Learn Not to Take Life Personally

"How do we practice peace in a time when everyone else is preparing for war?” asks Dr. Alberto Villoldo. “How do we find inner stillness when there are so many things that require our attention?”

Dr. Villoldo suggests taking wisdom from the shamans of old, who engaged in practices for attaining inner peace. He boils their wisdom on this down to three concepts:

1. Don’t take it personally. “This seems like a simple idea,” he says, “but it is a complex practice. … When you no longer take life personally you are not holding anyone responsible for how you feel. You no longer need good things to happen so you can feel good, and you do not feel bad when things go sour.”

 

2. Deal with your stress, because stress exacts a toll. “I understand how difficult it is to not take life personally,” he explains, “because I know how our brains have been damaged by stress.” He adds that shamans were the first neuroscientists who discovered plants that upgrade the brain and repair the ravages of stress hormones.

 

3. Practice spiritual discipline. Once you deal with stress and begin to learn not to take life personally, Dr. Villoldo says, “Then you will discover how you can attain inner peace and stillness, and then the Universe will actually begin to conspire on your behalf and make your dreams come true.”

Read more about the shaman’s tools in the March issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine.

Celebrate the Diversity that Is March

Ahh, March. The start of spring, the season of renewal, the celebration of life. What other month celebrates so many diverse traditions and faiths?

Since 1987, people in the United States have celebrated March as Women’s History Month. But this is a month of celebration for many faiths, including the following:

March 1-19: A 19-day fast for members of the Baha'i Faith meant to reinvigorate the soul and bring you closer to God

March 8: Maha Shivaratri, a Hindu holiday that honors the deity Shiva

March 8: International Women’s Day

March 20: The Bahá’í New Year or Naw-Rúz, celebrated on the vernal equinox

March 20: Ostara/ Eostre, a celebration of the spring equinox by Pagans and Wiccans

March 23: Holi, a Hindu and Sikh spring religious festival celebrated by throwing colored powder at others

March 23: Magha Puja Day, a Buddhist holiday to pay respect to the Buddha

March 24: Purim, marking the time when the Jewish community living in Persia was saved from genocide

To learn more about these and a host of diverse celebrations, visit www.diversitybestpractices.com/2016-diversity-holidays.

Springtime Reborn

Divine Guidance
—Ernest Holmes

We believe that the Mind of God governs all things. We believe that God’s Intelligence in the midst of us is governing and guiding, counseling and advising, causing us to know what to do under every circumstance and at all times, if we will but trust it. Therefore, every seeming problem has a right solution, and we may turn to the infinite Knower for the answer. In our human ignorance, we often make unwise decisions, but there is nothing that God cannot set right, if we permit Him to do so.

If we will but take our personal problem to a high place in our consciousness, it will disappear as the answer to it takes its place. This is the way a problem is solved. We should know that there is nothing in us that can keep this from happening. …

Since the whole secret of Divine Guidance lies in the ability to accept it, today I affirm that I do accept it. I do believe that the Spirit goes before and prepares the way. I do know that every thought and act is governed and guided by a superior Intelligence. …

Always there is an inner, quiet, persistent confidence, a nonresistant but complete acceptance, an inward flowing with the stream of Life, knowing that It carries me safely and surely to my destination and to the accomplishment of every good purpose. This is Divine Guidance, and I surrender to it.

This is an excerpt from the March 20 entry in “365: Science of Mind,” written by spiritual visionary Dr. Ernest Holmes.