Dara Clear

Writer & Meditation Guide

A story about learning acceptance of things we find challenging.

Taming the Wolf

A story about the importance of keeping our centre nourished and strong to help us respond to whatever challenge comes before us.

Importance of nourishing our center to face challenges.

The Centre Is All

The demands of modern life can be overwhelming. The urge to be more can leave us depleted. Here is a timely reminder that we are all in possession of a fundamental strength that is located in our humility. This reflection will help you feel calm, positive, and restored.

We have a fundamental strength in our humility that can help us feel calm, positive, and restored amidst the overwhelming demands of modern life.

Humility Is Your Strength

Losing ourselves in honorable work and the service of others can not only exhaust us but can also prevent us from being truly present in other important areas of our lives. This is a story about a man who thought he had made good choices, only to find out too late what they had cost him.

Honorable work and service of others can exhaust and hinder our presence in other areas of life as seen in a man's story of lost opportunities.

The Obliging Woodman

A parent and child story about a bear and her two cubs that incorporates in its structure the colors and meaning of the chakras. Follow the bears on their memorable journey to a far-off mountain and enjoy the colorful and exciting adventures they have along the way.

Bear and her two cubs go on a journey to a far-off mountain, incorporating chakra colors and meanings in this parent-child story.

A Good Day for That

A guided visualization to help cleanse unwanted energy and stress. A gentle journey to deepen breathing, relax the body, and restore resilience and positivity.

Guided visualization to cleanse stress and unwanted energy, deepen breathing, relax body, and restore positivity and resilience.

Waterfall Cleansing Visualization

How do we recognize what is meaningful to us? How do we answer the big questions of life? This affirming reflection brings attention to the power and beauty of ascribing meaning to the important things in our lives.

Reflect on the power of ascribing meaning to important things in life to answer big questions and recognize what is meaningful.

The Search for Meaning

When talking with her grandmother, a young woman is faced with a dilemma. She has to make a difficult choice that may put her at odds with her family and community, or it may liberate her into a new realm of power and respect. A story of rituals and the desire for independence.

A young woman faces a difficult choice during a conversation with her grandmother, one that may liberate her or put her at odds with her community.

The Two Bowls

A meditation on self-forgiveness that is calming and nurturing. It encourages the acceptance of our imperfection and the extension to ourselves of love, care, and compassion.

Meditation promotes self-forgiveness through acceptance of imperfection, self-love, care, and compassion.

Embracing Self-Forgiveness

A reflection on motivation and overcoming the obstacles that prevent our growth. If we can learn to seek permission and approval from ourselves before others, everything else will become a lot easier.

Seeking permission and approval from ourselves first is key to overcoming obstacles and achieving growth.

Give Yourself Permission to Act

A reflection on recovery from trauma and how we might rebuild ourselves with great care while also being strong and resilient. Accepting and being honest about our pain can allow us to heal more effectively. This reflection will leave you feeling calmer and more positive about your recovery journey.

Accepting pain and being honest can help rebuild resilience and facilitate effective healing from trauma, leading to a calmer and more positive recovery journey.

Rebuilding Ourselves after Trauma

A dying woman and her estranged daughter have a confronting conversation about the nature of love. This story embraces the complexity of imperfect love and the frustration and heartache that goes with it. The conclusion is positive and motivating.

A dying woman and her daughter have a conversation about love's complexity, frustration, and heartache. The conclusion is positive and motivating.

A Difficult Truth

A poem about seeking answers in nature that might be better found within. Wintry imagery.

Nature explored, answers within; Winter's imagery evokes emotions.

Every Fallen Tree

A calming poem from a beautiful part of Ireland celebrating nature and places of great natural beauty. Featuring wintry imagery and Irish flora and fauna.

Irish poem celebrates nature's beauty, featuring wintry imagery and flora & fauna, in a stunningly beautiful part of Ireland.

Tai Chi in Glendarragh

A gentle story about a woman who receives an anonymous card with a mysterious message that ultimately puts a big smile on her face. Is beauty everywhere?

Mysterious message on anonymous card brings a smile to woman's face in gentle tale of finding beauty everywhere.

Beauty is Everywhere

The famous speech from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in which a disguised Portia presents an appeal for mercy to Shylock, the villain of the piece. A beautiful example of Shakespeare's verse and also of his grasp of important ethical principles and values.

Portia's famous speech in The Merchant of Venice appeals for mercy to Shylock, showcasing Shakespeare's verse and ethical principles.

The Quality of Mercy is Not Strained

The wonderful speech from Shakespeare's Hamlet in which Polonius, adviser to the king, offers his son Laertes advice before he travels. A lovely example of Shakespeare's verse as well as being very wise words from a parent to a child as they set out in the world.

Polonius gives sage advice to his son in Shakespeare's Hamlet, showcasing the Bard's skill and offering timeless wisdom for parents and children.

To Thine Own Self Be True

A reverie that immerses the listener in vivid descriptions of the Irish countryside and the narrator's immersion in the place he grew up. Soothing and evocative.

A soothing and evocative reverie that vividly describes the Irish countryside and the narrator's deep connection to his childhood home.

Returning to Ireland

A gentle and soothing meditation to help you rest. Accepting there is no more you can do, trusting you will be restored, and feeling confident about beginning again.

Restful meditation: Accepting limitations, trusting restoration, feeling confident to begin again.

Pre-Sleep Meditation - Restore and Renew

Four Celtic blessings which address friendship, solitude, living and working well, and aging. All taken from John O'Donohue's Anam Cara, or 'Soul Friend'. Gentle affirmations of self-care and self-knowledge.

Celtic blessings from Anam Cara offer gentle affirmations on friendship, solitude, living well, and aging for self-care and self-knowledge.

Poem: 4 Celtic Blessings

Three poems about New York and the World Trade Centre. Explorations of place and grief and loss from the perspective of two different poets. Thoughtful, careful, and respectful.

Two poets explore place, grief, and loss in three reflective poems about New York and the World Trade Centre - thoughtful, careful, and respectful.

3 Poems about the World Trade Centre

Three lovely poems each celebrating the natural riches and human rituals of September. One poem from Ireland and two from America, each capture something magical and seductive about the ninth month of the year.

Three poems, one from Ireland and two from America, celebrate the natural wealth and human customs of September, capturing its magic and allure.

Three September Poems

A story about seeing things. A grandfather, who is blind, and his grandson, spend time together describing things. The grandson becomes the grandfather's eyes and engages his imagination until they both have an exciting task to work on together. Warm, affectionate, and loving, their relationship is moving and inspiring.

Blind grandfather and grandson bond through imaginative descriptions, inspiring relationship.

I Want To Paint Your Dreams

A powerful affirmation that invites you to embrace the caring voice within, and to trust your capacity for ongoing self-care and guidance. Positive, restorative, loving, and compassionate.

Embrace your caring voice within and trust your self-care with positive and compassionate affirmation.

Meditation: Being A Parent To Yourself

Our expectations of others and of life can often leave us hurt and frustrated. If we can accept that there are many things beyond our control, it will be much easier to resolve conflict and remain positive and energized about ourselves, about life, and about the people we love.

Accepting our lack of control helps us manage conflict and maintain positivity in ourselves and relationships.

Meditation: Accepting Unmet Expectations

We often fall into chains of reaction that are cyclical, repetitive, and unsettling. This can take us away from our sense of control, calmness, and agency. This meditation will help embed a thought process that breaks the chain and allows us to step into a place of observation and better decision-making.

Meditation breaks cyclical reactions for better decision-making and observation.

Meditation: Change The Cycle Of Reaction

A story about contentment and fulfillment, follow a water delivery man who loves his work as he battles with the sun on the hottest day of the year and then takes his experience from the day into his dreams. Fun, satisfying, and restorative, and an appreciation of the life-giving element that is water.

A water delivery man finds contentment and fulfillment while battling the sun on a hot day and brings his experience into his dreams.

The Dream Of The Water Man

Four poems celebrating or reflecting on fathers. Memories from childhood, respect, reverence, awe, aging, memory loss, mortality, and above all, love.

Four poems about fathers, reflecting on childhood, aging, memory loss, mortality, and love.

Four Poems About Fathers

A powerful and positive meditation about asserting your right to replenish your energy and take stock of what is important to you. It has never been more important to control how much of ourselves we give away. This meditation will help you prioritize your own wellbeing and rejuvenate your life force.

Prioritize your own wellbeing and rejuvenate your life force with a meditation to assert your right to replenish your energy and take stock of what's important.

Meditation: Emerging from Burnout

A meditation to calm and reassure. In the age of information overload, anxiety and burnout, it is important to be reminded of the strong foundation of core knowledge and understanding. Grounding, affirming and positive.

Meditation for calm and reassurance amidst information overload and burnout, emphasizing core knowledge and positivity.

Meditation: All I Need To Know

A positive and empowering meditation on the nature of attraction. The embrace of our innate gifts and the confidence to express our positivity and love will ensure the return of light and happiness in our lives. What we put out in the world is what will come back to us.

Attract positivity by embracing innate gifts and expressing love - what we put out in the world is what will come back to us.

The Power Of Attraction

Three friends reunite for a walk up a mountain and spend a day immersed in each other's friendship. A gentle story in a beautiful Irish setting, it is a celebration of nature and the shared history and easy rapport between old friends.

Three friends hike up a mountain in Ireland and spend a day reminiscing and celebrating their friendship.

Mountain Walk Reunion

A story set in a beautiful garden that tells how a little leaf comes to terms with nature's life cycle. The story brings up themes of acceptance, mortality, grief, and gratitude.

A leaf's journey through nature's cycle brings up themes of acceptance, mortality, grief, and gratitude in a beautiful garden setting.

The Last Leaf To Fall

A retelling of the traditional Irish folk tale about how the legendary Finn McCool gained his wisdom at a very young age. Druids prophesies, poets, and warriors, an exciting tale told in the traditional style.

Irish folk tale of Finn McCool's early wisdom gained through druids' prophesies, poets, and warriors, told in traditional style.

Finn McCool And The Salmon Of Knowledge

A thoughtful story about three different people who set out to spend their day in a very particular way. Each of them is intently focused on the task at hand. What they do attracts the interest of others. What exactly are they doing? A moving journey of love, honor, and remembrance.

Three people embark on a meaningful journey, captivating others along the way, in this tale of love, honor, and remembrance.

One On One

A motivational and affirming meditation on giving yourself better pathways to wellness by removing from the life elements that hold you back and cause you stress. Minding yourself is a richer form of self-care that will plant seeds of renewed positivity, potential, and self-belief.

Eliminate stress and negative elements for better self-care and wellness, and cultivate positivity, potential, and self-belief through minding yourself.

Minding Yourself To Increased Wellness

A little boy is brought through the city by his father on Christmas Eve. He is beguiled by the wonderful sights and sounds he encounters. The lights, the shop windows, the people buying presents - he finds it all wondrous. But his father saves the best window for last. A heartwarming story with just a touch of Christmas magic in it.

A boy is enchanted by the sights and sounds of Christmas Eve, but his father saves the best window for last in a heartwarming story with a touch of magic.

Christmas Eve In The City

A tree thinks it has seen all that has to be seen in the world until it is visited by Mother Earth. She persuades the tree to not only look at the world with new eyes but also to look up. It is then that the tree sees something in the moon that it hasn't noticed before. It is the beginning of a great friendship. But where will it end?

A tree's new perspective on life after being visited by Mother Earth leads to a newfound friendship with the moon.

The Tree That Fell In Love With The Moon

Being criticized hurts. This meditation will help you reframe criticism and receive it from a position of strength. It will also help you have compassion for the critic without validating the criticism. Thoughtful and transformative.

This meditation helps reframe criticism, receive it with strength and have compassion for the critic without validating the criticism. Thoughtful and transformative.

How To Negotiate Criticism

A little girl looks at a cat in a shop window and is told by an old man that the cat is over a hundred years old. What has the cat seen in its lifetime? Who and what have come and gone on the old cobbled street? Find out as decades of people and history are recalled, and maybe a few other cats too...

An old man tells a little girl that a cat in a shop window is over a hundred years old, leading to a reflection on the history and people of the surrounding area.

The Cat That Had Seen it All

In these modern times, energy and availability are at a premium. So many things compete for your attention and emotional commitment that you pull yourself in many different directions. The result is that you lose sight of yourself and forget who you are. This reflection offers a reminder to return to your base state and presents the idea of 'haecceity', which is the quality that makes you who you are. The more aligned you are with this core self, the happier and more capable you will be.

"Return to your base state and embrace your 'haecceity' to be happier and more capable in today's world of competing energy and attention."

Aligning The Elemental You

Journey through the heavens as a little star bursting with life looks for her place in the universe to shine her brightest. She sets out on a journey of discovery and is challenged by the reaction of the established constellations, who turn away from her brilliance. Is she really too bright? She is eventually directed to a constellation that is happy to talk about brightness - perhaps she will find the answer she is looking for there.

A little star goes on a journey to find her place in the universe and faces challenges from established constellations before finding acceptance.

The Star That Was Told It Was Too Bright

Three delightful poems for younger listeners, or for the child in you. Two classics from the great Edmund Lear, full of fun and magical imagery, and a poem from N.P. Babcock about a very well-mannered cat. Lovely language and musical rhythm for children to enjoy, and a host of interesting characters to stir their imagination!

Three charming and imaginative poems for children, including two classics from Edmund Lear and one about a polite cat, with lovely language and rhythm.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat and Two More

A beautiful visualization that takes you on a journey through nature's wonders until you arrive at a place of deep tranquility and inner peace. Serene, flowing, rhythmic, and calming, use this visualization to help you descend into a state of blissful rest.

Visualize nature's wonders and reach deep tranquility with this serene and calming visualization.

Journey to the Apple Tree

A mindful and self-caring meditation on acknowledging the less obvious wins in your life. The places we have achieved profound victories are often not visible to others. This meditation will remind you of where you have made gains and how it is possible to keep winning every day.

Meditation on recognizing personal victories and continuous growth.

Counting the wins

A woman has lost her appetite for life and wonders how she has let time steal her joy and positivity. One day in the city a mysterious older man tells her he can help her. She is intrigued by what is written on his business card. And so begins her journey of recovery and acceptance. With the man's help, she discovers all is far from lost.

A woman's lost appetite for life is restored when she meets a mysterious man who helps her discover that all is not lost.

Tuning The Soul Of Portia Green

This is a deeply affirming meditation on listening to oneself without fear. An underlying knowledge of self lies within you. There is a non-judgemental voice that knows the accumulated story of who you are. If you give yourself permission to listen to this voice, you will emerge with renewed confidence, compassion, and clarity about what drives you. Empowering, soothing, and strengthening.

Listen to yourself without fear to find empowerment, compassion, and clarity about what drives you.

Listening to the Deep Respondent Self

The wonderful opening speech from William Shakespeare's Henry V where the playwright appealed to the audience to engage their imagination to help bring the world of the play to life. Also, later in the play, the atmospheric scene-setting of the night before the English and the French go into battle. Enjoy the beautiful language and dramatic descriptions.

Shakespeare's Henry V speech inspires audience imagination; later on, atmospheric scene-setting of night before battle. Beautiful language and drama.

O For A Muse Of Fire

Listen to Coleridge's extraordinary poem that came to him after a sleep filled with vivid dreams. Full of wonderful, descriptive language. Mysterious and evocative and beautiful.

Listen to Coleridge's dream-inspired masterpiece: a beautiful, mysterious, and descriptive poem filled with vivid language.

Kubla Khan By Samuel T Coleridge

A rainy day. A bored child. A working mother. A need for a story. What to do? A mother shares a story from her own childhood that sparks her daughter's imagination. A soothing and playful sleep story based in the home and in the natural world.

A mother tells her child a soothing and playful sleep story during a rainy day.

The Trees Play Hide And Seek

A reflection on the power of being present. What prevents us from being present? Where would we rather be? Perhaps we can understand the idea of presence more successfully if we place it against its opposite - absence, positive, calm, motivating.

Reflecting on the power of presence and its opposite - absence, to understand why we struggle to be present and how it affects our lives positively or negatively.

The Power Of Presence

When the events of the world overwhelm us and stir up negative emotions, we must remind ourselves that we can offer a counterpoint of positivity to that turmoil by breathing into our calmer impulses. Soothing, reassuring, and pacifying.

In times of turmoil, counter negativity with calm impulses by breathing and being positive.

Being A Balancing Element In The World

A friend tells another friend about a day of challenges overcome. Sometimes the simplest solution to anxiety lies in giving the body something useful to do. Calming, amusing, reassuring, and inspiring.

Overcoming challenges through giving the body something useful to do can be calming, amusing, reassuring, and inspiring.

Sweep Leaves, Clean The Garden

An office worker sees a schoolyard outside their window and falls into a sea of memories of their own school playground. Though decades apart, they may not be as different as first appears. Gentle, affectionate, inspiring.

A nostalgic office worker reflects on their own school playground after glimpsing a nearby schoolyard, revealing similarities across generations.

The School Yard

We habitually avoid those parts of ourselves that make us feel uncomfortable or uneasy. This affirming meditation will help you feel more ready to integrate and accept all parts of yourself with improved compassion and understanding.

This meditation encourages embracing and accepting all parts of oneself, fostering compassion and understanding.

Accepting The Unloved Parts Of Ourselves

An affirming meditation about our capacity to embody the qualities that we may find challenging to manifest in our daily lives. Our bodies communicate powerful messages to us every moment. If we can nurture this internal language, impactful change is possible.

A meditation on embracing challenging qualities, using our body's language to enact impactful change in our lives.

Body Talk - Physical Communication

A meditation that explores the relationship between what we believe we deserve, and what we believe we lack, finding perspective, and accessing genuine gratitude. By the end, you will have a renewed sense of the abundance in your life.

This meditation explores the connection between self-perceived worth, scarcity mindset, and cultivates gratitude to reveal abundant life.

Abundance Meditation

An affirming and motivating meditation on the possibility of personal change and how connected that concept is to the stories we tell ourselves. Change is possible!

Believe in personal change through affirming stories and motivation.

Tracks by Dara Clear