Occasionally, when I am going about my day, not necessarily doing anything that interesting, simply out of the blue, I can experience an overwhelming sense of love. It shifts me beyond who I am and softly and beautifully places me in my heart space, the world’s heart space, the heart space of the universe and of nature. It may only last 30 seconds, a couple of minutes if I’m really lucky. It’s filling, satisfying and feels oh so wonderful, it reminds me everything is good and whole.
Rather than wait for these random love strikes, I am looking to cultivate this loving presence so that I can access it much more easily at any time and especially for when I am diving head first in to a contracted state. This is not about spiritual bypassing, pretending things are okay or even avoidance. This is about using the lens of love or the lens of the heart to perceive a situation rather than looking at it through the mind or the ego. Just remembering that this other way of seeing is available, helps. Remembering regularly and in the moment it’s needed is my undertaking. I will keep trying.
Ram Dass spent much of his life talking and sharing the idea of loving awareness, if it feels good for you, try this beautiful practice from him: “I have a practice in which I say to myself, I am loving awareness. To begin, I focus my attention in the middle of my chest, on the heart-mind. I may take a few deep breaths into my diaphragm to help me identify with it. I breathe in love and breathe out love. I watch all of the thoughts that create the stuff of my mind, and I love everything, love everything I can be aware of. I just love, just love, just love.”
Love,
Jo x