Love is innate to us; it's part of us. From the Judeo- Christian perspective we are made in the image of Divine Love; an aspect of our true nature in the Buddhist tradition. Love is inherent to our very Being. While it may be obscured by conditioning, and lie dormant within us, it is within us nonetheless and can be awakened through awareness and intention.
Activating love is always a function of opening the heart. "Duh," you may say! But am I the only one who steels himself against life and other people when it's love I'm after? When life presents difficulties whether in the form of circumstances or people, how readily do you embrace and accept? I would have to mark "rarely" on this survey question. The knee-jerk reaction to difficulties coming at us is to see them as evidence that something or somebody is against us - the perfect setup to become victim, react, contract, and close down. A perfect setup for greater suffering.
But there is a way out of this pattern, and it only asks that we become conscious of the moments when we are closing our heart and simply suggest the alternative. "Stay open, heart" means stay present, be with what is here, even though it may be uncomfortable. When we are fully present and open-hearted we have so much more capacity to handle life, and not coincidentally, become the outlet for the love that is within us, to wash over us, and heal us of the illusion that love could ever be apart from us.
Join us Sunday as we take up the 2nd part in our Untethered Soul series, with a message about remaining "In the Flow of Life." We are live streaming on zoom and you can watch the live service using this link.
Peace and blessings,
Rev. Larry