When I first encountered the Peace Pilgrim book many years ago I became inspired to share her teachings in Spanish and translated her book to my first-language — that became the beginning of my work for peace.  This day I would like to invite you to visit the Friends of Peace Pilgrim website, and explore at your own pace her teachings and expanded contribution to society.

From 1953 to 1981 Peace Pilgrim walked more than 25,000 miles on a personal pilgrimage for peace.  She vowed to “remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food.”  In the course of her 28-year pilgrimage she touched the hearts, minds, and lives of thousands of individuals all across North America.  Her message continues to inspire people all over the world: www.peacepilgrim.org

May you have an opportunity to do so, come to the home town where Peace Pilgrim was born, Egg Harbor City, New Jersey on the weekend of July 16-18 for our  annual Peace Pilgrim birthday celebration.  For more details please see: http://www.peacepilgrim100.org/index.htm

From Peace Pilgrim:

The power of thought. “Do you know that every moment of your life you’re creating through thought?”

Bringing our lives into harmony with the laws that govern the universe. As Peace said, to attain inner peace we need to align the way we live with our beliefs.

Finding our place in the life pattern. We are all cells in the body of humanity — all of us, all over the world.  Each one has a special contribution to make, and the guidance to find our mission in life comes from within.

To close my blogs about my strategy in managing life challenges, today I would like to talk about some final key elements in my process, which became instrumental in attaining a sense of transcendence and completeness. (For antecedents on this topic please see my previous blogs, Focus is Manifestation – Parts I to IV.)

I would love to hear your comments as you see fit.

In a conversation with a friend, he emphasized that finding the “right moment” when dealing with disease or challenging circumstances is of supreme importance for the unfoldment of health. In my own healing work when I first experienced severe tinnitus I knew that moment had come when I moved from the phase of uncertainty to the stage of rebuilding my life. I still remember the day when the great insight came to me… I realized I had to live… pure and simple… it was a supreme need to live that took me into a firm determination and shift from an approach of “live with it” or “cope” to manage and transcend tinnitus in a renewed spirit of wellness and completeness. Yes, I was going to be able to do so if I could only decide… truly from the depths of my being… that I could do it.

Such initial one moment of supreme importance was strengthened by the realization that pain is for a purpose.

Marc Edmund Jones, founder of the Sabian Assembly, spoke of these things and here are some of his insights:

• Experience is rehearsal. Experience is under continuous reconstruction.
• 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.
• The person with many troubles is alive and their contribution may possibly be greater than that of someone with high success in smooth living.
• Suffering is pain with a purpose. When suffering, a person may enter into deeper realms of living and lift life to higher levels of experience and understanding.

Finally, here are a few additional comments to round out Focus is Manifestation, an approach to meaningful living, also supported by insights of another dear friend who made her transition to spirit four years ago.

1. Remember, you receive from it what you put into it.
2. Ask, what can I do with this? — What is it good for?
3. Create! Ask, how can I make this a creative challenge rather than an overwhelming obstacle?
4. Appreciation is a key.
5. You make your reality via the significance you give to your experience.
6. Act “as if.”
7. Be yourself — manifest your full potential!

On this occasion, 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 third phase when we experience a deep need to move ahead as a series of strategies unfold to create a renewed identity, new goals and a fresh sense of mission in intentional living, and to some extent a new future. (For antecedents on this topic please see previous blogs, Focus is Manifestation – Parts I, II and III)

Stage III. Rebuilding

• Visualize success.
• Choose new pattern before a routine establishes itself.
• Keep open communication with meaningful people about feelings, plans.
• Set new priorities.
• Think creatively – brainstorm.
• Establish renewed goals.
• List accomplishments.
• Use time effectively.
• Continue assessing interests.
• Remember it is a process – it takes time for results.
• Be aware of new stress factors.
• Be optimistic – there is always hope.
• List needed adjustments.
• Communicate needs.
• Notice the difference – and celebrate progress.

Focus is Manifestation – that is, how you think and act is what will be – is my approach to life. As a result, tinnitus does not control my life anymore, and I now have a great sense of wellness and renewed health. I know that whatever I experience is a privilege, an opportunity to understand life better, to know who I am and where I’m heading — an opportunity for transcendence.

Final comments on this topic in my next blog.

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.

Once in a while, something happens in our daily routine that truly challenges our ability to manage change in our lives: a severe illness, the loss of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, a major change in the work environment, a new career, etc. That’s what I experienced when I first encountered a severe case of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) some 18 years ago. It became a very threatening situation…. As I lost control of my business and personal activities, I felt I lost control of my life.

One of the most relevant elements in my process was an emphasis on what a close friend of mine used to say, “That which you focus on, you strengthen.”

With time, I developed a series of strategies to adjust to the new circumstances in finding health and learning from experience. Now I’m able to see the situation as a creative challenge rather than as an overwhelming obstacle.

How did I make this transition?

Stage I. Confronting New Reality. When I first encountered tinnitus, I experienced an initial phase of rejection and denial — I refused to believe things had changed.

Stage II. Uncertainty. For ten weeks, I went through a stage of chaos and confusion, with high emotional stress — I didn’t know what to do.

Stage III. Rebuilding. Then I realized I needed to move ahead, so I started developing a series of strategies to create a renewed identity, new goals, and to some extent, a new future.

Each stage provided me with insights that became a step forward in developing new strategies to managing life challenges.

More about each stage 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.

A friend from San Francisco, California, USA wrote, “I recently returned to the frenetic world of haste and schedules, but they are part of life. I’ve found it difficult to return to my studies. . . I always try to remain alert, to enjoy each day and see even the smallest things that happen around me!” (more…)