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Motivation: how using Nature’s power can change your life

February 9, 2019 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Motivation Motivation? We just can’t do without it. It is the driving force of change, whether for good or bad. The current chaos in society is caused by conflicting pressures from those with vested interests, political or otherwise. The one thing they all have in common is motivation. As individuals, we become driven by pressure, too – when we feel strongly that something in us needs to change.

Motivation for good

Some people are very good at self-motivation. Others, like me, need to work at it. However, the best type of motivation is not something we should need to think about very much. Rather, it comes from within. Most of the things that drive us to action are desires for the pleasures and necessities of life. At one level or another, we seek satisfaction. Once we have found it, we soon look elsewhere for fulfilment. But if we let the mind become calm and open, the fripperies of life lose their attraction. Then all motivation for action comes from inside, from what some call the soul or inner spirit. What term we use doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we start to reconnect with our true nature and, in turn, Nature’s power grid.

Motivation nature power

The source of boundless energy and intelligence

When we become still, through relaxation and meditation, we become more open. Our natural state is one of openness, where intuition rather than calculation has its home. Instead of thinking, “I want to be like this,” or “I ought to do that,” we simply know the right thing to do. As a result, we stop wasting energy on things that don’t matter and have plenty for those that do. Nature provides us with the energy we need and our boundless field of intelligence, consciousness, gives us all necessary motivation. It really is a life-changer. And all we have to do is stop – just stop and be still.


Releasing the things that hold us back is the subject of our next evening workshop, Letting Go, on the 11th March 2019. More details and booking.

My third book, The Art of Not Doing shows how we can re-train our minds to find clarity and inner peace.

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Filed Under: The Art of Not Doing Tagged With: bliss, cause and effect, change, choice, consciousness, detox, diet, energy, forgiveness, happiness, humanity, karma, kindness, letting go, meditation, mindfulness, peace, power, release, spirituality, tranquillity, well-being, wellbeing, world peace, zen

Feeling stressed by Christmas? It’s largely a matter of choice

December 15, 2018 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment


Feeling stressed at Christmas Feeling stressed is extremely unpleasant. It turns our body into a state of high alert. With no enemy to run from or fight, we can be anxious, miserable, tetchy, depressed, excited, tired and unable to think clearly, all within a very short space of time. It’s a very messy state of affairs. If we were able to see the effects on our energy, and consequently the body, we might be… well, even more worried. So why for so many of us does the approach of Christmas and its season, which should be happy and joyful, result in us feeling stressed? And is there anything we can do about it?

Feeling stressed is caused by one major mistake

In spite of knowing deep down that nothing is what it seems, the human race has a collective amnesia. We have forgotten who we really are. So instead of seeing things, and indeed ourselves, in their natural state, our foggy minds make it all up. Imagining situations as real, we continually respond to everything we see and hear. It’s like being in a never-ending dream – and it’s exhausting.

Coffee feeling stressed

The remedy can be summed up in one word

Stop. That’s all we need to do. There may seem to be a million and one things we have to do but that’s part of the dream. Stopping enables us to have a lucid moment and realise that we have created an enormous, and very convincing, illusion. But with this new-found clarity, we see there is no urgency to respond to everything that appears in front of us after all. Now we have choice. When we learn to stop for a few moments and be still, we allow our natural peace to take over for a while. Then it’s easier to make the right choices, and finally bring an end to feeling stressed.


The importance of stopping and how it can give us a clear mind is explained fully in The Art of Not Doing

Free guided meditations

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  1. Motivation: how using Nature’s power can change your life
  2. Time: why keeping an eye on the clock shortens your life
  3. Action: Why everything you do and say is more important than you think
  4. Mortality: why our own impermanence is such a wonderful gift

Filed Under: The Art of Not Doing Tagged With: cause and effect, choice, Christmas, consciousness, emptiness, guilt, happiness, inner peace, karma, peace, self-realisation, spirituality, stress, wellbeing

Wuji can make us rich and we cannot live without it

May 5, 2018 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Wuji nothingnessWuji is nothing. It is the gap, non-action, from which anything proceeds. At the moment of dissolution and union of yin and yang, there is perfect balance, no light or dark. In taiji (tai chi) practice, we say that taiji is the play of yin and yang that emerges from wuji and returns to it. To reinforce that idea and maybe feel it a little, we stand still, perfectly still, at the beginning and at the end of our practice. Music, too, emerges from silence. The notes, chords, melodies, rhythms and harmonies only become so because of silence and space. An artist cannot create her work without a blank canvas or sheet of paper. Everything comes from and relies upon nothingness or wuji.

Wuji is essential to a balanced life

Modern life is often stressful because we have forgotten our root, the wuji that underlies and underpins our very existence. All we need to do is listen for the gap between everything. Instead of allowing ourselves to be led incessantly from one thing to another, the prime tactic of social and other media, we can take charge. Just stop and listen. Breathe and feel the earth beneath your feet.

Feel rich!

We can suffer the seemingly endless cacophony of today’s world, or we can listen for the silence in which it plays. Allow yourself to return to wuji. When about to begin a new task or to enjoy something new, it can be so much richer if we begin with a slight pause. In coming back to ourselves, our energy comes home before going out again. It’s like starting with a blank sheet rather than one that’s already been scribbled on. Maybe one day we will all bathe in the bliss of the play of yin and yang. In the meantime, let’s at least feel a hint of the richness of silence and space – wuji.


The importance of the experience of nothingness is explored in my book The Art of Not Doing

Information on our taiji classes can be found here.

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Filed Under: The Art of Not Doing Tagged With: bliss, breath, choice, consciousness, emptiness, health, home, joy, tranquillity, wellbeing, wuji

Change is brilliant, no matter how bad it is – possibly

February 2, 2018 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Change season

Change is in the air

Autumn and winter are periods of retreat in the world of nature. Growth seems to be at a standstill and animals have to forage or hunt with greater skill and determination until the spring comes. We, too, have our periods of less activity, when our earth element predominates more. Then gradually, or sometimes with a burst, our creativity emerges from its rest. We become the instruments of change, which can be very exciting – or maybe a little frightening.

Things cannot stay the same

Change is inevitable. That’s a good thing in some ways because when the days are dark, we know that they will eventually get lighter. Nothing stays the same because change is inherent in absolutely everything. Even the mountains are gradually changing. But this can create a tendency in us to hang onto the good times, to the days of laughter and pleasure. Change is everywhere. Sometimes the prospect of it seems like fun but often we resist. I should know – I’m an expert at resisting.

Act or accept?

When circumstances are bad and there is something constructive we can do, of course we should act. At other times, though, not accepting what life is presenting to us simply makes us unhappy. If it’s raining, we can blame the weather forecaster who promised sunshine. But what a waste of energy that is, and it actually makes life harder and the day more miserable. Alternatively, we can choose to be happy – marvel at the miracle of rain and enjoy life as it is now.

Accepting the present moment and what it brings actually makes us feel safe. Then we can smile and be free of the fear of losing anything.


More on this in The Art of Not Doing

Upcoming workshop in Staffordshire: Longevity – A Case for Leading a Long and Happy Life. Details here.

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Filed Under: The Art of Not Doing Tagged With: ageing, attachment, change, choice, happiness, impermanence, inner peace, joy, mindfulness, self-realisation, spirituality, wellbeing, zen

Home: four reasons why love in the home is crucial to your health

October 28, 2017 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Home healthHome is where the heart is, but is our heart in the place we come back to after work, where we eat, sleep and spend many hours of our life? It should be a haven, but for many people it isn’t. For far too many, there isn’t even a place they can call home.

Home life can affect health – and society

It is absolutely crucial to the spiritual, mental and emotional well-being of the human race, as well as the physical health, that each and every home is filled with love. It doesn’t matter if we live on our own or in a household of many. If love is absent, the home is not happy – and happiness is a major factor for good health.

So why not choose better?

Although that is obvious, or should be, it may not be at the forefront of most people’s minds that the greater the love there is in a home, the healthier and happier it will be for everyone within it. This isn’t something we reserve for our nearest and dearest; it is love for the whole of one’s home environment. This is something real and quite easy to do.

A sacred space?

When there is love for where we live, there is a deep respect for it and for everyone who steps inside. Here should be a place of sanctity, a sacred space, and a refuge from the bustle of the outside world. We should feel blessed as soon as we enter it. We can bless the house, apartment or bedsit, also – not in the form of words necessarily but simply from a level of feeling that comes from the heart. This may be a mixture of appreciation and gratitude, and perhaps an intention of goodness.

Our home should be uplifting

By doing so we immediately uplift our surroundings. Everyone who enters the home receives a positive effect from the general energy of the place. Whether we live in a grand house with beautiful gardens or in an apartment or bedsit is immaterial. The important thing is to create a pleasant, supportive environment or build on the one that is already present.

Be peaceful and at ease

Within the home we should smile and go about our activity easily. If we do everything with haste or a misplaced sense of urgency, we cannot fill what we do with the wonderful heart-energy we all possess. Be peaceful and at ease instead, and see how different everywhere seems. It’s magic!


From Awakening Heart: The Blissful Path to Self Realisation

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Filed Under: Awakening Heart, Health Tagged With: cause and effect, choice, collective consciousness, energy, happiness, health, heart, home, inner peace, joy, living, love, society, tranquillity, world peace

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