Positively Newsworthy: The Little Things
Our Winter 2025 Issue has hit the shelves! With the theme of Divinity, each page is filled with love, positivity, and inspiration. Head to a health shop near you to pick up your copy, or have a copy delivered to your door each season at positivelife.ie/subscribe <3
Helping hands
The beauty of friendship
by Aisling Cronin
Friendship is a saviour. On so many occasions recently, a hug from a friend has warmed my spirits; a deep belly laugh has dispelled stress; a kind word has helped me to breathe through sorrow and arrive at a more grounded and peaceful place.
I consider myself grateful to count so many people as friends. In my mid-thirties, I have gotten to know all of the friends I currently have during various stages of my life; and the memories I associate with each of my friends are unique in their own way, but special to me beyond words.
The theme of this issue is ‘divinity’ and to me, that divinity is reflected in the faces of those who are dear to my heart. It is said that friends are the family we choose, and I am humbled that so many beautiful, compassionate, courageous souls have chosen me in that sense: sharing their hopes and sorrows, allowing me to see them both when they at their brightest and when they feel vulnerable – or perhaps even lost. We share our human journeys together, in all of its trials and tribulations, bound by a kinship of spirit and like minds.
I am thankful to be in a position whereby I can make time for the friends who have been there for me through good times and bad, and show them what they mean to me. These people make my celebrations all the sweeter and take the sting out of my challenges – long may it be so.
Celtic Wheel of the Year
Soul Guidance through the Seasons
By Alison McEvoy
At each change in season, we are faced with more possibility than we can imagine. The choice is ours, to resist or embrace – as with everything in life.
When I was younger, I lived for summer. My default was to embrace the ‘light’, to stay active, to be productive, to be able to keep going, energized and getting things done. I braced myself through winter, pushing through as if the sun and my own energy levels were still at their height.
Eventually, the imbalance caught up with me and I was gifted, at a time when I needed it most, the knowledge of the ‘Celtic Wheel of the Year’, via the wonderful Mari Kennedy.
The understanding that each season had its own intelligence and inner necessity, allowed me to embrace the natural, changing inclinations and needs of my own body, mind and spirit during the seasonal transitions.
These days, as the dark descends earlier, I dust off my winter rituals and set them in motion with gratitude and understanding of their power and necessity. It’s in rest that we restore our energy. It’s in going into the ‘dark’ side of our being that we spread more light within. It’s in slowing down that we gain clarity on where our “fiery arrows” of action will best serve us.
Winter rituals can be anything you wish or want them to be. Rest in any way that calls to you. ‘Go into the dark’ the way you enjoy it most. Slow down in any way the brings you joy. The choice is all yours and your body, your ideas, will light the way. Some of my favourite ways to rest are a foot bath with oils, dried flowers, Epsom salts of all kinds… Going into the dark for me is more enjoyable when guided by a soothing, compassionate voice – a guided meditation. Slowing down is making with a pestle a mortar my own chai, then drinking it in sips while gazing out the window or at a candle flame. The sky is the limit, and your wise Self knows best.
