“Silence is the dignity of a seeking soul”, said Marc Edmund Jones.

I wish to share with you this day my current reflections:

I am Present.  You are Present.  Here and Now.

Slowing down pace in living contributes to the process.

Time of quiet Meditation enhances staying present.

Peaceful listening to music inspires stillness.

Be still and know that PEACE is here!

Be still and KNOW…

Be STILL…

BE.

Wisdom comes from within.

• What can we do if we all work together for an expansion of consciousness?
• Genuine appreciation and gratitude for each other and our Planet can create a positive change for humanity.
• Science has shown positive emotions have a beneficial effect on all living organisms.

Now, here’s a suggestion: focus on the area around your heart and recall the feeling of appreciation and happiness as  you witness a spectacular sunset… the exhilaration of standing atop a mountain…  the love when watching the joy of living in children….   Hold that feeling of appreciation in the area of your heart…  Imagine you are radiating this feeling out to the Planet… We are all interconnected in this wonderful World.

These are my commitments to embrace abundance in living. This day I offer a prayer of thankfulness to God for life, for love, for all people in the world and for the ever-growing abundance manifested each moment. Choosing to perceive us all as one, I serve my fellow human beings while fulfilling my unique purpose through the expression of my personality and talents. Today, a complete rebirth from new realization in situations, circumstances and events brightens my path. I rejoice in deeper inner communion with God. In the presence of divine bounty, I communicate to everyone my appreciation for the abundant gifts in our hands.

Would you like to share your own commitments with me?

I understand my correspondent’s feelings of compassion and emotions in her desire to be of help to her dear friend who seems to be struggling in her search for inner peace as she approaches death. Preparing for our transition to a freer life is a life-long process, very individual by nature as it is based on the complexity of all our life experiences and doors opened throughout time to grasp spiritual realities as we strive toward wholeness and a sense of unity with the all. Sometimes people have a profound experience of faith just before making their transition and this seems to be a meaningful event to facilitate their passing into a freer life with a sense of completeness.

We do our best in our efforts to facilitate other people’s processes. The decision ultimately lay in their hands.

Challenges are great opportunities to expand understanding and serve others.

To see her blog, Why does Haiti suffer so much please click here.

I could feel her pain and compassion as she expressed her ideas and appreciated her efforts to express a wide variety of potential explanations as to what truly is a very complex situation. The suffering Haitians are enduring is in my heart and soul as well. In light of such devastation I would like to offer some thoughts about the meaning of pain and suffering in managing life challenges. From my perspective, the goal that is sought and achieved through pain is a transcendence of baffling difficulties by the free and somewhat paradoxical choice or acceptance of greater difficulties. How does this work? (1) Pain gives way to the finer intensity of faith and aspiration; (2) Human dissatisfaction may result in restlessness that transforms into creativity and constructive acts for the well-being of our fellows, one of the areas where we see this now is in the creative ways around the world that are being developed to speed up the adoption of orphans; (3) Suffering of soul brings the opportunity for sacrificial dedication in ameliorating the lot of humankind, so clearly seen in the efforts to rescue survivors and to provide medical care even with very scarce resources.

In Haiti we are now witnessing the manifestation of all three scenarios with the participation of people from all over the world which offers us all the opportunity to experience the functioning of the global community in co-operation for the good of all. My prayers and love are with all Haitians.

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.

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

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.