Yes, love begets
love. What if we decided to “pay forward” the bountiful love we receive,
offering it to those who do not have such inner wealth? I’m suggesting we grow
our capacity to love by seeing what we do have and, out of gratitude, moving toward
others in total compassion. In love with “the other,” with “strangers,” with
that which we cannot understand, define, categorize.
What would
happen if we could see the broad outline of love and begin to shift right into
the actions that demonstrate compassion? It is difficult to know the shape of love
when it is locked inside a heart.
Kindness: unchecked, unreciprocated, unasked
for. Charity: humble offerings in a moment of need. Affection: words that hug
and caress. Simplicity: more like reflex, or an intention; less like
premeditated action. Attention: soft, deep, ego-at-bay, agenda-less.
For example,
yesterday I had a kind of crummy day. I showed up the best I could to all those
to whom I was obligated, with as much calm centeredness as I could muster. It
was an effort.
Now, conversely,
my inner landscape feels rich and full. There are no external circumstances
that have arisen today to which I can attribute these feelings of goodwill.
Just an inner shift.
I can feel just how
much love oozes around out there in the world, and how much I have access to,
and therefore how much grateful bounty I have to offer up to others.
For example, I
am absolutely and totally in love with my readers, those for whom I am writing
the book that is still unfinished. I don’t love them because they will read my
book (because many of them will not). Or because I will meet them (I don’t
imagine I’ll even know the reach of my book). Or for any particular reason. I am writing to a potential
readership out of pure love. It is a love letter to strangers, dozens of pages
that tell the reader over and over again how important they are, how vital their
story is, how significant their work is for the world.
How can we learn
to swim through the day with a sort of fluid, silky, golden love dripping off
our skin?
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2015 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
