Moments of crisis have a way of bringing our focus into stark relief. They get our attention. They force us to plumb our spiritual depths. They put on the brakes and make us look at what life is really all about.

Perhaps it is not this way for everyone, but that is how it has been for me. My “spiritual life” and my “working life” have always walked hand in hand. Even though there were times when one was more in the forefront than the other, they have always been like two sides of a coin, but my husband’s sudden passing changed everything. My spiritual hunger became the heavy end of the scale. It demanded my attention. It forced me to search my depths for what I needed.

Painful as it was, those times became immensely productive and fruitful. Thus, challenge became my friend. If ever I needed it, here was proof that all things do indeed come bearing a gift, if we will but look for it. The gift, then, was the growth I made, the inner blossoming that occurred as I worked my way through the pain and heartache into the sunlight that was patiently waiting for me on the other side of my grief.

So it was that even my most unwelcome of challenges brought answers I’d been seeking all my life, and that is why I believe that it can be so for all of us. Simple questions like “What can I learn from this?” create an open mind and an open heart so we can receive the answers that not only will ease our pain but give us the strength and courage to go on with our life, not as victims but as conquerors who found a way to triumph, even in life’’s most difficult of circumstances.

Donna Miesbach

I have been on a spiritual path all my life. I was first introduced to meditation when I was seventeen. I knew this was an important tool, but I wanted to go deeper than that particular method allowed, so my search began. I attended workshops and classes, read books and tried every form of meditation I could find, to no avail. Then in 1994, my life changed dramatically. My husband died very suddenly. Soon after that, I lost both parents, too. They say when the student is ready, the teacher appears. This student was certainly ready. About a year after my husband’s sudden death, I learned about Dr. Deepak Chopra and his teachings. It was like finding the light at the end of the tunnel. I took meditation training from Dr. Chopra and began attending his courses. They fed my deep roots and made such a difference in my life that I committed to being certified both in meditation and yoga so I could share these wonderful practices with others. I have studied with Deepak and also Roger Gabriel both here and in India. I also studied sound healing with Jonathan Goldman, and remote viewing with Dr. David Morehouse, having completed all five levels of his training. As my teaching became established, doors began opening that allowed me to teach meditation to at risk youth. Then another door opened and I found myself working with Playmakers Mentoring Foundation, a Sacramento-based outreach. Together with their Executive Director, we wrote a book and then opened a chapter here in Omaha. In addition to my work with Playmakers, I continue to teach meditation in the Omaha NE area, offering both private and group instruction. I also hold group meditations and programs five times a year, and speak to groups on various aspects of spirituality upon request.   It has been an amazing journey, one I never could have anticipated. I didn’t know it then, but I know now that it is possible to get to the other side of grief, and that is what my book, “From Grief to Joy, A Journey Back to Life & Living,” is all about.

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