I am getting to know me more everyday...Would you like to know you better too?

*Break the chains with me x

Louise Coghlan

May 28, 2024

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**If you might enjoy me reading this letter to you, it would be my honour & thank you for giving me your time to listen to my words….Just hit play up above and I’ll do the rest…Lie on your bed, on the ground, go for a stroll to the shop or take me around your home and I’d be honoured to be your company for a minute or seven x

“I am shedding coats and it’s not because the summer sun is shining on my face.

I am letting go of parts of me I didn’t know I needed to let go of.

I am losing the knots so intrinsically placed that only as they fall away I notice their belonging.

I am travelling through a time where I see myself outside of me.

I am feeling peace and it is my hands that I hold it.”

- BY me x

May I ask you a question?

May I be so bold to reach inside your soul and ask you to look in there too?

How does it feel to look inwards?

Does it scare you?

If it does, it means you are looking in the right place.

I am so proud of you.

We all need to search inside ourselves. That is where the answers lie.

It is the only when we look inwards that we can clearly look outwards and see, truly see.

The blur, the chaos, the lines crossing, the emotional turmoil, it lies inside us, not them.

We often blame others for how our tornadoes rise up inside us. But it is not our business what they feel, our focus must stay within.

I am digging deep. I am tossing out harden scabs and encouraging healing on the wounds I’ve been hiding from myself.

I am searching and I am finding. Tears fall. Confusion crashes. But wisdom always rises to the top. I am becoming a better me.

I am fighting with myself but it’s a good sort of fight.

I will not be the same person who passed through the world yesterday…. and I don’t want to be. I want to be better. Kinder. Lighter. Lovelier. Easier and most importantly I want to be me.

Do you want that too?

If you do, we must both dig deep and continue to work on ourselves.

To become strong and brave, you must face your fears and realise, life is not one battle but many.

Life is one joyful moment followed by another but you are not going to be handed joy, nor will happiness, peace and contentment fall into your lap. It must be something that effort is put into. It is a mindset and it is your hands at all times. Turn your thoughts around and make moves and joy will appear.

Problems, heartbreak, stress, worry and devastation of all sorts will always find you. Sometimes we create them ourselves but most times they come and find us on their very own instinct and we will have no control so like the bible gospel reading from Mark - One must always stay awake:

“Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake”

Prepare with me as I focus for the second half of this year -continuing to try living a good and full life by travelling life together through my words here and also through our FB live discussions - not alone….but together learning, living and laughing too: www.facebook.com/livingandlaughingwithlou

Join me as I shed coats of myself, as I lose parts of me that needing losing and I try my best to shape myself into the best version of me that I can while sharing my journey here with you. My continued focus of the second half of 2024 is a theme of separating the wheat from the chaff while I dig deep inside shifting parts of me that will lead to the next stage of Lou unfolding….

To wipe the sleep from my eyes of all I’ve learned so much from this year already feels like a good way to describe what is happening me. I’ve lost a lot already this year. Family members. Best friends. Hopes and plans. Ive found myself mixed up and sad. And yet in true Lou Libra style, I have never let go of the light. I hold tight to my lantern of love and I hope this is never a day where I will lose my innate loving self. I love people. I love my family. I love my friends and I try myself to always tell me how I feel about them. I am so grateful for so many moments, for so many people who support me, care for me and love me. Those are the bits I hope I will never lose sight of. But as we all know here, life can be really shite - sorry about my language haha ;) but it is true. I write and share here because I want you to know me as best you can know me. I want you to know you are never alone. You are here and you remind me that I am not alone and together we have created something very special and that is the gift of friendship. The gift that CS Lewis wrote endlessly about - connection. Me and you might be a million miles away but in sharing this very moment, this very feeling, we are as close to each other that any spirits could be and therefore I hope I never lose you. I hope you know connection is the magic of this earth. But no matter how close we are in connection, the development of who we are inside brings us even closer. The closer we each move together, the more balance we gain inside ourselves. And see the trick about balance is it is a constant journey of awareness, effort and a williness to move with fate….

The first half of this year is coming to a close at the end of June and the second half of this year will be begin. As I still have time to chew on this time, I write this substack to encourage you to join me on a journey of the second half of 2024. What can we build? What small moves can we make? What dreams can we have? What parts of us could we examine to create better versions of ourselves. Please feel free to leave your thoughts down below in the comments. I know I’ve thrown a lot here but I know you and you know me, so I know you will read or listen to this and you will instantly feel what parts of your inner being I’m pulling on. Let’s chew on all this. Lets reflect. Let’s carve out the next section of this time ahead with intention, focus and a deep quietness inside ourselves.

Our time on this earth is limited no matter how long we think we have, we never know and going forward I am broadening my thinking pattern to open my eyes even further and to become more awake while setting my focus on peace, contentment and living a very simple and fulfilling life. I have learned a lot of hard realities this year so far and have been reminded in a sharp and awakening way that life is as fragile as a butterfly yet you must be always working on your resilience skills ready to row for your life to get to the safe shore while balancing yourself out with love and loads of it….

These two sentences are my own little 2024 theme:

I love me so I can love others.

I love others so I can love me.

You must cherish every rainbow your eye catches and when those skies come crashing down on you, you must always remember you will and can come through this moment. Life will absolutely be shite to you. It will be shite to me too. But together if we keep looking up and keep working on seeing the good in each other while shining that light from within outwards, we will indeed live a full and happy life no matter how many days on this earth we are blessed with.

I think of an old Irish seanfhocal when I touch on this topic - an seanfhocal is an Irish proverb which have been around for thousands of years and always bring great wisdom with them.

“Maireann croí éadrom a bhfad” - The meaning of this is ‘A light heart lives long'.’ I want your heart to be light and I want you to live a long and happy life and I hope I do the same. So here we go. Let’s reflect for June as it cracks open this weekend and then take our focus into part two of this year together…2024 -its the year of even numbers and you know how I love numerology….Lets make it a great year together..Let’s become: Stronger. Braver. Lighter. And more loving and loved as we step from sunrise to sunset each day. Each time we see the sun it means we have been blessed with another day, another page, another opportunity to grow, another chance to love and be loved and another offering to leave our magic mark on this world.

I am me and I intend to become even more me as I step forward through the months ahead. The question I ask you now in this letter is have you been searching for you too? And do you want more parts of the puzzle that is you to slot into place. If you do, let me know down below how you are feeling and does this idea of a part two 2024 approach to the year ahead excite you too….Lets build up those bravery muscles for the dark days that will meet us but lets widened our awareness so we never miss a beat of the light, love and joy that steps around us in every moment.

Shoulders back, the tone of your voice relaxed and a greater sense of a full heart, a brave soul and a balanced life lies ahead….We just need to grab it.

I’ll leave this with you and look forward to your thoughts.

Your ever grateful friend and thanks again for travelling the whole way down here. I love you more than I loved you before ;)

Keep looking up and keep being you,

Lou x

I’m going to finish with a poem from one of my favourite Irish poets John O’Donoghue and also a song from the gorgeous Billie Eilish & her brother Finneas.

A New Beginning

In out of the way places of the heart
Where your thoughts never think to wander
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire
Feeling the emptiness grow inside you
Noticing how you willed yourself on
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
~john o donohue~

Granny Nancy’s maiden name was bird so I’m kind of a Bird in my own way.

I start and end my day listening to the birds singing reminding me that too are aligned with the sun rising and setting. also I recently learned their song is not only to wake the world but the birds singing is a signal for the plants, flowers and natural life all around them to wake.

Imagine their song awakens the flowers - how beautiful is that? Shouldn’t we stick together like birds of feather> It’s just better all round for us all x Beautiful magic from Billie & Finneas once again x

I am getting to know me more everyday...Would you like to know you better too?

*Break the chains with me x

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