David Lawrence Preston

Author: David Lawrence Preston

  • Don’t be a ‘praying beggar’!

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    Many religious people believe that prayer is about pleading for miracles or flattering a supernatural being into taking pity on them. They assume that some higher power is able and willing to intervene directly in earthly affairs. A more enlightened approach is to reject the notion that prayer is for acquiring things or having our…

  • Adventure before dementia

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    Saw a sign on the back of a camper van today. It read ‘adventure before dementia.’ It made me think. I know people who have played it safe, stuck to the same profession for forty years and even worked in the same building for several decades. Some of them are retired now and living very…

  • Forgiveness

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in ,

    I’m often struck by the spectacle of people who’ve just suffered some tragedy – like a close relative being murdered – being placed in front of the TV cameras and being asked one of the most stupid of stupid questions – how do you feel? Soon after the event, they’re usually too shocked to say…

  • 5 reasons to forgive

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    Practise forgiveness Judging, blaming, bearing grudges and forgiveness are closely related. Before you need to forgive you must have judged, blamed and felt a measure of fear. Otherwise there would be nothing to forgive. It is not for you to decide whether the recipient deserves to be forgiven is not. Forgiveness is not about condoning…

  • Simplify your life for happiness

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    If you really want to be happy and less stressed, simplify your life. Reduce your dependence on possessions. Surround yourself only with things that meet your needs and delight you. Give up the need to have more. ‘More’ is one of the mantras of the ego, which believes ‘I never have enough’ and ‘If I…

  • Buddhist Economics and Good Work

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    One of the greatest statements on living simply is to be found in E. F. Schumacher’s book, ‘Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered’. One chapter, ‘Buddhist Economics,’ points out that consumption is not the purpose of life but merely a means to an end. Our aim, he argued, ‘should be…

  • ‘I’ll try’ or ‘I don’t want to’?

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    ‘I’ll try’ implies ‘I don’t want to’. How often have you asked (or invited) someone to do something and they’ve said ‘I’ll try’, only to let you down? ‘I’ll try to do it today.’ ‘I’ll try to make it to the meeting.’ ‘I’ll try to help.’ How many people have been disappointed by ‘I’ll try’,…

  • Emotional Intelligence

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    ‘Being emotionally intelligent means that you know what emotions you and others have, how strong they are, and what causes them. ‘Coming out’ emotionally is about being honest about your feelings, asking for what you want and above all learning to express yourself from the heart.’ Dr Claude Steiner Two or three decades ago, it…

  • The same keys that produce discord will produce harmony too

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    You may recall the famous sketch in a Morecambe and Wise Show featuring Andre Previn. Eric Morecambe sits down at the piano. The audience is expecting him to play a concerto conducted by Previn, but instead plays a honky-tonk rag.  This happens several times until Previn stops the orchestra and approaches Morecambe. ‘You’re playing the…

  • Informational Medicine

    —

    by

    David Lawrence Preston
    in

    Cutting edge science is demonstrating that information, not energy alone, is the key to health and healing. It takes intelligence to make a body; intelligence instructs the atoms and cells that create the body. Give the body new information to work with and it has the restore a sick body to full health. The body…