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.

bedroom cleaning professionals Bannockburn ..

In The News:

Despite the benefits, residential power saver programs come with several potential drawbacks and concerns that have been raised by both customers and experts.

The Blackdot AI tattoo machine is quiet. It's steady. And according to early users, it hurts a lot less.

Attackers have started to exploit the very signals that users assume will keep them safe when it comes to add-ons to improve productivity or entertainment.

Located on Cerro Pachón in Chile, the world's most powerful digital camera is set to transform how we see the universe.

The innovative DQ Tower stands 28 feet tall with 420 square feet of living space, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and premium amenities in a prefabricated design.

A new mmWave imaging system allows warehouse robots to scan and create 3D models of objects inside sealed containers, potentially revolutionizing shipping processes.

Family fraud endangers seniors when relatives exploit their trust, but removing personal data online and monitoring identity can prevent financial harm to aging parents.

A study analyzing 500,000 customer service interactions shows chatbots struggle with complex issues while human agents excel at matching customer communication styles.

Aigen's Element robot uses solar power and AI to provide farmers with a sustainable alternative to herbicides, working efficiently in cotton and soy fields.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Cybercriminals accessed Medicare data of more than 100,000 Americans by creating fraudulent accounts, prompting CMS to deactivate accounts and issue new Medicare cards.

China's battery swap technology from CATL lets electric vehicle owners exchange batteries in under two minutes, with plans to expand to 1,000 stations across 31 Chinese cities by 2025.

Analysts at Silent Push have uncovered a widespread scam that uses counterfeit retail websites to steal the credit card information of online shoppers.

Chrome users need to update their browsers immediately as Google addresses a critical vulnerability that hackers are actively exploiting. Additional security measures are recommended.

A study found teens glance at phones for dangerous two-second intervals while driving, using devices primarily for entertainment, texting and navigation despite crash risks.

Security researchers uncovered a flaw in Windows 11 that allows attackers to disable Secure Boot using Microsoft-signed tools, requiring manual updates to protect against bootkits.

Carnegie Mellon's noninvasive brain technology allows users to move robotic fingers by thinking about the motion, offering new possibilities for people with motor impairments.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of protection to your accounts. Instead of relying only on a password, MFA requires you to verify your identity using two or more methods.

Scientists from Duke, Harvard, and the University of Otago have unveiled a game-changing tool called DunedinPACNI. It uses a single AI brain scan to reveal how fast a person is biologically aging.

A disturbing wave of fake agent phone scams is sweeping across the United States, catching people off guard and draining their savings.

Emojis aren't just playful add-ons; they're powerful tools for building stronger connections in our increasingly digital world.

Google has taken a major step toward the future of clean energy by partnering with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), an MIT spin-out working to build one of the world’s first commercial fusion reactors.

If you create and share art online, you might have seen messages warning that Facebook's parent company, Meta, claims the right to use or even sell anything you post, whether it's pictures, poems, or artwork.

Cybercriminals hit Qantas in a major data breach that exposed information from up to six million customers.

Having reliable, loud, and timely emergency alerts on your phone or device is important because when severe weather strikes, every second counts.

Anam Cara - Watching The River Flow

Spirituality