AGLN Blog

Sylvia Gereda Valenzuela, Central American Leadership Initiative CALI 1 

Journalist and PH. D. in Sociology and Political Science, Guatemala  

There, hidden in the most remote Costa Rican lands, among the smell of wet earth, gigantic flowers that look as if transplanted from another world, leafy trees moving to the beat of a warm wind that goes filling with dust the most remote and narrow roads. There, at the top of the earth lies the Blue Mountain, surrounded by clear rivers that flow with strength without any hurry.  

I didn't know exactly where I was going, my only two connections were a mail call that came in September by the Central American Leadership Initiative (CALI) that said in giant letters: "Save the Date: 13-16 February: "Heart Force", two simple words, powerful enough to move the foundations of my hectic daily life.  

The invitation fell like a ring to my finger. Just the week before, my husband Diego and I had inaugurated the 50’s, which undoubtedly marks the end of a path taken and the beginning of a new and uncertain one, which we wanted to start touring in a different and disruptive way, following an unmapped journey. 

That was exactly the way it resounded loudly and deep in my soul: "Heart Force".  

It was an opportunity to make a leap into the void, into the unknown, to abandon for a week my life of running back and forth, of relentless appointments and works, of an incessant journalism career with more than three decades of countless battles, in a convulsed country as Guatemala, which never stops or rests. It was an excellent time to stop the fast despotic march of the clock, which never stops its needles. I questioned myself: why not get out of my comfort zone and go to the mystical and remote Blue Mountain and try to find out what is the "force of heart"? 

The CALI call and more than 10 years of invitations from my friend Alessandra Kissling, Cali CALI I of Costa Rica, made a worthwhile sum!  

To reach the Blue Mountain was to immerse myself in a bubble of absolute peace, where the sheltered nature from the destructive hand of humans coexists in absolute harmony and peace with those who reside there: humble and kind settlers of distant lands where time seems to have stopped and passes in serene calm.  

The reunion with more than fifteen CALI Fellows, many of them dear friends, together with their spouses and partners, and other young people of newer CALI generations, was the first gift that this exciting trip showed me. 

The power of the CALI Network, where without knowing each other, we have woven invisible threads of principles, values and services to others, moving towards a life with legacy. These threads woven by diverse human beings united in a single energy and strength that has no limits. When the CALIs come together in love, magic arises.   

The rest of the gifts appeared at a slow pace one by one, from Sifu Rama and Sifu Simon, who in through their talks and practices in a fluid and serene way introduced us to the world of the heart, that place where calm, absolute peace and abundance dwell; but above everything else it is where silence lives. 

Those of us who went to the Blue Mountain, lived four days of isolation from the everyday world, connected in nature, and learned to listen in silence to God's voice. Following the voice of Sifu Rama, we walked the path of meditation and Chi Kung, a medicinal therapy practiced by the great emperors of ancient China, based on the control of breath, the vital flow of energy that keeps us alive.  In a hectic world, marked by labor goals, impossible commitments and fierce competition, we learned with simple breaths that emerge from the depths of the heart, that the foundation that sustains life consists of three simple steps:  

Feel, Release and Smile.  

We immersed ourselves in what I would call a smile therapy, which provokes an absolute peace annihilating the need to listen to the perversity of the demanding and cruel mind. This therapy silences the minds terrible inner voice, giving way to calm, which allows us to feel the gift of life, where there is nothing to ask for anymore, only to thank. 

Give thanks and give thanks.   

Those of us who went to the Blue Mountain, gave thanks! We learned that living away from tension and stress helps us to stay in a place of peace that brings health and vitality.   

We saw our lives, as a gift from God, which dwells in our hearts long before existing, and it remains in boundless infinity. We learned that living in joy is staying in love and that there is only one powerful energy capable of transforming lives: "The Force of the Heart".  

I could not continue to walk my new path of peace without expressing in a few simple words, the greatest gift that CALI has brought to my life. I invite you to take the opportunity to take a leap into the void, to discover that the true voice of God when there is uncertainty, dwells in the absolute emptiness of silence.