Joining me today is mystic Greg Donner, who is a member of our Living Miracles community. He has found that healing experiences are the only thing that seems to bring meaning and feelings of life and wonder. In 2005 he discovered that a daily practice with the sound principles in A Course in Miracles helped to train his mind out of a sense of meaninglessness – and into his life’s calling.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story of how you decided to pursue this journey? What top 3 lessons can others learn from your story?
- I had a life-long struggle with depression and tried everything the world offers as solutions. I just plain got tired of spending time and money to get better. When I ran out of “normal” healing options and I was understanding on a deep level that nothing outside could help me, I began to open up to the idea that I did have a power inside that could help. It was not until this prayer of mine became more clear that I had received my answer in the form of A Course in Miracles, a discipline to train the mind to discover its power, and begin to take responsibility for the way I was feeling.
- Follow your heart! Even as a fairly young adult, I have learned that my teachers were always ones that spoke to me on a deeper level. I knew that they were teaching me about intuition, about accountability for your thoughts, that there is a purpose that is unseen, but supremely palpable and true. These teachers seemed to fall away once the teachings no longer resonated.
- I have been fortunate to stop what did not serve me; I changed majors when I was in college, I eliminated my work schedule when I had another commitment and life dream to fulfill, I took a sabbatical from my teaching position when I confronted the notion in my mind that this was not how I wanted my life to continue. I even questioned what I was as an “artist”… To truly follow our heart, I have a hunch that we must all face the fear of making a mistake, of going against some deeper beliefs we hold that are likely rooted in family or culture, and not in ourselves.
Can you tell me about the most inspiring miracle that has happened to you in the past year?
Arriving from Uruguay on a bus Saturday morning at 6 a.m. at the bus station in Buenos Aires, my wife and I are robbed and lose every single form of identification, money, credit cards… let me just say that I was left with a hat, and my jacket still on my back. The police officer had given us cash, they drove us to the locked apartment (no keys, no nothing. We stopped at a cafe which proceeded with free food and strangers giving us cash. The apartment locks were changed, we got new keys, and we let our host/friend know that we had a flight back to the U.S. on Tuesday morning, which left us only Monday between 9-3 to not only receive emergency passports, but Jenny also needed an emergency visa to enter the U.S., neither of which falls into the extreme category of receiving an emergency passport in 24 hours. 24 hours would be too late. A U.S. Visa usually takes several weeks!
There would be many paragraphs outlying the many miracles in order to share the bigger miracle of getting on that plane Tuesday morning, but it did happen. I can share that this major government organization and building operations had stayed open for an extra 2 hours that Monday in order to complete the emergency Visa for Swedish resident, Jenny, to be able to leave the country and come with me to the U.S. the next morning. Completely Miraculous!
None of us are able to navigate our spiritual journey without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
For me, the gratitude goes out to David Hoffmeister. The questions I have had are answered in a way that brings me back to my own desire and my own willingness, but with an allowance of the parts of me that are imperfect. I feel his genuine nature to rest and extend in innocence and this he offers to me and those I have witnessed in his presence. It’s delightful and beautiful to be around David and his example.
What are the 3 things that most inspire you about 2019 / this moment in time and why?
-They are not so much form things, but I’ve most recently had a feeling and a sense of Family I have all around the world as I travel and meet new friends.
-David Hoffmeister’s new book has come out just this past February called, This Moment Is Your Miracle. I feel this book is opening many hearts and is an answer to a deep prayer in this world of confusion and chaos.
-What’s most inspiring in this time period is that things like technology and psychology have provided enormous tools and context to deepen in an experience. We can use what’s available to us now to expand consciousness, rather than be entertained to make a comfortable and sleepy life.
Can you advise what is needed to engage more people in The Awakening / spiritual consciousness raising?
Ask yourself what you’d really want in your heart beyond the form or an external circumstance. Focus your attention on your mind and thoughts and focus less on the body and outcomes.
In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?
There’s a chapter in the new book, This Moment Is Your Miracle, called “Acceptance,” and this chapter brings to my mind the helpful habit of accepting the seeming conditions and environment and personality that I feel in my daily experience. We are extremely critical as humans go, and this criticism is a learned experience and I have found that opening in my mind to allow things and allow myself to experience what is happening with less and less judgment and more and more acceptance. The journey of Awakening has involved a deep and gradual allowance for things and myself to be as they are, there has been no benefit to judge and criticize myself or the ones around me.
Do you have a new book / app / project you’re working on or have recently launched? Please tell us more and include a link for our readers if possible!
In February 2019, the new book by David Hoffmeister, This Moment Is Your Miracle, Spiritual Tools to Transcend Fear and Experience the Power of the Present Moment was released. My marriage partner and I were directly involved with the compilation and editing of David’s teachings from the past 25 years. The book is a practical guide to experiencing the present moment miracle as described in A Course In Miracles. Each chapter describes different themes that include worksheets and self inquiry that help the reader delve deep into and release the blocks to love’s awareness. You can find the link to the new book here: https://davidhoffmeister.com/this-moment-is-your-miracle-book/
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can find information about me at https://www.facebook.com/greg.donner.7
More information about me my partner on her website at jennydonner.net