1. Introduction to Wisdom From Strangers©
WISDOM FROM STRANGERS©
by Verónica Muñoz
Introduction
It is so easy to go through life without really taking the time to stop for a brief second to regain awareness of the many miraculous encounters we face on each and every single day of our lives.
We tend to live such fast-paced lives than many of the lessons to be learned go unseen by our blind eyes which seem so heavily occupied wandering over the wrong stuff. Our vision is focused and trapped by the great bombardment of advertisers, ad campaigns, fashion media, external appearances and belongings and other non-transcendental temporary things that we fail to notice the very messages being delivered to us as we walk through the path of our daily lives.
I too used to be that way: running around all day, responding to the watch and timetables not always considerate of my own needs and of those of others. One day, I realized that I was missing so much of the magical wisdom available to any of us willing to stop and pay attention to what is around us... So that very day, I changed my focus. I decided for once to give up on trying to fit in with the rules of society and the trends of the masses to embrace with pride and honor my own uniqueness and individuality. Now you might be wondering how could have that simple change of perspective improve my life so much... It is indeed very subtle and simple yet it actually changes it all. The moment you stop pretending to be somebody you're not in order to embrace who you truly are, there is a shift of energy within you which spreads all around you. This energy, also known as aura, is your life-force charge. Just like a battery, we can be running low or high on our energy, to the degree that we are pursuing our own truth and individuality. So, what I found was that the more I cherished my unique personality and character, the higher my life-force and magnetic powers became. In this way, I started to feel as if I were literally a large giant of white energy walking around and spreading that gift all around. Just simply being myself, and letting that energy be shared and poured into the world fearlessly and selflessly brought about many very positive things to my existence.
One of the things that happened as I became more aware of my steps through this life was how each of my actions were powerful speakers of who I really am. It does not much matter as much what we say but what we do in the long run. Our chosen path of actions is what tells all the stories and talks openly about the content of our hearts. Even we are reserved and silent in terms of our feeling and beliefs, our actions will always reveal what we are trying to hide. Now for many this might seem a somewhat threatening thing to find out. However, to me it became a powerful tool for individual and social transformation. I realized that each of my actions traveled freely through the web of society and would kindly speak to certain receptive hearts. In this way, a particular action could speak truth to somebody who needs to reconnect with something they are denying within or trying to avoid dealing with. Now the response caused as a result of our path of action can be quite challenging at times. Our actions can bring somebody to tears, make them laugh out loud but also make them angry and mad. So we have to be prepared to manage the energy that is sent back to us and learn to take what is ours and let others take what is theirs and is for them to figure out.
Observing how all this ping pong of actions works in life takes years of mastering and even then there are not rules to play this game of life. So we go about freely being while others do the same with their lives... One day, we realize that something that is bothering us from others might be the very lesson we need to learn at that perfect time. So we notice that this apparently naive game contains much teachings and endless lessons hidden in the diverse patterns presented along our path. We realize that all our actions are mirrors where others can also see a part of themselves reflected in us and vice versa and we truly can see that we are mirrors to and of one another. We are both: students and the teachers at the same time. We are all carriers, givers and receivers of an incredible supply of wisdom which we must learn how to dynamically share if we are to excel at this game called life.
Years of trying to learn the rules and laws governing this simple yet complex art and game brought me to an incredible inner awareness of what things I am bringing into the world at any given moment as well as of those things which other people are giving as signs or messages to me or to society. I guess is very much like learning how to read and write. It takes a long time to master this skill and once we know it, we can't believe that at one point in our lives we just could not even differentiate the unique importance of each letter of the alphabet, of each syllable of each vowel and consonant in producing a word and then a phrase. In this very same way, I invested many years learning to interpret and understand the letters and words coming from nature, from the universe, reading the language of the animals, comprehending the idioms of certain people and the sentences delivered by some temporary passers by as well as by some long-term friends bringing teachings to my daily life.
Like any form of art the more I perfected my ability to pay attention and not miss the most single detailed or sound coming from a stranger, the more I could gain from each subtle yet transcendental interaction with those people crossing my path. At first I thought that this would just be a temporary learning experience freely being poured by the universe... It did not take long after gaining confidence in my willingness to give and receive the hidden meanings and lessons disguised in all various conversations and interactions that this art became my most important hobby. I began to feel fascination and great joy whenever observing how perfectly arranged certain pieces of information were as they were carefully placed right in front of my eyes for me to apply it to my present set of circumstances... Pretty soon, I started trying to figure out how could a stranger know so many details of my circumstances to be able to articulate in such incredible way a piece of advice which my heart so badly needed to hear at that exact point and time. I soon became aware that all this was the most magical intertwined evolving webbing process ever imagined. There had to be some perfect spiritual force backing up this otherwise, humanly impossible masterpiece of dynamically evolving and self-governing intercommunication amongst people, species, weather patterns and everything that surrounds us at any given moment of our present life condition.
This hobby soon transformed itself into a powerful passion and I found myself developing tuned ears which would not miss a sound, perfect sight which would not miss a single sign or gesture coming from anything or anyone: human or non-human being. I also developed a sharp sixth sense guided by the powerful force of my intuition to show me the way I was to take in between crowds, or which direction to go whenever I would find myself opening my path and walking amongst others. I learned to trust this, because time proved to me that when I would let my steps be led by my heart, they would take me to the places which were somehow very significant to me at the time and to encounter the people who had something important to deliver to my life.
In due time, I realized that the messages did not always come clear and it took a lot of inner work on my part to glue all the pieces together and connect all the clues in order to gather all the hints given by the universe and the various strangers and also friends for the very purpose of figuring out the true message conveyed by such incredibly amazing masterpiece of synchronicities.
Before long, I was involved in finding all the clues and pieces that would gradually help me put together all the missing ends of my puzzle. I have also learned that this puzzle is not such an easy and simple one to solve as the ones one can purchase in stores made of cardboard and containing a limited amount of pieces all provided in a box. Not at all! This particular one was an ever evolving puzzle, a fascinating piece of art with infinite twists and rainbows of colors of the most intricate and diverse colors, shape and size. I resisted having to play with it for a while when I realized how hard it was going to become to ever put it all together... until one day after several years of frustration I came to the conclusion that I had been missing the point all along... The fun of this whole game was in the daily process of putting all those pieces together and in the everyday process of also sharing those leftover pieces which were of no use to our already solved individual puzzle with others. I realized that each person was entitled to a mini puzzle of their own and each of those puzzles formed a universal puzzle of all the ones belonging to all people, species and planets, wonderfully combined.
Seeing this was overwhelming to say the list, but on the other had it brought meaning to the game and it gave me a reason to want to do my best at building my own puzzle with all the right pieces and of trying hard to share what I had come up with others so far in order to help them solve their puzzles too. So upon realizing this, I decided that instead of always trying to grab the first thing that came my way, I was going to concentrate more in giving, in freely sharing my pieces, my so far revealed designs of pieces that had come my way. I really wanted to help others solve their puzzles and get enjoyment out of that. This in turn, ironically enough, would also help me solve the totality of my own puzzle.
Suddenly, the minute I started doing this, I realized that people began to be more open in sharing their own puzzles, their own little hints and pieces of information. Even the animals upon my acknowledging them would deliver me little signs here and there. I realized that the more I was willing to share and give the more I would receive and the more we could all make sense out of each other's puzzles and start somehow building a massive common one. And this did not apply just to people. I soon found out that I was being driven to open a certain book in a particular page which had something powerful to speak to my heart and which could help me figure out something else in terms of putting together my puzzle. In other words, the hints could come from just about anybody, any being, thing, object, line of thought or action. So if I wanted to master this game I had to become fully alert!
Learning to understand and abide by the incredibly transcendental rules of this game taught me so much. This passion helped me redefine the way I was going about living my life. It gave further meaning to my days and my actions and it helped me to pay considerate attention to the words that came out of my mouth and the sound that came into my ears. I became more of an acute listener and speaker and I developed this eager ecstacy when getting up. I realized that each day I was to be a faithful deliverer and also an attentive reader and receiver of other people's messages. As I dived more and more into the dynamic flow of this powerful art I learned to watch the endless lessons and learn from all the wisdom coming from strangers. This made everybody commonly equal to my eyes. The truth, the lesson could be coming from anybody, from anywhere at any time and if I wanted to receive them I needed to pay equal attention to all and treat everybody and everything coming across my path with the most sublime respect and compassion; seeing them as divine and sacred.
Years of making a transition to live up to this new way of seeing life, rewarded me with a great amount of free information and incredible wisdom given to me at the precise moment when I needed a certain piece of advice the most. As I would have a certain doubt, problem, idea, concern wandering wild in my mind; somehow the universe would arrange for me to meet somebody along my walk to share with me some essential part of his life puzzle and experience which would prove to be a great asset to my present situation, or a piece of advertisement would give me a clue to something I could not figure out. Things would carry special meanings which would powerfully speak to me.
Another thing I realized after many years of seeing this work so accurately and magically being put into action was that a particular synchronicity which would produce a certain encounter or event or clash of information could be tracked back many years. This became another fascinating aspect of my learning process as I kept researching the magical ways of the spirit. I realized that after meeting somebody with whom I was supposed to share a very important task or project which had started in my mind as a very tiny seed planted several years back, I would discovered that this person had also gone through a similar process and in a way had sown a similar seed as I had around the same time. This threw more light into my suspected belief that we all share the great mass of consciousness the same as we share the same air we breathe each day; and in so doing, we all interact with all beings and things around us.
At that moment, I could see that when and idea is born or a dream is born very likely this idea flies freely and is sent all around the big universal consciousness where those with similar ideas, feeling, beliefs, needs can be tapped into and may be attracted to access those same ideas. In this way when we are being pulled in one direction or towards pursuing a certain thing, it could be related to a very powerful force acting as a magnet drawing us to tune in with a certain idea already existing in the great shared spirit all around us. We can all tap in all the contents at will but we need to be alert, calm, grounded within in order to listen and very finely tuned to follow each step through without misinterpreting or self-creating messengers and messages.
When we do and prove to the universe our willingness to pursue this all the way through, many times a magnetic field is created amongst those who have tuned into the game and who have decided to devote themselves to water a certain seed. These beings could be in totally opposite ends of the world. Yet the magnetic field becomes gradually so strong as each being advances in pursuing that particular idea that gradually each one of them is magically and divinely pulled by very subtle circumstances of their lives which at the time may seem quite disconnected from the main aim, yet they are perfectly arranged by a divine force pulling them to respond, so that eventually this beings find themselves face to face and in the end and meet or end up joining forces in solving each other's puzzles as they both work together. When this happens it seems as if was in front of a miracle, yet these miracles have their roots planted way in the bottom of these people's hearts and hidden under the blind faith of each of the individuals to respond loyally to that magnetic Norge calling them in whichever particular direction was which made all this apparently coincidental encounter possible. When one starts seeing all these various things working simultaneously across the web of the globe, it becomes an overwhelming yet fascinating play of divine love and live energy.
My first-hand experience of getting deeply involved in playing this fascinating and magical game is what brought me to write Wisdom From Strangers. This book is nothing but a compilation of all the stories of the various encounters and events which brought infinite wisdom messengers and messages into my life.
By sharing all this with you I really hope to inspire to see all your future encounters and your approach to receiving events and people, specially strangers, under a totally new life. I hope that it entices you into becoming a very alert and aware person struggling at all time to decode the infinite and most sacred meanings and lessons behind each person and thing which comes your way. And I hope that just as I do, you get infinite pleasure out perfecting and mastering the rules of this game. My only advice is to be always on guard because the messengers and messages come dressed up in the most surprising disguises. So get ready and enjoy the journey along this crowded highway of people, objects, being and unexpected synchronous encounters!
I'll start this by quoting some very wise things from two amazing teachers:
"Your act may be very small, it may seem
insignificant but it is very important that you do it"
Ghandi
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has."
Margare Mead
Very frequently I find myself feeling overwhelmed by all the problems in the world and my endless desire to make things better. As I have walked along my own journey of self-realization and continue to reconnect to the sprit that speaks within and as I try to adjust my practical everyday actions accordingly I have become more and more sensitive to what goes on around me. Specially I find myself often hurting as a result of seeing all the pain, injustice, wars, conflicts which surround us in today's society.
My initial impulse is to try to solve it all, to find a magic solution to end all the pain and to bring permanent peace and love to the planet... I guess this is my ego which arbitrarily gets on the way and tries to make me believe that somehow, if I make big enough an effort, I can be the savior of the world or something like that. I can see the silliness and naivety of thinking that beyond being aware of all this and letting it all pass the rest is a major ego trip that would entail thinking and believing that I have full control of the world.
Well, my spirit within knows better than that and clearly tells me that I am not responsible for it all, that I do not have to save the entire universe and carry all the weight of our present problems and sad state of affairs on my back. So guided by its guidance I have developed a new approach where when I feel the pain coming from something from the outside I think I should be controlling or helping out and I start feeling that sense of being totally overwhelmed by not being able to hold it all in my arms and solve it all myself, I just take a deep breath and tell my self: "Let go, see it all come, pass by you and let it go... " This does not make the external problem go away per se but it does seem to bring some magic relief to my constant need to have to get involved in everything and pursue an endless trip to achieve my human perfection and attain some form of sainthood.
Now, although this formula seems to work quite well when I manage to apply it right at the very moment when my uncomfortable thoughts invade me, I still find myself being attacked by other thoughts which fly in telling me that then I should just not bother doing anything at all, since the great majority of the people seem not to bother doing anything at all about all the conflicts and suffering either... So the train of thought is: "If nobody cares or does anything at all, why should I bother? What different will I make? I might as well be ruthless to it all and continue my days without giving much conscious thought to any of the actions I engage in..."
Mother Teresa again has a very wise phrase to bring some light to this issue:
"The act itself is not as important as the spirit in which you do it"
The truth of the matter according to what I hear when I reach that pure state of silence where at times we manage to reach some hints of wisdom is that it does matter. And although no one person per se can be the savior of all to put an end to all tragedies and to solve all the problems of the world, the joint-efforts of all individuals doing their best in whatever area they think they can contribute does end up contributing and helping towards building a better world and easing the problems of our times. So the idea is that I do not have to carry all the burden myself, because we are all one of the same. We are all part of the One; and each and everyone of us can help by doing whatever little act of kindness or gesture of love or little help they can contribute with. And each of these actions together is what makes the difference and can make miracles happen in the long run.
This new outlook at my previous sense of overwhelming desperation in the eyes of what I was seeing has given me further insights. First of all, it's given me a sense of deep compassion towards all beings. Before I used to be overtaken by thoughts of self-importance telling me that perhaps I was the only one caring as if all others did not care. Now having recognized and fully acknowledged my own human imperfection and incapacity of solving it all has granted me the compassion to see and recognize that same thing in others. That is to say, now I have been blessed with a feeling of compassion for all humanity, a feeling which tells me that we all do care, that we all do suffer and that we all do the very best we can to the best of our knowledge.
Contrary to what I used to think, I have some to the realization that we all do have that feeling that our best might sometimes not be good enough and that we could always be doing more... Now I know that not all other beings for that matter necessarily have to take care of the same issues I do. Perhaps, I can take care from my own personal perspective and life in dealing -to the best of my ability- with issues related to living a cruelty-free life within my reach of possibilities while somebody else might not care at all or have time to dedicate towards that particular issue but that person might happen to be very committed to relieving hunger in the world or taking some other course of action which can be making a small yet big difference for the better. It could be something very mundane and simple yet essential, such as: smiling to everyone and spreading happiness... So, I do not judge myself or others anymore. Now I can see that we all help; each of us individually could not do it but all of us together, each doing his/her best, can make all the difference in the world!
The other important insight I had is that even if we do not find ourselves practically engaging in all aspects of service or community action to our heart's desire that we would wish to be involved in, even the mere act of spiritually wishing and intending for certain things or for all problems to be alleviated somehow has an incredible positive impact and force on the overall loving consciousness of the globe. So, I can now find myself more at peace thinking that if at times I am not getting anything practically done in terms of actions which engage me in physical help I can know that my prayers and my pure intentions for the best do indeed make a big difference. And the power of this intent gets multiplied when I think of so many other people who might also be intending or wising and sending good energy to alleviate problems in the world as well. So, in the end, we are all givers. We are all healers and we are all responsible which in turn means that we all do count immensely. It is just that it is not just one single individual the one responsible for dealing with it all.
I also used to get discouraged by the fact that no all my actions which were carried with good intentions and my ways of treating others were always appreciated or corresponded accordingly. On the contrary, often I would find that I was feeling hurt by people disappointing me or letting me down. This pushed me to further examine the nature of my feelings to realize that I was giving or doing things expecting something in return. The minute I was able to disengage from the outcome of my actions I found that expecting nothing out of everything made it easy to reap everything out of pure nothingness. All of a sudden, the fact that I had no expectations at all, made it much easier to understand and respect other people's responses. I also realized that the solution was not to treat others as they would treat me but to always be faithful to my heart and pure soul and still treat with love and respect others in spite of the fact that they had not shown any respect towards me in the first place.
Now many others, would tell me that I was being silly to go this far and that once another person is not showing respect or consideration one should pull away or react accordingly. But something in me still would tell me to be loving, compassionate and nice. To my surprise my corresponding other people's not so lovingly-seeming reactions -ironically enough- brought others to gradually reconsider their path of action and treat me as a human being with decency and respect. So I guess we can all make some difference and cause positive changes which can be magically brought about by each and everyone of us in our daily interactions.
This devotion and commitment to always voting for love can make a big difference as well. This made me start to be very aware of treating all in an equally loving way regardless of how they would treat me. I am very happy I did realize this because now I do not suffer in front of an unfair comment. On the contrary, I just send further love until I reap more love and if I don't, I still imagine the bottom intention as springing from a source of pure love.
So I can allow myself to act treat, behave and give as per my heart's mandate independently of what responses I find in the outside world and that makes all the difference in my individual feeling that I am giving and being my best or at least the best I can at any given time in this ongoing journey which never ends.
So I would finish by saying that it is true that in my personal opinion I do feel that we can never give enough. However, on the other hand, we can surely always give more. And this willingness to give more and expand our horizons, little as it might seem, does count and makes all the difference in the big human and spiritual collage and loving pot of ever- evolving collage called: life.
As it was wisely expressed by another teacher:
"None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love."
So if you need extra help when feeling that what you do it not enough or worth doing read this poem by Mother Teresa and think twice, you might want to reconsider and vote for love and action!
Do It
Anyway
~~~
People are often unreasonable, illogical,
and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone
could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Written By Mother Teresa