Look at the most loving option...

The cusp that exists between the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year is a gentle twilight that draws us into its folds for quiet, deep reflection. It is usually the time we commit to making changes and improvements within ourselves so our lives may become more meaningful and worthwhile. It is easy to get caught in the daily busyness of work and routines that blur the days together into a fog of forgetting.It is at this point that a need for meditation enters. Meditation provides us with the opportunity to return to ourselves; to the spirit within us that is the source of our renewal and guidance. Each moment that we live is a grace. Let us spend this time to review the past year, and see all of the changes that have taken place within our lives; remarkable changes per se…

I was talking to a seminary friend few nights ago. The conversation lasted until dawn. It was a remarkable point in my life. It seemed that everything went back to zero. I felt like an empty vacuum. It was indeed an encounter with my god, He-Who-Is-Intimately-Involved... I must admit I am greatly troubled these past months. I was in a situation that seemed to be unbearable. But thanks to this seminary friend of mine, I feel like everything now is in order... He told me to look at the most loving option as the solution to my dilemma. I can’t help but post it here all that he said to me…

“Darius, do what moves you to love—love that is beyond your needs because it springs from your higher values. Sometimes, what complicates life is that we could not see clearly at which point our love is in the huge continuum of love. Love is practical; it is not based on impulse. It is based on the alignment of your heart, mind, and spirit. To discern means to see through what others think, what your culture dictates, and what you thought is the best political move you can make. This requires courage; and courage is more noble than winning. Be compassionate with yourself. Our minds are designed to get addicted, to get obsessed. It never works in a vacuum. But accepting this fact doesn’t mean you become a slave of your passions. Don’t ever make this fact—that the mind is designed to get addicted—as an excuse… ever. Your present moment requires you to go back to the center, which is self-knowledge, redefining the I. This requires courage, too, because you will face areas of you that you have ignored before. They are part of you but they do not define you. There is always the primacy of the whole. Once you emphasize only one part of you—either your wounds or your achievements—you are disintegrated because you don’t see yourself as a whole. Finding your true voice starts with holding yourself altogether. Compartmentalizing certain parts of you is an injustice. Everything connects. A pearl is not a pearl if not because of the dirt that gets into the mouth of its clam.

To trust God in any situation that you are into is genius; to trust only the situation is mere naiveté. You have to learn to listen. A Carmelite once wrote that to listen means to see things from the viewpoint of faith, to seek to discern and judge life—how it really is and where we are going. I admire your growing trust in God, no question about it, but you have to learn how to dance with Him. You have to learn his steps, his moves, and his pauses. And as I listen to your stories, He wants to dance with you towards your center. This requires letting go of living in the periphery, in the circumference. This requires discipline. This requires courage. Take one step at a time. It doesn’t matter if it’s slow as long as you aren’t stagnant. What is important is your sincerity and He’ll arrange everything else. “

He then added, “The decision to grow is with you. But don’t let your fears eat you. The real issue is not making a choice between a deemed necessity that will bear a long term pain versus a short term pain that will however make you loosen up. The issue is authenticity. And any authentic choice happens only when the mind, the heart, and the spirit are aligned—the authentic you. This is your birthright. This is also what God wants to happen. Less drama. Less feeling like a victim. More peace. More of being you and finding you.

piensa te...