When we talk about True Love, we are talking about listening. To LOVE is to LISTEN.
Voices from within call to us.
Our bodies call to us to listen to the messages stored inside our physical vessel, our feelings call to us to listen to our pain, our joys and our suffering, our perception calls to us- beckoning us to believe.
Learning to listen to ourselves is the foundation of listening to others. We need to be able to hear our own voices before we can hear the calls of those we wish to share love with.
Our capacity to love others is dependent on our capacity to love ourselves. Only when we develop the ability to listen to our minds, to our suffering, can we begin to love us… and our love for other people is dependent on our ability to self-love.
We must listen deeply to ourselves, for this is our TRUE HOME. Sometimes this practice is difficult; we are reluctant to go home because when we do this, we have to touch the pain, the suffering, the fear which is there.
To encounter true love in our life, we must find a way to go home which will not scare us. We need to find a way to go home with loving kindness and confidence. We need to find the courage to face the pain, the suffering, the fear with calm observation.
We develop this capacity to go home through meditation- stopping, calming, deep looking… to love, to truly love, we need to stop running and dwell in the present moment- in our home- for home is the here and now…
As we train ourselves to dwell in the present moment, we see things more deeply and our capacity of love grows more deeply. Suffering and pain may be in the present moment, but so is stability and peace and freedom.
Consider this: There are four aspects of love…
1- Maitri– loving kindness- offering happiness
2- Karuna– compassion- desire to remove suffering
3- Mudita– joy- desire to bring joy
4- Upeksha– freedom- desire to accept everything
When we embrace: our suffering, our pain, our silence, our home- and we learn to listen with an open heart, we grow our capacity to love. Within these four aspects of love- we create an environment of healing, joy and freedom for ourselves and for the objects of our love.
Objects of love can be varied. True love doesn’t grow just within your “soul partner” husband, wife or child- but can exist in many forms.
Love can be shared with ~ourselves ~those we have sympathy for ~those we are quite fond of ~those we feel neutral about AND ~those we dislike.
When we consider the act of listening- to the self and to others- and when we practice the four aspects of giving love, we can develop true love for all beings (even those with whom we have carried ill-will for). When we let go, love self first through quiet listening, we can improve not only the love environment for ourselves and those we truly adore, but also for those who we dislike (as they may require our true love energy the most).
Come listen to more on True Love on Wednesday during my meditation share-
6:30-7:45 at 280 Main Street in Wethersfield, CT or email me for details.
Blessings,
Erin