Do you have problems with your health? Or suffer from pain?
Many people do, and most blame it on old age. But this is rarely the real reason…
The truth is, we all tend to hold onto the hurts of the past. The memories can feel like a heavy burden— that you’re unable to let down.
A burden that gets heavier, and heavier as time goes by.
Until one day, the hurts of the past become part of you, affecting your mental and physical health. What happened was unfair, but holding on to the anger, the hate or the sadness has resulted in issues like, high blood pressure, joint pain and heart concerns.
The weight of unforgiveness has beat even the strongest of men.
When you hold on to negative feelings, you are unable to grow to your full potential. As moving forward is difficult when you have one foot in the past.
You may feel that it’s too late for your life to change.
This is not the case.
From today you can enjoy healthier relationships and improve your mental and physical health. Experience less anxiety, and stress. You can strengthen your immune system so that you have lower blood pressure and fewer symptoms of depression. All resulting in you obtaining higher levels of self-esteem.
What if you could free yourself from the heavy burden of the past? How much better would you feel?
Let God repay you for all that you have lost. Regain your health and your peace of mind.
Let the spirit of forgiveness…Illuminate your life.
There is a healing in forgiving eBook is available Free on Amazon.
Recently I was watching an old western. There was a man in prison, he was going to get hanged the following day, and he was praying hard.
I’m sure I would be too.. if I was in that position.
Anyways, when he finally settled and accepted his fate, the guard fell asleep. The camera zoomed in on the table, and there were the keys. The man paced up and down his cell without speaking, but you knew what was going through his mind.
“How can I get the keys, and get out of here?”
He looked up to the heavens for a few seconds, and when he lowered his head, he swiftly put a plan into place, taking the sheet off his bed and swirling it around until it formed a long thick type rope—proceeding to use the sheet to try to get the keys off the table. After several attempts, the keys fell on the floor… almost waking the guard.
Who to the relief of the prisoner went back to sleep.
He kept looking up at the clock, showing ten minutes to 12, which didn’t make much sense at first but then the film cut to the replacement guard drinking in the local saloon also looking at the clock on the wall.
It became clear the change over happened at midnight.
When the film cut back, the prisoner’s face was covered in sweat knowing that the guard was coming soon, and his chance to escape would be gone.
Within a few minutes, he got the keys and opened the cell door. Cleverly, he put the sheet back on the bed, using the pillow and blanket to make it look like he was sleeping.
He locked the cell door behind him, quietly leaving the keys on the table, and ran out the back entrance into the night.
When the replacement guard came on duty, with the dimly lit cell, it looked like the prisoner was asleep. So the guard put his feet up, tilted his hat over his face and relaxed.
They didn’t notice the prisoner gone until the morning. The prisoner got a great start on them, but soon there was a price on his head, $1000 dead or alive.
Now, no matter where he went, he lived with the fear of being caught. So even though he had escaped from prison, he was still in the prison of fear.
The film reminded me of the current situation in the world. Most of the world is free, but they still live in the prison of fear. Living unhappy as they never fulfil their dreams.
The Only Thing That Can Stop Your Divine Destiny is Fear— As fear stops the natural unfoldment of life
Until we get rid of all the negative chatter going on in our heads, we will always be a prisoner of fear. Fear will keep gnawing away at our faith.
However, a true believer believes that God is in control, and their destiny is laid out for them. There is no need to worry. There is no need to doubt. If something is destined to happen, it will happen. No amount of worry or doubt will change that fact.
When you’re in the grips of fear and not facing the world with faith, it’s like taking a plant and putting it in a dark room. If you leave the plant there for too long, it will die.
When you live in constant states of worry, doubt and fear, you won’t die, but without divine light, your spirit will get weaker and weaker until fear has complete control. Meaning you will live a very limited life.
If you’re feeling fear at this time, that is perfectly natural, but please don’t feed that fear by watching more news, or reading more stories on social media.
Instead, can I encourage you to take your mind back into faith?
Now there are many ways to do this, praying daily, reading from scripture, taking walks, connecting with the great power of mother nature.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea, you have to be careful, and take all recommended precautions, wear a mask on public transport, wash your hands regularly, limit travel to essential journeys. But please don’t let fear stop you from living your life.
Move forward with expectancy that all will be ok. You might not realise it, but your faith will instil faith into the people around you.
Be a leader for your family, a leader for your friends, and a leader to your children.
Don’t be a prisoner of fear; walk forward in faith and fulfil your destiny.
In my last post, I talked about your gift and talent in life being something that you can do effortlessly, something that comes naturally to you.
Well, each of us, I believe, has genius-level talent. God given abilities that we just have to tap into.
The main aim of this post is to help you find where your genius is, then it’s up to you to put all your energy into that area, and if you do you will excel, you will be as successful as you want to be.
The main obstacle that you will face in life is being yourself. Surely just being yourself should be easy?
No.
It’s not.
Somewhere along the way, we convince ourselves that we are not good enough, at almost everything. So we try extremely hard to be something that we are not, meaning, we never reach our full potential.
Starting off in life, we have all these dreams and passions, but very often we settle for second best or don’t embrace our natural gifts and abilities at all.
For example…
Your friend wants to be an accountant, so you follow them into accountancy, you qualify and earn amazing money. The problem is your a bright, outgoing person and sitting at a desk alone all day doesn’t interest you. So you’re unhappy.
Many people are in similar situations to this example. Living unhappy, with feelings of regret. Feelings that life has passed them by. That they have made too many mistakes.
Not the case. But it will take discipline and courage to make the necessary changes.
First, you have to ask yourself a few questions which I will go over now.
The Genius Zone
Most people are not sure what they are good at or what skills they have. And all the uncertainty is enough to put them off before they even start.
its difficult to believe that we are highly skilled in some area.
I will now share with you some questions to help you find what I like to call your genius Zone, so you have a firm foundation to build upon.
What holds your attention? What subjects do you like reading about? What do you like to talk about? What do you like to study?
What are you interested in? What topics have you been interested in your whole life? What subjects do you like to search for new information about?
What absorbs your attention completely? What can you get completely absorbed in? When you are reading about it, watching documentaries on etc. When you’re talking on this subject hours will pass like minutes.
The answer to these questions is a good indication to your genius zone. The subjects that you’re most passionate about, you will have the most knowledge. Whatever this area is, you must focus on it because this is the area that you will be most creative.
When you discover your genius zone, you will notice that you do not need to learn much in that area. You may need more training to take your knowledge to the next level or maybe a change of job to acquire new experience.
But one or two years developing some skills is nothing compared to a lifetime of unhappiness— if you’re currently on the wrong path in life.
When you’re working in a job that you can share your knowledge and passion about a topic, product, or service, you will be happier, have more energy and have more love for yourself and others.
If this all sounds good, but you don’t know where to start then leave a comment or send me an email on revjmartin1@gmail.com, and I will do my best to advise you.
My brother once said to me, “you take your own level of intelligence for granted.”
A man of few words he only said it once but it stuck with me.
The wisdom within them words have been revealing themselves over the last 25 years.
We assume so much. We assume that everyone has the same common sense, empathy, compassion, and faith that we do.
Guess what, they don’t.
From today don’t assume anything. Just because something seems logical to you doesn’t mean that the other person sees your logic. 90% the time they don’t.
So if someone is always annoying you, always seems to do what you asked them not to do. Do not let it stress you out.
Very often they can not see the reasoning behind your words. As my brother said, don’t take your own level of intelligence for granted. Some people are not that intelligent.
Just because someone as a PHD or other fancy letters behind their name does not mean that they view the world the same as you. You may put them on a pedestal because they have a better education.
Don’t.
Yes, education matters but never feel inferior to anyone. Know who you are, a child of God, graced with many talents and abilities.
Never Take Your Level Of Intelligence for Granted
Your mind is unique, you can process information in ways that no one else can. Your life purpose has to be finding out— in what way.
It could be as simple as communication, you might have the ability to instil faith into peoples hearts in a way that no one else can. When you speak others listen.
Don’t hide away from that gift, don’t silence the David that is within you.
Stop 100 people on the street and ask them, “what is your gift, talent or ability?” 99 will say they don’t know, and if that is the case for you.
Let it be your life purpose to find out.
Chances are everyone around you already knows and probably have told you, many times— you’re great with people, a great listener, great with numbers, great with computers, with the written word…
but you have taken your level of intelligence for granted.
Your gift in life is effortless to you, so effortless that you can completely dismiss that gift and spend your entire life unhappy thinking that God forgot about you.
Im telling you today that you were not forgotten, you have seeds of greatness within.
If you’re still unsure what your gift in life is, that you can do effortlessly then you don’t want to miss my next post where I will reveal how to find it, and also what to do so that you can live out your divine destiny.
Many haven’t got the time to even think about faith, and to be honest; I don’t blame them. This year has been one of the craziest that I can recall.
So where do we go from here?
Do we just hide in our homes and wait for our governments to sort everything out for us? Or do we take it upon ourselves to actively pick up the pieces left by hurricane Corona and start to rebuild?
Maybe its because I’m Irish, but I have a fighting spirit. I’m not used to lying underthings. No matter what happens to me, I get back up and try again.
It’s the only way I know. And it’s impossible to do that if you are in the grips of fear.
You need faith.
So where does that faith come from?
Well, the first step in strengthening your faith is cutting off all sources of fear. Now fear can come in many forms, the main ones, of course, are mainstream news and social media, but I have talked about them already at length.
You might not think that your relative or friend that gives you the latest news each day on the coronavirus is negative, but it is. Over time that negativity will affect you.
Negative news is such a good conversation starter. But all negativity does is hold you back.
If you are looking for the energy and faith to move forward, then the first step is to minimise your time with negative people. Something that I’ve had to do this year. Otherwise, negative thoughts will creep in, thoughts of doubt, and worry, which can quickly lead to fear.
Fear then leads to anxiety.
Anxiety can lead to depression…
and the cycle continues.
To break that negative cycle, we must connect with God daily. That could happen through reading, praying, or by simply having a walk in nature— something that breaks the negative, depressive narrative that seems to be all around us.
Something that reminds us of the fact that we are not in control, the governments are not in control; the coronavirus is not in control.
God is in control.
The only control we have is over ourselves.
We have to be the voice of faith, confidence, positivity that we want to hear. That, in turn, will inspire the people around us to be more positive and optimistic.
And if each of us does that, then the world would become more positive, faithful and optimistic.
Firstly Happy Independence Day to all my American readers.
It’s been a challenging 2020 so far. With so much fear in the mainstream news and on social media, we must feed our faith daily.
I guess that is the main message that I want to instil in everyone that reads my blog, the best that any of us can do is live today with faith.
We cant change the past, and all we can do about the future is prepare for it.
What has happened in the last 3-4 months is very hard to get our head around. There is so much to worry and be anxious about. And people seem to be realising that the mainstream news and social media are doing nothing more than making their worry and anxiety worse.
So what’s the solution?
During uncertain times what we need is content that gives us hope, encouragement and faith, the only problem is if you’re waiting for that information to come to you…
You will be waiting a long time.
It’s up to us to consume the content that makes us stronger, content that builds us up, content that makes us think of a brighter tomorrow.
Yes, we are living in unprecedented times, but it’s nothing compared to what our grandparents faced. A depression and two world wars.
In the past, the older generation was respected and during difficult times were turned to for wisdom and knowledge. But sadly now the older generation is almost dismissed mainly due to the Internet.
The Internet is an amazing tool, of that there is no doubt, it can give you a wealth of information, all the information you will ever need, but what the Internet can’t give you is…. experience.
To find out how to move forward, you must learn how people in the past got through similar situations.
Feed Your Faith
In my new book, look up, I share the wisdom that I learnt from my grandparents and the Bible, that will diffuse any feelings of worry, doubt or anxiety that you might be facing.
Scripture documents probably the hardest time in human history, giving us the knowledge and wisdom to overcome whatever problems may come our way.
As it’s easy to become stressed or anxious over current events, I have included a guided meditation with the book to calm your racing thoughts allowing you to think more clearly. Enabling you to pray from a place of faith.
Look Up is currently available on FREE promotion on Amazon.
Well, 2020 has dished up a lot of negativity. So don’t feel that you’re alone if you are feeling anxious, depressed or lonely.
For once we are all in the same boat. With the current state of the world, it is hard not to worry.
As with all situations in life, you have two options you can let it get you down, or you can rise above it. Some worry is healthy. Too much worry, however, can cripple you, meaning you are unable to move forward.
If you listen to the news, they paint a negative picture, but in reality, times like this creates a wealth of opportunity.
But you need to be prepared.
There is a famous saying; Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Now is the time to get prepared, and preparation starts with knowing the truth.
Truth then leads to faith.
We all have gifts and abilities that few of us use. The main reason for this is that many of our gifts we take for granted, or we dismiss them, thinking they’re not relevant.
An example, listening. You may not believe that listening is a talent, but it is a great gift. Expertise that many will need after this pandemic. Now I’m not writing today to tell you to change jobs or get more education. I’m here to open your mind up to new thoughts, to help you think more clearly.
There is so much fear around at the moment that its hard to avoid it, everywhere you go there are people trying to make sense of it all. Many are trying to come up with their own reasons.
The questions are endless…
The answers to most of them; no one knows or will ever know.
There is so much that we can worry about: work, relationships, money, health . . . but instead of panicking over what could happen, why not choose a different path?
A path of faith.
One where you let go of worry and focus on getting the most out of life. As I mentioned in previous posts, taking exercise, healthy eating, and using effective ways to relieve stress.
No matter what you have to face when you have a healthy body and mind, you are more than prepared to overcome it.
Over the last few months being at home, many of us have got out of shape, added with anxiety, stress and tension our bodies need some attention.
So I welcome you to feed your mind this weekend with content that builds you up and avoid anything that tears you down— into feelings of worry and doubt. Its good to stay informed but equally essential to look after your mental, physical and emotional health.
Take a walk or run, and connect with mother nature. Have a detox from all media and feed your mind, body, and faith with nourishment for the next few days, and notice the difference it makes.
Just completed another short book. Will be available soon on Amazon.
Now more than ever, I think people need some words of faith, hope and encouragement. The book contains some knowledge that has helped me through the hardest parts of my life- so I know the wisdom can help others through this challenging time
Anyway, let’s get started. First of all, I want to briefly review what I have suggested over the last few weeks.
I have suggested that you do one hour’s worth of road work every morning right after you get up for six days a week.
I have suggested you eat three pieces of fruit every day.
I have suggested you fast one day a week.
Now, let’s go from there. What else should your daily diet consist of? Well, today I would like to share the part of my diet that has allowed me to stay youthful-looking well into my 40s.
I still get asked on occasion for ID; you can imagine the hassle I used to get when I was 18. Yeah, it wasn’t much fun, but now I take it as a compliment.
And don’t worry it not something exotic that you will have to import, or something expensive. It’s something so easily obtained that many will dismiss it.
WATER.
I’m sure you have heard the old wife’s tale, you must drink 8 pints of water a day. Well, I’m not recommending that. What I am suggesting, however, is that you drink more water than you do now.
I’m sure everyone learnt in school that the body is made up of 70-80% water. Knowing that it makes sense that our diet should contain 70-80% water-based foods?
Drinking water is just one source of water; another is vegetables. What I suggest is that you take vegetables with every meal.
As well as keeping you youthful, getting into the habit of drinking water and eating more water-based foods will also keep you from feeling tired because it keeps your blood sugar level at a more or less constant level.
This is not new information I know… but very often it’s the basics that people overlook.
Most people drink a lot of coffee, tea or soft drinks, thinking they get enough water there, but truth be told the water in them drinks, contain caffeine and other chemicals that dehydrate the body.
Meaning they take water to break down.
To anyone that is reading this, that suffers from headaches try this, for seven days drink two pints of water daily. I guarantee you will get relief.
Water is my secret weapon. It keeps me healthy and lean and full of energy. Add more to your diet, and you will not only see the difference you will feel the difference.
That’s it pretty much for today. Hope everyone is safe at this time.
In a world that seems entirely out of control, all we can do is take control of ourselves—inspiring those around us.
It’s got to the point that I have stopped watching TV all together. Yes, maybe that sticking my head in the sand but the world has lost its mind completely. Never has it been more important to look after your mental health.
Today I would like to share another one of my habits that has helped me to be happy and care free 99% of my life.
In my last post I talked about road work, its importance and benefits. But it came to my attention, I can often write without thinking. So, if you have never done any road work, running walking jogging, then I would recommend starting small.
Maybe 20 minutes, 10 minutes away from starting point, then turn and come back. Building up to 1-hour total over time.
If you start your day this way, it will get you off to a great start and vastly improve the rest of your day since it will drain off a lot of tension and anxiety. In general, it will clear out your mind so you can think better all day long!
Plus, after you get into it, it will make you feel great!
So anyway, here are some other good health habits that I think you should get into right away.
FASTING – after road work fasting is the single most powerful thing that you can do for your mental and physical health.
Now there are many different types of fasting. All are beneficial. Some people will say to do 24h fasts, others will say intermittent fasting is best. What I have learnt is, do what feels comfortable.
Like road work start small and build up.
All spiritual walks of life have fasting as a part of their practise. Why is this? Fasting brings you into the presence of God. Rather than worrying about problems or bills. Or what your friend or neighbour said or didn’t say, you become focused on the present moment.
The reason for this, in my opinion is, your body will send out strong signals that it wants food, soon it becomes the only thought you can think about. Of course your mind may drift but it will come back to the feelings of hunger.
Benefits of Fasting
When you fast, you begin to normalize the body’s functions and also, you develop a certain self-discipline that will help you in most other areas of your life.
The first few days you try fasting it will be difficult but if you stick with it that body adjusts. For me it is excellent for mental clarity, and refocuses my attention to the gift that food is.
I intend to write a lot more about fasting in later posts but, for right now, I want to encourage you to begin immediately too fast one day every week.
Here are some tips.
Firstly, start on a day off. It’s easy to think that a day you have a lot on will make it easier but this is not the case. As the body uses a lot of energy, and energy comes from food.
(Personally, I started with a 16h fast. So after 8pm on Friday I didn’t eat again until 12pm the next day. Water and black coffee are allowed.)
Secondly, I suggest you do not tell other people what you are doing. Most people don’t understand fasting, and all you will get from them on this subject is a lot of ignorant nonsense. People have been fasting for centuries with great benefits.
Thirdly, I feel that you should do very little (or no) athletic exercise on the days that you fast. You see, your “Fast Day” is the day you set aside to give your mind and body a rest. You don’t have to stay in bed all day or anything like that, but you really should take it easy both physically and mentally.
Extra Time And Increased Productivity
What I do on my fast days is read and take time to pray. Also, I have found it an excellent time to take care of those nagging little chores and errands that seem to accumulate during the rest of the week.
In other words, I think you should do road work every morning to more or less “order your day” and fast every week to “order your week”.
I’m into my fifth decade on earth and the two things I have written about so far in this series are by far the most important things I have ever learned.
Mental Health & Well Being
Most people know the power that the mind has over the body. When your stressed or anxious for example you can hardly eat or have very little energy or enthusiasm.
Then on the flip of that, when you are happy or excited you have unlimited energy and could go over 24 hrs without sleep.
What few people know however is the body has just as much control over the mind. So when you are anxious or worried about a problem, going for a long walk can clear your thoughts and help you think more logically.
Road work and fasting have so much more to offer than getting in shape and losing weight. Both are helpful with mental health issues.
So if you have problems with depression or anxiety I recommend that for the next 7 days you add both road work and some fasting to your weekly routine and notice the difference that it makes.
Many people want to be happier and more successful but fail to realize their health is the foundation. Focus on improving your energy and mental clarity and you will not believe how fast your life will change.
Until next week take care and remember even small steps in the right direction will get you to your destination.
Enjoy your week.
Disclaimer – I’m not a health professional, always get advice from your doctor before going on a fast or making a significant change to your diet.
This blog post is going to be the first in a long series of posts in which I will attempt to communicate to you a lot of the important things I have learned in the last 40+ years.
I am going to try to teach you what I have learned about spirituality, getting and staying healthy, how to get along with people, and, in general, how to have a good life without getting yourself all screwed up.
Well, anyway, this all leads me to the first and most important thing I want to write about, which is improving and maintaining your health and physical fitness.
I’ll have a lot more to say about this subject later, but today I just want to “warm-up” a little bit and tell you a few good ideas that you can start using every day.
The first thing I want to talk about is “road work”.
Road work is walking, jogging and running. And, in my opinion, you should do about one hour of road work every day of the week except Sunday.
I believe the best time to do your road work is right after you get out of bed.
In fact, in my opinion, the best groove to get into is getting out of bed, (early) wash your face, brush your teeth, use the bathroom, etc., and then, eat a piece of fruit (I think a banana is the best) and then hit the street!
That’s it.
Just get out that front door and start moving. Walk, run, jog. Keep moving for about a half-hour and then turn around and come back. You know, I do believe this is the very best way in the world to start the day.
It cleans you out, it settles you down, and it gives you a beautiful glow that will stay with you throughout the day. It will also make you more clearheaded and improve the quality of your thinking.
The benefits are enormous and, believe me if you start doing this right away (like the day after you read this post!) it won’t be long at all till you become positively addicted to your early morning workout.
By the way, this addiction is not just psychological. It is a real honest-to-God drug addiction.
But don’t let that scare you.
This is what’s known as a positive addiction. A positive addiction is simply being addicted to something (like exercise) that improves the quality of your life. A negative addiction, on the other hand, is being addicted to something (like cigarettes) that lowers the quality of your life.
What happens when you do road work is that, after about forty minutes, your brain begins to secrete what some people refer to as “survival chemicals”.
The names of these chemicals, as far as I know, are beta-endorphins and norepinephrine.
Some people say these chemicals are 200 times more potent than morphine and without any frame for reference, all I can say is, nothing comes close to the mental clarity I have after some road work.
All negative thoughts are gone. Solutions to problems come rushing into my mind. I’m relaxed, calm and happy. If I seem to be going on and on about this, it is because it is so important, and it is something you can do right away!
And, actually, of everything I have learned about in my entire life, this stuff about doing road work the first thing in the morning is very close to being the most important thing of all, when it comes to mental and physical health.
So, I hope you get started on this morning road work program as soon as you read this post. If you challenge yourself to keep it up for 30 days I guaranteed that you will be happier and healthier than you have been in years.
I also hope it becomes a habit for the rest of your life.
Live Today With Faith 