Port in the Storm
A Refuge in Troubled Times
Finding Your Way Around The Port
Welcome to this port and safe harbour. I hope that as you travel around her, you will discover places which help you recover from the storm of life you are currently going through. It can't take away the storm or change your life circumstances, but it can bring you some peace and some calm for short periods.
In the old days, when people were suffering in their storms, they often withdrew from the world and went on retreats to catch their breath, spending time out in nature listening to her encouragement and delving into the mysteries that surround them. Many spent this time in solitude, away from others in order to stop, catch their breath, take stock, recalibrate and listen to the promptings of their souls, spirits and God. Often it is a little like taking a plane journey.
At first everything seems very much the same as we look out of the plane window. But somehow, as we lift off and fly higher from the ground, the houses and homes of problems and sadnesses and worry and hopelessness grow smaller and smaller, until we can no longer see them. We then begin to stop looking for them or trying to make them out and instead begin to relax, looking out of the window at the wonders of the sky all around us. As we begin to relax, we can focus more on the here and now.
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Then, all of a sudden, we hit clouds and begin climbing through them. These are their breakthrough moments. At one moment we can make nothing out but suddenly in an instant, we have risen above them and all we can now see, are incredible blue skies for as far as the eye can see and the brightness of the sun. We catch glimpses of the light of meaning or understanding or wisdom that we had not been able to find before. Up here everything makes sense. Up here, there is a completely different perspective. We can see things from this height which were completely hidden from us on the ground. We no longer care about musing over problems, for we are being shown things which bring meaning, hope and life.
In this place, we may want to stay up here forever, but know that we have small children to take care of or a business to run or meals to cook and tears to dry and lives to be a part of. We know that we have to go back down. However, as we descend, we now see everything in context. We know that those everyday houses of problems and issues will still be there when we land. However, we also know that we have travelled far and will be landing in a very different place from the one we took off from. We also know that whenever problems threaten to overwhelm us again, we can remember how small they became when given the time to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of life and see with a new perspective.
And that brings hope. When we are in a storm, lost at sea, or hanging on for dear life, the greatest thing we can hang onto is hope. That is what all these materials and courses and thoughts are about and for. To bring you hope in your darkness, like a lit candle which will help you to see yourself, your circumstances and others a little more clearly at this time.
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Often, we want others to tell us what to do, but no one knows us as we do. We need to go on a journey into discovering just who we are. This can take many years, so if you are hoping for quick fixes from this site to get better, I'm afraid you will not find them here. You need to understand that we are incredibly complex and extraordinary human beings with layer upon layer of depth and revelation within us that needs unwrapping carefully and gently and with great love. If you cannot be kind and gentle to yourself then it is unlikely that others will too.
So this is in some ways an adventure into self in order that you can find the Pearl of Great Price that lies within you. Don't let anyone ever tell you that you are of no worth or that there is no pearl to find. I know that there is. However, in order to find it, you're going to need to go on a journey over many years and travel through metaphorical lands you've not discovered yet.
I hope and pray that this site will help you take the first few steps of that exciting journey.
What is in this port?
In Troubled Times - A Course of 65 daily readings and reflections
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These daily readings, thoughts and reflections are here to help you be still and take stock and stop and rest and just 'be' for a short while. They are here to bring you another perspective apart from the height of the waves and the roar of the wind and the rain. It's a little like an oasis which you can visit when you feel you no longer want to be battered by life. It's a safe place where you get the chance to think about so many areas of your life in a way that helps you reflect not only upon what is wrong, but also upon what is right, for in our troubles the good things in our life get lost and we need to see them in order to bring some sort of balance and hope to our sometimes distorted reality.
Some thoughts may give you aha moments. Others might challenge the way you think about your life or this world. But all are meant to encourage and stimulate you into discovering some new way of seeing and perceiving. These reflections are about filling you with hope.
Reading one a day can be like taking a tablet of hope. It might take two or three weeks before the medicine begins to work, so don’t expect to feel better straight away. Like any tablets, it is important that you take the full course, one a day, and allow the truth and meaning from these daily tablets to begin working on your heart, mind, soul and spirit. In twenty or thirty days, I believe you will have begun to feel a little lighter and even brighter.
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There are two parts to these tablets. The outer casing is the daily words that you read. But the powder in the middle which will be what really helps you improve, is your reflections on what you have just read. It is really important that you reflect. It is not enough to skim over it and move on. Nearly always, it is in the process of digging into the soil that the pearl of great price might be discovered. One pearl will lead you to another and then another and before you know it you will have collected together many new ways of seeing this world and life which you could not make out before. You will have discovered treasure buried in the field of your life, all because you took the spade given to you that day and dared to dig deeply into yourself. It won't be the spade, the daily thought, that will be enough to unearth buried treasure. But it will give you the means to go in search of the more that your soul is desperate to find. All you need to do is begin to dig and I promise you that if you dig for long enough you will find treasure that you can then pack away into your backpack for your continuing journey through life.
You need to be honest to get as much benefit as you can. You need to begin a journal in which you can write down all your thoughts and fears and hopes and dreams. This journal is not to be shared with another. This too must be a safe place where you can get to know the you that as yet you haven't begun to meet or understand.
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Be patient with these words of life. They worked for me, when I was at the bottom of a very dark pit of depression and self pity. Each day they enabled me to look up and focus on the wonders of the sky above me and the sun and light that seemed so dim in my darkness. I learnt over many years how to climb out of my pit and give you the things that worked for me and brought me back to life once again. Some of these things might not be your cup of tea, but many I hope will bring you something that can comfort or console or inspire you to change your life for the better and help you to live life well.
reflections to help Still Ones Mind
The mind is like a busy railway station, with thoughts and ideas coming along like trains every few seconds and minutes. There is constant activity and as the trains pull into the station, they unload many people, each separate and all going in different directions at different speeds. As we watch the trains come and go and watch the people embark and disembark there is not a moment left to be in the moment. We are caught up watching our thoughts as if we were watching the people coming and going and then have no time left to seek out and search for peace and calm.
We need to shut the station for a while and allow no trains and no people to enter. The signals need to be red for a while so that within the station there is only peace and calm. When there are no trains or people to watch, then one begins to notice the trees and the flowers and the sounds of the birds and the wind in the leaves of the trees.
At the very worst of times, we consider things which we wouldn't otherwise dare to even think about. We think about taking our own life. These times are truly the very darkest times that we can face. It is at these times that we need to be given words of life or candles of light that can give us reasons for hope.
There is a section for those contemplating suicide called The Unheard Cry. This section doesn't tell you what to do or what to think. It simply just gently allows you to think through the horrendous dilemma you are in and to begin to make more informed choices about what it is that you really want or need to do at this time. Many of the words are in the form of short stories, helping you to identify with characters and how they might be feeling.
Sometimes we can see a situation so much clearer when we are an observer of it, as we can be in a story.
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The Unheard Cry
Look Up and See The Bigger Picture
In troubled times many begin to recognise that they are more than just their body or their mind. They begin to recognise another part of themselves drawing them into a deeper and more meaningful existence. This part one soon comes to realise is the work of our soul and spirit within us.
It's as if we discover that we are a three legged stool. For so long we have worked on two of our legs, our bodies and minds, hoping that the more we get them straight, our stool will stand. Instead we discover that however hard we commit to improving these two aspects of our self, our stool will never stand or be all it was created to be without work on the third leg, our spirit and soul. So many sites and resources provide excellent information on the first two legs. This site aims to draw all three legs together by offering an alternative perspective on your life, from the third leg's perspective.
Now, many don't believe that we are more than our bodies and minds and this site is not here to persuade them. It is here to inform those who feel drawn to exploring the third leg.You will find so much here helping you to find out more about who you are and why you are here. You will find meditations to help you develop these aspects of yourself. You will discover truths that will resonate with you and provide missing pieces of the puzzle of life that you haven't as yet been able to find. You will soon discover that every single person's journey into faith in their spirit and soul is uniquely different, in the same way as each of our fingerprints are. You will also too discover that what you sow into this journey will correlate with what you get out of it.It is said that every journey begins with a single step. This site enables you to begin to take some steps. There are numerous materials here to help you begin this journey into self and in particular the parts of yourself that have until now often been hidden. I hope as the days become weeks that you begin to feel that you have begun to awaken into a new way of thinking and seeing and understanding this world of which you are a part.