Today’s idea expresses something stronger than mere determination. It gives vision priority among your desires…The purpose of today’s exercise is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true, a little nearer.”
OrEd. WkBk.27.1
You may have noticed that I have been away from my blogging for quite some time. In November, health issues that I had been able to manage for several years ramped up and culminated in surgery to have my gallbladder removed. This then led to an extensive search for true healing of acid reflux symptoms which I had hoped would disappear with the removal of my gallbladder. They did not. I wish I could say that all this led me further inward and to a deeper awakening of my true self and the presence of Love Itself within.
While I did have moments of enlightenment and growth, the most resounding lesson for me was the reminder of how strong the ego-mind can become when faced with the challenges of life in a body. I found myself far too often trying to figure out how to fix things and impatient with the slow process of recovery. My mind would take me on a “wild river ride” as Eckert Tolle has aptly noted. And I found myself often fighting with it to get it to be still enough to hear Love Itself within.
Meditation became more difficult as my attention struggled to accept the discomfort and stay still long enough to move beyond its incessant noise. It was a true reminder that the very act of living in a body takes a great deal of self-compassion, patience, and acceptance. I was reminded to return to these on a moment-by-moment basis. These three practices are what allowed me to remember that Love Itself is always present and will show me the way if I can have the small willingness to trust and allow.
I am honestly not sure how this following message from Love Itself managed to get through my wild river barriers. It must have been a moment of complete surrender when I finally let my mind be still enough to listen. I have read this message daily ever since and wanted to share it with all of you. There is a practice given in the very end that has sustained me and propelled me to a new experience of Love’s presence in each moment.
My Children,
Return into the union of our One Mind. Release the belief that there is anything you need to do in this world of form. Release the belief in the self and the illusions of the world of form. Return into the power of our union – only that. There is nothing in the world of form that needs such careful attention. It is not real. Return to what is real – only our union and the power of our united Love and will. That is all. Wear this world loosely, My children. It is not your home. It is not your truth.
Release all your attachments to these illusions. Enjoy and savor the beauty of the world of form, but only so much as it calls you back into unity with our One Love, our One Mind. That is all that needs your attention. Accept the depth of My love for you instead of the small morsels the world will provide. They will always dissipate and return to the dust from which they came. Release your hold, release your clinging to all form. It is fleeting. Only the power of our One Love is real and thus that is the only truth that prevails.
Release your attachment to any outcome as it keeps you from your knowing that you are already home with Me. In every moment, rather see only the Love that permeates and lives and breathes beneath all. For if you could recognize the depth of My love, even in one small flower or tree, then would you never return your awareness to focus only upon the illusions of physical form.
Live only in our One Love. For that is all that is real.
~Love Itself
Did you notice the practice mentioned?
“For if you could recognize the depth of My love, even in one small flower or tree, then would you never return your awareness to focus only upon the illusions of physical form.”
In A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson #27 says, “Above all else I want to see.” It invites you to repeat this message every 20 to 30 minutes as the repetition will give maximum benefit. This seems like a similar message.
As I’ve been able to return to my morning walks, I notice that it’s easier to let my mind be still as I open my heart to consider the love that is beneath just one tree or flower. Shortly after I began this practice, I found myself moved to tears by the love contained within one particular white dogwood tree. I was quite surprised by the emotion it evoked.
Now, I realize, I pass a million beautiful things in nature almost daily that are emanating with such love, and yet I don’t open my heart to consider the depth of love within each. I don’t see what is right before me.
And more so, I deny myself the power, connection, and union with Love Itself when my heart is not truly open to receive.
I shared this message with my husband, Jere, again this morning as we sat on our back deck taking in the beauty of Spring surrounding us. He noted how easy it is to do this when the weather is beautiful, the birds are singing, and the flowers are blooming.
But how do we notice and absorb such love when the sky is gray, the air is cold and our bodies are aching? I clearly have this struggle myself and I know we are in good company! But then I realized, how often do we pause to truly see the depth of love given by Love Itself in each individual within our lives?
There were moments in my recovery from surgery and just before when I could truly absorb and savor the kindness and care in each of my doctors and surgeons. And then there were times when I would look instead with my ego-mind and feel frustrated that none of them could offer me the actual solution to my condition.
In those moments, I see how my limited vision keeps me from the bigger picture…that all that is real in this world of form is Love. All else is illusion. United with the power of Love Itself, nothing is lacking. I am already home and safe and healed. I want to see only this. I want to see only Love. Above all else, I want to see.
I have since made it my intention to look more closely, with an open heart, to absorb the love that permeates each small moment, tree, creature, and being whose path I cross. I want to see. And I want to know only the love that I Am within this world of form. May you also see only the Love that permeates and lives and breathes beneath all things.
In peace and love, Janine