Daniela Guimarães Teixeira Migliari was born and brought up in the Brazilian capital, Brasília. She became a Spiritist in 2010 and enrolled in courses at the Comunhão Espírita Spiritist Centre, which she attended for the following nine semesters. She has continued to work as a volunteer, medium and public speaker at Comunhão Espírita. She has written about her inner reform experience and is about to publish a book with those reflections. A journalist and writer, she is the head of a public relations company in Brasília.

Tell us about your experience in the Spiritist Movement.

My encounter with Spiritism is a great gift I’ve been given. It happened at a time of great pain and troubles. I became pregnant of triplets and had serious health problems. I lost one of the babies and had the other two. I had serious, life-threatening haemorrhage and after overcoming that experience I changed. My mediumship, which had appeared during my childhood, came up again. I wasn’t aware of what was going on, but the signals were coming from all sides and friends took me to Comunhão Espírita for treatment. As soon as I recovered, I got engaged in serious studying and began practicing the Gospel in the Home, which has helped greatly in uniting my family. And that is how I became involved in volunteer work at Comunhão.

Tell us about the texts you write, which are published in the social networks. How do you prepare them? What is your main goal?

I’ve been devoted to writing since I was a child. Pen and paper (and the keyboard) are inseparable friends. I write to freshen up the ideas. And since encountering Spiritism, inner reform has become a much richer internal journey. As I understand each stage of the process, I feel the need to get organise by writing and as a result I record the progress achieved. When I am writing, I feel a great deal of spiritual protection and support around me. I write personal messages, testimonials, which makes my message a very human one. I realised that by exposing my weaknesses while being affectionate and understanding with myself, I felt better and better organise. As the material was published, I noticed that many readers felt the same way. With a human perspective, I have been able to go through the path of spiritual development in a lighter manner. And that aspect makes the difference in a society which is used to learning through guilt and pain.

You seem too take a predominantly psychological approach in your reflections. Is that something that happens often in Spiritism?

I don’t have a degree in Psychology, even though I like to read about many approaches that can help us achieve self-knowledge. I eventually realised that darkness is only the childhood stage of spiritual development, which I am going through. Instead of looking at selfishness as something deplorable, that I need to take away from me, I understood that I need to integrate it to me. Looking at selfishness with compassion, as a simple step in the process of evolution, has brought me peace and relief. I do that supporting myself, with the Gospel of Jesus in hand. With a great deal of self-love, darkness ends up revealing its true reasons, pains and needs. I understood that love really covers a multitude of sins, like a warm and loving blanket. Inner reform can take place with a feeling of tenderness for ourselves, giving our heart its full potential to pour love into other people. The law is clear: I do to others what I do to myself.   

What is the best way of introducing a psychological approach to Spiritist talks and lectures?

I always make sure I think with my feet on the ground and I strive to be humble and realistic in the way I approach my talks and lectures. I ask myself some questions: How can this issued help me be more loving and understanding with myself and others? Am I diverting into philosophical elucubrations and spiritual fantasies instead of living the teachings of the Gospel in my daily life? Have I been able to understand that material life, physical body, profession, money and politics are also sacred and important tools? I try then to express from a human, real perspective, focusing on the example of Jesus to inspire me and show me how I feel more comfortable and what type of love I want to offer myself and the world. The more realistic the perspective I take, the richer and more productive the relationship with those who attend the talks.

What are your future plans regarding the Spiritist Movement? Do you intend to carry on writing and giving talks?

I love Spiritism and fell great joy in continuing to study and learn. The texts come to me according to my needs and I try to keep myself open to serve love in the best possible way, day by day.

What else would you like to say to our readers?

I thank you for the opportunity to share my feelings and perceptions and I am confident that we can all say yes to the vast, free, light and rich proposal that Jesus has made: the easy yoke and the light burden of offering to other people what I offer, first and foremost, to me. That is the beauty of internal coherence overflowing and being offered to the world.