiritual coaching and spirit in business.

apartment cleaning near Wilmette ..

In The News:

Instead of fearing what comes next with artificial intelligence, think outside the box. Here are high-earning AI jobs that don't require a computer science degree.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says polite words like "please" and "thank you" cost millions annually, while direct prompts may improve ChatGPT accuracy by several points.

Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat exposed intimate conversations and photos, revealing users spent up to $18,000 on AI companions before the breach.

New Instagram parental controls allow families to manage teen screen time and content limits through the Family Center with stricter safety settings.

Third-party security breach at Discord exposes sensitive user information including government IDs, highlighting cybersecurity risks from external service providers.

Survey of 1,000 students shows teens using AI for personal relationships while two-thirds of parents remain unaware of their children's AI usage.

Cybersecurity experts warn about a ShadowLeak vulnerability that weaponized ChatGPT's Deep Research agent to steal personal data from Gmail accounts through hidden commands.

Tesla's Full Self-Driving system faces federal investigation following 58 reports of crashes, with six vehicles running red lights before colliding with other cars.

The Fox News AI Newsletter brings you the latest developments on artificial intelligence, with news on OpenAI moving to soon allow erotica for adult users.

Eric Schmidt alerts that hackers can reverse-engineer AI models to bypass safety measures, citing examples like the jailbroken ChatGPT variant called DAN.

Cybercriminals exploit Microsoft Teams through impersonation, malicious links and fake profiles to gather intel and deliver ransomware to personal and work devices.

Google, Dior, Allianz and dozens of other companies lost sensitive customer data in Salesforce-related breaches affecting millions of records across multiple sectors.

Apple launches iOS 26 with new Preview app that combines document editing, PDF annotation and scanning features into one streamlined iPhone experience.

New AI road monitoring system uses sensor-embedded fabric to predict infrastructure problems, potentially reducing maintenance costs and traffic disruptions for cities.

Holiday charity scams target retirees through lookalike organization names, untraceable payment requests, and data broker information to steal donations.

The Federal Trade Commission says criminals are posing as IRS agents, law enforcement officers or other officials, often over the phone or online, to steal thousands of dollars at a time.

AI phishing scams now use voice cloning and deepfake technology to trick victims, but Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson reveals warning signs to watch for.

Inversion Space unveils Arc, a reusable reentry vehicle that can deliver up to 500 pounds of cargo from orbit to anywhere on Earth in under an hour.

Red flags like processing fees, urgent countdowns and requests for full Social Security numbers expose fraudulent settlement sites targeting consumers.

Comprehensive analysis of Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps examines usability, routing accuracy, data handling and features across the top navigation platforms.

Expert analysis reveals whether wired Ethernet or wireless Wi-Fi connections are safer for home internet use, plus practical steps to secure your network from attackers.

Australian construction robot Charlotte uses sand, crushed brick and recycled glass to 3D print fireproof, floodproof homes with reduced carbon footprint.

Cybercriminals are using fake invitation emails to trick recipients into downloading malware and stealing personal information and data.

Flying drones could help retailers fight a 93% increase in theft rates as Flock Safety promotes airborne security systems to track suspects and deter crime.

The Fox News Artificial Intelligence Newsletter brings you the latest news on the emerging technology every Saturday, highlighting top stories.

Anam Cara - Watching The River Flow

Spirituality