Christianity

All posts in the Christianity category

Meditation and Mindfulness, a Journey to My Soul

Published 09/05/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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I sit
I close my eyes
I relax
I concentrate on my breath and calm my mind

In and out
In and out
In and out
Deeper and deeper I go, ever closer to my soul

Thoughts enter my mind
Problems at work, problems at home, my past, my future
My life in thoughts, my ego at work, holding me back from the ‘Now’
Back to my breath, In and Out, In and Out

Thank you thought, I don’t need you now
Off they go disappearing forever, forgotten already and on I go
Back to my breath, in and, out, in and out,
Closer to my soul, one breath at a time

Heart beating slowly, in rhythm with my breath
Oxygen filling my body from limb to limb and cell to cell
Channeling my mind and focus on my skin
Perspiration on my brow, a cool sensation, calm and free

I see a pathway leading down, down and down it goes
I follow with joy as the adventure unfolds
My teenage years and childhood lie before me
Innocence to life, a happy place to be

I stay awhile and dream
I play amongst the trees, smell the sweetness of the flowers and watch the bees
I bathe my feet in the coolness of the stream and watch the birds fly by on wings up high
My journey nears its end

Time to return, to reality as is
My breath takes me back, In and Out, In and Out
Upwards I go with every step on the pathway from my soul
Returning again to life, my life
My meditation ends

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

What Does Giving Give You In Return?

Published 25/04/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

Many of you may have already seen this short Thai video but as I watched it again it still brings tears of joy to my eyes and although its a very cleaver advertising commercial it still has a very profound message, a message we can all learn from.

Giving freely gives us far more in return!

Look at the joy, the happiness, the body language and the compassion in the eyes of the young man, and the loving smiles and gestures of gratitude of recipients towards his good natured acts selflessness and kindness.

Kindness costs you nothing, often just a smile is all it takes to lift someones day, a helping hand, some simple food, a hug can bring so much joy to all concerned.

Have a fantastic weekend my friends

Hold our your hands and give from your heart.

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

How to Overcome Fear, a Short Video by Sadhguru

Published 21/04/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

A nice follow on video to a couple of my most latest posts regarding Fear.

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

What Can Mathematics Do For Humanity?

Published 20/04/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

mathematics

Mathematics can show us how to solve anything!

Try to add more love, happiness, joy and compassion to your life and minus some hate, resentment, jealousy, envy and greed. Hold out your hands and give out your thanks and gratitude to the world and you will be blessed with a happier and more peaceful loving life!

Namaste with Love my friends
Always
Mark

Spiritual Burn Out

Published 18/04/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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Have you ever experienced ‘Spiritual Burn Out’ a time or times when you feel exhausted by doing good for others, or a time / times when you have taken all the burdens of others onto your shoulders and not managed to shake them off?

I know I have!

Everyday, I spend my time in the pursuit of doing good, trying to make a difference to our world one step at a time, its either thinking of what to post on my blog today, what articles or subjects will be useful and helpful for my readers, what words should I use to help people gain control over a personal challenge, what words to use to help console someone who’s life is hurting, what words to use for someone who’s grieving for the loose of a friend or loved one, what words to use for someone who has been the subject of physical or mental abuse, what words to use to inspire someone, what words to use to help someone who is in the depths of depression, what good can I do today, what can I do in the way of a workshop for people in my community on mindfulness or meditation. How can I help local students cope with the stresses of working so hard on their studies (In China this can be 14-16 hours a day 7 days a week), how can I use my skills and gifts from god to help others less fortunate than myself, what can I do to help educate about the need to preserve nature for the next generation…..
……
…..’How can I, What can I…..

Each day, I go through this routine and some days I just cannot think, my mind is too full, so what can I do?

I meditate

I reach inside my soul and connect with my heart, I drop all ties to all emotions, I recognise my ego and let it and its powerful thoughts pass me bye and I relax my body and allow my heart to connect with my inner soul, its from this place I gain my strength, its here that the clarity comes through,its here that provides me with the fuel to carry on my work, its here that I am in touch with my higher self, spirit, god and my guides.

While I’m here I always give thanks, thanks for all I have in my life, thanks for my opportunity to do good, to help others less fortunate than I , thanks for now, thanks for what is to come and I ask for support and help along my continued journey to wherever this life will take me.

The amazing thing is, when I take this meditative time out, the fog lifts and I gain a clear vision of where I need to go, what I need to do and the law of attraction provides for me in repayment for my gratitude.

Today is Good Friday the crucifixion of Jesus Christ who gave his life for humanity out of LOVE.

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In order to give our LOVE to others we need to give something up, to sacrifice something, even if that something is our time.

Namaste with Love my friends
Always

Mark

You Have Two Hands, Please Use Them Wisely!

Published 03/04/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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This is such a true statement ‘ As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others’

I just wish more people would use both hands in this way, however the majority use both hands for themselves 😦

A helping hand can bring so much joy to the giver and the receiver, a helping hand offered to someone in need can make the world of difference to their life/s.

We can make a difference to people less fortunate than ourselves, all we need to do is open our hearts and offer one hand in support to someone who needs our help.

Namaste with Love
Always

Mark

Trees…Who needs them! What have they ever done for us?

Published 01/04/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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I was recalling a famous Monty Python sketch from ‘The Life of Brian’ When they were debating ‘What did the Romans ever do for us’! And then via tongue in cheek answers one of the actors (John Cleese I think) mentioned, ‘Well, they did bring us roads’!, and another said, ‘Well apart from roads, what did the Romans ever do for us’? and the reply was , ‘Well they did bring us sanitation’! and the reply was, ‘Well apart from roads and sanitation..what did the Romans ever do for us’? and the reply went on with ‘Well, they did bring us law and order’!…and on and on the sketch went, very funny in my opinion 🙂

…Of course the Romans did bring a lot to humanity, not all good I haste to add! but this brings me back to my point about trees.

Trees are the lungs of our earth and we are cutting them down at ever alarming rates, wiping out whole eco systems and many species of flora and fauna in the process. In fact, I wonder how many species have been wiped from the face of our earth that we did not even know existed!

The picture above says it all really, we place so much thought, investment and care for material things like computers and the internet but no real care or investment at all on making sure we have air to breathe!

Next time you exhausted maybe after a run or when you come up to the surface after swimming under water and you take a breath of life giving air….remember, our trees helped give you that breath, that fresh air that fills your lungs and allows your body to continue on its pathway.

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

Unconditional Love

Published 31/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

unconditional love

Unconditional Love.

Wow, this is an amazing picture and clearly shows the unconditional love between the baby elephant and its carer. If you look carefully you will see images like this everywhere in this world, between men and women,loving partners, children, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, humans and animals and animals to animals. It’s a lovely thing to see and the feeling I get from looking at a image like this just fills my heart with joy, my smile is as wide as can be and it makes me glad to be alive and thankful for what I have in my life, the love for my wife, the love for my children, for my friends, for my environment and for our world, it also makes me want to bring more of it to our world, to try and make others open their eyes and live the joy that I see 🙂

We are truly lucky to be alive, we are truly lucky to have the opportunity to make our world an even better place to live, we have a chance of making our world a peaceful place, where our children can grow up without fear and animals can roam free without persecution or fear for their lives.

Unconditional love my friends.

Today I smile, today I choose happiness, today I choose life, today I choose forgiveness , today is a new day for us all to enjoy 🙂

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

World Hunger and our obsession to want more!

Published 30/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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Cutting back on our waste and our need for more would help millions of people everyday all around the world, our obsession for the finest, and our greed needs to slow down in order for us to bring back a balance to humanity…

Remember ‘World Hunger’ is not just in Africa, there are millions of people starving in our own countries but they are not in the focus of media attention or in our minds as we pass them by each and everyday.

Reach out today, give something small to a soup kitchen in your neighbourhood, a gift of food or even a helping hand will make all the difference to someones life!

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

I Wish

Published 27/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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I think I have lost count of the number of times I have said this to my friends, colleagues, students and clients here in China over the past 12 or more years. It’s strange but we are all driven to want more, have more and do more throughout our lives and no more so that emerging countries like China, India, and so on. I guess it’s understandable to want a better life, to have a good job that pays well, to own a house, have a car and enjoy all the trappings that these things bring into your life, but one day you realise that these are just ‘Things’, and they cannot do anything for us in our times of need! They cannot make you well again if you fall terminally ill, they cannot take away the pain of loosing someone close to you or stop the hurting inside if you are in a deep depression. Money does however give you options, I.e to do something or not but it has been my experience that chasing the dream of endless supplies of money and possessions does not bring you happiness, infact it quite often brings deep sadness and loneliness 😦 Jim Carey is not the only one to have experienced this, many millions of people have forged on through their lives searching and working for more, more money, more possessions..things… only to crash and burn when a serious problem falls on them.

I was one of these people who had everything,the very successful company, all the money I could want / need, a beautiful home, big flashy cars worth 100’s of thousands of dollars, the beautiful family, incredible holidays, every possession I could ever need but when that call came from my father telling me my mum had cancer and asking me to do something…Wow! That floored me like a punch from a heavyweight boxer, I was out for the count and there was nothing that all my money and possessions could do, I was lost, in a downward spiral and all I could do was give my mum the love and support she needed, be there for my dad, make sure he was looked after with my family all around him and provide the support for my children in their time of need after her passing. This like many other devastating tragedies that happen to us make you aware of what is in fact important in our lives. Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t say you should not be successful, have dreams or work hard for a living, what I mean is we need to realise what is important to us and to make use of the time we have on this earth, protect ourselves, our families and friends and live our lives with love and happiness in our hearts.
Don’t go through your life pushing ever harder each and everyday and miss what’s around you already, don’t miss out on your children growing up, don’t miss out on the love you can give to your family and friends,…Just Live 🙂

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

Don’t You Quit, There is Always a Bright Side to Life

Published 21/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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Don’t Quit!

From the lyrics of the Monty Python song ‘Bright Side of Life’

Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistling]
Always look on the light side of life.
[whistling]
If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten,
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle. That’s the thing.
And…
Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistling]
Always look on the right side of life,

We often forget that there is ‘Always’ a bright side to life its just we loose sight of it sometimes.

If your feeling down and low, put on some happy music or go sit in the garden, feel the sun and the gentle breeze on your skin , close your eyes and just breathe, feel the air entering your nose and feel it passing out through your mouth on the exhale, calm your mind and focus on your breath, in and out, in and out, in and out, look inward and listen to your heart, here you will find answers, answers to help you on your life’s journey.

Namaste with Love
Always my friends

Mark

Why Oh Why Are We Allowing This To Happen?

Published 17/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

Our natural world, our forests, our oceans and our wildlife is disappearing fast, all in the name of consumerism, we the consumers are allowing these corporations to destroy our would, our children or their children will not have the privilege to know what wildlife is, they will not know what a rain forest is, they will not know what a Rhino, a tiger or an Elephant is! These beautiful creatures like the Dodo will be forgotten forever and placed in some sort of electronic history book…. a picture of time gone by…another beautiful animal lost forever!

Its a sad, sad world we live in, that we allow ourselves to look at images or video’s like this and do nothing!

Tears are in my eyes

Namaste with Love to all living things
Always
Mark

The Power of Touch

Published 10/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

The Power of Touch

My Dear Friends,

Indeed, this is so true, we do often underestimate the power of touch. Sometimes, all it takes is a pat on the back, a handshake, a hug or even a slight touch to the forearm or hands for someone to realise we care and we are there for them.

Touch is a signal, like gratitude that is often forgotten by many.

As in the picture, we all know how good a pet dog or cat feels when we take time to pet them, to stroke and tickle them, it makes them and us feel good.

A smile, a kind word, a gesture takes the touch to another level and affirms our state of empathy and caring.

Hold out your hand today, pat a colleague on the back for a job well done, shake someones hands and say thanks and hold your loved ones close and remind them that you ‘LOVE THEM’ 🙂

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

Indigo Children, They are So Switched On to Life

Published 09/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

This little boy is so switched on to life, his empathy towards all loving creatures is amazing as is his realisation that he has touched his mothers heart.

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

To Live is To Love, Everything Else Is Just Details

Published 07/03/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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To Live is to Love, Everything else is just details.

Wow, Paul Coelho, ain’t that the truth 🙂

Love is a wonderful thing, most of us unfortunately think of love as your love for your partner, husband or wife, love for your child, a family member or friend, but love is far more than that, Love Is!

Love is everything, the way we open our eyes and see the beauty of the world around us, that’s love

The compassion we hold in our hearts for others, that’s love

The smile on our face when your puppy comes running to you wagging it’s tail, that’s love

The feeling we get inside when we see, really see the beauty of a landscape, that’s love

The slight choking feeling we get when someone makes us proud, that’s love

The hairs standing up on the back of your neck and the beating of your heart when you reach out to someone and give them a helping hand, that’s love.

Love is all around.

Namaste with Love my Friends

Have a Great Weekend

Mark

One World, One Chance and Life as we know it!

Published 28/02/2014 by inspiringyourspirit

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Now, I know I am not His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Jesus Christ, Allah, The Buddha, Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Tich Nhat Hanh, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Amma, Oprah, Deepak Chopra, Biame, or any other global leader, I am just a simple man, someone who cares, someone who wants to make a difference, someone who sheds tears at the state of our world and someone who believes that we can make a difference and who believes in the faith of coming together as one in the name of our children.

So let’s take a look at the following statement.

“An individual has not started living until he/she can rise above the narrow confines of his/her individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

Wow! Now that’s a statement!

But what does it mean to you and I, to us so called normal people on the streets of earth!

Well, I think this statement is a sort of wake up call to us all, we need it shouting from the rooftops, into our ears in every language known to mankind, in every country, every state, every city, every town and every village…. We really need this wake up call, a call to action, a call to make us wake up and smell the roses, a call to enlighten us all to the state of our world.

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I could go on for ever and a day telling you about poverty, about disease, about starvation, about genocide, about wars, about natural disasters, about corporate and political greed and control; but will it make a difference to you? Maybe to some of you who read my blog and some of you who have a spiritual bias and a care for what’s right and wrong with our world, but to the majority of people in our world, to the majority of our brothers and sisters in every country, they will not even take a moment to read this blog because it is not on their radar, they have no interest in what is going on in other countries, they have no care if a child dies today from starvation or dysentery, they have no care that young teenage girls and boys are being trafficked from one country to another into prostitution and slave labor, they have no care that our planet is being devastated by fracking to satisfy insatiable corporate greed, they have no care that our forests; the lungs of our planet are being wiped out to feed the need of companies worldwide, they have no care that our oceans and rivers are being polluted beyond all recovery….

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But would they pay attention if our voices were louder, if we were more actively promoting each other, passing on our words of wisdom, passing on our voices of concern and bringing them a connection, I mean a real connection of what is happening in our world directly to them, show them how one thing connects to another and how each of us is connected through our lifestyles, our purchasing habits, through our food and through our drinks!

We MUST speak out, we must awaken more people all around the world and raise them up from the narrow confines of their own individualistic concerns and make them aware of the realities and suffering that our brothers and sisters, our planet and all the creatures on it are going through in order to provide the food on their table, the clothes on their back, the furniture they sit on, the fuel that heats their home and all the commodities that go into the production of the everyday goods they use and take for granted! Let’s together awaken the people of our planet , help them to see beyond their own front door, to take real notice, to make changes to their lifestyles, changes for the better, that will bring lasting effects and start healing our world for our children and grandchildren’s sake !

Today, Friday 28th February could be the start of that process, If I send out this blog and one of you sends out to two and those two send to 4 and those 4 send to 8 and those 8 send to 16 and those 16 send to 32 and those 32 send to 64, etc we could soon awaken our world!
Please take action my friends ☺

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

Lord Make Me…….

Published 09/12/2013 by inspiringyourspirit

Lord Make me

Begin and End Each Day with a Grateful Heart.

Published 08/12/2013 by inspiringyourspirit

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Love, it’s……

Published 30/11/2013 by inspiringyourspirit

Love

 

 

Love, is in my eyes
Beating from the depths of my heart
Pulsing through my veins
Controlling my thoughts
and my actions
I’ve lost control
To Love

Love comes in many shapes and forms,
Love for self,
Important and True
Love for a partner,
Unconditional
Love for Family,
Always and Forever
Love for Friends,
Changing like the Tides of the Sea
Love for Animals,
Pure and Simple
Love Is…

Wonderful, Pure, and joyous

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark

My River, My Journey, My Life

Published 29/11/2013 by inspiringyourspirit

My Dear Friends,

I’m far from being a poet or a writer but the following words just sprang from nowhere, they are from my heart you might say, or maybe from my higher self, who knows! But I guess its sort of my first attempt at poetry ☺ Your comments, thoughts and suggestions are always welcome my friends, and, as I have said before; if you need my help, would like me to write or comment on any particular subject or gain a response to anything, please let me know.

With Love
Mark

Water Flow

My River, My Journey, My Life

My life is like a river constantly flowing to a fro,
From rock to rock,
From pool to pool,
My journey is far and long,
From mountain top, to valley below,
Across the plains and to the sea.

Along the way I see many sights and experience many things, meet people from every culture, religion and status;
Some good some bad,
but each encounter allows me a chance to learn,
To feel,
To embrace,
To laugh,
To cry,
To love or to simply walk away,
It’s my choice what I decide to take on board with me on my journey and what to cast away from my boat.

I collect experiences and feelings as my journey continues,
at some points my boat is slowed by the lack of wind,
my progress is halted at times,
but things pick up as the wind of life changes my course,
my direction once again becomes clear and on I go,
pushing forward to new horizons.
Some days the clouds cover my pathway,
the storms effect my steering and my journey becomes unpleasant and often dangerous.
I take rest, I meditate, I re calculate my path,
the clouds part, the sun shines and the soft wind once again catches my sails and off I go again,
along the river of my life.

My River, My Journey and My life, goes with the flow

Does Yours?

Namaste with Love
‘Always’
Mark