Happy 40th Gabo!

Today I'm sharing my brother Paco's blog post regarding (what would have been) our kid-brother Gabo's (RIP) 40th birthday. See here: http://www.mfconsulting.com/blog/archives/000196.html

In the photos he posted, one shows Gabo and my nephew "Paquito" Francisco G. Martinez, who was also prematurely killed by a sniper in Ramadi, Iraq in 2005 at 20 yrs old. The other photo with my mother was taken 2 weeks prior to his death, while on procession at my wedding in 1990. See my previous post about Gabo here: http://spiritualityintheflesh.blogspot.com/2011/10/and-tree-grows-still.html

See this story about Paquito here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4571154

As you may well guess, New Year's Eve since 1990 has always been bittersweet. On one hand is a celebration of his life and the loving being that he was, on the other hand it's a melancholic day for me because of how much I miss him still.

In honor of both: Happy New Year 2013!!
Much Light & Love

Worthy Cause!

Ethiopia Child Sponsorship 

This program provides a child with an entire year of school, including school fees, supplies, uniform, and health care, while also assisting that child's family with a portion of the costs of food, lodging, and other basic necessities for that entire year. This vital program dramatically lessens the pressure for a child to drop out of school to help financially support their family.

These children and families need our support through 2013. This gift will provide lasting dignity, transformation and service to those who need it the most. Each gift will directly impact and improve nutrition, education, medical care, housing and clothing needs of 200 families in the Addis Ababa region of Ethiopia.

Please DONATE to this worthy cause:
http://www.stayclassy.org/events/ethiopia-child-sponsorship-2013/e22226

or to SQ-Foundation here:
https://www.sq-foundation.org/donation/

I thank you in advance!
Namaste

Barcelona Surprise Cruise

So here I am again after a long absence and introspective silence, writing while on board a plane on my way to Barcelona, for a much needed vacation, and in a couple of days also embarking on a cruise. I'll be connecting with the light-network on the 12/12/12 portal from the middle of the Mediterranean. (Yay!)

And what a year it has been for most of us! For me it has been a very challenging year full of peaks, valleys, and standing on the edge of a cliff. At the lowest point of this roller-coaster duality I got to that breaking point were you question everything that previously seemed so clear... and I had a big crisis of faith. But it's never just one tragic thing that triggers such despair. It is the escalation of a multitude of difficulties & hardships that get you to that “enough is enough” moment... the proverbial last straw that breaks the camel's back. Would you believe I even passed a kidney stone last month!? More purging of that which does not belong or serve me anymore. Wasn't I supposed to do this, not that, etc, etc.?? NOPE. There was another plan in the bigger picture for me. Serves me right! After all, didn't I ask to be of service to my fellow men??

“Please God, I cannot take any more of these hardships. Please, at least throw me a bone!”

So... a steak fell on my lap!! When I least expected it. Just when you surrender, and give up, and throw your arms up in the air, and you are left with no alternative but to take it breath by breath, day by day, just BE. There it is: lesson taken & learned! Suddenly it's my time to collect a little of good karma rewards. Enter a new generous and kind angel that is taking me on this idyllic vacation for the 1^st time to the land of my elders: Spain! My first time taking a cruise too! Funny how it all worked properly in perfect alignment and ease. As typical, God works in mysterious and unexpected ways...

My life is full of possibilities again... all in divine timing, even if we don't see it at first sight. I would have never imagined 6 months ago that I was going to have this wonderful trip to Europe at the end of 2012! I am bursting with gratitude....... Day by day!......

Namaste. Love & Thanks!

Guided to Mahendra Trivedi

Earlier this year, I had been receiving a bombardment of synchronicity "signs" and guidance about Mahendra "Guruji" Trivedi. Once again the obvious signs and "coincidences" were consistent & unavoidable to the point of laughable. So I decided to honor all the nudges & prompts and explore his Trivedi Effect website and to look into it more thoroughly.

What I found was lots of love-based healing energy & teachings (discourses) that very much resonated with my current spiritual path. In February I received my first Remote Individual Energy Transmission and was amazed with the powerful energy and its subsequent continual effects on my life. That which did not fit my life's higher purpose came and went in a quick concentrated period of time, as to rapidly extract their lessons and move on!

So I felt a strong guidance to attend his June Retreat in Los Angeles both for receiving more heart-centered healings and for experiencing first hand this energy "in the flesh" in the room, from not just Mr. Trivedi but from his staff and supporting group too. I also felt that I was ready for raising to another step in my level of higher-consciousness.... and boy did I ever! What I also found there -which to me also served as a great confirmation & recommendation- was a large group of compassionate, loving & spiritual people who have been on their awakening path for many years and had learned from several other "gurus" and swamis; yet here they were all attesting to the positive powerful results and genuine teachings of the Trivedi phenomenon as "the real thing".

When I received the Master energy transmission, I found myself fully vibrating and feeling every cell of my body "buzzing" with a strong energy as if I had stuck my finger in an electrical socket. Wow! But the most important thing I experienced during the retreat was that I received this clarity of purpose and a "knowing" that I must serve and be a part of this group/organization in any way shape or form, even if in the start is only helping by cleaning toilets! In what capacity is still to be shown to me. The idea feels very natural & comfortable, like if all my previous steps and journey had guided me to this one point at the right time, when I was already planning on a fresh start & relocation somewhere else... ah but where? Phoenix it is! Where before I never cared for, now I can't wait to get to. I hear it beckoning and it already feels like home.

I have since the retreat been able to see the gears in motion and immediate results of this Trivedi Effect in my life. I have indeed received a heart-healing of my recent relationship issues. But then also just a day after the end of the retreat, I received an offer (out of the blue) regarding the unresolved and stagnated issue of the selling of my old house and money owed to me since my divorce 4 years ago. Real results starting to materialize!

All things are revealed to you in proper timing, whenever you're ready for a new environment and a new teacher. As always, the appropriate teacher arrives TO you when you are ready for him/her, and not a moment too soon or too late!

In awe & gratitude...


http://trivedimasterwellness.com/

Officially LYRIANA!

Today I went to court to legally change my name to Lyriana, as I had determined to do since receiving this angelic name in June 2010! My spiritual journey is on track in time for my "wisdom years" as I become an empty-nester and turn 50 yrs old in July. (and a next step is to determine where (city) to relocate to in August.)

Since my last post here - and I apologize for my absence! - I have been shown a "life review" of situations in the form of lessons learned both past & present, that have served to show me how much I have evolved emotionally & psychologically. Sort of a "been there, done that" and time to move on forward without regrets, shedding old patterns that do NOT serve my higher purpose now! I'm glad to say that I was able to see early-on these destructive patterns of deceit, before it was too late...

Unfortunately, this process did not come without great pain & injury to my heart! I feel I reached "zero point" this past week, but this too shall pass just in time to start my new golden era. I shall be healed soon enough, and be assisted by the love & nurturing of my family, Amma Amritanandamayi, and the upcoming retreat with Mahendra Trivedi. I'm looking forward to another step-up to raise my healing energy & higher-vibration frequencies!

http://amma.org/meeting-amma/north-america

http://trivedimasterwellness.com/retreats/

Love3 & Thanks2

Second Chances

We all know how life presents us with second chances to either correct past mistakes, for missed opportunities, or to enjoy a situation or relationship under different circumstances that are better suited and under more propitious timing. Proper timing is truly essential in this life, especially when it comes to lessons presented to us and our ability of learning from them!

A few days ago while traveling as a passenger on my commuter flight to Chicago O'Hare, I was presented with such a second chance for a missed opportunity. As we were flying over Lake Michigan on our approach to land on a misty-foggy winter morning, I caught sight of Chicago's skyline peeking through the mist as if it were a ghost city floating over a cloud. What a mystical sight it was indeed! "Too bad I don't have my camera out to take a picture of this ephemeral illusion," I thought.

We continued on our final descent past the northwest side of the downtown area, with the plane's landing gear already lowered in place, when suddenly we start climbing and retracting the wheels again in a fly-over aborted landing. "Too close for comfort with the landing airplane ahead of us," the Captain announced. Lo and behold, we ended up flying right over the city's tall buildings as we circled around to re-position ourselves in line over the lake... again!

This time I pulled out my cellphone's camera function and started clicking away. "I'm NOT missing out on this chance again!" See the photos attached below taken through my airplane window.

This whole episode served as a metaphor of a similar "second-chance" opportunity I'm currently facing in my life. I can only describe it at this moment as this....

I imagine the analogy of receiving a beautiful new "boomerang" as a birthday present. You admire & cherish it... but it's only after you've thrown it far away and see the marvel of it returning right back to you, that you truly recognize its true beauty & power, its true potential & purpose!

Rehab thru Compassion

My father, Roger Martinez Locke, was a classical music professor at the Conservatory and the University of Puerto Rico; a professional clarinetist, early-music ensemble conductor, lecturer, etc.... and was also a renaissance-man and walking encyclopedia of world history, culture & fine arts. He could speak fluently in Spanish, English & French, plus knew some Latin, Russian, Italian..... His normal every-day handwriting was in calligraphy, and he also had hobbies of photography, painting, cooking... and CYCLING! But above all his vast education, he was a great soul, a true humanitarian and a saint with a huge heart. It was from him that I learned the true meaning of christian charity, compassion & forgiveness. Here's an example and a true story:

When I was about 8 yrs old, he was an avid cyclist who self-taught himself to build racing bicycles from the frame up, including assembling all the wheels & components from parts he would order from catalogs in the US & Europe. There were no serious cycling shops on the island and NO internet back then. He had a small 10'x10' tool shack in the back of the house that served as his “taller de bicicletas”. By then, he had assembled a professional racing aqua-green-colored Benoto bike that was his proud jewel. We the kids had received for Christmas that year fancy Raleigh bicycles – mine was a beloved candy-apple red!

About 3-4 months later, someone broke into our property and stole ALL our priceless bicycles! I was heart-broken, as was my dad, especially because of all the hard work he had poured into building them. I'm sure you get the picture. Then the next day the police came to our house and said that they had caught a “barrio young delinquent” who was riding one of these very unusual fancy bikes throughout our blue-collar urban development (“urbanizacion”) and the adjacent poor-rural neighborhood, and that alerted them of something odd and amiss. They had been questioning (in PR that means "lightly" beating-up) him until he confessed to stealing these bikes from a (our) house. Hand-cuffed in the patrol car, he had directed the policemen to our house.

The police wanted my parents to press charges against them so they could lock him (and his collaborators) up, “as these hoodlums should”, they said. They didn't know they were talking to Professor Roger Martinez, who immediately said “hold your horses gentlemen! Bring him here, I want to talk to this kid”. My parents treated him with dignity and compassion! Dad offered him: “You like bikes? Then come to my workshop and I'll teach you"... Basically, my dad offered him to return the stolen bikes in exchange for coming daily for a few hours to his workshop and work with him in restoring the bikes!

This proved to be a true rehabilitation via compassion and trust! He did NOT disappoint my father!! He came through for my dad: the bikes were restored, he became an avid “student” and friend of my dad, and he also became a cyclist, later competing in local races in the sport. As a by-product, the word spread thru the neighborhoods, and our house (and family) was deemed a "sanctuary" protected from any "harm" from crime.

An act and leap of FAITH results in a win-win situation! :-) Compassion will never let you down!! It is thru this type of teach-by-example at HOME education I received from my parents, that I learned more of the values of Love, Peace, Truth, Non-Violence and Right Conduct... than from any other religious institution or church! In gratitude: Happy Birthday Mom (Feb 3rd) and Dad (RIP, Feb 15th)!!

Om Sai Ram. Namaste <3

"Knocked Down"

Since my last post in December much has happened, that I've manifested in some way or another.... many lessons were received & learned.

When I fell down and got a concussion and subsequent black-eye, it completely stopped my momentum. It forced me to rest, introspect, lay low... I could barely think straight for several days afterwards. HEADACHE! All this in the middle of the Christmas holiday season and year-end of 2011, which was a very "struggling" year in every way for me.

So it seemed fitting to end the year looking like a boxing fighter all bruised-up after an arduous fight. The physical body displaying & reflecting the inner work! But also, the most important lesson I received from that head injury was that it forced me to get OFF my brain and drop into my heart-mind! "Don't THINK so much!" Knocked down but not knocked out... get right back up as I've always done; but SLOW DOWN and LET IT BE.

I also think that some karmic effect was involved too, of course. Back in my early 20's when I was in 2 consecutive abusive marriages, there were several instances when I sustained serious punches (contusions & bruises) all over my body & legs, but never did I receive a direct fist-punch to my face nor a black-eye. (Which also made it easier for me/him to hide the abuse incidents' markers). So, now I've finally cleared any possible karma linked to having a black-eye, that I had avoided all those years back...  AND, I received more "dying" and detachment of the EGO linked to my physical appearance. Black Eye: checked!

As always, being on an awakened spiritual path of service to others does NOT mean that you will have a smooth-sailing obstacle-free life. But what it does is CHANGE how YOU react & perceive the hardships thrown your way. Free of emotional drama & victimization! Seeing it all like pieces in a game of chess, from a higher perspective, with COMPASSION & (self) LOVE.
Lesson learned! Amen