By Mary O’KEEFE

It is probably to no one’s surprise that I listen to Irish podcasts. I enjoy not only the Irish myths and legends, but historical podcasts that deal with everything from druids to the Great Famine that led to so many people immigrating to the U.S. I learn a lot about why my family traveled to the U.S. because, as my Great Uncle Carroll would say when asked about family history in Ireland, “We drank in a pub over there – now we drink in a pub over here.”

He was not really focused on our family’s immigration.

This weekend while I was listening to one of the many podcasts the name John O’Donohue was mentioned, along with a bit of his poetry. As always when listening to historical podcasts or reading books on history, I make notes for things I want to look up later. So at the end of the podcast, down the rabbit hole I went with Mr. O’Donohue.

He was a poet, a philosopher, a scholar and an ordained Catholic priest. I cannot wait to read his many books, several of which I heard of in the past and at least one that was in my library that I had never gotten around to reading. (When your last name is O’Keefe you tend to get a lot of books penned by Irish authors for birthdays and holidays). Mr. O’Donohue passed away in 2008 when he was in his early 50s.

For those who have not explored his philosophy and poetry I invite you to do so; for those who have known his works I invite you to re-read them.

The lines that started me on this O’Donohue journey were, “Weariness invades your spirit. Gravity begins falling inside you. Dragging down every bone.”

This is from “A Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted.”

I love this community but we are a busy group of people. With bingo nights, meetings, school sports, special events and Halloween haunts, October is a very busy month. Then we jump right into November and December holiday events.

If anyone needs a blessing for exhaustion it is us. And normally this is where I would relate what I have read or seen to climate change … and I guess I can in an abstract way.

Researching what our Earth is going through due to human-caused climate change is exhausting; not just the actual act of doing research but the times when it just feels so hopeless. Realizing that some are still in denial – even after seeing the effects that scientists have warned us for decades actually manifesting throughout the world – does cause soul-sucking exhaustion.

Which is another reason why this blessing called to me.

So below is the blessing from Mr. O’Donohue. I hope it touches your soul like it did mine. (I actually took time this weekend and turned away from the news of the day. Instead I made some ginger snap cookies from my grandmother’s recipe and read a good book.)

By John O’Donohue

Syndicated from awakin.org, June 02, 2014

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,

Time takes on the strain until it breaks;

Then all the unattended stress falls in

On the mind like an endless, increasing weight,

The light in the mind becomes dim.

Things you could take in your stride before

Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.

Gravity begins falling inside you,

Dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out.

And you are marooned on unsure ground.

Something within you has closed down;

And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.

The desire that drove you has relinquished.

There is nothing else to do now but rest

And patiently learn to receive the self

You have forsaken for the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken

And sadness take over like listless weather.

The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground;

Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up

To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain

When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,

Taking time to open the well of color

That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone

Until its calmness can claim you.

Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.

Learn to linger around someone of ease

Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,

Having learned a new respect for your heart

And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

– John O’Donohue from “Blessings”

We are looking at several blustery days. Today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday temperatures will be in the high 80s and there may be some slight winds that are typical for the season; however, Sunday night through Tuesday those winds out of the northwest will pick up with gusts from 25 to 40 mph. And these winds will be cold so temperatures will drop to the 70s.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday the warm Santa Ana winds will begin again, warming up temperatures again.