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Michael Harding
Ireland
Приєднався 5 тра 2009
Michael Harding is a writer living in the hills above Lough Allen in Ireland. He writes a weekly column in the Irish Times and is an award winning writer and playwright. In his Irish Times column and 5 books of memoir, he has established himself as one of Ireland's foremost storytellers, chronicling ordinary life in rural Ireland.
Reviews of his writing.
Reviews of his writing.
Mystical ways of thinking, and being
Well you could say it's a profound conversation. But to. me it's just about reality. What do I think reality is. How do I describe it. Maybe with scientific language. And maybe with mythic or poetic language. Maybe the latter gets to the core. One way or another I love the beauty of mystical thinking, and love sharing it with you.
Переглядів: 266
Відео
Granny, the Piano Accordion, and the Assumption of Mary into Heaven
Переглядів 19321 день тому
The piano accordion started it all. Got it in the car boot sale. Then I couldn't stop myself relating the story of what happened when I was cleaning it a few days ago and eventually I got to say a few words about the Assumption of Mary, a feast that falls on August 15 and which I love so much I go on about it at full throttle. Enjoy.
Deer Stags, Crickets, Graveyards and High Crosses
Переглядів 20828 днів тому
Last of the summer readings. Here' I'm reflecting on a visit to my father's grave, and the terror of life without phone. I'm thinking of crickets and ticks, of Graveyards and high crosses and of course I'm thinking of you. Thanks for being here.
Travellers, Tolstoy and Edna O Brien
Переглядів 491Місяць тому
Continuing my summer mood of stories I Egan this with praise for my old friend Julia. Then I went on to talk about Tolstoy and Edna, and in the end talked of my own journey as a writer. Well that was all a surprise. And I hope you enjoy. Also have a super august holiday this weekend.
Grace, Reincarnation, and Golf Balls
Переглядів 260Місяць тому
The golf balls come at the end of the podcast, a story I spoke about in the Irish Times column recently. The rest is all my own enthusiasm for that mysterious word, called Grace, and how we experience it.
Car boot sales and Binoculars
Переглядів 224Місяць тому
Ireland is changing. Some people are worried about immigrants. This is my take. My view is that it will all be well. All manner of things will be well. These are reflections from the Irish Times columns which appear every Wednesday. I hope you enjoy.
The Cat at the Door
Переглядів 216Місяць тому
The cat at the door got me thinking about my own life, and how cat and me both can anticipate things that are going to happen in the future. And that brought me to how graceful we age. How beautiful it is to know the arc of your life and to see now natural aging is. I hope you like it. And I've also made another audio of meditations from some stories and reflections I did in the Irish Times rec...
I'm grateful to the old woman who gave me Covid.
Переглядів 267Місяць тому
This week and next week I'm putting in a lot of stories from columns in the Irish Times which people have asked for. And then on the first week in August I'll begin again with Transfiguration as a meditation. That should be fun. But for now and next week I wanted to let the columns speak and especially since I just finished the new book. Maybe I'll talk more about that too next week. The title ...
I'll be thinking of you
Переглядів 2122 місяці тому
I met a friend who was bereaved, and says I - I'll be thinking of you. Afterwards I realised that this is a new version of the old phrase I'll pray for you.So I'm delighted to share with you what I see behind the phrase, and how it works in Buddhist and Christian meditation, and how wonderful it is for one's own mental health to open up the love below the surface, the open hearted joy that exis...
The teacher, the snow, the shadow and the light
Переглядів 2122 місяці тому
Glad to share a little bit of my story as a teacher here. I loved being in the classroom but I was only a storyteller. Now I see that when you tell stories the real teacher is a silent presence in the room. And it can only be accessed through poetry. There's nothing rational about love.
Bliss, Light and Beauty on Tory Island
Переглядів 1832 місяці тому
I came out here for midsummer to practise some Irish. But there's also something amazing about the ancient monastic tradition that was once here on the Island, and that led me to make a little meditation on how Buddhist thought and Christian thought come from the same single heart of compassion. I hope you enjoy. I enjoyed Tory.
RABBITS ON THE LAWN
Переглядів 2982 місяці тому
This begins with a strange dream. And the dream drew me into a meditation on a very special aspect of Buddhist thought; The great Wish that all beings would achieve bliss. Even the rabbits on the lawn.
The Bridegroom and the Wine
Переглядів 2163 місяці тому
Lovely story I heard during the week about a Jewish wedding tradition. And then I was thinking of two icons that can help during times of war and destruction. One is the icon of the Bridegroom. Find it. And spend time with it. And the other is the Turin Shroud. Astonishing image. Forget if it's authentic or not. Someone made it. And it is the most amazing and serene icon of the dead Christ. Thi...
The General in Fanad, and loneliness on the beach
Переглядів 2843 місяці тому
This is the beginning of June, so much to say about the beach, and how to drink wine. Every Wednesday in the Irish Times at the moment, so I have a column in here too at the beginning. Hope you enjoy.
Let Go !
Переглядів 2993 місяці тому
The biggest thing about life is simple. Take God as a dimension of your being. And stop driving the train. Let Go. Let God. Here are some thoughts on what religion I should belong to, and on the ultimate answer; just be where you are and let go the anxiety.
From Bath Water to the Water of Baptism
Переглядів 2664 місяці тому
From Bath Water to the Water of Baptism
Follow your heart. And trust the young
Переглядів 1855 місяців тому
Follow your heart. And trust the young
The Rosary - Yep, I think it needs a mention.
Переглядів 3725 місяців тому
The Rosary - Yep, I think it needs a mention.
The General, The Dalai Lama and the King of England
Переглядів 1736 місяців тому
The General, The Dalai Lama and the King of England
MICHAEL Thank you! You brought the Resurrected One very close for me today . May that Light continue to shine in your words, written and spoken. So many of us need to capture even a flash...to guide us through a dark patch of the road.THANK YOU!
Thank you for talkking directly to my dark lonely moments. Peace and kindness friend.
You are a wonderful storyteller. I enjoyed it, thank you.
Thank you, mystical varies for each of us, mary strong female energy
I love your work, thank you
Beautiful, thank you for this podcast, ❤, l loved him from the day he died, 😢
I was 20 when my Dad died suddenly over 30 years ago. It's a void I couldn't ever fill and his loss runs deep to this day. I often wonder what a grown up conversation with him would be like. I'm really looking forward to your new book.
Beautiful meaningful words 🌸
Brilliant as always..
Michael. You're a good man. That's the simplest thing I can say about you.
youtube.com/@outsidethecolony?si=d6i9ht7ks_BW-JDE
Thank you for sharing your experiences very interesting podcast , as a irish traveller I'd recommend you or your followers listen to OUTSIDE THE CONOLY its on UA-cam hosted by irish traveller bernard sweeney Sligo and co host Dillon Foley the archeologist amongst other things , yous will find it very interesting, thanks again, I'll stick the link in comment section .
I struggle tormentedly with faith. Your thoughts on always the subject give me a useful alternative perspective.
how are you?. what a best traveler,
😂😂😂
Thank you from Bangkok
Thank you too! B enjoy Bangkok
Amen 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you, I enjoyed this very much. I would like to tell you about what it is like with immigration where I live. I live in Toronto, Canada. I live in a suburb called Scarborough - the eastern portion of this large, cosmopolitan city - the fourth largest in North America.. In this area of the city, there are many, many immigrants. They are mostly from India and Sri Lanka at the moment, but when I lived in the downtown part of the city as a child, they were from Italy, China and Eastern Europe. I have never known a homogeneous society, except when I visted Greece and, really, Ireland. I grew up in a big house in the city with my nine brothers and three sisters. My mother was Irish, my father was English and French. My grandmother, Hilda Doe, lived on Crucifix Lane in London, where the shadow of the Tower Bridge fell slowly across her street, marking time for the poor people. Her father was a “Lighterman” on the Thames. It was a dangerous occupation, where men went out on small boats to get the goods from the ships anchored in the deep water in the middle of the river, dodging and daring across the eddies and swirls of the unpredictable tidal water. Only a relative could foster an apprentice into the job so as to ensure a close watch was kept on him at all times. Eventually her father, Matthias Doe, was killed in an accident between a boat and dock and the family was left without a breadwinner. So, my 23-year-old grandmother was not held back from marrying my grandfather on his way to WWI, or marrying him again properly before they left for Canada and then marrying him again when they got to the small log-cabinned, mud streets of Sudbury, Canada in the early 1920's. They left a few years later and came to Toronto. Grandfather suffered long from the mustard gas and Hilda raised the family and later sold real estate, acquiring the big house I grew up in. The Irish were the immigrants in Toronto once. They came in great numbers and were shunned and put into camps because of the sickness they brought. They worked for the English as servants and maids. But, successive generations came into their own, as new waves of immigrants arrived. It seems to be always like this here. My grandmother left Ireland on the boat right after the Titanic, or was it just before - the story always differs. Eva, her sister Ina, her brother, Michael and her mother, Barbara, left Derry, Ireland to escape their lives. A father who drank too much and would not leave the pub that was all he knew, brothers who would not come with them and sisters who wanted to live with friends. They met two Irish brothers here, two of six, and eventually the two sisters married the two brothers - Tobias and Emmett. They had many children each, who were all double-cousins. A few weeks ago we had another five-year reunion of these double-cousins. I have sixty-four first cousins, by the way, some of whom I have never met! But, as the numbers grow and grow and the family reunion photo looks more and more multi-cultural, it also looks more normal. My three daughters went to school with many different cultures and one of the favourite days was International Day, where everyone brought their food fom their culture and danced their favourite dances. My own family has marriages that include people with ancestry from Macedonia, Kenya, Jamaica, Greece and China. I think we are fast becoming a global culture. We are growing and learning because of it and here in Toronto we are getting use to it for the most part. Add to that the gender-changes of people in our family and we can see that the world is always changing and not waiting or standing still. I think we are poised for taking off from this world, from this earth, and getting ready to explore new worlds. All this mixing of peoples is getting us ready to be much more than just Irish, or English, or French -we are growing into Earthings or Gaians, and the next ships will take us, not from our watery shores, but from our wide blue oceans, out into the deep twinkling stars, where we will again learn another language, taste another strange new food and greet another being - as grateful, humble and excited immigrants. Denise Vrantsidis
Thank you. This was a much needed respite from most everything else that's screaming it's way into much of my UA-cam feed. Away from the messages of hate and differences, instead uplifting and of tolerance.
Enjoyed this, thank you
By the sea at Bettystown earlier. Remember the Portuguese camino. Struggling with the cigar, chocolat, caffeine, vino, chips presently. Taking the six tablets daily. Walked through Drogheda to funeral of 46 year old whose mother died a day or two later. Dolores a lovely cantor. Reading Pensees by Pascal and a book by Updike you sent to Lagos 3 decades away. Memories of the Ford Adm. Busy and distracted from the table and light with new school Blaithin mostly opened 3 weeks ago. Trying to deal with two crises presently I'll relate. Reason and imagination at work. Reflecting on de Mello's Awareness. Started a 64th year. Out here looking at a reddish night sky having had all the treats sipping a clear potion like another Cavan O'Rourke's memory translation in Korea.
Thank you.
The sound of the clock is gorgeous
Jesus that's beautiful
👏👏👏😂🌸
Michael thanks for this. I'm am listening to all your work just within the last week. So brilliant. You've a great gentle way with words.
Please keep making these podcasts they are beautifully meaningful you have helped me look at my faith in a new way thank you 💞
Thank you Michael for this wonderful and insightful message ❤
I loved listening to you michael I look after a lady who is 80th year's young and enjoying it also. Margaret.
Thank you so much. enjoy.
An interesting podcast to stumble upon. No doubt there is much wisdom in Nagarjuna's sayings. I find it similar to the affirmation of duality and non-duality in Christ. He is both Man and God, Father and Son, Heaven and Earth, the Serpent on the Tree, everything comes together in the cross.
Wonderful thank you for helping to interpret huge concepts in beautifully simple language
Did u read sermon on the mount .
We cannot save ourselves that iswhy he died for us . Constant thought ofothers andthetruth sets me free
I put you on when I can't sleep it usually works. My doctor the one that retired had me on a benzo for 25 years even when they didn't work anymore and when I tried to come off all hell broke loose with my central nervous system. Doctors never tell you the truth about tablets until it's too late. My latest doctor she's a woman prescribed a blood pressure tablet to me for hypertension but I had some strange side effects on it so I asked her to change it to something else that I might tolerate better. I asked her did anyone ever come off these blood pressure tablets and she replied no and we left it at that. About 3 weeks later after taking the second tablet she prescribed for high blood pressure I decided to stop taking all blood pressure tablets completely as I was still experiencing some weird side effects. I haven't taken any blood pressure meds for 3 months now and my blood pressure is back in the normal range. Doctors kill more people then they ever cure if you ask me. Yes I put you on when I can't sleep and your as good as any benzo in my book. Get well soon just don't bother your head with pill pushing doctors. You may not be long for this world but then none of us are.
Such beautiful stories. Thank you
Michael you are an absolute joy!
Michael,thank you. I found this podcast so helpful. You helped me think more clearly about a few things which were on my mind. Loads of love and God bless. ❤️❤️
Another great podcast. I love listening to you Michael. Thank you.❤
the rosary is so powerful..if only people would turn to our lady. the reward will be amazing..just try it...🎉🎉🎉
love listening to your podcasts .Michael..listening from the cork and kerry border..🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thank you Aoife
I have only recently discorved John Moriarty work. Your guidance and wisdom came some years before to me. I think of ye as the echo incarnate of the great bards, poets and druids that are sent to give light and hope to your fellow brethren. Thank you, thank you, thank you x
Thank you Aoife
Lovely peaceful thoughtful talk on Good Friday
Thank you, Michael , for your wonderful words at this time, and may you have a blessed Easter.
Gidday mate! Great story.
Glad you enjoyed it. And giddily to you too😀
❤
Beautiful.
Alone with a storm thrashing outside ,you created perfect company Thank you Micheal
Thanks Michael, you’ve made my day, your personal experiences are much appreciated.
Good