Love is everything really just everything!

We are taught in this world that love is only a feeling that we can extract through certain relationships and events. This isn’t true. Love is in everything. Each flower that blooms before us, each bird that flies above.

Creation is love and we are all creations of this loving Universe therefore the essence of our being is pure love. Our lives purpose in the simplest form is to love. Love through creation. We are each put on this planet with a gift, whether it be internal or external. That gift is our expression of love.

I can go on to explain that love is many other things. It is putting a smile on someone’s face, it is following your heart’s purpose, it is being vulnerable. Love is setting your ego aside and not being afraid of your hearts sensitivities. Love is following your dreams. Love is the strength to rise above what has tried to hold you down, to remove the blindfold, to open your heart and mind to a new reality. Love is accepting the pain and finding beauty in the sacrifices. Love is looking at everyone around you following the same path and saying fuck that. It is taking a risk to go in a direction where others may judge you. It is admitting that you are not okay and reaching out for help. It is the bravery that pokes its head out from it’s shell to face the world head on.

When you are are living “in love” there is no putting on a front. Love is not being hard on yourself when everything goes to sh*t, it is being gentle on yourself. In yoga there is a simple rule: do not cause harm to others, do not cause harm to yourself. By doing this you are not acting in love to others or to yourself. We must remember here again, that our lives purpose is to love.

Then there is us and the love that we have fallen upon—our unique song.

Our love is a declaration of our souls. Our love is not what we have to offer each other, it is not our skills or talents. What brought us together is beyond all forms of ego—it is our desire to cultivate our love within one another.

Much like a seed that we have planted within each others hearts, we must take special care to give this seedling the proper attention and nurturing to allow it to grow. We must realize the more vulnerable we are, the closer to love we are and therefore must be gentle to each others’ hearts.

While our paths have come together have both been on separate journeys and therefore at this point we may not see eye to eye. But remember that behind the ego that we both disguise ourselves with is a being of pure love. The more we act on this love, nourish this seed of love, the closer to unity we become. I believe that at a fundamental level, through loving you I am showing my devotion to Universe. I am showing my gratitude for my existence. I am creating what we were created from. Our love is creation. Each day with each word, touch, motion, thought – we are creating love. So I ask you—how are we tending to that seed? Do we we give it the proper nurturing? Will our flower bloom into pure beauty? We must be careful with our words and actions if we wish to continue this sacred bond.

I am so grateful for our chance meeting. It is incredible the power that one person can have over someone’s entire life. I have learned that among many other valuable lessons since the day you walked up behind me.

It is beautiful to watch two universes collide and I am humbled by the opportunity to share this dance with you. I hope that you value these words. I hope that I am projecting myself in a way that rings to your vibration.

I pose these thoughts only as a mirror for you to stand in front of, as I have done myself.

I have so much respect for the power that you hold within. I honor your being. I love you.

BE MY VALENTINE, WORLD

Love is not a feeling.
If love were a feeling,
it would come and go,
like in a great drama.

Love is not a thought.
If love were a thought,
it would have an opposite.
Love is too huge to be contained in thought.

Love is not a belief.
If love were a belief,
you would doubt it.
And who would believe that?

Love is not a state.
If love were a state,
you could enter or leave it.
Or fall out of it. 

Love is not an experience.
If love were an experience,
it would begin and end,
and you would long for its return.

Love is not something you find.
If love were something you found,
you could lose it too,
so you'd have to cling to it for dear life.

Love is simpler, kinder, closer, less dramatic.
Less urgent, more present.
Love is the space in which everything appears.
Every thought, every sensation,
every feeling, pleasurable and painful,
blissful, boring, erotic, gentle and intense,
all are held in love's vast embrace.

Yes, YOU are the space for it all,
spaciously intimate with every breath,
in love with every beat of the heart,
every sound, every smell,
every sensation in the body,
every moment of life.

Feeling like you're in love
or not feeling like you're in love,either way, you are in love
with the bliss and the boredom of existence,
with the certainty and the doubt of it,
with the pleasure and the pain,
with the success and the failure,
with the seeking and the resting,
with every sacred movement
of this astonishing dream-world.

All that can be held, can be lost.
All that you can gain, can be taken away.
All that you can build up, can turn to dust overnight.
All that can be created, can also be destroyed.

Only love remains. Only love.
Not a feeling, not a thought, not a belief,
not a state, not an experience,
not something that you 'have',
not something that you're 'in' or 'out' of,
not something that you 'get' from others
(despite the romantic myths we are sold),
but the endless embrace of all of this.

Love is you. You, before you were named,
before you were even born.
You. You are the One.
The One you have always sought.

The unsilenceable call of the heart.
The cry from deep within.
The fragile silence in the middle of the night.
You will never abandon yourself again.

Be my Valentine, world.

we just love.

Sometimes there are no words. Words simply do not come. Sometimes we cannot find words to convey the depths of which we feel. That's okay. It's okay to just be in a raw feeling place, and not know when or if words will come to express.
We can just feel the depth of life, the depth of our humanity, the depth of this journey in human form. We can navigate the silent wondering, the unfathomable unknown -- by slowing and deepening the breath, and sending love from our hearts to all points seen and unseen, and known and unknown in the Universe.
May that love penetrate the most open, soft, permeable, and pliable, to the most closed, dense, and seemingly fierce immovable forces in all of existence. May that love be a light of courage and conviction for us to keep walking the path...especially through those times where we cannot see where it will lead. Each breath, each step -- a reminder to wake up from our slumber of suffering. In our stillness and silence, all is included, and without words -- we just love.

THE PARADOX OF EFFORTLESS CHANGE (Jeff Foster)

We can only truly change when we fully accept ourselves as we are right now; flaws, imperfections, doubts and all.
A true painter uses the canvas they are given; they will not wait for the perfect canvas to begin.
The art must happen now.
You want the perfect partner? The perfect mother or father? The perfect boss? The perfect body? The perfect feelings? The perfect enlightenment? The perfect life?
How about deeply accepting what is here, right now? How about deeply accepting others, as they actually are? How about bowing to the energies that are alive, dignifying the place where you stand?
A strange place to start, admittedly. Sounds a little, er, back-to-front. Like giving up. Like settling for less than you deserve. Like weakness. A self-indulgent pity party. Getting lost in the mud.
But wait.
Is acceptance of 'what is' the same as giving up on the possibility of change? Actually, no.
Does acceptance mean tolerating or "putting up with" difficult feelings? Does it mean blindly following violent impulses? Not at all.
Does acceptance mean becoming detached and passive, turning a blind eye to the violence in the world, letting others walk all over us and our loved ones? No.
Does acceptance mean playing a false role, the role of the "very spiritually evolved, deeply accepting, utterly peaceful person"? No. Acceptance is not a role, and it's not personal.
Deep acceptance means aligning with the way things actually are. It means staring life in the face, right now. It means turning towards what is here, what has been given, the actual canvas. It means letting go of false hopes and dreams and awakening to what is really true. It means ending the war, seeing through the illusion of a 'self' separate from this mysterious movement of life. It means saying yes to the present scene of the movie, even if it isn't the scene you'd planned or hoped for.
It is the supreme paradox, that out of a deep and uncompromising acceptance of this seemingly 'imperfect' moment, truly creative and intelligent and surprisingly effortless change can happen. Because you're no longer at war, and you're open to possibility, and you're fully alive.
You've nourished and fertilised the ground with loving attention and slowness, and now something new and beautiful can emerge.
The mind was never in charge of change, anyway.
And the ground was always trustable.

Understanding Giving...

When we give with a need to receive we set ourselves up for disappointment. And "need to receive" reflects the lack of self love and a sense of unworthiness.And as we begin to drop this emotional need we begin to drop our expectations of how others should be and see them more truly, sooner. Then we stop doing for others just to make them happy or approve of us and start ensuring that we are happy first.

When I am happy with myself it becomes very easy to open to the gifts that life and other people bring. This happens in unexpected and delightfully surprising ways, It happens often in very small ways that were always there but we did not have the eyes to see them because we were blinded by our need to "get back".If I give, I give because it makes me happy. Whether another acknowledges the receipt or not it makes no difference to my pleasure in that moment. There maybe a genuine recognition later and that is a bonus. 

So perhaps we could say that "give and take" is not the best basis for relationship. Give and receive is much better. And if I give to you and you just keep taking you will not be seeing the truth of my gift and that will be about you, not me.And if I keep giving wanting to receive your acknowledgement of me but you cannot "see" because you are "self engrossed" then for me to keep "giving" my "gift" is like throwing my self worth away.

You know. we get signals of how others are willing or not to receive very early in our meetings with them. Decide what you are prepared to give based on your feelings of your own empowerment not on your need for another to show you what a wonderful person you are.

We all want to be loved, appreciated, and truly acknowledged. It is at the base of human nature. And it will happen for us all as we move further and further into Unity Consciousness and we meet and start to live with our huge Soul Family.

But in the meantime we are each learning to take our own power and above all truly Love being who we are and experiencing the power of our own Heartfelt loving. Discernment and clarity are big keys. Learn to give first to yourself, to give yourself the gifts of freedom and self expression, of love and total respect, of connection and gratitude for that connection.

Then you will see much clearer to be able to give to others without reacting and with some expectation of your rights, and the need to “take”. In other words you will be more open to receive the gifts hidden in everything that happens to you. And you will be able to see the amazing beauty of the whole conversation that the Universe (reflected through the events that are happening to you) is having with you. In other words you will be open to Receiving rather than “taking” (or ‘making it happen)

Finally as you do all this you stop experiencing betrayal because your actions are not based on the other’s response but on you creating the feelings you wish to experience. In doing this you get very quick at discerning what to give others. You especially get to know, through your honesty and your heart knowing, when it is time to back off (with a loving smile, at least to yourself), and to perhaps move on. You learn not to give less but to expect only what another is willing to give freely and unsought, and waste no more time with unreal expectations of the other being there to fulfill your needs. To be in nonjudgement and in acceptance of what is.

Love yourself sweet Masters, and then it not only becomes easy to love others but you will attract those who are also learning to be at home with themselves. And thus you will be served with ones who are open to love you.

WAKE UP, DOROTHY...

This is the spiritual search in a nutshell...

It begins:

"Is this moment all there is?
It's just so ... ordinary!
There must be something beyond this!"
It concludes:
"This seemingly ordinary moment is quite extraordinary.
It is everything, it is all there is, for the curious heart.
Full. Rich. Bursting with life.
A complete expression of the beyond.
Sacred. Precious. Home."
In every moment,
the search ends
exactly where it began.
Everything changed,
nothing changes.
Did anything happen at all?
Was she already Home?
- Jeff Foster

THE JOY OF DESIRE...paradox of divinity and humanity

It's not wrong to want. 

Spiritual awakening, enlightenment, liberation, is often framed as the total annihilation of human wants, desires, needs.
This is a terrible misunderstanding that keeps so many people stuck, numb, bored, disconnected, at war with their bodies.

You'll be free from desire when you are a corpse.

The Buddha tried annihilating his desires, remember. It didn't work. Eventually he gave up and embraced them instead. This is the Middle Way.

Wants do not disappear in awakening. In fact, no thought or feeling does. It's your relationship with them that radically shifts. 

Now, you recognise yourself as the ever-present vastness in which ALL wants, urges, impulses, thoughts, sensations, feelings, sounds, can come and go; the unending sky in which the weather doesn't need to 'disappear', but can flourish. Come rain, come shine, come desire, come sorrow, come joy, come despair, you remain, as the wide open space that holds it all.

No more numbing wants, or denying them in order to appear 'spiritual'; yet no need to rush towards their fulfilment either, always running towards the future, fleeing a sense of lack. There is a deeper fulfilment, rooted in your own presence, that notices wants, bows to them, listens to them, yet is not their slave.

You see, you are the paradox of divinity and humanity, absolute and relative, formless and form:
You want nothing but can deeply honour your wants.
You need nothing but can learn to bow to your needs, see their sacredness.
You desire nothing but can hold desire, play with it, see its beauty, its intelligence; and know that all desire, deep down, is really the desire for Self.

As a little one, it was healthy to want food, to need love, to desire objects, to explore your own boundaries, test your limits, feel thwarted, then vindicated, then frustrated, then relieved, taste your own power, learn to honour your powerlessness, touch your freedom and your physical limitations. 

Desirelessness is a numb state, a state where you are afraid of desire and become its slave; it is not freedom.

And wanting the end of wanting is the biggest want of all.

You deserve love, little one. You deserve all the spiritual riches of life. You are precious, and all the mountains and trees and oceans and stars bow to you as you walk, for they recognise themselves in you, share your power, feel your heart.

Jeff Foster

Reflections

Buddha was walking into the city market one day and near the city entrance an old bitter man was sitting on a box glaring at Buddha, who carried a bright smile on his face. At the sight of him this old man started cursing Buddha up and down, left right and center, telling him how pretentious he was, how much better he thought he was and how he did nothing worthy of the air he breathed in this world. But Buddha simply smiled and kept on walking to the market to get what he needed.
The Next day Buddha returned to the market and once again that old man was there, this time his cursing intensified, screaming and yelling at Buddha as he walked by, cursing his mother, cursing his father and everyone else in his life.
This went on for the rest of the week and finally as the Buddha was leaving the market the man came up to him, as his curiosity had simply gotten the best of him.
“Buddha, every day you come here smiling and every day I curse your name, I curse your family and everything you believe in” the old man says ” but every day you enter this city with a smile knowing that I await you with my harsh tongue, and everyday you leave through the same entrance with that same smile. I know by speaking to you now that you are not deaf, why do you keep on smiling while I do nothing but scream the worst things I can think of to your face?”
Buddha, with the same smile still on his face looks at the old man and asks “If I were to bring you a gift tomorrow morning all wrapped up in a beautiful box would you accept it?” to which the old man replies “Absolutely not, I would take nothing from the likes of you!”. The Buddha replies “Well if I were to offer you this gift and you were to refuse then who would this gift belong to?”. “It would still belong to you of course” answers the old man. “And so the same goes with your anger, when I choose not to accept your gift of anger , does it not then remain your own?”
As a mirror reflects an object, as a still lake reflects the sky: take care that what you speak or act is for good. For goodness will always cast back goodness and harm will always cast back harm...

Home...

What is it about home?
You travel all around the world,
yet long for home, the one place
you feel rested, at peace,
is it a place or just a feeling
that warms your heart?
Is it her smile of welcome,
when I trudge back,
weary and she opens the door?
Is it the cosy familiarity of my couch
in which I sit and ponder?
Is it the smell of onions frying
in the kitchen as she prepares dinner?
Is it the shadow of the tree
that falls across my window?

Or is it just me, belonging here?

LIFE ON HER TERMS... (a story or is it?)

She sifted through her table drawers once again; didn’t want to leave any memory, untouched before she left and of course destroying damning evidence, if any. She smiled, thinking to herself that she had actually never done anything which needed to be hidden or destroyed. She had lived her life, with dignity and her head held high. “An open book”, Opal” that’s how one dear friend had described her. Ah well, better to be open than closed; makes it easy to deal with people and be free, truthful. After all, an open book wouldn’t have any pages hidden, now would it?

Of course, in her life’s journey, her idealism had mellowed and now she knew that she could only be responsible for her thoughts and that s it. If anyone needs change, it has to come from within, and no matter how much you love a person, you are still not that person’s thinking. You can pray, ache, agonize for them but you cannot realize for them. Yup, that was not possible. She didn’t mind the pain that had come her way; there were plenty of good times to remember not just the losses, she knew that. But she also knew that to be able to GO ON, one must receive, and give and receive in return, This is the eternal scheme of things; the symbol of zero; full circle, the serpent eating its own tail, however one put it… this was how things were meant to be, how mankind was meant to be; not standing with their hands crossed their chest but each one holding another’s hand. She grinned, God! May that day come when we all hold each other, carry each other and hold out our hand to the man with the lonely eyes. OMG! That was a line from a Supertramp song. She laughed out aloud, thinking of how much she loved music and how even now it was seeped within her sub conscious, even now, when…

There was nothing in the drawers. She turned her attention to the little packet she had made. It had his handkerchief, watch, a picture of the two of them and a letter she had written while he had been away. Was she being Egyptian, she grinned, how does it matter, doing this is giving me peace now and that’s what counts. After all, wasn’t it time she looked out for herself? Her peace? Her space? Her life?

Her eyes grew moist as she thought again of how cruelly pages from her book of life had been ripped out. My dear friend, don’t you realize the jagged edges remain and that they cause pain which never goes away. Yet, how silly to expect compassion from someone who was brutal enough to tear her life apart in the first place.

She walked around her house, touching things here and there, smiling. Oh, before she forgot, she lit up incense in each room, because the fragrance was calming and while she was calm, she knew that when that front door opened, whoever entered would be anything but calm.

She entered her bedroom drew the curtains, stripped and went for a shower, cool water running down her body. She sighed with pure pleasure and scrubbed herself well. Taking the towel from the rack, she draped herself in it drying, her hair, her hair was long, thick and almost till her waist, that took forever to dry. She tossed the dryer aside. The weather was balmy; they would dry on their own. What should she wear? She stood in front of her closet, wondering at the perennial “what should I wear” feminine dilemma.

First things first, she put on a new pair of undies, and a bra which fit her very well. Then she took her favorite long skirt and pulled it over her head, reached out for an orange t-shirt. She grinned at her choice of clothes; she was always one for comfort, not fashion. But her one weakness, perfumes, esp. layering, you know when one bathes with a soap or a shower gel and uses a body lotion and then sprays on the perfume (all the same brand)… She had chosen Paris by YSL. No particular reason, she just liked it. She went and sat down on her bed, put the packet she had made on the side table, turning her head this way and that to make sure her bedroom was in order.

Then she lay down on her bed, took out the razor blade and slit her wrists.