Choosing from Love

Awwwww let the love shine

I had a very profound lesson last week on the power of well-being.  I was having a very off day and even snapped at someone I care for very deeply and felt awful afterward.  I was talking to a friend later in the day about what was going on and that I was feeling off.  She asked me what was different this day than others, I struggled to find a reason for this sudden change in attitude. 

As I was recounting my day I realized this was the first day in a very long time I did not start my day by meditating and playing my flute.  I used to have this ritual in the morning I called my gratitude exercise, I would stand in the shower and give thanks for everyone that touched my life the day before either through physical interaction or if they popped into my head for some reason.  I always began with the people who challenged me the most because I know they are there to teach me something I need learn, to be in this world.  Eventually I morphed this ritual into a morning meditation, or some may say morning prayer.  I now call it my “love and be loved” meditation because it so much more than gratitude.  I not only thank God for the experience of learning from the people I have in my life, I concentrate and send them love, especially the people who challenge me.  So on this recent day where I felt out of sorts, where a very small thing set me off, I realized I had not started my day choosing from love.   It seems like such a small thing, but it makes such a huge difference and not only for me but for everyone I connect with as I travel through my day, and those I send love to during my meditation.

Since beginning my new meditation I have experienced changes in my life, miracles, as Marianne Williamson, describes them in her book, “A Return to Love” which are reflections on the book, “A Course in Miracles.”  Through the religious instruction I was provided as a child I came to expect that miracles were these supernatural events that would rock the world make everyone stop and take note, they were so extraordinary they would leave you in awe.  I have come to believe and appreciate that while those are miracles a miracle can also be a change in perspective, if you can change how you perceive things you are experiencing a miracle.  It really is that simple and yet that profound.  If you think about it what would the world be like if we all changed our perspective, and thought – what would love do here?  Rather than reacting from fear, as we are encouraged to do by the preponderance of messages we receive, particularly during this presidential election season.  We are not told to love one another, we are told to fear one another.  That our choices should not be made through loving kindness, but fear.  What does the “choose from fear” mentality create; chaos, pain, and anger. My intention is to choose from love, so it is not consistent with my intention to knowingly choose from fear, I do not want to be a part of that anymore.   

I have been noticing when I feel that twinge in my body, that yucky feeling deep in the pit of my stomach when I hear or see something, and I start asking myself hmmm what is going on here?  What are you afraid of?  I then ask myself, what would love do here?  Many times my natural response, typically fueled by my ego, is not in alignment with what love would do at all.  It has been a humbling experience and many times I go on and react from fear, giving ego the driver’s seat and am not aware of it until after the fact.  I know at that point all I can do is clean up what I can and move forward in this present moment staying in alignment with my intention of love and be loved and focus on being present.

Well, I had a moment of presence as I was typing this blog and I just took a break to go up and meditate, I realized, geez as I am writing about all this profound learning I received about the impact of missing my daily meditation I was going through my day AGAIN without beginning with meditation.  Oh well I am a work in progress after all!  Some days I feel like a little bit of Wayne Dyer mixed with a lot of Phyllis Diller, really that’s not so bad, a little intention mixed with a lot of laughs. 

So what is my daily routine that helps stay in alignment with choosing from love; I smudge to cleanse my energy before meditating, I play my native american flute which fills me with humility and patience, and then I meditate with a focus on love.   When I am complete, I have an overwhelmingly peaceful and harmonious sense of being.

Have you noticed how much easier it is to choose from love with a perfect stranger than with those closest to us?  I remember seeing a quote by Maya Angelou – “If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning good morning at total strangers.”  It is very interesting that choosing from love is easy for me when it is someone I have no history with, however, choosing from love is more challenging with a loved one I am in conflict with.  What I have come to know in my meditation is – if I loved then, I still love now, nothing has changed other than my perspective which is usually my ego reacting to not being in charge.  What I believe happens is the ego is wounded and it wants to attack in order to protect me, the only problem is the protection the ego is giving me is a wolf disguised as a lamb.  It’s telling me, it’s OK I am here to protect you against the bad people who are trying to destroy you, when in reality it is trying to destroy my essence, isolating me and closing my heart.

I have to practice great presence and awareness when I feel ego taking over, sometimes I am successful other times I am not, it is all part of the process of learning and gaining enlightenment.  I have found choosing from love to be the most profound change I have experienced in my life.  The more love I give, the more peace and harmony I experience as that love is returned many times over.  So I invite you to ask yourself during times of strife – “what would love do?”

Your task is not to seek love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it – Rumi