Guiding Thought

Love is unconditional. I choose to be unconditionally devoted to the love which is unconditionally devoted to me. I embrace life in love as my True nature. Connected with All in Love, I stand boldly in my heart-center, unwavering in my dedication to Unity of Life in Love.

Contemplation / Reflection

Ah, LOVE, such a charged word!  It’s defined as “an intense feeling of deep affection”.  To my mind and experience, this definition is sadly lacking.  I “love” my cat.  I “love” my son, I “love” my husband. I “love” chocolate.  Do I mean the same thing for each of these?  Of course not! I was thinking about those I find the most challenging to “love”. The boss who MUST have some statistics immediately, drop whatever else you’re doing and stay late if necessary, and then doesn’t look at the document for three days. There’s the needy person who essentially demands and expects a high level of assistance and support physically, financially and emotionally and then fails to show any sign of appreciation. There’s the one who promises participation in a project and then, reliably, always has a “good” excuse not to help with the heavy lifting.  From a place of Unconditional love, I find myself forced to consider these challenging people and circumstances to be my very best teachers, my gurus. I sometimes have to tell myself it’s not necessary to “like” them, I just have to love them.  And once again, I’m looking at my own filters for what it means to “like”.  Didn’t I just have this conversation with myself on Day 1? And here it is again!  If others trigger my “like/don’t like” buttons, they’re MY buttons.  From a place of unconditional love, I have to have the courage to admit these people and situations are a perfect reflection of ME. When I find myself angry or frustrated or disappointed, I can remind myself to ask “what needs loving now?” If I look deeply enough, the answer is always “I DO”! I have to love my deepest darkest self, without reservation, “unconditionally”, if you will,  if I hope to dwell in a state of unconditional love.  How can I love others if I can’t first love myself?. In order to truly, courageously “stand boldly in my heart-center, unwavering in my dedication to Unity of Life in Love”, I MUST relinquish conditions. That’s what “unconditional” means.  And they’re always MY conditions.  I can’t think that I’ll love you if/when you behave in a manner that meets my expectations and conditions – that’s NOT unconditional.  I’m a much more happy, peace-full person when I let go of MY disappointments, conditions and judgments and let others just BE, in their own perfect divinity. It’s easy to put on paper, not quite so easy to put into action.  But, oh, my life is so much more divinely blessed when I do!

Guest Contributor Mary Wallace

Journey of Courage is now available as a free book.
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