Love Redefined

“I had a choice in my life, to either love or hate, and I am glad I chose love”. This was spoken by one of the Slum dog Millionaire Oscar winners on last Sunday night and it really gave birth to my thoughts about LOVE .

Lately, I have been learning a lot about love. What is love? Love in our most traditional sense is a feeling that is supposed to be felt by one being to another, the dictionary defines Love as: affection, devotion, it means a deep and enduring emotional regard, usually for another person.

But from a spiritual perspective, love is more than a feeling reciprocated to another.

It is an endless well of positive energy that dwells inside us. We can tap into this endless source by going within to find it. The love that is unconditional that loves us, no matter what and that never goes away from us comes from within. If we are able to tap into this well of love we can heal ourselves, love others freely and unite ourselves with a higher potential.

To love everyone and everything the same, is freeing. The best way to empower yourself is to accept putting the love for your self first. It allows room for you to forgive and let go. Love is a mirror into our own soul. It is a mirror into each and every one of us. We are all united by it. I am so saddened when I see so many people stuck in relationships because they need to feel ‘love” this is not love, this is co-dependency. It is a craving for affection, a void they a filling up, like a junkie on heroine. Real love, does not need another to feel it, it is already inside us. Healthy love, is only reflected back to us by our partner.

To tap in:

1. Find a quiet and safe place to sit and close your eyes.

2. Take some deep breaths through your nostrils.

3. Try visualizing your heart place. See your heart.

4. Next see the light within your heart. You can choose to portray this as a candle flame or just a simple ray of light. Once you see this light, feel the love that emanates inside you through this light. See all you love, not just people but things like the ocean or a favorite pet. Let it shine.

5. Next send it to out to the world. Send the light to all the parts of you that needs this love.

6. Try visualizing the light of love covering your fears, your anxieties, your child within, your creative thoughts, and finally finish by covering your whole self with this light.

7. Remember you can tap into your love by using this exercise , the next time you feel anxious, alone or sad.

This type of love is free and accessible at all times within you. Best yet, it is not dependent on any other being but yourself. Use it to reflect love to others, to nature and most of all to yourself. Trust me, as human beings we are dependent on loving others but we can chose to love in a freer and more independent way that is less toxic and more from a balanced place. Use love to grow the lotus inside your heart. Once you can tap in, you will come back for more and you will never be “lonely” anymore.

* Make all your actions from a place of love, in not looking for love in a partner, you will actually find it, by first finding it in yourself. The universe will recognize your love energy and it will put it out there and attract the love you need to be reflected back at you when you are ready. You cannot go out and look for love from the outside, it must come from within.

Here are two of my favorite quotes on love to reflect on:

“Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching , it’s clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.” (Shambhala Sun March 2006 by Thich Nhat Hahn)

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction”. (Antoine)