Oonagh Vaucrosson has “found her voice” and is sharing a message of inner peace with the world.

Currently living and working in Canada, the Bermudian shares daily inspiration and reflection with readers through her blog, Virtues Musings.

“I started my blog sometime in 2018 as a way to help me embrace a spiritual approach to dealing with what I viewed as an addiction. I had joined a movement geared towards recovering from using food as an emotional response to life. It helped me to realise that what I was truly ’hungry’ for was a closer connection with the Divine.”

Ms Vaucrosson learnt that there is a “spiritual essence” to the disease of addiction and wanted to find more spiritual balance on her journey to wellness.

“Realising the significance of suffering, I had not developed the emotional maturity to face difficult things. We seek to find some value and worth in ourselves and we look for it from the outside, but really it is innate within us,” she said.

“When we turn to external or material things for relief, we only find a temporary reprieve. Today I turn to spiritual things for comfort and direction instead.”

In her blog Ms Vaucrosson shares musings inspired by cards created by the Virtues Project, a global grass roots initiative to inspire the practice of virtues in everyday life.

Each day she sets an intention, pulls a card and shares a personal reflection on the virtue that is selected.

“This virtue card defines what it is and suggests practices to strengthen its operation. I would reflect on its meaning and the practices and then relate it to my own life, whatever I am going through,” she said.

“Virtues are those spiritual qualities that we all possess in potential. It is through awareness, thought and practice that we bring them into existence in the world. These virtues have been repeatedly referred to by all the Divine educators to teach us how to be the best versions of ourselves and to contribute to an ever-advancing civilisation.”

The cards have prompted her reflections on a range of topics relevant to everyday life.

“I have talked about parenting, my marriage, work, my parents, friendships, acquaintances, the trauma of racism, learning about my innate nobility, vulnerability, my sense of faith and its development, chance encounters, my food addiction, bad habits I would like to release, good habits I want to cultivate, goal setting, moving house – it is everything and anything.

“Writing about how truthfulness, gratitude, forgiveness, love, respect or trust show up for me on any given day may encourage or inspire someone else to practice it too and then it spreads.”

The Baha'i Faith and its foundation of unity and spiritual connectedness has been a vital part of Ms Vaucrosson’s journey.

“In my view faith grows in degrees and is a starting point from which we grow. Yet even with a solid foundation and connection to the word of God, the free will of an individual still has an important role.

“We human beings live a dual reality. One is material, the other spiritual. The world has worked hard at perfecting its answer to the needs and dictates of our material side, but our spiritual nature is bereft of vital sustenance and nourishment.”

She continued: “This is directly manifested in the structures and institutions that we have created. To act and behave in ways that benefit not just myself but my community.”

Ms Vaucrosson hopes that those who encounter her musings will realise that they have spiritual virtues within them and the ability to access them to create change in their personal lives and their communities.

“We have the power to create and choose what energy we put into the world. This requires that I develop these spiritual qualities and strengthen them by practising. To supplant anger, hostility and resentment with love, forgiveness and kindness takes perseverance and is not for the faint of heart.

“We cannot make the changes we want to see in the world through conflict. Only a change of heart influenced by the exercise of the most noble patience. The Divine Teachers came to the world to teach us how to be human beings that will contribute to and advance mankind.

“I am learning how important it is to use the virtues to help me speak to a heart in such a way that people want to change.”

Follow Oonagh Vaucrosson’s daily musings here: https://bit.ly/2QCxEQJ