A SPIRITUAL PLAN IN TIME OF CRISIS

      

  If we are informed that a major problem in coming in our way like a tornado, an earthquake, an hurricane, fire, or a tsunami, it is wise to take some safety measures. It is the same with any personal, social or financial crises. Normally it consists in finding a high and secure refuge. Even though taking all the precautions we know that we have to endure the situation and go through it. The success will depend on the most relevant aspect: the high minded state of consciousness we can sustain to be calm and centered in our essential being. 

  Being a luminous presence makes the difference 

       When experiencing a somber and fearful situation, we can make a difference; in any crises we have the divine right to be luminous. “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart,” said Helen Keller, who being deaf blind, made a difference. Spiritually we are never disabled we are always luminous. At the tipping point of a crisis we can soothe the tension, and be the turning point light house in the middle of the night manifesting our inner delightful Presence. 






Keep the calm and 
give others a hand of peace 

       In the middle of a storm, you can make a difference keeping the calm, and giving others a hand of kindness. Be a rock of refuge, be a salvation to those in need. This can be done replacing anger and frustration with peace, not the peace of the world but the peace that comes from the divine Source . Being at peace allow us to radiate peace: this makes a difference.

Being centered makes a difference 

      Crises can send us spinning around and cause negative mental arguments to haunt us day and night. You can make a difference being centered in your strong and firm Spiritual dimension: your divine silence. You are not going to be a leaf in the wind but a mountain standing serene and beautiful in the horizon of events. Being firm and serene we are the wisdom and joy of God. 

Spiritual values are untouched and we can abide by them 

       You can make a difference if you realize that your real values are untouched by financial crises, social crisis or of any crisis: Truth, love, compassion, friendship, care, and integrity do not diminish by market forces but are fortified by adversity. That is why Benjamin Disraeli said, “There is no education like adversity.” Adversity teaches us to stand strong from our inner spirit, which is the same spirit of the Omnipotent. 

Stand with your head high and you heart pure, you can make a difference.

       You can make a difference if in the middle of chaos you can stand with your head high and your heart pure. This demands that we continuously cleanse our soul. Thomas Merton said that “The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and makes of all political and social life a mass illness.” Cleaning our mind and purifying our hearts lets the light of our being bring healing and purity to our circumstance. 

Don’t accept fear nor transmit fear. You can make a difference.

      In the middle of a storm, sickness, fire or crises don’t make fearful assumptions or expand them. Orison Swett Marden said, “Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff at you if they can. It they see you are afraid of them they are liable to sprint upon you; but if you look at them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.” Stop fear with courage, from a dominant point you will think swift and clearly. 

Face the problems with solutions 
 
    It was during the worse part of the Second World War that Churchill demanded to those around him not to spend time telling him the problems, because problems speak by themselves, but to bring him the solution. Remember what Einstein said, “Intellectual solve problems; geniuses prevent them.” Orienting our minds to intelligent solutions preventing problems makes a difference. 

Do your best and trust. Your confidence will inspire others 

    Even if we don’t know the results of our actions, it is our duty to do the best, and trust that all things work for good for those who love good. Calm inaction can be a wise action if reaction means to rush into worse problems. “The one who endures to the end will be saved” says Matthew. Our will is endurance in peace. Our stance is a loving confidence. 

Forgiveness is superior to Guilt 

    When we condemn others, we condemn ourselves, because we are one. Don’t punish yourself for what you could have done; forgive yourself and others for ignorance, bad actions, or greed, mad ambition, manipulation or the likes. Like the prodigal son stop looking down and look up. Solutions come from heaven, harmony provides constant bliss. The arms of love are already open and waiting for you. 

Make a difference: see Crisis not as panic but as a transformation point in your life

Crisis is a word associated to catastrophe, calamity, emergency, pain and suffering. For a crisis to occur there must be a concurrence of forces due to unstable situations, crisis can bring a new balance of forces for a new equilibrium. Use those forces in your own advantage to transform your present situation for a better one. Progress demands change. 

Friendship is not quoted in the money market, only in your heart 

    Value your heart and give to it a caress: enjoy being with friends and have fun, enjoy laughing, give a hug to someone and receive hugs continually. They are more precious than silver and gold, they are free and do not leave you with a debt that hinders your sleep. Please realize that the Merciful One is nearer than your breath. The Friend of the friendless is hugging us tenderly and lovingly. 

Don’t take problems personally 

    Impersonal problems are enough burdens. Don’t be attached to them and take them as your own. You are not the only one facing tribulations, others are suffering as well and probably worse, do not create a burden of unnecessary sadness. Carry a light mind and a cheerful heart. 

Be at peace and act from God

    “When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen,” said Arland Gilbert. Take all the information from the best sources you can access, but let the Divine Presence lead you and guide your steps. Be a light unto yourselves said Buddha. Let the Light of Christ open the way. 

Love is not in shortage and always increases your value 

    In order to be genuine we must learn the basics: love ourselves like our neighbors. Thus we need to love our neighbor generously first, otherwise the golden rule fails. Love expressed energizes our connections and multiply our strength.

 

Blessed by the Crisis 

    Crisis like earthquakes shake us from our comfort zone, we have to move and avoid stagnating. We suffer if the feeling is that the crisis is whirling around us and can send us whirling too. We must have the strength to detach from it. Practice detachment and see yourself from a higher perspective and say, “Oh there it is me, confused and worrying about what is going to happen.” You can affirm “I am not that suffering body, nor that worrying mind. I am the Spirit of power and a consciousness of dominion and clarity. I am going to take decisions and not let the crisis decide for me. I am going to be blessed.” 

A crisis is a dream to be awakened from 

    A crisis is a bad dream, similar to the good dream that stocks can grow to heaven. Is it not a dream to believe that people can get rich doing anything? When we admit a dream of pleasure, we open the door to dreams of suffering. I remember a story of a girl who was dreaming about a dragon persecuting her. She decided to run, but the dragon started to chase her. When the tongues of fire were very near, she decided to really run faster, but suddenly she stumbled over a stone and fell down. The dragon finally grabbed her in its hands and looked into her eyes. She, trembling asked, “Are you going to eat me?” The dragon answered her: “I don’t know it is your own dream. You can dream what you want!!!” Looking to reality from the Divine Eye, we can take control of these dreams.
Being spiritually awakened we can make a difference for us and all. 

Pietro Grieco ©2008

CLOSE CALLS

                                       "Close Call" is an idiom used to indicate a narrow escape, also a warning.  When a person comes out of a difficult experience, like an accident, a burning home, or a medical surgery a doctor may say: "the person received a wake-up call"—a warning sign. An announcement that life is not eternal in material conditions. Life is subject to change, and sometimes drastic ones. Close calls are specific tips telling us we need to make changes. 

A dearest person was in holidays with her husband. One day she received a call from a relative telling her that her last living sister had died. She asked her husband to go back home. He asked her why? She answered him back in a very convincing way: “I know that now it is my turn.” I need to prepare myself, this is the sign that I was waiting for. She had been in the hospital, but the doctors did not find anything serious. A few months later she died in prayer. A medical doctor who was a friend at the moment, told him that people at a certain age feel that death is close and they need to be prepared for it. 

Close calls are important reminders that human Life is not eternal, that we are fragile and that we will leave this state at some point.

Then it is better not to repeat the same bad experiences, and to let go of behaviors and burdens that drive us to these narrow escapes of suffering. 

One day an old-time friend sent me a message: “If you come to see me, I will wait for you.” She was 104 years old. She read my articles and writings, and when she could not read because her sight was weak, she asked one of her friends to do so. I went to see her a year after, because she lived a long distance from my home. We were 14000 km away. We talked for a while. It was delightful. Then she looked at me and asked me to pray for her to have a smooth and harmonious passing. After that, she said to me: “Ciao” I left her hand and said back to her, “Ciao”. We knew that it would be the last time. A year after, at 106 years old, she passed away peacefully. 

                                                                                                                      

A doctor and dedicated student of spirituality who had attended several of my seminars, decided with his wife to move to a hotel-residence for seniors. That decision meant they had to sell their house and leave many of their precious goods because the new home was a smaller one. 

One day, after they had settled down in the new location, he told his wife that he was going to take a nap… an hour later, she found him dead. I have the firm conviction that he had a notice, an inner conviction to do the change. He left his dear wife in a safe and beautiful environment. Doing so, he could pass on in peace

If the acting and thinking drove us to the hard experience from which we left unharmed or suffering, we should pay attention to what life is telling us to avoid severe consequences again. 

J. Krishnamurti in his video “What is death?  He says: “Everything is cause and effect, and as a result “what you sow, you will reap”, in this life span or in future ones". He sustains that many of our human problems are due because of our attachments to people or to conflicts. The main aspect is that detachment is difficult for us, and in consequence we suffer from it. 

According to Dalai Lama attachments produce angers, and they destroy the physical and spiritual harmony, to dissolve them we can use meditations, prayers, contemplation.

Spirituality is not a pill to calm down our nervous system, and it is not a cosmetic treatment for our personality either. Instead to search for external solutions, spirituality encourages us to look into our inner self. It develops our own strength through the energy of the Spirit. Spirituality is a way of life that we walk taking on the problems and facing them. It does not evade the challenges but it uses them for awaking, elevating and purifying ourselves. We know that we have to be prepared, not to escape from death, but to go through it with integrity, being conscious of reaching out to another dimension of Being. 

The close calls can be a benediction when they wake us up to change our direction in life, to go forward in peace and harmony to the perfection of Being.

©Pietro Grieco