Now I would like to focus on some of the keys I have developed that have worked for me in managing life challenges, during the second phase when we go through a stage of chaos and confusion, with high emotional stress, without knowing what to do next… (For antecedents on this topic please see my previous blogs, Focus is Manifestation – Parts I & II)

Stage II. Uncertainty

• Strengthen meaningful relationships.
• Do small things well.
• Test talents in new areas.
• Learn at each new step.
• Read.
• Listen to favorite music.
• List strengths.
• Celebrate small achievements.
• Revisit old goals.
• Keep moving!
• Expand a hobby.
• Initiate a daily period for reflection/meditation.
• Don’t act just for the sake of action.
• Develop new ideas.
• Transform ideas into action.
• Relax and think in an effort to developing poise.
• Realize plans can change as situation changes.
• See strategies to manage new circumstances as sources of strength.

More on this topic in my next blog.

In a message of hope and inner peace, it is a privilege to post my friend’s Jonas Mather’s Poem as he shares his inner light with the readers of my blog this day, also published on his book, “Shards”. Oneness is eternal.

Rebirth

In the instant always

Sunrise, sunset.

Eternal cycle bound to continue

Until sun’s end

And anew

When the universe resumes its course

In continuing rebirth.

To end is to begin.

During a trip to Glastonbury, England, I had the privilege to meet author Anthea Mitchell, from the Heart Centre, and through time we have had most inspiring conversations. I am joyful to share with you this day what her friend John O’Donohue wrote:

“Behind each face and voice lies the silence of the heart. This silence is as old as the universe. It holds within it a time before vegetation clothed the earth, or animals walked, or sound echoed. This silence waits quietly under thoughts, beneath actions, relationships, behind days, nights and names. … it is in this sanctuary that experience is sifted and transfigured. It is where our vanished day secretly gathers. This silence is the home of memory and identity. It houses the spirit which coheres, articulates and shapes each human life.”

Joseph Bernard wrote on his ‘Come Explore’ blog about his passion about inner peace and the spread of consciousness.

Here are some extracts of what Joseph says:

“We need a major paradigm shift or at least really new models of thinking and feeling. Does it seem to you the world in run by an ever-increasing sense of fear? What is all this fear about? . . . These times are about stepping past the past, seeking solutions for the now, and long term planning for the good of all of humanity. This planning has to include educating people… toward being a conscious human being in touch with our own inner peace and higher knowing.

“Inner Peace, hope, compassion, kindness and gratitude are all more powerful human states than fear, blame and distrust. Yes lately fear, blame and distrust are dominating the news headlines as if they are the only voices. How often are the voices of hope, compassion and positive solutions even given a chance to be heard?”

I wish to share with you my recent response to Joseph:

I enjoyed your blog and wish to make a couple of comments: There is always HOPE! : ) And speaking about compassion, this beautiful feeling allows us to enter into the pain of others, their happiness, their own frames of reference, their own values and ideals. To feel it, requires a willingness to open our hearts to life and to all that is and to listen attentively – profound listening – being receptive and letting go of expectations, to the call of all hearts.

In the joy of inner peace I greet you this day.

The Buddha was the most awakened man of his time. Nobody like him understood human suffering and developed benevolence and compassion.

One of his cousins, Devadatta, was always jealous of the teacher, and interested in discrediting him, even ready to kill him.

One day as the Buddha was quietly strolling, Devadatta saw him and threw a heavy rock from the top of a hill with the intention of killing him. The rock landed by the Buddha’s side and Devadatta did not attain his objective. The Buddha noticed what happened and remained unmoved, keeping a smile on his lips.

A few days later the Buddha found his cousin on the road and greeted him affectionately. Greatly surprised Devadatta asked:

˜ Aren’t you angry, sir?

˜ Of course not.

Greatly astonished, he asked:

˜ Why?

And the Buddha said:

˜ Because you are no longer the one who threw the rock, nor am I the one who was there when it was thrown.

The Teacher says: For the one who knows how to see, everything is transitory; for the one who knows how to love, everything is forgivable.

Recently Kathleen Gage wrote in her daily awareness an article about Peace Pilgrim, titled, “Would you know your calling?” { http://www.dailyawareness.com/2009/02/would-you-know-your-calling-.html}

From “Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words”:

“The turning point came when in desperation and out of a very deep seeking for a meaningful way of life, I walked all one night through the woods. I came to a moonlit glade and prayed. I felt a complete willingness, without any reservations, to give my life — to dedicate my life – to service. “Please use me!” I prayed to God. And a great peace came over me. . . . I tell you, it’s a point of no return. . . . And so I went into the second phase of my life. I began to live to give what I could, instead of to get what I could, and I entered a new and wonderful world. My life began to be meaningful. From that time on, I have known that my life work would be for peace — that it would cover the whole peace picture: peace among nations, peace among groups, peace among individuals, and the very, very important inner peace.”

From my perspective, Peace Pilgrim’s sense of a calling makes her a role model of service to humanity. When I was translating/interpreting her book into Spanish I could feel her deep sense of mission embracing my work each day. Experiences in life prepare us to discover our mission in harmony with universal purpose. As we dedicate to fulfill our mission we make ourselves essential to the flow of outer life. We discover then that we are immersed in all events with a never-ceasing interest and that each experience is an opportunity to rejoice in service.

A dear friend of mine who passed away in 2008 wrote beautiful poems that relate with my own activities for the exploration of inner peace and he gave me authorization to publish his artistic manifestations when I would find it pertinent. Today I wish to share with you his poem, Fountain of Life, also published on his book: “Shards”.

A spring in woods near Ambler,

Deep and clear,

Bordered with mossy rocks

And soft green banks

There presence overpowers,

Deeply altering mood.

Who worshiped here before?

In silence a clue,

An opening to the universal,

These waters of profound peace.

Jonas Mather

In the United States, Charito Calvachi-Mateyko asked me in a radio interview, what must I do every moment to love?

Allow the “inner you” to bloom… allow the “divine spark” within you to see kindness in others. Open your eyes and your heart to all the beauty that exists in the universe… the flame that inspires your appreciation of the world. Allow your mind, with your heart, to expand your understanding of others, permiting your sensitivity to touch their internal fiber in profound recognition of their point of view. Allow God to guide each of your steps so that you are, each and every moment, a light that illuminates the firmament.

Lord,

In our eternal and joyous fellowship
Make me an instrument of Thy Faith and Love and Peace
where all my thoughts, feelings and acts
reflect the highest of human values
As I become part of the whole
in profound communion with You
and with all human beings
in the embracing totality of immortal
and perfect assimilation.

With laughter comes the realization that all things come to pass, that life evolves through cycles of change. We can enjoy these cycles or resist them, says Dianne Dreher, author of “The Tao of Inner Peace”. (more…)