by Astara
During the week of Valentine’s Day, it seems the whole of the globe focuses on the power of love. Visions of flowers, chocolate, and starry kisses might dance in your head. Or you may feel the tug of loneliness and abandonment during our cultural storm of romance. Wherever you land on that cultural spectrum, I have some good news.
You could fill a universe with what I don’t know, but I know this with all of my being: love is not outside of you. Love is not only you all you need, love is what you are. Love is not found only by having a lover. Love is not found solely in a box of chocolates or a dozen roses. Love is not measured in the amount of valentines you receive or the likes you get on social media. Love is inside of all of those aspects of life, yet love is so much more. Love is a frequency. Love is energy. Love is the Presence of All that is moving in, as, and through you. And since you are made of energy, YOU ARE LOVE.
If you scan all the blog topics I wrote over the past few years, you may notice a trend. Everything that I write about is reminding you in some way or another, that you are forged out of love itself. To connect to love this week, you do not have to do anything extravagant. Unless it is extravagant self-love. All you have to do is be you. And voila, there you are, pure love incarnate! Every millisecond, the energy of love is flying at you as the most comprehensive and expansive frequency there is. That wise loving information that is flowing into your life every moment may have a difficult time reaching you if you have a whole bunch of beliefs and blocks in the way.
Imagine a river of energy flowing along, hitting a boulder or two, and having to flow around it. Much of our life is about finding the boulders (trauma stored as thought and belief in the body and field) and clearing them out. Where the boulders exist inside you, is where you stepped to the side for a (long) while. Another way of saying it, the boulder is where you are not inhabiting the fullness of your existence. Slowing down, breathing, and becoming aware of the beauty of life as it is right now, no matter what, is the best way to enter the present moment, and in turn step back into the body. It is the first step to coming back home to yourself. Stepping into this moment as it is, is how you get out of the way of your mind stuck in the past or future, so you can receive the love that you are!
To give the gift of love this week, and every week, always start first with yourself. Today, I invite you to create the sensation of love seemingly out of the blue.
- Put your hand on your heart.
- Slow your breath down.
- Think of something that brought you delight.It could be something as simple as a color, or a scent, or a view out your window, or reading this blog.
- Focus on that joy in your life, and as you inhale and exhale, imagine it amplifying inside you. Every inhale, double the delight. Every exhale, double it again.
You can grow love like this through this simple awareness. If you wish to activate the breath a bit more, and engage your imagination with more thoughts and feelings of joy and delight, the bigger the love grows until you have a bonfire in your heart!
Another way you can remember the love that you are is to direct loving-kindness starting with yourself, and then sending it out into the world. That is the power of metta, or loving-kindness. Mettā (in Pali) or maitrī (in Sanskrit) means benevolence, loving-kindness, friendliness, amity, good will, and active interest in yourself and others.
Give yourself twenty minutes today to get quiet. In the stillness, take an active interest in yourself. Repeat a simple phrase silently or out loud such as “May I be well, may I be safe, may I live in joy and peace.” Bonus points if you add terms of endearment such as “dear one” or “my friend” or even better “my love.” If you find yourself feeling slightly ridiculous with adding terms of endearment, notice where the stream of worry and misery of your constant inner dialogue has gotten you this far. Boulders. Just sayin. Let that river flow!
Sharon Salzberg describes metta this way, “In metta meditation, we direct loving-kindness toward ourselves and then, in a sequence of expansion, towards somebody we love already. Somebody we are neutral towards. Somebody we have difficulty with. And ultimately toward all beings everywhere without distinction.” What if we turned Valentine’s Day into a day of metta? Wanna try with me?
May all beings be well, may all beings be safe, and may all beings live in joy and peace.
May all beings remember they are love.
We also highly recommend you read our favorite poem on Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye.
To invite more of the love you are, you can also enjoy our Frequency of Love Sound Alchemy from the comfort of your home. If you want to dive deeper into love, we highly recommend exploring The Resilience of Pleasure online course or Astara’s Inner Bonding blog. Learn more how to clear those boulders out of your path, join Astara in the loving intimacy of group coaching inside Project Awakening course collection.
