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January-March, 2017

Gratitude for My Friend

by Rev. Peggy Rivera, O.M.C.

I love this time of year. The weather has cooled off a little bit. Even though I live in Florida, we still get a break from the extremely warm temperatures of July through September. And at Thanksgiving time, I am always reminded to pay attention to the things I am so grateful for, even if sometimes we lose the very things and people we love.

This is the time of year that we reflect over the past year and acknowledge all that we have learned. Some people really struggle during the holidays because it is a reminder of the people that are no longer with them. This year we lost a wonderful and lovely friend, she was my teacher for the Pathways of Light 900 courses, Linda Wisniewski. I loved her dearly and I will miss her tremendously and I know everyone who knew her feels like I do. Her light could brighten a room. It is no wonder that she left us during this time of thanksgiving. Because she is such a light that anyone who shared time with her would find themselves inspired by her, and grateful for the opportunity to know her. I am so thankful she came into my life. She was a wonderful teacher, she was so loving and kind. She never failed to let you know she was happy to even hear your voice.

Linda really taught me about loving unconditionally. She often laughed and said “no guilt, I’m innocent.” She really brought home what it means to be non-judgmental. She reminded me that God doesn’t judge, we do. But that is also why we are here, learning to accept everyone as they are because we are all one.

Sometimes I think I have gotten past something that I held a grievance over and I will feel really good about myself, thinking I have really come far. Then something will trigger an old feeling and suddenly I think, “Whoa, what happened there?” I have learned that often times there are layers to my feelings. And I realize that when I have been triggered, it is another opportunity to heal at an even deeper level.

Our emotions are like diamonds. They have many facets. For the diamond to really sparkle, you have to clean all the facets. This doesn’t mean you have to dwell on old feelings and keep them alive; it just means you can acknowledge them so you can understand and heal.

Living with buried feelings really does keep you imprisoned, but looking at them and shining them off sets you free. This is because if you don’t look at them, the tendency is to bury them and keep acting out from that place. If you don’t want to live in the past, you have to set it free.

We do that by looking at how the emotions have created patterns that keep repeating themselves throughout our life. Then we ask Holy Spirit to show us how to see differently. This is how we really heal — we see what needed to be learned in this earthly sojourn. Every time we allow ourselves to really look at what lies beneath the surface, we gain clarity and the ability to love deeper than we did before. We realize there is really no need to forgive anyone because what we have experienced is an illusion that we created that actually brought a deeper healing.

With all this said, I feel so happy to have had the people in my life that have been my teachers, some taught me through very painful experiences and others, like my beloved Linda, taught me through more love, more understanding and more kindness. And even though I will miss her physical presence, I know she is one of the guiding stars that will forever be near, guiding me and all of us who need her.

Thank you Linda for being my teacher, and thank you God for bringing us together.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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