Category Archives: lessons

That miraculous moment

Posted on by under inspiration, lessons, life, realization

How do you treat You?

Where have you learned about self-love?

Do you still practice self-love to this day?

This past weekend, I volunteered in the spelling bee competition.  It was the practice round for the volunteers and the participants.

In the section I volunteered, the participants were grade 1 and grade 2 children, courageous children.

One by one, they went on stage when they were called and, spelled the word that was given to them.  Some of them tried to but were unsuccessful.

As I watched one little boy, in particular, who did not succeed in spelling the given word, my heart broke.  It was hard to see that little boy running to his mom and crying.  It was hard for me to experience this moment.  And as I was trying to keep the tears from running down my cheeks, one of the mothers said to me: “It is heart-wrenching!”  I nodded and ran out.

Yes, it is heart-wrenching!

My friend who was also volunteering, when she saw me, asked me what happened.

What happened is that I always break down when I see little children putting themselves out there whether it’s singing, dancing, acting, and apparently spelling…whatever the activity, they touch me so deeply.

As I watched that little boy running in his mom’s arms, I wondered what she would tell him. I wondered how she will uplift this little soul.  Would she say: “Great job, little one, I am very proud of you. You are a very courageous boy for participating in that competition. You are great!”?

Would she build him up?  Would she nurture his soul?  Would she impart blessings in his life in that very moment?

I also wondered if she would allow him to understand the bigness of that first step or, would she be only caught in the spirit of the competition and allow comparison to take over?

Would this little boy be given permission to be  who he is and to know that whatever the outcome, he has already succeeded just because he tried.

That moment, if understood properly, would be a teaching moment for everyone involved: for the mom, for the boy, for everyone who was blessed enough to experience it. That moment came bearing gifts. That moment was a lesson in love, a lesson in teaching, a lesson in demonstrating. This was a big moment because this moment will determine how with the example of his mother, this little boy will understand how to treat himself in the future.

That moment was a momentous moment because the ordinary made place to the extra-ordinary. If we are open to see it, the miraculous replaces the mundane…if only, we. are. open. to. see. it.

That moment was beautiful and pure to me. That’s why it touched me and that’s what happened when we see with our spiritual eye because in that moment, a veil was lifted and the mundane is no more.

I was thankful to have been part of that moment.

As usual, in every competition, there was a winner. My hope is that all participants learned something from that practice round whether, it is to be proud of their accomplishments or, to win with humility or, to lose with grace or, that it takes courage to do what most people will not do or, to be better prepared.

Whatever the lesson, I hope in that moment, they learned to be who they are meant to be.

On Edge

Posted on by under beliefs, culture, fear, lessons, life

I went to see SELMA with a friend.

For those of you who don’t know, this movie is about Dr. Martin Luther King.

From the beginning of the movie, there was a feeling of uneasiness, like something hung in the air.  I felt on edge.

This movie touched the deepest part of me.  I felt different kinds of emotions, and they were exploding inside of me while I was watching this movie.  Sometimes, I felt like I was the one receiving the blow of a punch, right in my stomach.  It felt so real that it left me breathless.

This movie, which depicted certain moments in Dr. King’s life, during a time before I was born, brought a parallel to what is happening in the present time.  The more things change, the more they say the same…sadly.  We are brought more than 50 years back and yet, the same thing is happening now…black lives viewed as …not important.  Same fears, different times.

SELMA thought me different lessons about human beings:

–  Our capacity to cruelty when we live in fear

–  Our ability to forgive and move forward

–  Our ability to rally when we speak and understand the universal language of love

–  Our willingness to call on the Lord in our moments of fear, and draw from his strength

–  We have our own purpose, a specific reason for which we are uniquely created.

Dr. Martin Luther King had a purpose.  He was a powerful speaker and he had the ability to rally others to his cause.

I have to admit that during the movie, after Dr. King delivered one of his speech, I almost jumped from my seat and pumped my fist in the air.  Dr. King would have probably rallied me to his cause because it was more than a personal cause, it was a human cause.

After watching the movie, I was left with the following questions:

–  What makes someone continue to fight even after he or she feels defeated?

–  What makes one so dedicated to a cause that they won’t stop until they attain their goal?

–  What are the qualities that are part of the make up of these types of people?

I don’t usually talk about race, color: white, black, yellow, red, green. I never cared too much about how people looked on the outside, this is of little importance to me.  But when I watched movies like SELMA, it is impossible not to talk about race.

It saddens and angers me at the same time to see how black people were treated back then and in some places, we are still being treated the same way today.  It is mind boggling to me that some people can treat others differently because of the color of their skin, specially when none of us has any control over the color of the skin we were born with.

I mentioned before that I felt on edge while I was watching the movie.  What happened in those times is not part of my reality and yet, I was on edge.  Then, I started to imagine what it must have been like for someone who was or is living this reality.  I started to think how it must have affected him or her in their daily life on a physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual level…and I realized that they too, must have been continually , on edge.

Imagine living constantly in fear because someone has decided that you are not enough, that you are less than, that you don’t matter because of the color of your skin.  Imagine how deep this kind of behavior would have affected you.  Imagine…

Imagine how long it would take to remove these kinds of beliefs from your psyche. Imagine …

Imagine how much love it would take to replace those deep-seeded negative beliefs. Imagine…

Yes, slavery has ended a long time ago but the beliefs, unfortunately, still linger… and for the most part, those beliefs are unconscious.

I dare say that violence has a history.  I dare say that rebellion has a history and, there comes a time when anyone who has been oppressed for too long will say enough!!!

We’ve seen the news recently.  History has a way of repeating itself.

What will it take to stop the fear? Completely!

Pillar of salt

Posted on by under lessons, life, realization, still

Gen. 19:26 – But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

I am fascinated by this story in the bible.  Lot and his family have been warned by the angels that if they look behind, they would be transformed into a pillar of salt.  Lot’s wife looked back and she instantly became a pillar of salt.

What happened there?  Maybe, she looked behind because she wanted to stay there and, regretted leaving.  Maybe, she did not have enough faith in the future that was laid before her.  Maybe, she lacked hope.  Maybe she did not trust.

I wonder many times if it is not the same with us, even to this day.  And perhaps, the sames questions apply today.

Like Lot’s family, we know exactly what fear does to us.  We know what constantly looking back does to us.  We also know that fear can be paralyzing. We also heard the warning, yet…we still look back.

Take for example, when we get stuck in the past.  We replay in our mind the same story over and again.  We replay in our mind the different outcomes of the same story.  We replay what we could have done, what we should have done, what we would have done if that were to happen again.  We get stuck, and fear can make us stay there.

Not too long ago, I got stuck.  I got stuck in fear.  I got stuck in the “what ifs”.  The fear I felt stopped me from writing.

Every time I started writing, my thoughts prevented me from going further.  I wrote articles but when it came time to publish them, I froze and save them instead.  My ego got the best of me and I started to think “who are you kidding?”  “What difference will that make?”

See, I believe I am a somewhat confident person who appears much more confident.  Most of the time, I don’t doubt myself.  I have faith.  I do what I have to do but from time to time, my ego gets the best of me.  And if I don’t take the time to be still, if I don’t take the time to pray and meditate, I can stay stuck, frozen even,  for a long time.

How do I get back to my spiritual practice when I feel so tired?  How do I get back to doing the things that I know I must do?

I had to look at my choices: I could continue to be in fear or be in love.  This is quite simple.

When I am in fear, I am driven by ego.  When I am in love, I am driven by Spirit.  It’s that simple.

–  I decided to be still – I started to pay intention to what brought me joy, what made me smile.  I love worship music.  I started to listen to it more and more, and it felt good.  When I listen to worship music, I could stay there for a long time.  I also pray and meditate.  Then I am reminded of who I am.

The key word here is “reminded”…which means that I knew and forgot.  That’s another trick of the ego. To make me believe that my doings are more important than my being.

–  I also decided to revisit my “whys”.  I took a long hard look within, and decided to continue to work on what brought me joy.  I also looked at my schedule to figure out what was going to stay, and what needed to go.

–  I also revisited my vision to see if it was on course, and if I was as passionate about it as I used to be.

To contemplate, I had to pause.  When I paused, I had a clearer view of who I am (Be), what I need to accomplish (Do), and what I want to achieve (Have).

While working on who I am, I still get to do what I like, and practice what I want to get better at.  Today, I am back.  Today, I decided to write.

 

Lessons and Confessions

Posted on by under inspiration, lessons, life, realization, transformation

Hello loved ones,

I feel the need to let you into my world.

Believe it or not, people approach me all the time: in the shopping malls, in the stores, at church, in the train station, in restaurants, etc.  They tell me their story… and I am thankful for that.  They come with a story, they usually leave with a question.  I usually tell them they don’t need to answer the question. I advise them to let the question unfolds, and the answers will reveal themselves in time.

I question what they see in me, that they feel compelled to talk, to reveal their most intimate stories? I am truly humbled by that.

I see myself as a fun loving kind of woman, intelligent, deeply spiritual, sensitive more than I like to admit.  I like to learn.  I have an inquiring mind.  I practice the art of being present.  What does that mean, you may ask?  Well, it means I practice observing what is going on inside of me, outside of me, and around me so that I can quickly adjust what is happening in the present.  I call it an art because it takes practice, and I am not there yet.

MY GREATEST FEAR

My greatest fear is that when I stand before my maker, I will regret not having lived the life that He has purposed for me because I was too scared.

I sincerely believe that God has planted a seed in my heart.  That seed sprouted when I was about 7 or 8 years old.  I believe that every time I felt that seed grow inside of me, I managed to push it back down because of fear: “Fear of not being good enough, fear of what will people think, fear of what if I fail, fear of what if I succeed”, insecurities, doubts, “Who do you think you are?”  ENOUGH!!! It’s enough to drive someone mad.

LAST YEAR

Last year, I almost bled to death.  I was loosing my energy little by little.  It felt like parts of me were shutting down one after the other. My hemoglobin count was going down (53), and down (36).  It was a year of total transformation.  As I was losing blood, I was gaining insight of who I am in Christ.  I journaled a lot. I learned all the “I AMs” that are part of my incarnation.  I am now free!!!

WHY AM I BLOGGING?

I don’t know about you, but when I was younger, my friends had the tendency to write “I was here” everywhere: on trees, on bathroom stalls, on doors, in the sand, any place they could find.  Well, blogging provides me with my “I was here” moment.

I also blog:

  • To inspire you
  • To uplift you
  • To enlighten
  • To empower you to take action
  • To propel you forward

I am feeling better now.  I had to learn to take care of myself, to love and accept myself UNCONDITIONALLY, to set up boundaries so I can protect myself.  I learned to live fully present in the present moment.

I am thankful for everything that God has allowed me to go through.  I am grateful for the lessons.

On my blog, I will provide tools to enlighten and empower you, my loved ones, to move forward.  I will teach you what I have learned: to love and accept yourself unconditionally.  I will bring back the focus on you because if you don’t learn to take care of yourself first, you will not be able to take care of anyone else.  It starts with YOU.

 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Matthew 22:39

I AM NOW FULLY AWAKE

Last year was a wake-up call.  That was not the only one that I experienced in my life.  What made this one different? I guess it is the realization that I live on borrowed times; that in a single moment, everything can change.  I can no longer afford to keep pressing on the snooze button.  CAN YOU?

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Glorious Life Unfolding! Say it again: Glorious Life Unfolding! Say it with a smile this time: Glorious Life Unfolding!!! Yes, it is indeed – a glorious life unfolding.

This name was carefully chosen after my reflections on everything that happened last year: 2013.  As I felt depleted on a physical and emotional level: energy loss, hemoglobin at 53 then, 36, I also realized that I was being filled on a psychological and spiritual level: I was going through a spiritual awakening.  I understood that my life was unfolding and is unfolding gloriously…SO IS YOURS.

Enough about myself.  I would like to hear about you.

I welcome you to join me in these wonderful, thought-provoking conversations.

I invite you to sign up to receive updates.  Please let me know how I can better serve you.

Call to action:  Sit 10 minutes in silence – every day.

Parting quote:  “Everything starts in the mind.  Pay attention to your mind.”