Allowing Ourselves to Love Again

I very much enjoy this quote by Marianne Williamson: “To the extent that we abandon love, to that extent we will feel it has abandoned us”. When we close our doors to love, that we choose to no longer trust in what Life has to offer, we feel stuck and often overwhelmed by loneliness and sadness. Everywhere we look, others seem to be happy, in love and smiling. And so, we resent…

We resent the past relationships that seems to have brought us only pain. We decide that love is not for us and that we don’t need it anymore. That we will never allow ourselves to be hurt again. So we put up a giant wall between us and them. We choose not to love. Then, as every day life becomes bland, the food tasteless, we believe that it is us who do not belong, us who are broken. We feel abandoned.

By choosing to reject love, you are only hurting yourself. You are cultivating fears that are preventing you to move forward. You feel stuck because you are holding yourself back. By hating others, you are carrying this burden around like a ball and chain. In fact, while you may firmly believe that you are pushing them out of your life, in reality you are holding on to their memory.

Only by allowing yourself to accept that you still love them, will you be able to release them from your thoughts. It may sound strange, but by holding a grudge against someone for something they did at some point in the past, you are only hindering yourself. You are not protecting yourself. You are bringing the past into your life. Or as Marianne writes it, “by bringing the past into the present, we create a future just like the past”. So LET GO…

Trust Life and Love again.

Don’t try to look for signs and explanations in all things, just let them be as they are and instead allow yourself to feel. Trust yourself, have confidence that you are an amazing person and that you know all this because of all the people who have accompanied you on your journey. Remember that your “Teachers” include those who you seem to dislike and ironically, who are most likely the ones you learned the most from.

“Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we have learned here. […] to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of Life” ~ MW. I wholeheartedly wish that you will find it in yourself to love again. It can and it will happen to you. It is in your hands. Om Shanti.

Releasing fears

We all have some. Everyone deals with their sets of insecurities and psychological obstacles that hinders their growth. However, even though we know they are there, a lot of us pretend like they are not. And so, these fears, these elements of our lives that are slowing us down and stopping us from achieving our pure potential, are instead buried away, deep down inside.

The good news is we can all be free of them! Whether we believe in certain support systems, healing energy, or not, it is all in there somewhere. WE are the one we have been waiting for. WE all have the power to heal ourselves, to find these hiding places and to release these locked up fears and emotions.

What is important to understand is that everyone is different so we all heal differently. Some people do not need guidance, support or help, but others do. This does not mean however that some are stronger or weaker than others. We simply react and store those stimuli differently and so this is why there are various methods to guide us in releasing these.

And so, which ever way you function, take a moment to acknowledge the barriers that are preventing you to live a fuller life. Do not focus on material goods as they only divert your attention to non-essential things. Instead, see how you could be a better person to yourself and your loved ones. And finally, understand that you hold the key, you ARE the key. So breathe, and let go.

Namaste.

Acceptance

I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time. In fact, I would have to say that the first encounter I had with the idea of acceptance was from a Steven Seagal movie!!! In this scene, a good-looking Chinese woman prepares a bath for the martial art warrior. Little does he know, the bathtub is filled with cold water. The reaction is instantaneous: his hands are clenched to the sides, his whole body and muscles are contracting under the physical stress, and all is thoughts are focused on getting out. Unexpectedly the woman tells him to accept the situation, to stop resisting and fighting what is… And there you have it, the spiritual portion of an extremely cheesy action film!

Acceptance as it relates to the practice of Yoga is in many ways similar to how we choose to experience our daily lives. If with every posture and movement we choose to resist and try to force our way through the practice, it will be arduous, it will feel like an unattainable goal and we will soon be discouraged. Acceptance enables us to acknowledge where we are, to stop resisting and to be satisfied with what we have accomplished. Therefore, instead of overstraining ourselves in extending or bending further, by accepting and experimenting the posture for what it is, we are eventually able to relax and find comfort in discomfort. This is what allows you to move forward.

It is important to understand that acceptance does not mean to give up. On the contrary, acceptance is quite a dynamic process. Only by knowing and accepting where we are NOW can we ever move beyond that point, otherwise, where are we starting from?

If in life we often experience dissatisfaction and regrets, perhaps it is because we haven’t realized what it is we have. We tend to look forward for the next hurdle to jump over instead of appreciating and acknowledging our accomplishments. By not taking the time to accept our situation, we are blinded by what could be when in reality we have brought ourselves to where we are now. And so, start living your life by accepting it the way it is, by understanding that, whether you like it or not, it is the way that it is. Do not label your life and your accomplishments as good or bad, simply let them be factual elements consisting in your starting point. Release. Accept. Live. Love.

Here are a few links I found interesting:

http://www.selfcreation.com/acceptance/index.htm and http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/06/self-discipline-acceptance/