Posts tagged ‘love’
Creating a Counterforce to the World’s Despair
From my mentor, Marianne Williamson. This is my heart…
Gravity exists on many levels, both physical and emotional. There is a force in the universe that literally weighs things down.
In order to counter gravity in the physical body, we physically exercise to develop strong muscles. Emotionally and spiritually, things work the same way. We nullify the effects of emotional gravity through accumulated repetitions of positive thoughts. Where the world says things like, “This can never happen,” we repeat to ourselves that with God, all things are possible.
Strong physical muscles give us the power to navigate the external world more effectively, while strong spiritual muscles give us the power to navigate the internal world. With physical musculature, we gain the power to move; with internal musculature, we gain the power to sit still, to be nonreactive, to be centered and calm and wise.
There are many meditative practices, from Transcendental Meditation to completing the workbook A Course in Miracles to others that are rooted in traditions like the Christian, Jewish, Buddhist faiths and so forth. What is important to note is that meditation is more than mere deep relaxation. We don’t just feel relaxed after meditation. Brain scans have proven an actual shift in brain-wave patterns. The religious call to a “new mind” is not just a metaphor; it is a call to become our more peaceful, creative and productive self.
With the modern world having become so frantic, it is easy to become as frenetic as the world around us. The problem with that, though, is that without calm, there is no wisdom, no impulse control and no real peace of mind. We’re more likely to become emotionally reactive and unclear in our thinking. Without deep peace of mind, we cannot be the people we are capable of being, and we cannot live the lives we are capable of living.
The power of meditation is of little use if only understood intellectually. When this spiritual exercise is built into our everyday, practical lifestyle, it becomes utterly transformative. It’s not enough just to know how important healthy food and exercise are; we must actually eat well and exercise regularly to enjoy the benefits of those habits. So, it’s not enough to just know the power of prayer and/or meditation; we must practice these rituals, through daily devotion.
We routinely wake up in the morning and take a bath or shower, because we don’t want to take yesterday’s dirt on our body into the new day. Yet unless we pray, meditate, do inspirational readings or some other practice of spiritual alignment in the morning, we take yesterday’s burdens on our mind into the new day. Are body and soul not equally important?
We find excuses for why we’re not doing our spiritual exercise, just like we find excuses for not doing our physical exercise. But, in both cases, once we start doing our exercises, we start to crave their continuance. Often, people say they don’t have the time to meditate; but, in fact, meditation slows time. Time, in the words of Albert Einstein, is “an illusion of consciousness.” Shallow thinking literally speeds up our experience of time, while deep and peaceful thinking slows it down. We inhabit time more effectively when our mind and heart are clear.
Such a world view is like a mental filter, leading us to experience the world through a lens of love instead of fear. Fear is the thinking that dominates the world, but love is who we really are. Grounding ourselves each day in a deep remembrance of who we really are, we actualize the spiritual power that lies latent within all of us. We were created to love, and in loving we are fulfilling the purpose of our lives. With every thought we think, we either extend love or project fear into the world. Taking a few simple principles and applying them to our daily lives lifts us above the turmoil of the world:
Ask every morning of your God: “Where would you have me go? What would you have me do? What would you have me say, and to whom?”
Before you go into work, into a meeting, into a party or into any situation at all, consciously blast everyone who is going to be there with love. Just as light casts out darkness, so does love cast out fear. You can’t send love to someone and, at the same time, worry about what they will think about you, fear what’s going to happen or succumb to controlling, judgmental or manipulative thoughts. The presence of love literally casts out neurotic, fear-based thoughts.
As you go through the day, anywhere you might be, look at someone’s face and silently say to them, “The love in me salutes the love in you.” I defy you to do this for two minutes each day and not become happier.
No one needs to be reminded today that we are in need of a counterforce to the world’s despair. All the hatred and unnecessary suffering that have gripped our planet are a challenge to our species to evolve and grow—to become who we are capable of being, so we can rise up with greater power and behave with greater wisdom. 
When any of us does this individually, our lives transform. And when we do it collectively, our planet will transform. Love will not just heal your life or mine. Love will heal the world.
Speaking of Elevating the Planet
My inspiration — spiritual teacher, author and lecturer, Marianne Williamson — has said, “Transforming our own hearts is a prerequisite for transforming the world. We will not achieve any higher-minded political goals until we transform the political process, and we cannot transform the political process without transforming ourselves. We need less to get the message out than to get the message in.” In her book Healing the Soul of America, she goes on to say that there is a yearning among us to make right the world.
Do you feel that yearning? I certainly do. When I asked the heavy question, “Spirit, how do I heal the world?” The answer I heard back was “…apply love…” And so began my journey to investigate how love can save the planet.
It has been said that love is our greatest guide. That love heals because it casts out fear and melts away the darkness revealing clarity and light. That it is only through love and compassion that we experience any kind of meaningful growth. Author Resa Steindel Brown says, “Love and compassion should be the lens through which we view all life. Its range of influence should extend past our narrow definition of family and friends to all interactions and experiences everywhere. For the sake of generations to come, we must focus our attention on love…It is our greatest understanding, our finest teacher. Love is what remains when all else fades away.”
Albert Einstein proved that as we break matter down into smaller and smaller components, we move beyond the material realm and into the place where everything is simply energy. This is the Law of Vibration. In the natural Law of Vibration, the lower the vibration, the slower something moves; the higher the vibration, the faster it moves. The same is true for emotions and thoughts. Fear, grief, and despair vibrate at a very low frequency, while love, joy, and gratitude vibrate at a much higher one. Positive thoughts vibrate much more quickly than dark negative thoughts. When the mind is thinking positive thoughts and the heart is producing high level emotions like love and joy, they create an energy together that is transmitted into the universe. Here we reach higher consciousness and the closer to Spirit or Source we become.
New York Times best-selling author, health & wellness expert, and spiritual teacher Deborah King says, “When you are steeped in unconditional love—the highest emotional vibration—all your atoms are singing the song of life at its highest. You are no longer part of the problem; you are part of the solution to the problems of the planet. If you react to what is happening around you with anger or bitterness or fear, you are lowering your own vibration and sending out a low thought/emotion wave.”
When two frequencies meet, the lower one always rises to the higher one. That’s cool! It means that each of us has the power to elevate the planet simply by “applying love” to all situations and donning a more positive outlook on life. In fact, this way of being is so infectious and can do so much good for humanity, that my new hero, Angela Carr Patterson, has started a movement called Take the Vow to Love. Click here to take your vow today and consciously embrace love as a lifestyle.
There are three kinds of love: Eros, a romantic love; Philia, a love among friends; and Agape, the capacity to love even those whom we do not like…unconditional love…a love that has the power to restore the world to it’s innocence and grace.
There is a critical shift occurring my friends — a collaborative raising of our energetic vibrations and a unification of our minds and hearts. Loving ourselves and each other is the only way we are going to heal our broken families, stop the cradle to prison pipeline, and end violence among our youth. Embracing love as a lifestyle is the only way we are going to fix political injustices, stamp out poverty and make right the world. We start solving the world’s problems by loving each other and ourselves on a personal level, and on a spiritual level, then we start to align with the natural flow of the divine.
So come on peeps, get happy! Apply love as often as you can, practice agape, and take your vow to love today.
Do Something Special for Your Mom
I don’t think I really appreciated all a mother is until I became one. Even then, I experienced anger and resentment towards my mother more than anything else in the beginning. I started raising my own children and suddenly I saw the things that didn’t work about my own upbringing, the flaws, the seeming mistakes that were made. But then, one day all that disappeared. I woke up and realized there are no accidents, every lesson good or bad brought me here to this moment and made me what I am today. I have a deep and rich understanding of the sacrifices, the giving, the non-judgement and the unconditional love that my mother had for me growing up, and has for me today as a grown woman.
Mother’s Day is coming up and I invite you to do something special for your mother. This 2-minute video clip will help you come up with something tailor made just for her, whether it’s a party, brunch or a gift. It’s a little exercise I like to call “Filling the Senses” and it’s designed to provide happiness. The perfect gift to give a mom!
queen of connection | Shelby L. Phillips 