(Fifth in the Series of “I Had a Dream”)
By: Prof. Janet R. Valdez, PhD, FRIEDr
(OIC College President-Bulacan Polytechnic College, School Year 2023-2024)
Before my 61st birthday, I received a call from an academic institution inviting me to join their roster. Being immersed for almost a year at the missioned institution, I thought of it as a good alternative for professional growth. My time and energy were already being exhausted in micro-management. While I tried all opportunities to bring my colleagues to a higher ground, I found myself being pulled down for whatever reason; thus, leaving me with no time for my career advancement. It was way past the two months I was promised to wait; so, I could already sense the truth to what my advisers, present and past presidents from prestigious colleges and universities, used to tell me that I don’t have to continue with my situation. The reasons for their solicited pieces of advice…diversified!
God’s ever presence in my life was so vivid and this time, He had me cornered to make another life-changing decision. Move out from the mission! I already sacrificed enough as an ‘eye opener’ and made drastic changes as ‘game changer.’ Thus after my 61st birthday, I had to end a chapter and start a new one!
Then, God rewarded me with a respite from the challenges, He gave me an opportunity to train as a trainor and to rejuvenate spiritually. It was an all-expense paid training for nine (9) days in Bangkok, Thailand!
The nine (9) days was short of a dream escapade. The eleven-storey hotel is situated in the city which is a 30-minute drive from the Suvarnabhumi Airport. Daily breakfast and lunch were served almost monotonously while dinner was an outdoor adventure for Thai cuisine. Fortunately, I was roomed with a graceful historian and veteran professor from a local university in Metro Manila whose life is full of stories to tell. Aside from her, it was an honor and a great blessing to be listening to the intellect and wisdom of one of the most respected past presidents of a polytechnic university of the Philippines. Of course, I was with the delegation of my husband’s best friend and his wife whose missionary life since college years was unquestionable. His international missionary life of struggles and successes and contentment inspired me to join in his endeavors. His sacrifices were obviously rewarded with a beautiful family and highly-spiritual life. More than these, I was with other selected trainors from different Asian countries being prepared to take a global work for peace. The mantra was “one family under God, one family at a time.”
Days at the training were filled with knowledge and conceptual framework of the Blessing Movement, as well as, the programs, plans of actions, and activities from different countries in Asia-Pacific. Plans for intense campaign were shared in time for another momentous event. There was a realization of including family activities, starting with the youth as individuals, in the plans for peace and character formation. Discussions tackled discrepancies and resolved through finding common grounds. The daily activities wrapped up and found meaning in the words of wisdom from the ever-ready Chairman, who incidentally is the Grand Chancellor of an internationally-accredited royal institution based in Singapore.
The most powerful activity was the Diligence Mindfulness Meditation Training conducted by the Buddhasart Training Center in Chonburi, Thailand. The one-day crash training aims for one to live a happy and successful life which starts with an understanding that the subject is ‘I’, mind; while, the object is the body. On the other hand, the feeling is mere adjective. Therefore, the ‘I’, mind and the body are separate.
What it tries to teach is that the mind or the ‘I’ can dictate what the body can do. “I control my body.” Whether or not the body does an action depends on what the mind or ‘I’ tells it to do. Actions of the body are controlled by the mind or the ’I’. An example is breathing. The mind, ‘I’ controls breathing. I can breathe in and pause, and breathe out and pause. All actions are decisions of the mind which I can control; thus, to have a happy or unhappy life is a choice.
Inversely though, the body and feeling are not separate. One can feel whatever the body experiences. When the body necessitates food, the stomach aches and clamors to quench the hunger. When a hand gets burned, the body feels the pain of burning and the mind dictates to find the solution to ease the feeling of pain.
Wisdom is excellence and excellence is 100%. Wisdom (optimism, +) and junk (pessimism, -) equal 100%. Therefore, if you want more wisdom (+), you have to lessen the junk (-). More wisdom, less junk; less wisdom, more junk. If one aspires to live a happy and successful life, he has to have 100% wisdom (+) and 0% junk (-). To achieve this, there is a need to learn the science of meditation (breathing in and breathing out properly). You have to breathe in (the wisdom) and breathe out (the junk) until the negative (the junk) disappears; then, you can think and recreate yourself. I did it with much satisfaction!
By and large, the training made an ideal venue for personal reflections and future plans. The outside serenity and the internal peace were a sanctuary of God’s gift of peace, love, and blessing. I could feel that clarity of mind, the goodness of heart, and the strength of character once again. By the way, the prayer was passed on to me by the distinguished late publisher of Mabuhay. It armored me to continue with life as an instrument of extending God’s goodness and blessings to others.
Finally, I can say that I can control my body! I can end my sacrifices which I do not deserve! I can choose the people I would like to work with! I can get out of toxicity;- out from those who infect the entire socio-ecosystem.
As a choice, I can be an instrument of God’s peace, a new civilization where love reigns with one family under God, one family at a time. Aju!
