2020, a year full of lessons learned

A year that made us aware of our fragility as human beings and our fleeting existence on this earth.

We greeted strangers on the street as a gesture of cordiality and empathy. In the late afternoon, we thanked healthcare professionals for their hard work and dedication in treating COVID-19 patients with the resources they had available.

We experimented with teleworking as a tool to continue providing our services in times of crisis. Technology made our virtual meetings possible.

NGOs received countless requests for volunteers who wanted to do something for others. To do our bit in building a new, more caring society in which other people's problems are our problems too.

We temporarily unite our hearts to feel that deep down we are One, even though in form we appear to be many and separate. 2020 opened our eyes, giving us a new way of seeing things, and it did so in the form of a crisis, since it is through hardship that we learn, and it has been this way for thousands of years.

2021 presents us with great opportunities to evolve. Let's not fall into the “Christmas effect” of thinking about love only a couple of days a year and forgetting about it for the remaining 363.

Social change is possible, and it is my responsibility. If I change, everything changes.

My loving thoughts are the light of the world.

To those lost in fear

May your light guide the way for those lost in fear.

The dark night of the soul

You are completely free to choose to continue suffering in the dream of this world. You have created a drama in which you are the scriptwriter, director, and lead actor. And you will continue to suffer incarnation after incarnation until you tire of suffering. The ball bounces when it hits the ground.

You will shout, "Enough is enough! None of this makes sense to me. I don't know where I came from or where I'm going. I was born to die, and then what? What good has it done me to accumulate titles, riches, or friendships if I'm going to lose everything? I've achieved what I set out to do, and so what?"

With tears in your eyes, unease, and a terrible feeling of loneliness, you will feel a chill run through you, announcing that you have hit rock bottom. This is called the “dark night of the soul”, a breaking point in your life. It is a great opportunity to seek another path.

In this process of introspection, if you want, you can listen to the hopeful voice of the Holy Spirit whispering to you: “You are not alone. I am here with you. I have always been here. If you want, I can show you a new way of seeing things. It's up to you”.

And that is where you can open your mind and, with His guidance, begin to understand that suffering is exclusively yours and has nothing to do with what is happening on the outside (relationships and situations). Your unconscious guilt, which is the fuel of the ego, is the source of suffering. Your inner swamp harbors unhealed wounds. Its mud hides the Light of your Being.

Just as a small child is led by the hand, with the Holy Spirit you will walk through the movie of your life, pausing at the most painful scenes. Together you will visualize again what happened, but this time He will help you understand that the person who was against you did so because they were wrong, as they were prey to fear. In their own way, they were asking for Love.

And with this new vision, you may shed tears as you feel a great peace. Now you understand, as you have a new perception of the situation. This is the true forgiveness that A Course in Miracles speaks of. The miracle is to turn fear and resentment into Love. This is what inner healing consists of.

By freeing yourself from that fragment of unconscious guilt that made you suffer, more Light will emanate from within you as you remove a layer of the mud that covered it. You will feel a little more at peace. And the Holy Spirit will collapse time by removing from your past and future the situations you have created and will create related to that fragment of unconscious guilt. You had planned to attract relationships in order to project onto others that unconscious guilt that caused you to suffer.

You are now closer to your liberation from the chains of the ego. You have shortened the path you have left to enlightenment. It is that simple, but very costly due to the ego's resistance to disappearing and our psychic inertia from spending thousands of lives following the dictates of the ego.

When a thought of fear, judgment, criticism, or attack against another, or against yourself, comes to you, stop and remember that the Holy Spirit is at your side to give you a new perspective on the situation from the eyes of Love. Just say to Him mentally, “Holy Spirit, I want to see this in a different way,” and leave it in His hands.

Here we will never find peace, salvation, or love

"Like Sisyphus, we are all on a journey that leads to a sense of futility and depression. No matter how hard we try to achieve our goals, we will never manage to roll the rock to the other side of the mountain. Our failure means that here we will never find peace, salvation, or love; we will never find our home (...) Sisyphus is a figure from Greek mythology. He was condemned by the gods to push a rock up a mountain, only to have it roll back down when he neared the top, forcing Sisyphus to start his efforts all over again" (Kenneth Wapnick).

I believe that as we push the rock uphill (living in this world), we can feel that there is another way of seeing the path, through the eyes of Love, through true forgiveness. And that is precisely the way out of this cycle of reincarnation and suffering.
 
Sisyphus, who is ultimately all of us, has the opportunity to be happy here and now, even when we have to push the rock up the mountain, if we are able to change our perception.

Photo Wikipedia Sisyphus (Titian) 1548 

Trust, you are with me

The Father looks at us with His compassionate eyes and says:

"My dear child, do not worry, nothing is wrong, nor has anything ever been wrong. Your crazy idea of separation did not break our Unity, for Love cannot be divided. That thought lasted only a brief moment and has already been repaired. But you, my child, having all my power, created in that moment this crazy universe in which you believe you are living a dream of fear, suffering, and death. Trust, you are with me, singing the eternal melody of Love".

Doggy friendship

A dog looking at his elderly owner:

“Wherever you go, I will accompany you. I am your faithful and unconditional doggy friend. It doesn't matter if you have wrinkles, walk slowly, or are sometimes in a bad mood, because you can always count on me. Our lives are intertwined. We will be together until the end of our days. I love you!!!”

It is never too late to start on the path of Love

What matters is not how many years we live, but rather how we have used the time we spend here.

Let us be like good students who, instead of being distracted in class, take advantage of the lessons presented to them in the form of experiences to clear away the barriers they have placed in the way of Love through true forgiveness.

No matter how old you are, it is never too late to start on the path of Love.

The meaning of life

The disciple asked his master:
“What is the meaning of this life?”

And the master replied:
“It has the meaning you want to give it”

Choosing the voice we want to follow

We usually choose to listen to the mind, as we have been doing so all our lives and beyond... to the shrill and deafening noise of the ego that incites us to judge, criticize, and compare everything around us, and also ourselves, due to unconscious guilt. It is a tiresome and boring noise that leads us to suffering.

We also have the option of listening to the whispering, melodious voice of the Holy Spirit, or our Being, which helps us reinterpret circumstances as requests for Love, which is what they really are. Or our deepest fears as something illusory that is part of the movie of conflict and death that we have created, directed, and starred in, since nothing can alter our original essence, which is pure, infinite, and eternal Love.

And the question we ask ourselves is: how can I know who is speaking to me: the ego or my Being?

The ego is very clever and slips through the smallest cracks to disguise itself as our true advisor. We must be very attentive. A Course in Miracles devotes more than 1,000 pages to discovering and unmasking the ego's strategy that leads us to the state of despair and confusion in which we find ourselves.

Depending on the substance of the message conveyed, we can detect whether the voice we hear comes from our Being or not. If it comes from the Being, it is a loving message of Unity, without judgment or comparison, with which we will feel more at peace.

Choosing the voice we want to follow is our only freedom.

Return to a state of peace

Do not make the play you perform in this world real.

Do not identify with the character you play, as you will suffer.

Do not forget that you have come to experience situations and relationships in the role of the actor or actress who bears your name.
 
Before you were born, you carefully prepared the most important milestones of your life and agreed with those who would be your family and friends on the role each of them would play.
 
To return to a state of peace, feel your divine nature. You are a Child of the Source and, as such, you have inherited its gifts and talents, with Love being your essence.

A new dawn

What is happening right now is truly astonishing. Overnight, we find ourselves confined to our homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. We watch helplessly as loved ones leave us, unable to say goodbye to them. Unable to hold their hands and hug them.

It is in the worst situations that we come together most as humanity. I have never experienced such a wave of solidarity. We feel the need to do something for others that comes from deep within, where the Love that we truly are resides. Requests for volunteers at NGOs have skyrocketed. We call our family and friends more than ever. And at 8 p.m., we join in the emotional neighborhood applause as a thank you and to continue reminding ourselves that together we will get through this.

This situation motivates us to rethink what it all means... what we are doing with our lives... whether we live based on what others will say or on authenticity... what we have stopped doing and would like to do from now on... what we are willing to change... how we would like to live the time we have left... where our strength lies... It is time to reflect, to question each and every one of our beliefs and to act accordingly.

We are becoming aware that other people's problems also have to do with us, since in essence we are One. We make up the countless faces of a great polyhedron whose core is Love.

Let us unite our hearts to usher in a new dawn in which social justice, solidarity, and peace reign supreme.

May we never forget this great lesson of Life.

The great lesson

Some time ago, I posted this thought-provoking exercise:
Imagine you only have a few days left to live. What is the great lesson you have learned and want to share?

There were many responses on social media. Here are some of them:

Give importance to the small details that have value and significance.

The purpose of this life is to serve others.

Life is much more than material possessions; it is experiences, so we must learn to live it, unlearning everything we have been taught since childhood.

We are free in our choices, decisions, and actions. We tie ourselves to invisible threads and imposed rules.

That love is what can heal the deepest wounds.

To see and love life from another perspective.

Love can do anything.

From the heart, I learned to forgive.

Live in the present, value what I receive, be grateful, learn instead of blaming myself.

That we only have the present, this minute (...) Life is now, this moment, and if we live it one day at a time, we can contemplate all its beauty!

That God is in my heart, that I am part of Him and He is part of me.

Be aware that death does not exist, and we continue on our path.

That I am more than just a body. I am part of the Whole.

We cannot change anyone but ourselves. By changing ourselves, we change our perception of reality!

That there is nothing to fear.

No matter what you are going through in your life, embrace it!!!

Eternal love

You will only take with you what dwells in your heart:
the love you have given and received.
Love that will accompany you eternally.

Synchronicity

You believe that everything happens because of you, because you are in control. Notice that the best and worst things that have happened to you were not usually planned, at least not consciously.

There is a wonderful synchronicity, not coincidence. All the pieces fit together. Everything happens perfectly in terms of time and form. You are where you need to be, at the right time, to learn the lessons you need for your awakening.

The best attitude you can have towards life is to trust and give your best in whatever you are doing, whatever it may be.

Give yourself the opportunity to enjoy the present, the here and now.

Death is only the end of one stage on the path of life

We are ignorant because of our lack of perspective. We believe that our life begins with birth and ends with death, when in reality we were never born, nor will we ever die, since we are eternal spiritual beings created from the Source, from God, as an extension of His infinite Love.

Once our vital signs cease and the body dies, we will be surprised to find that our consciousness is still alive. Stunned, we will see our body from the outside and hear the cries of the people who have accompanied us to the end. We may even attend our own funeral. And finally, we will realize that death as such does not exist, only the belief in death, as we continue to live in another, lighter structure.

Dying is not the same as “resting in peace,” since death will free us from physical pain but not from the mental suffering and fear that will accompany us until we realize that it is only our thoughts that create “our hell.”

When we come to this earth, we write another page in the diary of our life, which already has hundreds or thousands of pages written in it, and in which we will continue to write many more.

When that great moment at the end of our existence arrives, let us approach it with the curiosity of a child arriving in a new city. Let us let go of our attachments and worries, for we will not need them where we are going. Let us give thanks for the opportunity to have been born and to have experienced life on this earth. And from this place of trust, let us serenely open ourselves to entering a new stage of our lives.

Let's change the world from within

Let's reflect on  whether we are truly living the life we want to live or the life others want us to live.

Let us search within ourselves for the love that we are, and thus our light will spread throughout the Universe like a balm of peace that will reach fearful hearts burdened by fear.

Let's change the world from within ourselves.

Everything we need to be happy is within us

Deep down, very deep down, practically all of us are consumed by fear. Fear of illness, fear of growing old alone, fear of death, fear that something will happen to our children and family members, fear of losing our partner, fear of scarcity... fears... fears... fears...
 
It is normal for us to think this way, believing that the solution to our fears must come from outside ourselves.
 
I wonder, what if instead of facing situations from a place of fear, we took them as wonderful opportunities to experiment and grow inwardly?
 
We find it distressing to be alone and/or isolated because it forces us to look inward.
 
If we became aware that everything we need to be happy is within us and that the only thing that can make us suffer are our own thoughts, perhaps we would begin to see life differently.

Every judgment is a self-attack

All our guilt comes from the original guilt hidden in the depths of the unconscious. It was generated so long ago that it is impossible to remember it. It was the result of a decision: our idea of living in a world separate from the Source, from the Love that we are. That erroneous and crazy decision was the origin of the unconscious guilt that governs our lives. Even though we ignore it, we are reliving that decision every moment, and the guilt it generated corrodes us internally as we believe that we destroyed the world of happiness and harmony we enjoyed together with the Source.

It was at that very moment that we decided to implant “a guardian of separation,” the ego, to which we gave a very specific instruction: “You will be the one to keep us away from the Source.” To do this, we created a universe (Big Bang) in which to have an individual identity and hide from the Source.

Since guilt makes us feel terrible, we use the psychological mechanism of projection to try to rid ourselves of it. We project it out into the world in the form of attacks or judgments on others, taking advantage of any situation or relationship. We naively believe that this will free us from it. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we attack others, we unconsciously know that we are attacking an innocent person, since the source of our anger is our own guilt projected onto the other person, which will make us feel even more guilty and also fearful of their possible counterattack. Since guilt is the “fuel” of the ego, increasing our level of guilt will strengthen the ego and thus keep us separated from the Source life after life in a seemingly endless cycle of suffering and death. A horrible nightmare.

One of the most effective ways to escape suffering is to reduce the level of unconscious guilt through the practice of true forgiveness. This consists of understanding that every attack or judgment is a self-attack and also asking Source for help in seeing the situation in a different way, through the eyes of Love. The result is the elimination of that fragment of guilt, a reduction in the ego, less reactivity, and greater inner peace.

The world is the ideal environment for practicing our lessons in true forgiveness. We now know that every attack, judgment, or criticism against others or ourselves comes from the ego, and we can use it, if we choose, as an opportunity to lessen our guilt and take another step closer to our liberation. What wonderful news!

And the day of the “final judgment” will come when we will make “the last judgment” and by practicing true forgiveness, we will dissolve the last shred of guilt that remained in our unconscious. At that moment, the ego will disappear, and around us we will see only Love, or requests for Love, in all beings. It will be the state of enlightenment, the end of the dream of suffering and death.

Take heart, it's just a decision.