QUALIFYING for the OLYMPICS

Qualifying for the Olympics

The Olympics have brought many memories to my mind, which was one of the best periods of my life, when I was a swimmer.

In 1975 I qualified to go to the Olympics in Canada the following year 1976. (Mark Spitz time)

I still remember when I received that phone call. I believe it was a phone call or a telegram but I'm very sure. I really think it was a phone call where I was told that I was the only swimmer who had qualified to go to the Olympics in Canada in 1976.

My circumstances did not allow me to go at the time.

I started swimming when I was young but didn't swim competitively in a more serious way, until I was 12 years old. I used to do meets in school and Country Club etc.

Then, my mother did not know what to do with me because I was so hyperactive, and she decided to join me in a swim t​eam.

I remember ​that day clearly, when I arrived at the Olympic pool that was 50 meters long and stepp​ed into a circle of all the rest of the swimmers telling them I could beat everybody in breaststroke, a roar of laughter broke through all the swimmers.

It was my first time swimming in a 50 m​eters pool and I remember crying because I could not reach the other side of the pool. It was too long... I understood then what they all meant.

Soon thereafter, about 6 months later I broke my first national record of my country Guatemala in hundred meters breaststroke and then my main event became 200 m breaststroke​ as well.

From then on​, I kept breaking the record, until I competed in Central American games​ (also breaking the record) and Central American and Caribbean games which is of 22 countries. One in Mexico in 1975 the other in Dominican Republic in 1977. How fun that was. It was like a mini-Olympics, except instead of 200 countries it was 22.

We shared so many things with other competitors​ from the different countries, songs and music and dance. Traded t-shirts and some of us, yes, fell in love.

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It was really a fun time. It was worth it to train @ 4 hours a day to reach that place and go to those events and championships. Training was at 5:30 a.m. & 3:30 pm every day for several years in ​the Summer time​, at noontime as well. I loved the water.

I remember when I went to Central American & Caribbean Games in the Dominican Republic in 1977. I was the only hope for a medal for Guatemala for swimming after several competitions. We had amazing swimmers as a Guatemalan team​, among them... Angela Palmieri De Giordano, Annabella Perez De Garcia Bebush Cordon Herbert Fernandez T Corina Saenz Harald Jensen Maria McCoy, Mary Ann Harwood-Boterenbrood , Lorena Rodriguez and many others.

After swimming several hits and arriving at the eight finalists, I looked and checked at the board noticing I was ​in 5th ​place, just minimal hundreds of seconds away from a medal for the final event.

It was that close between one and the other.

The moment came, I was standing on my lane, on the left side was all the team of Guatemala, the Delegates the president of the CDAG​ (Confederacion Deportiva Autonoma de Guatemala) and my coach​ Juan Yegros (at the time) who whistled to me very strongly as I competed.

Everyone was cheering me on​, in hopes that I would win a medal for Guatemala.

They're the eight of us swimming competitors​ from different countries stood on our lanes​.

​"In your marks​... get set... ​" then suddenly my eyes looked to the right, and I saw something that devastated my heart.

Go... ​" - shot in the air - I jumped in the water and swam as fast as I could,​ I could hear a cheer like none other from my people, yet I burned out & reached 7th place.

The mind is super important in winning a race. You train your body but it's ultimately the mind that wins the race.

​Because of my achievements that year, in other competitions as well, I was nominated sportswoman of the Year 1977​. My swimming records lasted over 10 years.

In those days, one of my most challenging competitors was, Maria del Milagro Paris, who was very famous in Costa Rica. She won all the gold medals in Central American games, except in the two meets which was 100 and 200 breaststroke​, the two medals I took away from her. She did make it to the Olympics, twice. Once in Canada and the other one in Russia. Butterfly was her main event where she placed eleventh in Butterfly.

The most beautiful moment that one can experience as a competitor is when you stand in the podium.

I remember​ in the Central American games in El Salvador, when my mother put the gold medal on my chest a​s I was standing in the podium and the flag of my country Guatemala was raised and the hymn was played.

THAT was the Golden moment. THAT is the most emotional & memo​rable moment​. That was my favorite moment of all.​

Tears from my heart rolled down my eyes as I saw that the Guatemala champion Adriana ​Ruano Oliva w​on the gold medal ​ for Trap Shooting. The first gold medal in history for our country in the Olympics​.

I can't even imagine how she felt when she was standing on the podium receiving her gold medal and​ the Guatemalan flag was being raised as our hymn was playing. ​ What a magical moment. WOW!

What an achievement and accomplishment. We are all so proud of her​ and of all the Guatemalan competitors, including Jeane Pierre Brol who got a bronze medal... Many Congratulations!

Here are some newspaper clips and a couple photos from my time when I was a swimmer​ and a cheer we learned from our friends in Cuba... many moons ago...

Oye, oye, a la hurra ra , la hurra ra, a la bombo chíe chíe chíe, a la bombo chíe chíe cha, a la bombo chíe chíe chíe, a la bombo chie chie cha...GUATEMALA, GUATEMALA RA RA RA

Here is to sports and to what sports can do for the world! Enjoy the Olympics and do sports... any sport...

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All reactions

Guatemalan Swim team on our way to 

 Central American & Caribbean Games

Nominated Sports woman of  the Year 1977. I was given a ceremony and a plate by the then President of Guatemala Romeo Lucas. I think I even danced with him. I can't remember. 

A telegram I sent to my father from Dominican Republic, sharing the results of my competition.

My record, lasted for over ten years! Here's to Sports!

Thank you for reading my story... 

40 Years of Gratitude

40 years ago yesterday, on  August 25th 1982, I arrived in a little cute village called Groenenbach in Germany south of Munich. I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to experience. I had been having a very serious drinking problem. I also did some drugs but my main choice was always alcohol. Whiskey to be exact.

 My bottom was not a bottom of many alcoholics or drug addicts, it was more of an emotional bottom. I knew inside of me that life could not be so miserable. I was miserable in the end of my drinking career. It was a hell. 

Somewhere inside me I knew that life had to be better. Life could be better, that this could not be of God to live in so much darkness, even though in those days I had a little bit of trouble  believing fully in God. Even so, I prayed every day that He would help me find a way out of the mess.

 Then this beautiful clinic in Groenenbach  showed up through some dear friends. My mother had been searching for a solution to my problem. Both my parents supported me in going there. I could have  not done it without their love and support.

The idea was to be sober 2 months prior to my  arrival.  However,  when I got on the airplane I thought "a glass of wine won't hurt." And guess where that glass of wine landed me?  I had arrived in Munich three days prior to my admittance to the Clinic, and was not happy where I was on my third day of continuous drinking. I had hit rock bottom.

I arrived to the clinic on a Wednesday evening, tipping. They received me because I had come from very far away which was from my beautiful country Guatemala.  

The next day they had a meeting with all the patients in the room and the main therapists and doctors. It was a beautiful place where  Everybody was dressed casually even the therapists and doctors.  We, the newcomers and therapists, sat in the middle of a circle. The rest of the people sat in a circle around us.  We had to introduce ourselves, and when it was my turn, the main doctor and Chef Artzt Konrad Strauss, really came down hard on me in a way that shook my soul. He must have done his magic because from that day, 40 years ago. August 26th, 1982...until this day, I have not picked up a drink or used any drugs, except medications prescribed by doctors. 

In my heart, Konni saved my life and the therapies in this beautiful place were totally amazing. Everything was filled with love, a lot of support, amazing therapies, like bonding, rebirthing, Yoga, meditation,  group therapy, love therapy, walks in nature, walks in the woods with the backdrop of the Swiss Alps. It was heaven on Earth. The most beautiful thing is that I really did not have to drink again and that was a relief. Twelve step meetings every night. 

Dr  Konrad Stauss really believed in the 12 steps. I really learned that I had a disease called alcoholism and that one day at a time for the rest of my life. I would not pick up one drink because that one drink, like that one glass of wine in the airplane, takes me to hell. I cannot control it!!!  Even though I tried a hundred times to lie to myself that I could. It was a relief to know that there was another world filled with beautiful people, sober people, people on a spiritual path, on a meditation path, on a path of enlightenment, of a path of community, laughter, joy, love and a return to God.  

I'm not talking about any religion or Dogma or any sect or culture. I'm talking about freedom. True freedom! Freedom from unnecessary pain, freedom from addiction, choosing a life without destructive alcoholism and drug addiction. 

Please don't get me wrong, I feel respect for all religions, for all forms of belief and  feel that every human being has to find his or her way to get back to God ~ Spirit  ~ the Light ~ in the way and path that is best suited for their hearts and their souls. I truly believe we are all One that we need to respect everyone's beliefs. 

I had a very powerful spiritual experience while I was there within 6 weeks of being in the clinic. I felt a very strong pressure in my head for many days until one day I went to my room and I laid down and I said I give up, I surrender. In that moment this wave of amazing light took over me. It was pure love.... pure light... it was a peace and clarity I had never experienced before. The next day there was a huge meeting. It was the same meeting where I was introduced on my first day where the newcomers were being received, however,  that day I was chairing that meeting. I was in the full  presence of God, in Spirit. All I could feel was pure love for everyone not in a lala land way. In a real 'echt' way.  There was no judgment, there were no expectations  no demands...  just pure unconditional love for every human being in that room.  It was pure unconditional love for every one of his children. 

I even fell in love in those days in 1982, while I was in the 3 month program,  with a beautiful soul that I still hold dear in my heart today. 

During this time I have become a writer, my art work is developing... I'm and Assertive Coach and also do healing  work, even creating music is now starting for me. I'm doing things I would have never ever dreamed of in my entire life. 

Sometimes it has been really tough, tough is an understatement, yet what has me always moving forward has always been, one day at a time, one moment at a time,  without picking up that drink, or any  other drug. And if I'm honest I am dealing with other forms of addiction ( social media has us all hooked a little )  but not like the one of drinking and using drugs. 

I can't even imagine ever picking up a drink. I never in my entire existence ever want to be that person again, ever!  I don't miss it at all... knock on wood... 

What keeps me alive and what keeps me everyday moving forward is my connection with God, my connection with Spirit. Everyday I pray, every day I meditate. Everyday I try to connect with that light and that love within me, remembering that initial experience with God ~ Source ~ the Light. 

 I can't even begin to share with you the immense amount of spiritual experiences and awakenings I have had through my journey. It's absolutely beautiful and amazing something I would have never dreamed of even existed. 

The other force that has kept me moving forward is community and all the amazing lovely people and teachers I have met along the way. The helping hands of many many friends, strangers and family.

It is my hope that as I share this with you today,  that maybe one of you can become aware that there is so much love for you.  There is another way. A worthy way without alcohol and drugs. It is the best way! One day at a time. One moment at a time. There is help, there's is a lot of help. There is more help today than ever has been to help you move out of your addictions and your pain.  

Last year I was helping a close friend and family member get some help and suggested the Privat Klinik in Groenenbach.

On October of last year, I  had the beautiful opportunity of going back to Groenenbach. Another dream I never imagined would ever happen. Even though Konrad Stauss left us a few years ago. I remained in contact with him even a few months before his passing. I was in contact with him throughout all the years because I was always in admiration for the work that he was giving and doing. He was very diligent in believing that Forgiveness is the key to healing and invited me to an online group. He also many years back,  invited me to come and be a student Practitioner in the clinic at some point which unfortunately never took place. He sadly left us 6 years ago on August 29th.

 I discovered of another person who was continuing his work. His name is Dr. Jochen Von Wahlert, who happened to be an amazing quality human being.  I contacted him to help a family member who was having difficulties. In October of last year I finally was able to work it through to finally help this person and he finally said yes to receive help. He agreed with the condition that I meet with this person in Germany for the first interview, to which I said yes. I was in much needed vacation and was thrilled to go again and see my friends I had not seen for 36 - 39 years.

My idea was to rent a small cottage while he was receiving the therapy and  the help that was needed at the time. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine myself going back in.  The tables turned in a way that I was offered the opportunity to go in myself for treatment which I never had considered due to many factors, yet  I was feeling so exhausted and broken, that I gave in. I was so deeply grateful for this opportunity and miracle.  It ended up being the Best!!! 

The set up and work they had was astonishing, similar to what they had before, except upscaled, very much upscaled with added therapies, like, Healing Massage, physical therapy, Watsu, swimming, Sauna, and may other Spa oriented therapies. The food was amazing... A total delight! 

 It changed my whole life once again. It turned everything around for me once again .... I loved it...  every minute of it!  I would love to go back again, because it's so beautiful and so loving and so fun. I was able to reconnect with myself and was able to meet and befriend amazing people. It was all very much needed for my heart and for my soul. People who are highly evolved and with so much Presence in the Light. They really shone light on my path. I was immensely happy there.

 Please know that this place is available to you in Germany whether you speak German or English they will be able to help you. It's  beautiful there, nature is breathtaking.  The experience is like non other.  (link below)

Jochen Von Wahlert & I

Today I'm so grateful that for 40 years, I have stayed clean one day at a time, one moment at a time, regardless of my circumstances, with the help of many people, friends and family, and mainly my connection to God.

I invite you to make that choice.  It doesn't matter how far you are down the road, there is HOPE. There IS  a way. There is a door.  There is a way to get back to your heart. A way to get your life back and be happy.... Yes there is...  Choose your FREEDOM...  

One of the many gifts I have received is that my brother Thomas followed this path and is now 21 years Sober! A pride and joy I can't express enough. If we can do it. You can do it. 

With Love, Bárbara 

Klinik information... Privat Klinik

What About Meditation?

What About Meditation?

We can not solve problems with the same state of mind we create them

Albert Einstein

As Above So Below ~ Hermes Trimegistro

"Meditation" a word that brings many different images to different people. There are many thoughts about what it means to meditate. Throughout time it was believed that meditation was considered valid if one would spent, hours, days, weeks even months under a tree in loto position - to give an image - to be able to reach certain given results. However, the truth is that there are many different schools and forms of meditation such as Transcendental meditation, Buddist meditation, Zen meditation, Dynamic Meditation, etc. There are as many different forms and ways of meditating as there are people in the world, for each person finds his own unique way of doing so. There are people who wake up in the morning, turn on the coffee pot, make themselves a cup of coffee or tea, sit in front of their window or go to the garden to observe nature, that is their way of meditating. Others get up early and have a special place where they sit and meditate five minutes or more before they start their day.

What does it really mean to meditate? And what is a deeper form of meditation useful for?

If we take the letter 't' out of the word 'meditation', we are left with the word 'mediation'. Meditation is a way to 'mediate' with our inner 'Self', with the light that lives within us, with the magical, omnipresent, omnipowerful essence of God. It is a way to communicate with that part given to us in our hearts that guides us to have more peace and clarity. For example, one day, I could not find my keys, my first response was to run like a 'chicken with it's head cut off' to try to find them, but instead, I paused, took a few deep breaths and in my mind, I tracked my steps back and found the keys easily - This is a simple example.

Meditation if practiced little by little, then furthermore to deeper levels of consciousness, can take us to incredible places of peace and expansion - we can create and manifest whatever we want, we can also enjoy inner journeys like astral traveling - all given by God and in God.

I would like to share with you a simple and short meditation technique. If you are interested in trying it, you may find it useful to reach deeper levels of peace and clarity.

I suggest to find a comfortable place where you will have quietud - turn phones, computers, etc., off. Sit or lie in a way that is useful to you - I recommend sitting in a chair with your back straight, otherwise in loto position. Lying down is okay as well in the beginning.

The most important thing to learn about meditation is 'deep breathing'. Learning how to breathe right and deep is the 'key' ~ especially to reach deeper levels of consciousness.

- Deep breathing: to begin it is best to breathe all the air out. Then begin breating in from the stomach to the chest, like filling up a cup. Hold the breath, then exhale, as you breathe out emptying from the chest to the stomach. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Breathe in, hold, breathe out... etc.

- Counting is very useful in this procedure. You can count up to five when you inhale, three when you hold the breath, and five when you exhale, or 7-3-7, choosing the rythm that is right for you. Counting helps occupy the mind with other thoughts.

-  Allow the present thoughts to move by like a movie screen in your mind,  do not fight them or try to change them, as you continue to focus your breathing, allowing any feelings to surface. Let yourself rest and listen to your breathing as many times as needed.

- The next step is to focus on relaxing your body: relax all parts of your body gently, listening to your breathing.

- Then, begin to visualize or imagine that you are standing underneath a showering waterfall that is 'diamantine indigo blue light' - allow all thougths to be bathed by this light, all people, situations and things in your life are being bathed by this light. As you open your heart and mind to receive this light, let go of the material, physical world, completely - relax and let it all go...

- It is good to relax there for as long as need be. Perhaps 5 minutes every morning and every evening to start and increase the time as you are able to.

- At the end, begin to breathe deeply again, moving the energy from your feet up your whole body. Become aware of the soles of your feet, of the temperature of the room, of your clothes in contact with your body, wiggle your toes, stretch your body until you are fully present in your body.

Meditation ~ 'mediation' ~ is useful for many things: to simply relax, to recharge with good energy, to bring you back to center, to quiet the mind, to resolve problems, to astral travel - to divine places given by God - it is also very useful to help alleviate physical, emotional and mental pain. It also helps us to become more aware of our feelings and of how we feel in a given situation. It helps us have more clarity and peace to be able to take more assertive steps in our lives.

In the movie "The Secret Garden". There is a moment when the boy, who did not want to walk  and was terrified of coming out of his room - due to the fear that encompassed him - he was with Mary the young girl in the garden and he said to her as he was beginning to walk.

Colin: Are you making this magic?

Mary: No, YOU are.

Colin: Just like in the story. It's like the whole universe is in here. (pointing at his heart)

Mary: I'm certain it is.

Suggesting that the Universe and all its planets also lie within us. (As within so without, as without so within)

Yes, meditation is useful for that as well, to discover the fantastic world of infinite possibilities and dimensionalities that exist - which are very real within each and every one of us, created by Him.

Some people meditate ever day 5 to 10 minutes; others even an hour long or more, depending on the aim that is wanted to be reached.

And then there are many who get up, turn the coffee pot on, grab a cup of coffee or tea, sit in front of the window and contect with what IS...

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Meditation is nourishment for the soul, a connection with itself & the Light

Meditation is not practiced to avoid this world, it is the elixir where the soul speaks directly to God, receives His Love, His Light and His  Guidance, in an excessive way when acquired ~ an opportunity to bring that incredible LIGHT, that pure LOVE back into Humanity ~

An opportunity to bring Heaven Back into Earth 

May it be So... BCB

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