Shifting Towards Love

This is just the beginning of my journey towards love through self-discovery

Isn’t love meant to be all gushy with loads of oohing and aahing and the stuff of romantic movies?

You would think that love is easy. I’m learning that I have never actually understood what love really means.

I’m in the final few pages of reading “The Ultimate Coach”, an incredible book about be-ing. I have learnt so much from Steve Hardison, the way he talks, coaches and behaves. The way he just simply IS.

The more involved I become in this book, the more I want what Steve’s having. My journey of self-discovery has been in acceleration mode since I began turning the pages of this book.

There are literally hundreds of lessons to be explored and learnt from in the text. One of the major ones that stands out for me is the lesson about love. Steve Hardison is filled with love. I have never met him, yet I can feel it oozing out from every page.

You can not truly begin to understand love if you do not love yourself first. I know what you’re thinking “gosh, that’s pretty egotistical.” However, I invite you to take a moment and see the other side of this. You can not love others if you do not love who you are. This love is not tangible. It is an energy that runs through you and emanates outwards, positively affecting everyone around you.

While you do not need to be religious, I will argue that you do need to feel connected to spirit (or for example Soul/Universe/God — any term that speaks to you) to allow this seed to be planted deep within you. Gently care for it and it begins to come to life.

Humans are naturally born full of love, miracles and hope. Slowly this erodes away.

The way you are spoken to, interacted with, punished, cared for, laughed at, hugged and kissed all leave their mark. Top this up with ideas, expectations, conditioning, television, books, education, and pretty soon you are acting and responding in ways that you believe or assume are correct. Or perhaps you are responding as a means of survival.

Love has gone into hiding, maybe peeking out every now and then when it feels safe to do so.

How do you start to bring love back?

I’m no expert on this by any means. But I can share with you what I have been doing to shift towards a state of love.

My day starts with meditation.

This is followed by repeating a mantra of commitment (for me these are a series of I Am statements that I created for myself).

Next comes journalling and reflection. This is followed by regular daily tasks and work responsibilities.

My day ends with reading and repeating my mantra of commitment again.

Forgiveness

I could literally write a whole book on the subject of forgiveness. Here’s a short snapshot of what this word means to me.

With each day my awareness of love grows stronger.

To love yourself deeply you have to work out how you will forgive those who have hurt or harmed you.

Then you have to learn how to forgive yourself. This is no easy task, and I would recommend you hire a coach to help you work through this.

I understand that without forgiveness you can never be free to experience true love.

Self-commitment

This type of love isn’t going to magically appear without you working towards it every day.

Commit to better self-care. Commit to being mindfully aware of your thoughts, words and actions, and changing them when you catch yourself.

You may begin to notice how automatic and pre-conditioned your responses and behaviours are. It takes effort to change these.

Love comes when we work on loving ourselves and commit to positive action.

Turn it around

It’s so easy to do. We all do it. Judge someone because of how they look, or what they said.

I was completely shocked at how often I did this without even thinking about it. So, I made a conscious decision to turn this around.

Every time I judged, or caught myself on the cusp of judging I would find something positive to think about that person instead. Once you start doing this it becomes easier every day. And the most astounding thing about turning those thoughts around is that you begin to feel better about yourself too.

One step closer to love.

Be kind to yourself

Moving towards a state of love is a process. It’s not easy, or quick. But from the moment you choose to explore love you change.

It’s important to remember that you are human and you will make mistakes. It’s of equal importance to show kindness and compassion to yourself. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and extend that kindness and compassion out to others as well.

Yes, Steve Hardison is special. But he’s no more special than you.

You can decide today that you choose to shift towards the energy of love.

Sending beams of love your way,

Silva x

P.S. If you’re interested in reading The Ultimate Coach, it is written by Alan D. Thompson and Amy Hardison, and you can get it online at most booksellers.