Category: RELIGION

Catholic Religion Today – is it a Healthy Option?

Is it healthy to be in a religion today? Or can being in a religion seriously damage our health? I have been exploring these questions with regards to my own relationship with the Catholic religion.

I was ‘recruited’ by the Catholic religion at birth and this was further cemented with my baptism and first holy communion, then by entering a Catholic boarding school at the tender age of six. Even though I made a choice to leave the religion when I was 18 because of the indoctrination I experienced, it has affected me all of my life. Continue reading “Catholic Religion Today – is it a Healthy Option?” →

It turns out that I am Religious after all!

Most of my life I have been averse to the idea of being religious, partly because I was brought up in a family that was not religious and somewhat against religion, and also because of the examples of religion that I saw around me and the effect these groups had on people, communities and countries. For example, my mum comes from Belfast, a place that has been fought over by two religions for a very long time.

But from the word go I always had an interest in religion and even picked it as one of my options to study at GSCE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) level in Secondary school. I always found it fascinating, the ins and outs of these groups and how they worked, even though it was never something that actually appealed to me.

Continue reading “It turns out that I am Religious after all!” →

Images of God

Recently I was at a meeting and celebration. Various presenters got up on stage, and great music bands too. One of the presenters, a senior academic, asked the audience the question:

“What is your image of God?“

It was a challenge for us to look honestly within and see what kind of image we had of God, what we believe and feel and think we know about God.

Suddenly my journey with seeking the truth about God throughout my whole life was sitting there with me. Continue reading “Images of God” →

What is True Religion?

One day after hitting absolute rock bottom, I shouted from my veranda, “God there has to be more, surely this can’t be it?”

I had never considered myself to be a religious person, so when the word God came out of my mouth, I must say I was a wee bit surprised, to say the least.  But at the same time, it felt like it was a true relationship with God that had been missing all this time, and that for my life to change, I needed to look at the possibility that there was a God.

Continue reading “What is True Religion?” →

Spirit or Soul

I have been exploring recently what it is like to feel me, the true me, my connection to Soul. The aspect in me that brings me back to how I felt as a child – open, free and extremely play-full, while in complete harmony and respect for everyone and everything else at the same time. When I am living from my connection with Soul, I feel my connection with God and my absolute joy of just being me!

It occurred to me that I have not always lived this way throughout my life; that I have often lived the contrasting opposite to this otherwise natural way of being. It has become far more obvious to me each day that there are actually two versions of me that I have at my will to choose to be at any given moment, on any given day, and each gives me a very, very different way of living and approaching life.

Continue reading “Spirit or Soul” →

Autumn – Nature’s Teacher

As I was walking in our local park recently I could not help but see the huge piles of leaves on the ground – the true expression of Autumn.

I noticed the variety of colours and how some leaves were comprised of different colours. The leaves were all different shapes as they had fallen from different trees.

The leaves had many different patterns etched onto them which formed from the different colours, shapes and textures. Continue reading “Autumn – Nature’s Teacher” →