Love is selfless.
Love does not request for itself that which is not given by itself. Love sees no difference between things. What you give to others, you are also giving to yourself. Do not ask of Love what you are not willing to provide yourself. The Universe will reflect in equal or greater measure than what is given. The Universe will also reflect in equal or greater measure than what is held back.
Love does not ask for sacrifice.
Imposing self-denial or limitation is not Love, it is seeking to be worthy of Love. Love gives in equal measure. Love does not limit possibilities; Love simply chooses without judgement that which is in accordance to its path.
Love makes no promises.
Love knows it is eternal. Promising is not Love; it is an attempt to validate your worthiness of Love. Love expands. Expansion is growth. Promises are static, statements that conditions will not change. Lack of growth is not Love. Love is constant, not static. Love contains within itself the seeds of its future expressions. Love evolves. All that is contained within, evolves with it.
Love accepts.
Love does not apply itself to certain things and not to others. Love is inclusive and expansive. Love honors all possibilities. Love honors all expressions. Love includes all aspects. Love sees all experiences as a valid part of the whole of itself. It does not forgive because does not hold to one experience over the other, so in its essence there is nothing to forgive.
Love allows.
A Love is about choices, not limitations. Love provides all paths and holds you to none. Love knows that the path you choose most naturally is the closest to who you are. Adherence to a particular path; when presenting this action as proof of Love; is not Love. It is an attempt to prove yourself worthy of Love, but not Love itself.
Love inspires you upon a certain path because it is who you are, not because the following of that path proves your worthiness of your Love.
Love is honest.
Love does not give value to one while holding onto another. Love does not give itself to one while withholding itself from another. Love is consistent with itself. Love does not choose circumstances or convenience over expression. Love does not make expression dependent on its own state of being. Love inspires honesty in all its dealings. Seeking to support Love by practising self-denial is not Love-it is striving for worthiness. Seeking to support Love by being dishonest with others and yourself is not Love-it is obsession.
Love supports.
Love does not seek to tear down what it does not understand; Love seeks to understand. Love supports all-even if what is desired is to experience its own lack.
Love Inspires.
Love does not force itself on others; it leads by example. Love creates the desire for harmony with itself and harmonizes effortlessly. Love creates for the sake of itself, and what it inspires creates in kind.
Love is a mirror of ourselves. Choose a Love that reflects the quality of unconditionally, for that shows you that this is what you feel for yourself. Conditional Love accepted means that you have imposed and accepted conditions on yourself. Unconditional Love accepted means that you are the embodiment of unconditional Love. What you wish to see reflected to you must first be embodied by you.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Jumping to Conclusions, Landing With Your Foot In Your Mouth and Unconditional Love Starts With YOURSELF
We all know that kids will be kids. This seems particularly true for the kids on my street who I have observed giving visitors to our area a difficult time.
Several weeks ago, my good friend Della visited with her 4 children. While Della and I talked, her kids went outside to play and spotted the local children riding their bikes up and down the street. Della has raised her children to be very open and giving; so it never occurred to them that the locals wouldn't simply welcome them into the games with open arms.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. You can imagine how this ended. There was name calling, posturing, threats, lots of tears and some heart-to-heart between Della and her kids about differing vibrations, compassion, forgiveness and such. All in all it was just the behavior I had expected from Della, her kids and the children who live in our neighborhood.
Now, there is one exception to the kids I see here and I'll call him Michael. Michael is 13 years old and we have become good friends, so he was here when Della again visited with her children yesterday. He had met her children briefly on that other day, they became friendly, and so it was natural that they all hung out together while they were here.
About two hours into this, Michael came back inside looking pretty upset. It seemed that the local kids were out on the street, and though both groups wanted to him to play with them, they were refusing to play together. He went on to relay that one of the kids had actually demanded he choose between his old friends and his new ones, and which side of the street to remain on.
Now when you're on the outside looking in, it is clear that those who try to force you to choose sides are on the side that you should avoid. And being familiar with the general disposition of the children on our street I was pretty liberal with the advice. "Of course they would try that.", I said. "That's the way they are, and though I understand that there really isn't anyone else around you have to think of what are you really missing if your friends treat you like that..."
That's when he said, "It was one of Della's kids."
Oi.
Now, given the prior treatment they had received at the hands of our neighbors, I wasn't surprised that a "yes vote" from Michael would be seen as a validation of their worth with regard to the ones who had dealt with them so rudely. Of course I could understand, etc etc etc...but then I said to myself.....
"Gracie, think."
Why did I automatically assume that the problem stemmed from the other children?
Sounds pretty judgemental to me.
And in expecting their poor behavior, wasn't I, on some level, doing my part to perpetuate it? Were there other things was I automatically passing judgement on? Was I holding them in a negative pattern too? And was I blythly offering advice in situations that were not as they seemed?
To be honest, I was pretty ashamed of my automatic reaction here. I've studied Shamanism for 15 years, and I still get tripped up by ego-judgements and patterns of negative expectation. I could certainly forgive kids for being kids, but I found it difficult to forgive myself. I had somehow misplaced my Love for me.
Well, sometimes these Life Lessons come with a free ego-smack-down as a bonus and after some soul-searching, I chose to see this as a good thing. As it turns out, Della's kids, the neighborhood children and Michael all taught me a very valuable lesson by highlighting my room for improvement. From now on, I'll do my best to listen *first*, and try to hold ALL parties involved in an attitude of Love. But perhaps more important, it offered experience in the process of forgiving myself.
That's where it all begins.
If you can't love yourself unconditionally, you just can't love anyone else. One follows the other.
Forgive myself...ah yes, *there's* that Unconditional Love!
*sigh*
Found it...
Several weeks ago, my good friend Della visited with her 4 children. While Della and I talked, her kids went outside to play and spotted the local children riding their bikes up and down the street. Della has raised her children to be very open and giving; so it never occurred to them that the locals wouldn't simply welcome them into the games with open arms.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. You can imagine how this ended. There was name calling, posturing, threats, lots of tears and some heart-to-heart between Della and her kids about differing vibrations, compassion, forgiveness and such. All in all it was just the behavior I had expected from Della, her kids and the children who live in our neighborhood.
Now, there is one exception to the kids I see here and I'll call him Michael. Michael is 13 years old and we have become good friends, so he was here when Della again visited with her children yesterday. He had met her children briefly on that other day, they became friendly, and so it was natural that they all hung out together while they were here.
About two hours into this, Michael came back inside looking pretty upset. It seemed that the local kids were out on the street, and though both groups wanted to him to play with them, they were refusing to play together. He went on to relay that one of the kids had actually demanded he choose between his old friends and his new ones, and which side of the street to remain on.
Now when you're on the outside looking in, it is clear that those who try to force you to choose sides are on the side that you should avoid. And being familiar with the general disposition of the children on our street I was pretty liberal with the advice. "Of course they would try that.", I said. "That's the way they are, and though I understand that there really isn't anyone else around you have to think of what are you really missing if your friends treat you like that..."
That's when he said, "It was one of Della's kids."
Oi.
Now, given the prior treatment they had received at the hands of our neighbors, I wasn't surprised that a "yes vote" from Michael would be seen as a validation of their worth with regard to the ones who had dealt with them so rudely. Of course I could understand, etc etc etc...but then I said to myself.....
"Gracie, think."
Why did I automatically assume that the problem stemmed from the other children?
Sounds pretty judgemental to me.
And in expecting their poor behavior, wasn't I, on some level, doing my part to perpetuate it? Were there other things was I automatically passing judgement on? Was I holding them in a negative pattern too? And was I blythly offering advice in situations that were not as they seemed?
To be honest, I was pretty ashamed of my automatic reaction here. I've studied Shamanism for 15 years, and I still get tripped up by ego-judgements and patterns of negative expectation. I could certainly forgive kids for being kids, but I found it difficult to forgive myself. I had somehow misplaced my Love for me.
Well, sometimes these Life Lessons come with a free ego-smack-down as a bonus and after some soul-searching, I chose to see this as a good thing. As it turns out, Della's kids, the neighborhood children and Michael all taught me a very valuable lesson by highlighting my room for improvement. From now on, I'll do my best to listen *first*, and try to hold ALL parties involved in an attitude of Love. But perhaps more important, it offered experience in the process of forgiving myself.
That's where it all begins.
If you can't love yourself unconditionally, you just can't love anyone else. One follows the other.
Forgive myself...ah yes, *there's* that Unconditional Love!
*sigh*
Found it...
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