If there is someone who can literally ‘attest’ that new beginnings are not to be feared, it is Alberto Linero, a samario who four years ago decided to hang up his cassock and leave his life as a priest. He remains the same brash man many knew in the pulpits. But now he does it in civilian clothes, speaking openly about the happiness of feeling loved by a partner and “enjoying the pleasures without guilt.”
With 25 published books and a notorious media career, Linero presented his followers (accumulates millions on social networks) a new title, Spirituality for humans, in which he proposes how to feed spirituality and not fear new beginnings. However, in those pages he does not speak like “a priest who was not happy,” he says. “One of the risks that he had with this book was, precisely, that people believed that it was an evangelistic exercise. I am still a believing man and living in communion with Pope Francis, I have not abandoned my faith or my churchbut I believe that we must make a spiritual approach to become aware of what is the purpose in life and develop spiritual abilities ”.
How to achieve it? Here are some keys to start over and not fail in the attempt.
be spiritual
“Spirituality is about finding yourself. It is being aware of who I am, without fear, loving myself as I am. Embracing my own reality will give meaning to my life. It is like seeing it from a drone, from above, and not in the immediacy of the situations, and periodically making a cut of accounts. Since the brain likes to save resources, it looks for routines. Y If you do not permanently make these awareness, you end up living automaticallywhich leads to frustration and boredom. Every day one must wonder where this string of days that they call life is going. Am I realizing my deepest desire? Do I live with joy and pleasure? This exercise allows us to review the path we are following”.
Spirituality feeds on everyday experiences, on the sex we have, on the books we read, on talking to the people who love us. Doing the things I enjoy, having pleasure, changing the quality of my thoughts so that it generates positive emotions and well-being. Praying, meditating, reading poetry, listening to music. Doing everything that makes us happy”.
It’s okay not to be happy
“Happiness is not constant euphoria. You have to free yourself from that belief, it is a slavery and a speech that hurts because when we can’t smile, we believe that life has no meaning and we get frustrated. Happiness is nothing more than a satisfying life in which we feel that what we do contributes to the achievement of objectives.
have convictions
“I didn’t leave the priesthood because I wasn’t happy. There were institutional accounts of the Church that no longer allowed me to find positive answers to my questions. And I want to be honest always. My courage came from the only true dogma: one only has to fulfill one’s own expectations. It is that one is always going to disappoint a lot of people. Ciorán used to say: ‘If you don’t have anyone to disappoint, life has no meaning’. You don’t live to meet the expectations of others, because whatever you do, whatever you say, there will always be people who will disagree with you. There are times when you have to tell everyone to hell and not be afraid to let them down.”.
deal with adversity
“Problems are teachers of life, not a misfortune, they serve to learn lessons and discover the strengths we have. There are religious discourses that make us think about what we do not have, about sin. But true spirituality makes you aware of your personal tools”.
Are you living with joy and pleasure? Alberto Linero advises how to lead a life without regrets