The Greatest Advice Ever Told!

Mark Lanesbury

This post is from Bernice at Spiritual Journey Healing, and I could not help but share how it truly, practically, emotionally and spiritually, expressed something that we aren’t able to put our finger on at times. We know it works but just how seems to be hidden for many…or is it. And…does that matter. Beautiful advice is always given from the heart. Thank you to Bernice and Lynne ❤️

 

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I thought I would share the below excerpt from Lynne McTaggart blog . Enjoy.

Good Friday and the symbolism of Jesus’s death and rebirth is a good time to reflect on perhaps the single greatest piece of self-help advice ever told:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

And if you don’t believe this is the key to your own healing in every regard, ponder this research about the transformational effects of altruism.

It had been carried out by psychologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who wanted to examine the difference in likely future health between healthy people who live a fulfilling life of pleasure (lots of money, loads of material stuff, exclusive holidays, etc) – what we’d normally define as the good life – compared to those who live a life of purpose or meaning.

The researchers examined the gene expressions and psychological states of 80 healthy volunteers in both groups. Although the members of the two groups had many emotional similarities, and all claimed to be highly content and not depressed, their gene expression profiles couldn’t have been more divergent.

Among the pleasure seekers, the psychologists were amazed to discover high levels of inflammation, considered a marker for degenerative illnesses, and lower levels of gene expression involved in antibody synthesis, the body’s response to outside attack.

If you hadn’t known their histories, you would have concluded that these were the gene profiles of people exposed to a great deal of adversity or in the midst of difficult life crises: a low socioeconomic status, social isolation, diagnosis with a life-threatening disease, a recent bereavement.

These people were all perfect candidates for a heart attack, Alzheimer’s disease, and even cancer. In a few years, they would be dropping like flies.

On the other hand, those whose lives were not as affluent or stress-free but were purposeful and filled with meaning had low inflammatory markers and a down regulation of stress-related gene expression, both indicative of good health.

If you have to choose one path over the other, the researchers concluded, choosing a life of meaning over one just chasing pleasure is undeniably better for your health.

This all sounds counterintuitive to us in the West, with our emphasis on material success at any cost, but it has to do with what exactly constitutes ‘meaning’ in our lives, and the best way to gauge that is what ultimately helps ill people get better – the one aspect of life that will turn around a serious illness.

Scientists from Boston College in the USA discovered this when trying to figure out why patients suffering from chronic pain and depression markedly improved in both disability and mood once they began helping others in the same boat.

As they repeatedly noted to the researchers, it was all about ‘making a connection’ and being provided with ‘a sense of purpose.’

If you’re suffering from some sort of condition, you’re more likely to overcome it once you turn your attention to someone else. That was the conclusion of one study of more than 800 Americans suffering from severe stress who was followed by the University of Buffalo researchers for five years to compare the state of their health with the extent to which they’d helped anyone outside the home, including relatives, friends, or neighbors.

That little bit of helping acted like a bulletproof vest. When faced with future stressful situations like illness, financial difficulties, job loss, or death in the family, those who’d helped others during the previous year were far less likely to die than those who hadn’t.

In fact, the contrast between the people who’d helped and those who didn’t could not have been starker. When faced with each new stressful event, those who’d decided not to lend a hand increased their chances of dying by a whopping 30 percent.

Perhaps our need to help others is the one element that gives our life the greatest meaning.

It’s clear that altruism brings out all the loftier emotions in us; it might be the emotion that most define our humanity – our sense of a life well lived. It may even be the key to whether we live or die.

It has been there all along, in the early Christian teachings, all those homilies so familiar that they now sound like words on a Hallmark card:

Do unto others. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Focusing on someone else heals the healer.

The quickest route to rewriting your own life’s script is simply reaching out to someone else.

Getting what you want in your own life starts with the readiness to give. In seeing yourself in the other, in joining together as one, other people, it turns out – particularly a small group of them praying with you – are your salvation.

Happy Easter or Passover. May you find a way to give of yourself this weekend –, particularly in a group.

 

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Thank you both Bernice and Lynne, may you both have a beautiful Easter from what it gave us all ❤️

 

38 thoughts on “The Greatest Advice Ever Told!”

  1. Hi Mark, Husband and I followed (him) the Jewish faith and I the Catholic. We are now Humanists. Good fortune was on our side when we met, became engaged and married (70 years last February!) He then said: “I’m not greedy, Joy, so we’ll never be rich. But we’ll never be hungry!” We have three, worthy, loved sons. He, Eric, has been, and still is…a hard worker, despite his nearly 95 years…is loyal, kind and loving. We both treat people as we like to be treated…with respect and care, and have had many adventures and travels together. We are retired in Spain, which seems to have helped our health – both beating cancer – and admire the health system here. We are also very grateful and contented with what we have. I have always been fascinated by people, but wonder why so many are eager to wage war and denigrate their fellow-‘folk’?!
    You’re a good man, Mark, so here’s to peace, love and hope. Sincerely. Joy

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    1. Hi Joy, and congratulations on the 70 years, that is indeed a lovely marker indeed. And more proof that it is indeed that love we give will indeed be the love that heals us, either physically or emotionally…or spiritually 😀
      When I ‘opened’ in seeing what love does for others I was truly amazed in how I felt in doing it. But I suppose we are always told we will attract exactly what we put out there. A long time ago I challenged God in an angry outburst to show me where there was purpose in a world that was so crazy, messed up and just plain ‘in pain’. So He did. And off I went to do my Remedial Massage in the physical sense not realizing what was about to come together. In healing others physically I slowly began to ‘feel’ their hearts (emotionally), and so physical and spiritual came together to show me exactly what is truly happening in this world, a very beautiful (but hard at times, and needed), place to slowly show us all what unconditional love really is, by showing us our conditional love. It has a very great purpose indeed, and slowly ‘I’ went past my conditional fears on my love and finally understood what love really was. I could not truly love another until I loved myself. We only ever give out what we are. And this world, even in its emotional scars, is building something within us so profoundly beautiful to be beyond words. All that I ask after going through it to finally reach that understanding all say the same thing…they would never change a step they have made…not a one…because each and every one has indeed a great purpose.
      Thank you for sharing Joy, it is great to hear such a beautiful journey does indeed have a great purpose in you both. And you have both no doubt touched so many things but still your love held through it all. It teaches a beauty beyond words.
      And I thank you for your kind words dear lady, gratefully received and returned in kind. And yes, may this world truly find its peace and love and find that love waiting for us all 😀❤️🙏

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  2. I’ve been living this motto for years …. do unto others as you would have then do to you ….. yet, I am seeing how ego, yes that slippery fellow, snuck in. How your perception changes when ego is at play and here you are thinking all is OK. I’ve had some real eye openers as how ego has had its way with me while I “thought” I was following the golden rule. The deeper we go, the more we see, the more we let go and change. LOVED this post, Mark, just loved it. Thank you for sharing!

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    1. We all have to test those slippery slopes Amy, and our little ‘tester’ ego does convince us so we think we are fine. But the constant tapping on our sadness and anger wants to tell us another story. And yes it can be truly upsetting but it has a tale to tell us behind that pain and slowly we begin to see that it isn’t the world against us but us not wanting to go where we ‘think’ love isn’t. And when we finally see it, then will we understand the beauty in what we have gone through and understand it was love all along wanting us to truly see it inside us, behind those walls we build. Thank you for sharing kind lady, your journey, that truth in your love as you find it, gives courage to us all xox 😀❤️🙏

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      1. Mark, I seriously sit here stunned for it is as though you’ve been looking into my window to see and know what you wrote here. Wow!! Because of the past wounds, the past pain, we put walls up and when those walls come tumbling down, we SEE where we misdirected ourselves and where love has always been. I don’t know what else to say. Your words describe exactly what I’ve just been through …. a very exquisitely painful journey that led to peace and love. Some of us more then others have been very very hurt and to see that hurt, know that hurt, and then take the courageous step to reach out in love, that is stuff heroes are made of. And so it is! And that, my friend, is how we recreate our lives! No one else does that. We are our own saviors! 🎉❤️🎉

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        1. It is a very powerful thing to see inside us Amy, and understand that we had to go through this (just as heroes do, for it is a life changing thing)…so that we could see and understand truly that we had been afraid to love ourselves in those doubts and fears that we hold within. Love wants us to understand but we fight it so hard…but that has a great purpose…so when we finally dare to face that inner wall, we will push hard enough to finally see that what we had been fighting all along was just our fear. Yes, people treated us badly etc etc…but that just concreted the fear even more. It is when we finally say I’ve had enough, and face ‘us’ to try to understand it in why we react so much to things…that we finally see it is in fact our reaction, not what other people do. Once we understand that and realize this is unintentionally passed on by those we love and look up to…but they too only pass on what they have been taught by those they loved and look up to…and on down the generations it goes affecting us all, and differently due to our environments etc. And yes, it does hurt many…but, in finally understanding it we will see that it has created something so incredibly beautiful in the empathy, compassion and love that it has created and shown us within…because of that journey. And it can be hard to do that with some that are directly involved in the beginning, simply because it is still raw for you and those others may not have seen and understood what you just have. We each have our moments, our time inside us…but at the least we will no longer react to them simply because we now understand. In the beginning, and just out of habit, I did react for a while but it had lost its meaning, it no longer had any purpose to react…I could now see the truth of it in healing me. In me finding that love within myself, and finally letting go of the weight of the world in those doubts and fears. There truly are no words for this moment…unconditional love doesn’t need any ❤️🙏

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          1. In order to write what you have written, tells me you have been through hell and back. I would love to think it was I who started the unraveling. Perhaps it was I who did by asking questions of the Universe why this why that why why why, what is holding me back? Perhaps that is what started the whole ball of yarn to unravel.

            For you see, my subconscious fought hard for me not to see. It did all it could until I came to a point I thought I would explode. It took not one but two huge shocking circumstances to break me, to shatter me, yet in that shattering the walls came down. I saw. Through the tears, through the earth shaking pain, I saw why I acted a certain way and why my personal relationships were what they were today. I had to take a stand and fight and not quit until whatever battle, this war inside of me, I won. A quiet came over me and then the revelations began one on top of the other. Deeper and deeper I dove until I saw it all. How how how will I change this pattern I cried out? And the answers came, not the answers I “thought” would come, but those that were perfect. Today I walk those changes out and yes it is a work in progress. I also released all of this to Source, letting go of all the pain, all the dross, all the dark, and in so doing, freed me even more.

            I’ve yet to arrive at unconditional love in this situation, but. I saw how not only did my subconscious fight so hard, but I did too by keeping those walls up. I wasn’t even aware of the extent of them. I do now. Like anything else where we learn, it is a process. I do see immense change right from the start.

            I SEE you writing a book, dear friend. Your insights and truth are incredible!! Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me. I am so grateful, Mark. xoxoxo

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            1. It is a hard journey kind lady and it takes great courage…but each and every soul I ask ‘was it worth it’, each said yes, oh very yes. And it isn’t beyond any of us, to reach that last yard into our hearts to find what has been waiting always. I always sit and think of that moment…and just so stunned by its perfection. Considering all that we go through, all those ‘attractions’ that love is…so that we can reach this place in our hearts, each and every step timed so…so…unconditionally, through so many conditions we place on ourselves, so that we can finally understand that love that awaits inside us. And as for unconditional love my friend, you are now standing in it more and more as you release the last of those things you can now see, and realize they all had a purpose, served you well, but can now be released. In fact, that is what unconditional love is…the release of it all. And yes, we still have some conditions down here, breathing is a condition, walking is a condition etc, etc. But Amy, wait till you finally touch it truly ‘up there’, there are no words, it is beyond magnificent, incredible, amazing and a beauty beyond anything. In that one moment you will be glad of every single step you have ever taken. Welcome home Amy, to that love and happiness you have ever looked for. Big hugs dear lady, my heart is glad ‘you’ have arrived 😀❤️🙏

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              2. Amy, I must apologize for something I missed that is very important in my last comment to you. In regard to you unraveling what you have gone through…it is you and you only, as each of us do, that unravels our journey, faces so many things within us…and has the courage to face them all. The only part I play in this instance is to maybe be that guidepost only. Or just be a confirmation of where you have arrived within. And it may not have been me at all, hubby may have made an off hand comment that set your mind rolling…to do that dare. Many will make those inputs for us, sometimes in our face, sometimes innocently. It is like anything we do, we first ask those questions of ourselves, get clues from those around us, as you did. It is your wanting that love and happiness in your life but ever seeming to hit so many walls. You have taken those steps, that part of you within that wants to go beyond the pain and the hurt. Looking for that part of us that is missing. Each and every step is you, and always will be. Your life is just like your camera work, you test it, you dare it, you love it…and it gives back to you, shares with you exactly what you have put into it. A greater love you will not find dear lady. And now, because you did dare, you will be exactly who you wanted to become. And yes, you will take the odd quirky picture, take your own wobbly step…but it is you, you are making in daring to do so. You have dared and started that ball of yarn to unravel, and now make what you want to create in doing so. May you dare more, may you enjoy what you find, may that picture you create just be one of your acceptance of who and what you are in that love you have now found, in each step you take. A new world has now opened…your world. Enjoy the journey dear lady, there isn’t another feeling of that love found like it 😀❤️🙏

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    1. Thank you Samantha. But I’ve had to resort to signing into each blog with that little square when you scroll up and down at the right bottom corner of the screen. Either that or each site won’t even accept a ‘like’ let alone a ‘comment’. Frustrating, but for the life of me I don’t know why WordPress doesn’t remember the original sign in 😀❤️🙏

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      1. Just another side issue, when I’m even just now commenting to you, there is almost a 20 second delay before it says ‘Submitting Comment’. And its my site 😵

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    1. I can prove it to you Pam…give me a chocolate and I’ll love you forever, feel great, dance and sing, frolic up and down the street and even water your garden. Don’t give me one and …meh! I’ll like you forever, feel so so, maybe stroll in the park and tell you your garden needs watering 🤣

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    1. Only one type of heart seems to be coming through and that’s it. I thought it was one of the plugins so I deactivated them all and nothing happened. So it looks like I’ll have to change themes but I have a sneaky suspicion that my computer has been losing the plot so it may be that. As I’m in the middle of having my unit sold from underneath me and a few other bits and pieces happening I’ve been a bit slow in doing something. Can you see my smoke signals from your place haha (right, a heap of emoji’s to see if any others come through but the heart) 😀 😃 😄 😁 😆 😅 😂 🤣 🥲 🥹 ☺️ 😊 😇 🙂 🙃 😉 😌 😍 🥰 😘 😗 😙 😚 😋 😛 😝 😜 🤪 🤨 🧐 🤓 😎 🥸 🤩 🥱 😴 🤤 😪 😵 😵‍💫 🤠 😻

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      1. Well, well…the computer can only decode a sad face and a skull and crossbones. Why those but no other. Unless you are seeing it differently ❤️ (<- heart)

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              2. And I think I know what it is…the only other thing I’ve changed was a WordPress update ❤️

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              3. I found the problem, for some reason the database wasn’t collated to utf8mb4 and as I use Windows 7 it couldn’t see the icons on my machine so it just swapped out everything with a question mark. I’ve fixed that so hopefully a family of icons are now back home 🤣 😂 😀 ❤️ 🙏 ❣️ 😍 🥰 😘 😎 🤗

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  6. Every religion and belief system has their own version of the “Do unto others…” golden rule. Hillel The Elder (end of the first century BCE and the beginning of the first century CE), expressed it like this: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow. That is the whole of the Torah [bible], all the rest is commentary.”

    With the advent of medical technology, it has been proven that abuse, trauma and chronic high level stress wreak havoc on the immune system, causing many auto-immune, inflammatory, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as damage to areas of the brain.

    The information you cited brought home two sides of the coin for me: People who helped had improved health outcomes and people who are not helped suffer from adverse health outcomes. I knew about the latter, but haven’t heard that much about the former. Two sides of the same coin. Many blessings upon you, my friend. You are a seeker of the paths to loving-kindness. May you help and be helped. ♥️❤️????

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    1. Thank you kind lady, it is an interesting thing for me to ‘feel’ people and know that love within them, from the most beautiful to the most horrible, its always there. The interesting part is the intent that goes with it. In the love it flows, fighting it just gets rougher and darker…but is always there…just in case they change their minds. But that too has a limit, 80 odd years isn’t very long. Thank you for sharing kind lady, may your love just flow ❤️

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    1. I only know of the original ladies link, maybe a google on the university and use its search page may open it further. It is an amazing thing to see in our everyday world what is so beautifully behind it all…that love 😀❤️🙏

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    1. It is very believable for me to find this outcome Danielle, and good for others to see its power and know that is something inside us all. Love is such a protector in heart and mind and to see it in action from even a scientific approach gives so much more confidence in ourselves to believe its worth. May your love always touch us all, as it always does my friend 😀❤️🙏

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