me

My Poem “There is always hope”

Mark Hastings life, me, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , ,

When you are a child
there is no more magical
and joyful moment of your life
than around Christmas time
when you get to write a letter
to a man in a red suit, with a white beard,
who on Christmas day will deliver
all that you have been asking for
for perhaps all of the previous months of the year –
and with a high degree of certainty
there could be no one more popular
than the ever jovial Father Christmas/
Santa Claus/Saint Nicholas himself
who children dream about, write to,
and draw pictures of, as well as his
ever present reindeer and his trusted elves.

Christmas is for everybody…
Christmas is full of positivity, possibilities,
and you truly start to get into the Christmas spirit
as soon as you start to hang the decorations
upon your newly bought, or perhaps your
perennially rediscovered, Christmas tree…
Christmas is a season for hope,
optimism, friendship and family…
Christmas is when people need
other people more than anything –
and the greatest gift that you can
give anybody is your time,
because not only is time precious
but it is also free.

Christmas time can sometimes be hard –
even when their isn’t a dark cloud
hovering over every one in every country –
and so many people do not have
the opportunity to be with somebody
on December the 25th,
which is why everybody young and old
need to remind themselves why it is
important to be there for those
who we are blessed to know
as well as for those who may not know
and who may live on their own.


Christmas time should be hopeful
and without fears and tears…
Christmas time should be about
showing love, as well as about being
happy and merry while listening
to Christmas songs that have endured for years…
Christmas time is a wonderful time
that is capable of making anybody
of any age feel as if they are a child…
Christmas time is a whirlwind
of emotions at the best of times,
however when people are at their most
in need of something and someone
to believe in they can look no further
than to whomever matters the most to them
to give them the gift of a Christmas star
to enlighten and to signal that
even on the darkest of nights
there is always hope.

Merry Christmas! 🙂🥳🎄🎊🎋

Playing God – “The Man In Red”

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Get your copy of my book ‘Playing God’ – featuring the Christmas story “The Man In Red” – online in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon: https://amzn.to/383gsII

Merry Christmas! 😎🎅🎄

My Poem “Exposed to The Elements”

Mark Hastings life, me, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , ,

Even when it is cold and wet
I like to get out of bed,
I like to get dressed,
and I like take a walk in the elements –
because just as when the weather
is fine and dry I enjoy nothing more
than being exposed to whatever
emanates unabated from the sky,
whether that is raindrops or golden sunshine…
my secret to not feeling cold,
as the wind around me whistles and howls,
is to keep going and to not stop
until I see, until I hear,
and until I feel as if
I have experienced moments
and instances that have imprinted
upon me and have left me inspired.

I live every day under the curse
of the imagination of a dreamer…
I live every day with the gift
of the eternal poet within my soul…
I live every day seeing the silver lining
around so many clouds filled
with lightning and thunder…
I live every day believing that
if we all stay upon the road
that is our sometimes up and down life
we will all one day arrive somewhere,
with something, or with someone,
that we will always want to have
and to hold and never let go of.

It can’t always be sunny…
life can’t always make sense…
the people whom we meet in life
can’t always be as sweet honey…
life can’t always be about pounds
and pence, or dollars and cents –
because what life is really all about
can only be found when you set out
and when you choose to be exposed
to the world and all of its elements.

Have a great weekend, everyone! 🙂

Mark Hastings Blog, life, me , , , , , ,

My Poem “The Poetry of Life”

Mark Hastings me, Poetry , , , , , , ,

Let the wind blow…
let the raindrops fall…
let the record show
and let it be known by all
that I love every moment
of every season of this wonderful
planet that we should all
worship and adore…
let the sun shine…
let the rainbows arc across the sky…
let the green ivy leaves
be graced by their seasonal red berries…
let new mandalas of colour
be created by fallen droplets
of oil upon the wet roads…
let people venture far and wide –
through forests and trees
and through dark clouds
to find out what is on the other side…
let things be what they are supposed to be…
let people do what comes naturally…
let the dreamers dream…
let the artists create…
let the waters of discontent evaporate…
let the children play…
let nature do what it does unapologetically:
breathe in and breathe out the poetry of life.

My Poem “Everything means something”

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With every leaf that falls,
with every moment that passes,
with every word that is spoken,
each of us always want more:
more time with certain people,
more things to enjoy,
more experiences to one day recall,
more gifts of the life that we have been given –
because the world is not enough,
because the universe is constantly
changing and evolving,
and we all want to be there
when the next quantum leap
in something becomes an every day thing.

With every year that seemingly flies by,
I am reminded of just how precious
every word, every smile,
every touch, every look into the eye
of someone who matters to me is,
because what we have with people
has an end time –
not in an emotional sense,
but most definitely in a physical sense –
which is why as I get older I consider
people of significance to me
as if they were flowers,
butterflies, or fireflies,
because the indefinable colours
and the spark of life that makes
somebody who and what they are
transitions over time into
becoming something entirely different.

With every new season,
we see changes in colour,
we see changes in light,
we see changes in perspective,
and we see changes in
our perception of time:
as some people get older
a new day’s sunrise and a sunset
seemingly happens within
the blink of an eye of one another
and days can be experienced
as if they were minutes or hours –
which is why I believe now
more than ever what has been
told to me all my life:
never forget where you came from
nor what the cost was for you
to have who and what you have
in your life –
because, when you think of it,
everything means something.

My Poem “Keep the faith”

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Where once there was many
now there are few…
where once there was darkness
now there is the promise
of something hopeful and brand new…
where once there was hate and fear
now there is the light of love
to usher in a new day of healing…
where once there was tyranny
now there is the arrival
of why it is always important
to never stop believing…
where once there was division
now there is a message of unity
for people who want peace and prosperity
to spread across the world
and out amongst the stars…
where once there were daily attacks
now the suvivors who did not
give up continue to walk tall
and seek to mend those who
now wear deeply embedded battle-scars..
where once there was lies
now there is truth to be found
in a myriad of ways…
where once there was indecision
now there is a symbol and an example
of why it is important
to always keep the faith.

My Poem “Getting Ahead of Myself”

Mark Hastings films, me, Podcast, Poetry, TV , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As a child, I always looked to the future…
as a child, when I imagined what would be,
I was always sure that things would turn out
like they were predicted to
in films and in television shows
that I watched which depicted
a world to come when anything
and everything was possible:
including vacations on the Moon,
underwater cities, and, of course, time-travel.

As a child, I was always hopeful
of a bright and inspirational tomorrow –
because looking immediately
for the positive of any situation
for me has always been in my nature…
as a child, I was like Luke Skywalker,
in the Star Wars movies:
always looking to the horizon
and always believing that anybody –
even someone as seemingly
bad as Darth Vader could be
redeemed and returned
from the dark side to the light.

As a child, fantasy worlds
drew me to them, because
what I saw and who I saw
had this magic to them
that had aspects to them
that were incredibly enthralling –
including: quests, adventures,
and other realities that seemed
wonderfully exciting.

As a child, real life was somewhere
where I interacted with my family,
where I hung out with my friends,
where I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
and where there wasn’t such things
as flying cars, teleporters,
jet-packs, and robots who
looked as human as anybody I knew –
but I knew that one day all those
things that the television showed me
would come true one day.

As an adult, when I look around
at the world of the present –
while simultaneously reflecting
back upon the past and at what I used
to believe would be a reality
when I was all grown-up –
there are times when I genuinely
have to ask myself,
in the words of Freddie Mercury:
“Is this the real life? Or is this just fantasy?”

As I have grown older
and as I have seen and experienced
even more of the world,
my instant impulse to imagine
possibilities before they happen
is still my immediate instinct –
and though there have indeed
been times in my life when my belief
that the world is innately hopeful
and optimistic has been tested,
I will never be convinced by
anything or by anybody
to stop reaching for that which
seemingly lies upon a higher shelf of life,
and I will never stop being someone
who naturally and occasionally
gets ahead of himself.

Carving my first pumpkin for Halloween 🎃

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‘Me and My Ukulele’ by Mark Hastings

Mark Hastings me, music, Podcast, Poetry , , , , , , , , ,

There are times when I am in my room, thinking about what I am going to write about next, when I just reach for the hand-built DIY ukulele that I bought and I put together piece by piece, and just start strumming and creating whatever music I am inspired to play. It’s so invigorating! It’s so captivating! I never thought that I would get so attached to a musical instrument, but from the moment I built my ukulele, and I started plucking away at the strings, I began to feel this connection with it and with the music that I could produce… and I absolutely love playing my ukulele whenever I can, just for fun, just so that I can make some kind of music – music that I can feel on a subconscious level, and music that means something profound to me! 😊🤟🪕🎶🎵