Love is the key to everything…love has no limit… Love is love. Yogi Bhajan
This week is devoted to love…I have received so much these past few weeks, I am overflowing with it. It is truly wonderful and almost overwhelming. I say almost, because the more I receive, only means the more I am able to give and to share. It keeps that flow flowing. And in that flow, there is no overwhelm.
All you need is love….
I love rock and roll references…often they give us simple and dearly needed wisdom.
As the Beatles sang, “All you need is love, love, love is all you need….love, love, love…” if we can only remember. And with love comes empowerment.
Love is a powerful amplifier. It can take the good in your life and expand it beyond your known and expected limits. As they say, love knows no limits. There is no power stronger than love. I believe there is no problem big or small that cannot be healed and solved by love.
For me, love removes the element of judgment and changes my perception and my vision. It allows me to use my “re-set” button in life…to be able to “re-write my story” and perceive challenge as something beneficial so I can deal with it in the most productive way. I don’t have to avoid or run away from it. I can embrace it, love it and see what it brings or offers. I don’t have to ask, oh my God why do I have this? Why has this happened to me? What terrible thing have I done that has caused this to happen? If only, I had done this or that etc., etc. It can become an endless judgmental self-criticism…really, a waste of time. Rather than all of this critique, I have found that this is the time I really need love…unending, unconditional love. For me, that is what creates healing.
I have decided to love my illness and accept it rather than run away from it. I will love it to its end. I fortunately learned this lesson years ago, when I had broken 2 vertebrae. It was a major introduction to pain. I would do anything to avoid it. The more I tried to avoid it, the more persistent it became. Finally I decided to make an experiment. I would embrace my pain, love it in effect and not run from it. It had an amazing effect. As soon as I fully accepted it, it began to heal. Granted I was using many healing techniques both allopathic and natural but it wasn’t until I embraced the pain that it noticeably began to lessen and the healing quickened.
So, I am practicing the same lessons of love now with my cancer (which I believe is no more) and with my recuperation however slowly it may seem to be moving forward. The good news is that it is moving forward and I am getting stronger.
So, how do you love? Especially, how do you self-love if we can use that as a verb?
Many of us have strong internal messaging that is far from self-love. It can be highly critical, judgmental, self-effacing and even demeaning. How to over come that? I tell myself, I love myself…warts and all. Not just the beautiful parts, but the whole package…Even those regrettable, embarrassing parts. And in my case, even cancer. I continue the process of healing and recovery as that is all a part of the package. This self-love may all sound pretty egocentric, but that is the point! Love yourself. Look in a mirror and into your own eyes and say, “I love you”. Some days, it may be the only time you hear it that day. Say it, and say it out loud…don’t just think it. Say it enough times and you begin to believe it. I have been working on this a long time. I don’t take it for granted. And after much practice, I have to say, yes, I do love myself. And as I love myself, the Universe reciprocates and there is an endless flow of love and support to me. It works, and I have to say, I love it!
Sometimes, you just gotta open your heart.
In our busy-ness of life, it’s easy to lose our heart connection. There is always something to do and more often than not, we are outwardly busy. It’s easy to lose our connection to our own heart and soul. When we are able to open our heart, we experience a flow of life. It creates a trust that allows us to receive and to give. Remember the receiving part is as important as the giving. Here is a simple meditation that I practice to help keep my heart open. And as I open my heart to create the flow of love, I consciously remember to open my heart to myself as much as to others and to feel the unending depth of that love.
The mantra in this meditation is “Sat Kartar”. Sat means truth. Kartar is the Doer. So, truth is the doer. The mantra relieves us of the stress of thinking we have to do everything. Like our inner teenager saying with great attitude, “ how come I have to do everything”. The mantra allows us to allow the universe to provide. It empowers us to open the heart, which creates trust and then, we can live in the flow of life.
Here is the meditation. If you feel your heart is closed, and there is not flow of love, or you want to open your heart more give it a try. I find it very opening.
Posture: Sit in Easy Pose.
As you say Sat, the hands are pressed together in Prayer Pose at the center of the chest.
Make the transition from step to step a steady flowing movement.
Rewrite your story
There is an interesting concept, called re-writing your story. So much of life is based on our perception, our perspective. When you can change your perspective, often the story changes. An example would be 2 different people experiencing the same event. Let’s say it is a sporting event and each person is supporting a different team. The person supporting the winning team could say, wow, what a great game and be totally exhilarated in the “win”. While the other person supporting the losing team, could say, what a disaster…that was a terrible game. Same event, 2 perspectives, 2 different stories.
So, we can re-write our story. If we see life through the lens of love, our perspective can change. The story changes. Challenges become opportunities…even seemingly terrible, scary challenges can shift into something very productive for us. In my case, the diagnosis of cancer was pretty damn scary. My immediate reaction was, this makes no sense. I live a very healthy life and do all the right things to maintain that health. Yet, there is a cancer inside of me! Why me? I am now presented with a challenge of being a victim of the very unfair “crime” of the universe or I can take this challenge and ask, what is the opportunity in it? What can I learn from it? How can this elevate me? It is certainly going to change my life. How can I make this change a “plus” for me? And in that moment, the story changed. I decided I would love myself, love the situation, accept the cancer and allow my creative pulse to show me a positive outcome. I was not a victim but I would be victorious no matter the situation. Love brought that sentiment to me.
Shortly after that moment of diagnosis, a friend sent me a link for “Jim Carey Graduation Speech”. In that speech, Jim Carey said, “My soul is not contained in the limits of my body, my body is contained within the limitlessness of my soul….(it is) one unified field.” Wow…who would have thought that a comedian could offer such beautiful wisdom! But he did and I am so grateful for that moment. Suddenly I am not defined by my cancer and I am reminded of the unlimited nature of my soul. In that unlimited state, anything is possible. Aha! Perspective changed, story changed.
Continuing this theme of changing your story, my wife recently gave me an affirmation from Louise Hay…she (my wife) never lets me “off the hook”…one of those positive people I have always prayed for. At any rate, Louise’s suggestion is, “Remove the expression “have to” from your vocabulary and your thinking. “Have to” creates a lot of self-imposed pressure. You can create tremendous stress by saying: “I have to get up.” “I have to do this.” “I have to, I have to.”
Instead, begin saying, “I choose to.” It puts a whole different perspective on your life. Everything you do is by choice. It may not seem so, but it is. Everything I do is by choice.”
It is a game changer. It allows us to “re-write” our story and push that “re-set button”. I do what I do because I choose to. I like the empowerment of it.
Combining the wisdom of Yogi Bhajan and Louise, I realize I choose to do what I do in life, and I choose to do that with a playful spirit with the love and innocence of a child. And here is a most interesting realization; I have my cancer to thank for that. Tiny has served me well. I am grateful and I am in love.
Love to All, Peace to All, Light to All
Sada Sat Singh
Content retrieved from: https://yogaborgo.com/blog/love-is-the-answer.