What's love got to do with it? Got to do with what you might ask? With everything, or anything! In the heart of who we are, we all know that love has everything to do with everything.
Love is one of those great feelings, those higher order feelings. Others are gratitude or appreciation, joy, passion, truth and freedom. Have you ever noticed moments when you felt "in love" but it wasn't necessarily the romantic version that we often associate with being in love? It's about "being" in love, being in touch with the love that is at the core of who we are, our inherent abundant and limitless Good. Love is like an endless waterfall, filling up and spilling over as Chris Williamson sang about in the '70's. When we are in love, we are filling up and spilling over with joy, appreciation and a sense of limitless possibility from which we both give and attract to us.
Love is a way of being! In western culture we sometimes forget or have lost sight of the fact that the natural path of creation is in the order of first being, then doing, and as a result, having. We are first human "beings." Imagine being in love; living in love! Giving and receiving in love! Like the endless waterfall, love fills us up and spills over to everyone with whom we come in contact. We create our lives first from how and who we are being. Imagine creating your life from being in love!
I'm sure you all have been in love at least once in the romantic sense. When you are, you have the look and feel of love. You are radiant. When you are walking down the street in the glow of love, people who otherwise wouldn't have looked up, catch your eye and smile. You not only light up when you are in love, but others light up around you.
Imagine attracting the love of your life, or rekindling it, from first "being' in love, from a place of fullness and generosity of spirit. How different would this love relationship be if, rather than looking for love, you realized that love lives inside of you, is you, and you give this love to and receive the love of another from here? It is from this place that we can simultaneously love romantically and unconditionally. It is from this place that love is freedom.
Imagine attracting your ideal job, doing your heart's work or creating your perfect business from being in love! Imagine taking actions from love, and then actually loving your work, your business, your clients and customers, etc. You probably know someone, or know of someone, who loves their work. No matter what they do, they make a difference to those around them. Their work is not like work at all, but like play. They do not look forward to the end of the work day or week, but live fully in the moment of what they are doing.
The Buddha said, "Your work is to find your work, and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." Kahlil Gibran said that "Work is love made visible." And that if we cannot work with love, it is better that we not work at all. When we work with love, from love, no matter what we do, everything and everyone who is affected by what we do, benefits.
Imagine loving yourself, your body, exactly as you are! Imagine touching yourself lovingly as you apply lotions and creams, appreciating your face when you look into the mirror. What if you made a decision to make all your decisions based on whether it is a loving act toward yourself, toward your body. What would be different?
And yes, it is the holiday season! I've already heard people talking about the anticipated stress of the holidays - the extra "to dos" of gift buying, cooking, travel, parties, etc. What if this year, your holidays really are about love - loving yourself and others! What if each decision you make about shopping, cooking, working, consuming, or traveling, is based in whether it is a loving act to yourself and others; from "being in love" first, and then acting. What's most important is usually never about how big or how much. It's more about how.
When we have tapped into the energy of love it is truly like an endless waterfall - filling us up and spilling over to others, to our work, to everything in our lives. We have to fill up before we have something to give. When we fill up with love we know what and how to give. The value of gifts from the heart - gifts of love - is immeasurable. Love is an incredibly powerful energy! Love heals! Love enlivens! Love nourishes! Love is contagious! If you want to have a memorable holiday season, if you truly desire peace on earth and good will to all, let love be your guiding star!
And please love yourself! Love yourself unconditionally! Remember: You are a natural! You are brilliant! You are magnificent! Simply by being you. Let your light shine!
