Today I would like to share with you some of the keys I have developed that have worked for me in managing life challenges, during the first phase when we go through rejection and denial, refusing to accept that things have changed and loosing a sense of serenity and inner poise. (For antecedents on this topic please see my previous blog, Focus is Manifestation – Part I)

Stage I. Confronting New Reality

• Get involved in a low risk, high reward commitment.
• Reach out for ideas and support.
• Give it time.
• Stay in touch with own thoughts and feelings.
• Exercise.
• Implement practical measures and test how they work.
• Seek out information.
• Focus forward rather than backward.
• Stay in contact with family and friends.
• Re-examine daily activities and see how they fit into new circumstances.

More on this topic in my next blog.

A person in Cuba has asked me to share some thoughts about the Sabian perspective about opportunities. Marc Edmund Jones, founder of the Sabian Assembly, expressed that everything we experience becomes an opportunity or a challenge and never a calamity or a test or payment of ripe karma and the like. Every limitation in life is an opportunity for the clarification of one’s direction in a wider perspective, never a set-back or an obstacle.

My correspondent replied that what he could take from my comments was the importance of having positive thinking, understanding that rather than a punishment we are talking about an opportunity to change.

“That which we focus on we strengthen”, a dear friend used to say, and her words of wisdom resonate through my life experiences and process to kindle the inner light while confronting and managing life challenges.

More about this approach in life in following blogs.

– Excerpt of an interview by Charito Calvachi for Radio Centro WLCH, 91.3 FM, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the United States

What do you recommend today, Mayte, to facilitate our process of living in harmony and peace?

I consider it valuable to dedicate several minutes a day to meditation, to a voluntary retreat that permits us to center ourselves in a reordering to fulfill our potential. The Mantra of Good Luck of Nepal suggests, “Spend some time alone.” Marc Edmund Jones said it is necessary to maintain a balance between the requirements of the external life and the simple calm that resides within the being, in solitude or in company.

We are speaking about spending a few minutes in silence, every day. I do it every morning. People have used various reasons to practice meditation through time. In some traditions meditation is used as a method of praying. In other traditions it is used as a method to discover self-knowledge of ourselves. In modern psychology, meditation is used more and more as a therapeutic practice. It is easy to do. It is as natural for humans as it is to eat, sleep, drink or breathe!

A general axiom to keep in mind is that methods may differ but the goal is the same. Meditation is simply the discipline to look inwardly. When we manage to relax and suspend our attention to the distractions and complexities of the outer world and go inward, we open the potential to know ourselves more deeply and to act in a way that better reflects our higher ideals.

Sometimes, when I meditate I like to reflect on:

• How can I fulfill my purpose in life today?
• What is my social responsibility in the activities I’ve planned for this day?
• How can I expand my service to others?
• What can I change to live more in harmony with the universe? … to live in consonance with my higher understanding? … to live according with my core values?
• In other occasions I simply focus in the Now and experience the Divine Presence.

Mayte, what is the best method to meditate?

Any method we have developed which touches the fiber of our being or is more successful in giving us an experience of reality is the best for the individual. We can add a great principle as a test, if our usual approach to meditation has served to bring us closer to life, giving us a deeper understanding or empathy in our daily relations with people, in spirit and in truth we have discovered true meditation. This practice is conducive to an expansion of self, in compassion and understanding of others.

Reflecting every once in a while on the cycles of life can bring new light and understanding about our inner processes and mission. This exercise can also facilitate a focus on our core ideals as guide posts for action.

I invite you to take a moment to consider the cycles in your life. Think about the various stages through the years and see the patterns that have emerged through experience and expanded consciousness. Cycles evolve in a spiral, each cycle being wider in realization and in potential for manifestation.

Dianne Dreher in “The Tao of Inner Peace” suggests the following reflections:

“Which are the short cycles?

Which are the longer ones?

What areas do you need to cultivate more actively?

Where do you need to be more patient and respectful of the process?

Remind yourself of these patterns by contemplating the beauty of natural wood. With its knots, swirls, and tiny lines, each piece is as distinctive as a fingerprint.”

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.

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.

Fountain of Love
My source is in thee –
Loving thy will
My spirit is free
Beautiful day
When all of us see
The hope of the world
is Love!

Today we are celebrating what would have been Peace Pilgrim’s 101st. Birthday in the town where she was born, Egg Harbor, New Jersey, USA. I am joyful to share with you her beautiful song on her special day.

I’d like to share an item of interest that has come to my attention: The National Peace Academy in the United States. This group works with a definition of peace that is consistent with our underlying beliefs. Their mission statement is a positive call to action “… to support, advance and nurture cultures of peace by conducting research and facilitating learning toward the development of peace systems – local to global – and the full spectrum of the peacebuilder – inner and outer, personal and professional.”

For more information concerning this activity, check out www.nationalpeaceacademy.us

Many of us have experienced the wonders of looking intently at a rainbow that suddenly appears in a glorious sky for a fleeting moment… it is filled with meaning, inner peace, hope and joy for me.

Paraphrasing Marc Edmund Jones, founder of the Sabian Assembly — a most meaningful group of reference for me — the rainbow is the objective manifestation of the cosmic aura, a promise to always sustain inspiration, a guarantee that vision shall eternally manifest itself through all life circumstances as the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end. The real edifice of a human being’s individual vision is the cathedral of thoughts upon the structure of which he labors everyday.

Deny Lemaster, a Preaching Minister in Missouri, in one of his recent blogs made reference to James Taylor’s song, “Look up from Your Life”. And he writes:

“It’s a great thought. We can get so busy with our nose to the grind stone that we forget to look up.

“Kids grow up so fast, look up from your life!

“Your marriage can so easily be pushed aside and the dedication it needs given to other things, Look up from your life!

“We can get so wrapped up in doing that we forget……look up from your life!”

From my perspective, Deny’s comments dramatize the power of higher inspiration. He is highlighting the power to pay attention to our highest priorities in life.

In our exploration for inner peace, ideals are peaks that invite the individual to climb. They bring new levels of inspiration to the seeking soul.

Ideals have the power to create energy and direct our efforts to attain ever-higher goals.