eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504330886 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Balboa Press |
| Publication date: | 08/14/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 138 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Octavio E. Malgueiro is the principal/owner of Malgueiro, Inc., a design and build resource boutique for the most unique and exclusive client-The Visionary. His talent for delivering a human emotion toward the end result of each one of his clients has definitely established a new spectrum for business today.
Read an Excerpt
The Orchestra and Its Maestro
Healing from Within
By Octavio E. Malgueiro
Balboa Press
Copyright © 2015 Octavio E. MalgueiroAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5043-3089-3
CHAPTER 1
THE CHILD
I look back to my early years when there wasn't a single thought of fear, regret, shame or weakness. This was a time when everything just seemed possible; without any limits. It was a time when I surrendered all my thoughts to imagination, from a stone I would be able to transform it into a companion at play, a toy, a tool, a precious and significant piece of jewelry. No one was to tell me otherwise. All I was required to do was to believe and it was so. I was never alone, never in doubt, never scared. This small four year old imagination took me to lands never before explored, where I fearlessly thought of myself as nothing less than magnificent.
This was a child that felt amazingly beautiful around people, to be recognized on the street by everyone in town as a cheerful and happy little boy, a dreamer, a visionary, a true believer that there really was no such thing as evil and inhumane attitudes by others around him. This Child believed that there was always goodness in everyone, regardless of what was perceived and told by others. The world that this child so profoundly believed came to be as he grew in age and in Faith. He felt proud of his achievements as was expected by all that surrounded him. He was taught to listen to his elders, respect his peers, and keep faithful to his dreams.
Throughout these years I was living the true essence of my life. I was scared of making mistakes or disappointing my parents, but never in fear of what I did not know or expect to come. I never allowed such feelings to enter, because I had the profound belief that I was being guided by something much stronger than all, by an internal source that would be protecting me from all anxiety and feelings of awkwardness. I felt true to my being, my purpose was clear. I was to help others achieve self realization as I did. I would constantly release myself from any negative thoughts and dreamed and imagined myself in places that would fill my heart with abundance. I trusted my inner calling to be a good boy, never disrespect my parents or anyone older than me for that fact. I was taught to believe that God had his hand in all that happened to us, there were no such things as coincidences, only true alignments with the paths that had already been predefined by a higher energy, even before we were all put in this physical world.
From the most basic things I was able to achieve a level of thought that really brought happiness into my life. I felt safe, strong, and always ready. I always felt that I was a bit different from all the boys my age, never really thought of this as a good thing or a bad thing, just different. As time passed, I became aware that the people around us, the people we play with, have great influence on what you start to believe and dream. You begin to have the same needs as those around you, not because it is part of your essence to need such things, but because everyone else is in need. You don't want to be different anymore, it is not normal.
As I grow older, I learn to feel scared, I learn to feel doubt, I learn to challenge my thoughts, and at times even ridicule my very own state of imagination. I begin to question my purpose for being here, and to question what place I have in society. I begin to worry about how people will see me. Will they see me as being weak or strong? I prayed for guidance as I was taught, but also began to challenge all my inner responses to my prayers. I felt that if I was to live by some acceptable social guidelines, then all would begin to take shape, I would find my spot and my purpose.
I began to experience new feelings of resentfulness and doubt. I was indeed like everyone else. Was this really what I was to become, just another pun on society's chess board? Frustration began to arise from within. I was never popular enough amongst my friends, I was not the strongest athlete, and I was no longer enthusiastically creating magic amongst the crowds that surrounded me. This little boy started to feel lost, hopeless and scared. He started to live a life that was no longer his. He gained popularity within the crowd, but began to lose sight of his essential self and inner strengths. He lost the true belief that his thoughts are capable to manifest anything he desires through feelings and through the alignment with his faith.
Society has taught this child, who was created by the purest essence of its source, that he was now a Boy, no more room for childish things. All of those who surrounded him directed him to feel guilty whenever he did something wrong. He was taught that he was to be punished if he wasn't regretful and asked for forgiveness. It was just the way it was, no explanations given. It has been this way for generations and generations. Who made up all these social rules? Was it you? Was it me? What is a boy to believe in? His thinking patterns begin to illustrate thoughts of anxiety, frustration, and fear. Not really living by the essential beliefs that he once created for himself as a baby and child, he just begins to believe and trust that everything is as it should be, because everyone else says so. Why then is this Now Boy feeling fearful and scared at an event of disappointing his parents, brothers, and friends.
Every Sunday, I, now a boy, attended Sunday school, where my friends and I were all put together into a small group to hear the word of the Lord. It sure was fun to listen to stories of how God created the world and all of its creatures. We learned that we were all created in His very own image, meaning that we all carried a bit of God in our hearts. We also learned that God is Love. So every time we have that tingly feeling of happiness and Joy, that's just God giving us a good pat on the back. Then I began to wonder, If God is in us, and God is Love, why then do we feel sad sometimes? Where is God to hold us tight and give us that fearless assurance that all will be alright. Well, all of those people teaching us Sunday school have also taught us that if we sin, we shall be punished. What is a Child to think? Why is God constantly punishing me? Does He not Love me anymore?
Along with all the stories about the Creation and our Creator, comes a set of rules, prayers, mantras that we must all memorize for our First Communion. As a boy I always believed that if I was good to my friends, they would also be good to me. If I did well, I would be rewarded and my parents would be happy. If my parents were happy, then I too was happy right? Well, that wasn't always the case. Every time I was out riding the stream of my imagination, living the dream that I was imagining whole heartedly, I was told to grow up and quickly, because life was hard, and if you didn't feel it hard, then you weren't fulfilling the needs that society had imposed on you as being the rules for a successful person. So all this Child wanted was to grow up quickly enough so that he may understand his surroundings, understand that fear was a part of life and we all needed to be strong, the stronger the better.
As the years go by, this boy feels the need to compete, to be better than his friend, to be looked upon for advice, and this makes him feel really good. Now was this just God giving him a good pat on the back? Was this that feeling of Love that unconsciously took over our essence as infants? It seemed that success, achievements was a synonym for Happiness, even if it meant that someone else had to lose so that you could become the winner. As boys we were taught to laugh at the loser, laugh not just at their failure to win, but also laugh at their weaknesses. It was part of the social rule that we all had learned together. Everything just simply seemed one large contradiction, but no one really opposed this system of belief, at least not until we were taught to start believing that we too create rules of our own. We are the authors of our thoughts and creators of all of our intentions.
Even though this child has the inner belief that he is able to manifest all of his dreams, he fears making mistakes, disappointing those that also believe and expect the world of him. This child was slowly being molded into his culture's expectations of a boy his age; play and obey all the rules; go to Sunday school like all the others kids; memorize a few different prayers of gratitude; learn to respect everyone older because they were supposed to be more experienced and wiser. All he really wanted was to be just like his father.
CHAPTER 2GROWING UP
We are all very familiar with a baby's first steps, the way their parents extend their arms out to give them the comfort and assurance that they will always be there to help them when they fall. We as parents teach our children that we are to be trusted at all times; don't do this, don't do that; but why - Because I said so. Well, to put it in a simple manner, we try to take full control of our children's lives.
I recall when I was a child; all I really wanted was to grow up fast so that I could be my very own self, not having to take orders from anyone, including my own parents. Though I do realize now that they have always given me the liberty to reach out to the things I wanted in life with much confidence and eagerness, parents always have the urge to overprotect their children. After all, Parents are more experience, and have gone through many hardships and successes in life, right? Well, not exactly. My parents would give me and my siblings examples of their own childhood, how difficult it was at times to make ends meet, but throughout all the struggles, they always managed to stay united as a family and lived a very happy childhood. What I realize now is that times have changed; we now live in a completely different world, different society all together. Each generation will have to adapt in their very unique way to the society in which they live in the moment. So parents, sorry to say, but you do not know everything. All we really need to do for our children is to teach them to imagine, have faith in their beliefs and always follow their dreams. We do not know exactly what path they should be taking for themselves, but sure enough their inner conscience and their own intuitions will guide them along the way. They will appreciate the idea that no matter what happens; your love for them is unconditional. That is really all a mother and father must do for their children. As a child I remember that I never needed to fear anything because no matter what decisions I would make in my life, my parents would be there to pull me up, guide me along the way, tell me when I was wrong. As the years passed, I met with different people, was introduced to different cultures, and was taught new technological advances. I soon realized that I was on my own. My parents could no longer help me, I was in a different world, living a different life, daily adapting to new environments and attitudes. At this point the only way they could help me was to believe in me and trust that I would learn from my failures. I was not in a position to expect any more out of them, simply because this was no longer their world, it was my world given to me to explore to the best of my abilities.
This Idea of being somewhat independent from my parents in thoughts and attitudes towards social needs has given me the sense of empowerment. I admit that there was many times where I felt that I was being forced to grow up quickly. I felt the need to see things for what they were or for what society wanted me to perceive them as. Life is supposed to be tough, I thought. If it were simple and easy, then I wasn't really giving it my best. I admit to have felt empowered at an achievement sought out as impossible to be attained. I loved the Idea of being seen as a successful student in high school and a promising child in the eyes of my parents and brothers. Even though it felt great to be thought of as a promising success, this created great anxiety and personal struggle. I never dealt very well with failure; it was like chopping off my legs, not allowing me to walk. I failed to realize that we could still dream and go on adventurous inner journeys of ours soul, and find the comfort within.
Throughout my teen years I recall struggling with the fact of not being clear about what it was that I truly loved to do. What in fact was I very good at? I really wanted to stand out from everybody, be great at something and rewarded for such accomplishments. The Ego in me was speaking loader than ever. I was never very tall, nor very athletic, but was always more inclined for the arts and other academic disciplines. Music was one of my passions; it was a way to escape the social weight imposed on me to be an academic success. I soon realized that my main struggles were always with my own self. I began taking control of these internal situations by simply saying to myself that I could simply achieve anything I really wanted if I truly studied it in depth, lived it, but above all believed it, leaving no space at all for thoughts of doubt. At this time in my life I didn't know what I was to become, so I decided I was going to become everything that I would put my mind to. I began to implement a self-disciplined mechanism for myself that would keep my thoughts and beliefs in perfect alignment with whatever I wanted to achieve at a specific moment. I also believed that if I excelled successively at all academic disciplines, I would then be able to open up as many doors as I wanted when applying for my post-secondary education. I worked hard throughout the school year to achieve honor roll status. My name would go up on a billboard for everyone at the school to see. This was a reality for me every consecutive year that I was in high school. I created my very own strategies to be self disciplined at completing various projects and also in preparation for final exams. I would manage my time skillfully and in order of importance. I would try to be as creative as possible with my responses to questions and challenges. People would begin to see me different. I was being looked up to, not because of my academic results, but for my attitude towards everyone. I challenged myself not to follow along the paths of everyone else, but to stand out for not doing so. I knew I was born to be different, I knew I had a good heart, I knew that I was put on this earth to make changes, people would recognize me for what I had achieved, but I struggled internally with the thought that I still hadn't found my true passion for something in specific.
The thought that everyone was noticed by their own unique dominant strengths really diminished the idea that I was ever very good at anything in specific. My only way out was to work hard at being good at everything and nothing in particular. This was the main cause of my personal frustrations. At this point I figured there was no other way out; I would have to prove myself to others for the rest of my life. Society taught us that we need to find a job after we finish our studies, find someone to love, get married, buy a house, have children. ... and then. ... give up your place to someone else to repeat the same cycle over and over again. It just didn't make any sense. I wanted to find love and cherish every moment that I was in love. I wanted to find someone whom I would be able to share all my inner fears and thoughts, that person would guide me whenever I was in need and would never let me forget the true essence of why I was put on this Earth. I needed to find someone who would love me unconditionally for who I was and not for what I had achieved. My egocentric self would tell me that in order for anyone to even consider looking at me, I would have to show them what I had attained and what I would be able to achieve further with all my determination. I began to doubt if I was able to live in this manner at all, If there was really someone out there that would consider being with someone like me, and accept me for what I was. I was having a hard time myself trying to define the person that I was, my strengths and weaknesses. I decided to leave it to God; I was not going to interfere any longer. I was going to work hard and concentrate on the achievements that I wanted for myself at any given moment. I cherished the feeling of success, but along this journey I had also encountered moments of disappointment. I recall that all moments of failure occurred at times where I was living from an ego state of mind. These were times when I would forget that there was a Divine Source living within, I would forget to express gratitude for all the fortunes that had been willingly put in front of me to use in essence with my creative self. I believed deep down that all things were possible as long as you creatively aligned yourself with the truths within. When my attitudes changed towards these creative beliefs, so did the outcome, resulting in failure.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Orchestra and Its Maestro by Octavio E. Malgueiro. Copyright © 2015 Octavio E. Malgueiro. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction, xi,Chapter 1 The child, 1,
Chapter 2 Growing up, 9,
Chapter 3 Love to live – live to love, 19,
Chapter 4 Hiding the truth within, 29,
Chapter 5 The devil in disguise, 45,
Chapter 6 Letting go of the ego, 55,
Chapter 7 Detachment, 65,
Chapter 8 Sustainability – a respect for nature, a respect for yourself, 73,
Chapter 9 Healing the mind, 81,
Chapter 10 Agape-unconditional love, 89,
Chapter 11 Hope & self realization, 97,
Chapter 12 The orchestra and its maestro, 109,
Afterword, 117,
Acknowledgments, 119,
About the author, 121,